Just as I see it

“View from Louie Road Bridge”

Bid On This Painting

This will take you over to Ebay

What do I paint?
When I paint out doors, I choose a subject and ask myself, “Why am I painting this?” Then I determine what part of a landscape interests me. I stop and think about it as I keep my focus- both visual and mental- on what attracted me to the subject in the first place. Then I include only elements that will enhance the subject, and leave out anything what will detract from the statement I want to convey. The painting should be about one thing and in this painting, it is the “View from Louie Road Bridge.” I wanted everything to be about the old cottonwood in the center of the painting. The creek in the foreground is used as an eye magnet to draw the viewer to the focal point, and the strongest dark and light are found there, too.
We spend much of our lives in a waking trance of retrospection, regret, distraction, idling, and disembodiment, using a wide range of addictions from TV to drugs to keep us from seeing the beauty that surrounds us. We rarely look out of the walls of our lives that hide the full glory of us being alive. Hour upon hour, we idly watch others on TV or at ballparks participating in being great and wonder why our lives are so completely empty. There is nothing great in vicariously living through others while we do nothing. What is the secret that can bridge the chasm of living a life that is empty and meaningless to one that is worth living? The secret to life is Art, and through art, we can discover and live a life full of true meaning.
Some people do not recognize beauty when they see it. However, we respond to those who have tapped into this secret. They seem more alive somehow, as if working from a more vivid palette. These enlightened people seem to deal with life in positive and powerful manner.
Auguste Renoir, who was crippled by arthritis most of his life, was asked by one of his students, “How do you paint with those hands?” He replied, “Pain passes, but the beauty remains forever.” Our 21st century lives are filled with fast food, fast entertainment, fast cars, and fast pleasure. We witness other people creating and doing what we know we should do ourselves. You are an artist among us whose life stands as proof of this transformational power. Your strength and talent is precious, and this power is available to anyone willing to learn.

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at http://www.thegrandview.com/,You can download my FREE BOOK where I share “Everything I know About Painting.” At my websiteI hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues. If you have questions that you can email me anytimeStefan_Baumann@yahoo.com, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime.
I welcome your feedback

To Lighten or Darken a Color

“The Last of the Spring Bloom ”

Bid On This Painting
This will take you over to Ebay

It is time to register for this year’s Fall Workshop in Mt Shasta. Space is limited, and information about the workshops is on our web site at http://www.thegrandview.com/. or call me at 800-511-1337 anytime.

Wow! We are just coming down from a great weekend workshop and are preparing for the next art workshop at The Grand View Ranch on October 16, 17, and 18, 2009. If you have not taken a painting workshop before, you will be amazed at the improvement in your work in just one weekend. To read information about the workshop, please go to www.thegrandview.com. I invite you to treat yourself to a weekend of education and artistic development that guarantees to inspire you and enhance your creative ability forever.

The Grand View Ranch is located on a hillside that “the locals” refer to as Dogwood Hill. The Ranch is home to hundreds of trees that have beautiful, white blossoms in the spring. Dogwood blossoms have always been my mother’s favorite flower, and she talked about visiting The Grand View Ranch this spring and seeing the splendid Dogwood bloom. This year we had the most amazing bloom ever. The blooms were the size of saucers and the entire hillside was bursting with bright, white blooms. Sadly, my mother past away this spring before making it back to see this breathtaking sight. Today, I gathered the last of the blooms and brought them back to my studio to paint them. I am dedicating this painting to her.

For oil painters, there are a number of ways to lighten or darken a color. One option to darken a color is to add a complementary color. The complement of a color is the color that is directly opposite that color on the color wheel - the complement of yellow is purple, the complement of red is green, and the complementary color of blue is orange. Either color can be the focal color that has the complementary color added to it. For example, when red is added in small amounts to green (the focal color), the green will become cooler and darker, and when green is added in small amounts to red, the red will become cooler and darker.

I seldom recommend using black from a tube to darken a painting. Instead, I suggest making black by using dark brown and blue. I used Asphaltum and Cobalt Blue for the dark background in today’s painting, “The Last of the Spring Bloom.” Mixing Thalo-Green with Alizarin Crimson is another way to make a very dark black. I added white to lighten the colors that I used to paint the Dogwood flowers. When painting something white, especially highlights, I never use white out of the tube. White, by itself, is not a good highlight color because it has a cool tone, and highlights because they originate from the sun or light, are essentially warm in tone. My secret to making the highlights in my paintings glow is to add a tiny amount of yellow or red to the white so that the natural effect of light reflects brilliantly as it does on the Dogwood blossoms.

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at http://www.thegrandview.com/,

You can download my FREE BOOK where I share “Everything I know About Painting.” At my websiteI hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.

If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.
I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues. If you have questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime.

I welcome your feedback Baumann@yahoo.com

Painting in the Moment

“Birthday Orchid ”
Bid On This Painting
This will take you over to Ebay

It is time to register for this year’s Spring Workshops in Mt Shasta. Space is limited, and information about the workshops is on our web site at http://www.thegrandview.com/. or call me at 800-511-1337 anytime.

Announcing the Opening of The Grand View Art School
It is with great pleasure and pride that I am able to announce the Grand Opening of The Grand View Art School in Saratoga, California. After thirty years, we have created a studio where art students can learn how to create art and paint in a clean and well-organized environment.Those who know my work know that I am dedicated to promoting, educating, and supporting the achievements of all artists and art in general. This new school offers a comprehensive instruction program to both young and adult artists with the intention of equipping every student with the ability to create art with power and passion. Our programs for both children and adults are unique in that they teach the fundamentals and principles of art from the first lesson. Students learn all they need to know to create fine art, develop self-confidence, and to make art a permanent and rewarding activity in their lives. For more information about our class, please contact me at 415-606-9074

Birthday Orchid
Painting in the Moment
With the opening of the new art school, I have had many additional demands on my time. I continue to enjoy writing articles and painting for my blog and promoting my PBS TV show, “The Grand View” despite the numerous tasks and responsibilities that are waiting to be done. However, my personal painting is more important to me than ever.
Every year for my birthday, one of my students brings me an orchid. I love to paint orchids because they are so delicate and patient. Unlike most flowers, orchids will pose for days where roses will change their pose minute by minute. These flowers bloomed in my studio today, and although I had other things to do, I stopped everything to paint them. It always surprises me that I somehow find time to complete everything that I think I must do right now, even when I take the time to paint! If you feel like you just do not have time to paint, I encourage you to prioritize your Creative Self, and paint something amazing. It is the most important thing that you can do for yourself today; the trash and laundry can wait until later.

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at http://www.thegrandview.com/,

You can download my FREE BOOK where I share “Everything I know About Painting.” At my websiteI hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.

If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.
I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues. If you have questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime.

I welcome your feedback.Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com

Painting is a Memory Exercise

“Winter Dogwood”

Bid On This Painting

This will take you over to Ebay

It is time to register for this year’s Spring Workshops in Mt Shasta. Space is limited, and information about the workshops is on our web site at http://www.thegrandview.com/. or call me at 800-511-1337 anytime.

As a steady snowfall covers The Grand View ranch, winter, though late in arriving, is finally here. Dogwood boughs, laden heavily with snow, bend downwards towards the earth. Oak trees struggle to stand upright against the howling, gusty winds. Between the storms, the forest is silent as the deep snow deadens all sounds in the woods. As the season’s storms cross in waves over the great Cascade Range, Mt Shasta appears in her majestic winter coat beaming through the dark clouds like a glistening jewel in a royal crown. I am inside painting what is out of my studio window, but really, I am waiting for a moment between storms to put my paintbrush down, and hurry outside to shovel snow and free us from the frozen hillside.
This painting, “Winter Dogwood” is of a view from of my studio and is a subject that I have painted many times in all seasons; but winter is one of my favorite. Earlier today, the storm broke and the morning light beamed across the freshly fallen snow. I painted quickly before the warmth of the light melted the winter’s frozen veil.
Most paintings are in some way created from our memory, and if we paint on location, what we are really doing is painting what we remember. If we could control the environment, we would have little problem recreating our experiences; but every moment while we are applying paint to canvas, the subject is continually changing. Light and shadows change, as the subject reveals new and different insights and appearances as the minutes pass by. We must observe what is transforming before our eyes without attaching too firmly to each changing aspect of what we see. An artist must rely on remembering what the location looked like at the moment that he or she started painting it, rather than paint what it becomes. For example, when I started “Winter Dogwood,” the storm had just lifted. For an instant, a ray of sun light beamed through the clouds crossing the forest and catching the edges of the freshly fallen snow. Most of the branches were hidden from view by the snow itself and the background trees were black against the white snow. This painting took about two hours to paint and during that time, the snow melted off the branches and the Dogwood trunks bounced back to their vertical position. I wanted to capture the moment when winter had just blanketed the forest, and I had to rely on my memory to recall what it looked like at that moment when I started painting it. The layout of the landscape was painted during the original moments of inspiration, as were the color references that were noted and committed to memory. As I went along creating this work of art, the overall impression came from the memory of what it first looked and felt like to me.
Memory is one of the secret keys to painting successfully on location. All artists have the ability to use their memory, but few rely on it. Like any muscle, with training and exercise, memory can become an accurate and trustworthy resource that is vitally important to artists who want to paint from life.

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at http://www.thegrandview.com/,

You can download my FREE BOOK where I share “Everything I know About Painting.” At my website
I hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.

If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.

I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues. If you have questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime.I welcome your feedback.
Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com

Finding your voice in painting

“Crossroads in Weed”

Bid On This Painting
This will take you over to Ebay

The Grand View Ranch, but my artistic muse calls me to capture the beauty that surrounds me on canvas. By the way, it is time to register for this year’s Spring Workshops in Mt Shasta. Space is limited, and information about the workshops is on our web site at http://www.thegrandview.com/. or call me at 800-511-1337 anytime.

Finding your voice in painting
Finally, it is really snowing here at The Grand View Ranch. As I laid the final brushstroke on this painting, “Crossroads in Weed,” the snow started to cover the countryside. This view is located in the heart of the little lumber town of Weed, 3 miles from the ranch. It is at the crossroad of one of the main streets in town and the freeway. Although this is a charming setting for a painting, very few tourists would stop to admire this location, but I found it interesting every time I drove by and wanted to capture it on canvas. Often we don’t choose the subject, the subject chooses us.
As an artist, I am aware of the beauty surrounding me, and I am always looking for compositions in the ordinary corners of life. That means, as a plein air painter, I might find myself painting in the heart of town, hanging over a bridge, or just off a freeway. The unique and individual reward that an artist receives when painting his impression of an inspiring place belongs to that artist alone; the joy experienced in the process of creation is non – transferable and of little use to others. The painting is just the by-product, and it is a bonus if the public gets to view it at all.
An artist recreates a personal experience and sings it for others. To do this, you must first learn that when you sing, the only voice you need is the voice you already have, and that everything that you need to create joyfully is already within you. As a coach, I don’t teach students how I paint. I help students identify their unique voice and give them the tools to use it. The actual painting process of applying a brush and paint to canvas is ordinary work, but it takes courage to embrace that work and wisdom to be good at it. Art does not arrive miraculously from the darkness to your hands; knowledge, skills, and practice blend with the heart and soul of the artist and flow on to the canvas. You must learn to trust yourself and proceed with the belief that you will succeed, or you may miss the possibility of experiencing the ecstasy of creativity.
It becomes a choice between certainty and uncertainty, and curiously, uncertainty, in the face of paralysis, is a comforting choice.

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at http://www.thegrandview.com/,

You can download my FREE BOOK where I share “Everything I know About Painting.” At my website

I hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.
If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.

I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues. If you have questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime.I welcome your feedback.

Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com

Details- How to Paint Them

“Times Gone By”

Click Here to: Bid On This Painting

This will take you over to Ebay

The weather in Shasta is amazing! The warm temperatures, clear weather, and very little snow on the ground makes it feel more like spring than the dead of winter. It is hard to pass up the opportunity to work outside clearing brush and burning the dead wood at The Grand View Ranch, but my artistic muse calls me to capture the beauty that surrounds me on canvas. By the way, it is time to register for this year’s Spring Workshops in Mt Shasta. Space is limited, and information about the workshops is on our web site at http://www.thegrandview.com/. or call me at 800-511-1337 anytime.

Last year during our workshops, we visited eight locations and of all the spectacular places that we painted, this is one of my favorite locations. It is at the end of Louis Road just west of Yreka at the base of Mt Shasta. Compared to the way it must have been over a hundred years ago, this place is quiet now, and accept for a few eagles that screech, the earth is silent and still. One can really concentrate on painting the landscape.

I painted this painting titled “Times Gone By” entirely on location. At first glance, the viewer’s eye sees the abandoned farmhouse in the background and the vigorous, overgrown foliage along the bank of the river that is reminiscent of a time gone by. Then, a lightly traveled road comes into focus at the bottom of the painting, drawing the viewer into the painting, to the river where the viewer sees the reflective colors of the sky on the water. The journey continues along the river, around the bend, and ends where it began at the distant, neglected farmhouse. The trunk of the old weathered cottonwood tree represents the end of the journey and sense of time passing.

Oil paintings are visually attractive because of the rich, textured details and brushstrokes that are not present in watercolors. Beginning students seldom create juicy, luxurious strokes (especially with light colors) simply because they do not use enough paint. Don’t be timid. Experiment with your paint by painting thick and thin brushstrokes as you go. Once everything in your painting is complete, details are the final additions to your painting. Add details where you want the viewer’s eye to linger. All of the other lines in the composition should be soft. I use a squirrel-hair brush and lightly soften all edges in the painting, and then, with precision, I take a detail brush and I place the final details within my central focal point. The key is not to add too many. If you have constructed your painting successfully, you will need to add very little detail to impact the viewer. Make every brushstroke count, and remember that less is more.

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at http://www.thegrandview.com/,

You can download my FREE BOOK where I share “Everything I know About Painting.” At my website

I hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.

If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.

I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues. If you have questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime.I welcome your feedback. Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com

Inspiration

The Last of the Herd


Bid On This Painting
This will take you over to Ebay

The days at the Grand View Ranch are shorter now, and we have experienced a taste of the winter snows. Before the landscape is completely covered by a blanket of snow, we are taking advantage of the sunny, crisp days, and are burning fallen oaks and shrubs. This is the last opportunity that we will have to prepare the ranch for winter’s frozen gifts. The deer have migrated to lower pastures in Shasta Valley, and the bear have found their dens where they hibernate through the long winter nights. Except for a few squirrels, all the wildlife have disappeared from the ranch, and Shasta, our Border collie, is bored.

In today’s painting “The Last of the Herd,” I have painted a deer from one of my sketchbooks. I focused on the expression of the deer’s head and the human qualities found in the eyes. So many gardeners hate deer, but I like seeing deer in a field or forest because they make the landscape seem tranquil and peaceful.

Winter shadows and long, dark nights, the end of the holiday rush, and even colds and flu that have miserable symptoms can affect our energy and mood, and create a type of hibernation in our spirit. At times like this, our passion is subdued and an interruption in the interest to create art can result. If you do not feel inspired to create, you must rely on your commitment to practice artist skills and stay intimately involved with your brushes, paints, and canvas. Act as though you are eager to express yourself through your painting, even when you feel like you have nothing to say. An artist’s commitment to take action can evoke and stimulate passion, and passion can carry both the art and the artist to the next spurt of inspiration.

This cycle is similar to those found in nature; winter’s season rests the earth, so in spring the warming earth can bring forth new inspiration and new life, allowing passion to create plentiful summer fruits that are harvested in the fall as the earth prepares to share it’s bounty with thanksgiving. Humans share similar patterns of life ~ patterns of stillness, inspiration, rebirth, and creation which are vital in renewing and reinventing ourselves as artists. Whether you are feeling still and subdued, or you feel excited and love what you are painting, the canvas reflects your emotions. Start painting or keep painting, and once you put your brush to canvas, your inspiration just may follow.

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at http://www.thegrandview.com/, and you can download my FREE BOOK where I share “Everything I know About Painting.”

I hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.

If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.

I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues. If you have questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime.

I welcome your feedback. Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com