Point of Interest

The Fallen Totem

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Many of the views at The Grand View Ranch are breathtaking and inspiring, but hidden in the woods we find many intimate corners, that although they are not as breathtaking, they are worthy of closer observation. As I traveled deep into the woods today, I discovered this fallen Totem, its ancient wood slowly decaying over decades as the forest reclaims it to make room for a new tree to grow in its place. The old moss on the tree captivated me and I wondered how old the giant tree was, when did it fall, and how long ago did it happened? I chose this tree to be the point of interest for this newest painting called “The Fallen Totem.”

Choosing a point of interest for a painting is a thoughtful and intuitive process that is influenced by the artist’s interests, beliefs, and personal connections to life. The methods used for selecting the subject or object of the painting will change with each painting and every location. Sometimes artists invest too little time thinking about their connection to point of interest in a painting before they start to paint. Often painters fail to remember simple things like the viewer can see only a limited number of objects clearly at a glance, and that one object can catch the eye more quickly than two or more. Artists must use all their skills and techniques to bring their main message or intention of the painting to the viewer.

After choosing the point of interest, I recommend that every artist draw at least four small sketches of the subject in pencil. This allows the artist to experiment with compositional elements, and to make changes rapidly until a pleasing combination is chosen. Next,
select your preferred sketch, and simply transfer the composition onto a small canvas with a brush and paints thinned with Turpenoid. Voila! The canvas is ready and painting can begin.

Some techniques that artists regularly use to focus the attention of the viewer on the point of interest are intensity of tone, contrasting values, directional focus, linear movement, and the size of the objects. Emphasizing the darkest or the lightest spot on the canvas and using directional lines or eye magnets will lead the viewer to the point of interest in the composition as well. Creating small field studies allows the artist to sample many of these techniques and to make changes efficiently and easily until discovering the desired effects that make the point of interest pop.We, at the Grand View Ranch, are preparing for the fall workshops, and if you have not had the chance to come to a workshop, I invite you to visit our website at

http://www.thegrandview.com/ for information about painting outdoors in Shasta, California. While you are on the website, you can download my free book, “Everything I know About Painting” under “Information” on the home page of the website.

I am offering (for a limited time only) the readers of our blog and Outdoor Painting newsletter, a $75.00 discount off of the price of the workshops that will be held in September and October, 2008. You can call me at 415-606-9074 or register on the website. Space is limited, so call soon.
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

Rhythm and Movement

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"Grand View Butterflies Opus 1"

Today at the Grand View Ranch, we enjoyed the most beautiful display of butterflies I have ever seen. At one time, the hillside felt alive with a multitude of fluttering bits of colored confetti of the most brilliant kind. This butterfly caught my eye as it stopped to sip nectar from our Buddleia tree. The shapes and movement of the leaves of the plant, the purple flowers repeating colors, and the application of textured paint (impasto) gives this painting rhythm and movement, and prevents it from being a static painting. Try to identify the rhythmical invitations that lead your eyes to move from the butterfly to other areas of the painting and back to the butterfly.

Rhythm is a compositional element that an artist employs to help the viewer’s eyes move around the canvas from the focal point to other objects, drawing attention to repeating colors, and moving from foreground to background, and back to the focal point. Rhythm can give your paintings a stimulating visual flow and creates an overall sense of balance. Repetition of brushstrokes, colors, objects, edges, dark and light values, direction, and forms create this movement in a painting. Paintings that display rhythm and movement stand out, vibrant with interesting and sometimes subliminal patterns that are rich and satisfying to the viewer experiencing the work. There is no formula for creating rhythm in a painting, just the artist’s keen awareness that rhythmical arrangement is a powerful element to include in every painting.

We, at the Grand View Ranch, are preparing for the fall workshops, and if you have not had the chance to come to a workshop, I invite you to visit our website at http://www.thegrandview.com/ for information about painting outdoors in Shasta, California. While you are on the website, you can download my free book, “Everything I know About Painting” under “Information” on the home page of the website.

I am offering (for a limited time only) the readers of our blog and Outdoor Painting newsletter, a $75.00 discount off of the price of the workshops that will be held in September and October, 2008. You can call me at 415-606-9074 or register on the website. Space is limited, so call soon.

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

Size Does Matter

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The fires in California are still burning out of control, and for the past few days Mt. Shasta has been hiding behind a veil of smoke. Today the winds changed and revealed another glorious sunset. I painted this little view from my studio window on an 8x10 canvas.

Most of my sketches that I paint on location are 6x9 or 8x12. I usually do not paint these little jewels of my observations of nature on a standard size canvas. Some artists have asked me why I don’t paint on canvases that are standard sizes like 6x8 or 8x10, that are cheaper to buy and are less costly to frame. I prefer to paint on canvases with the traditional two by three ratios that have been used throughout history by fine artists because the proportions are more pleasing to me, fit my tastes, and I enjoy painting my personal impressions without the artificial limits that standard size canvases impose. Why do artists limit themselves to painting on a standard size canvas, anyway? Art is a personal expression and the size of the painting that you wish to express this experience should not be limited by standard sizes that are convenient to buy or cheaper to frame.

A painting done on location usually takes a skilled artist about one and a half to two hours of consistent work to complete a painting that recreates a time of day and the sense of place in nature. When painting on location it is important to paint small if you want to capture the moment and complete a painting in under two hours. However, many artists paint larger on location by using bolder strokes and larger brushes. The reason that you want to complete a painting in a short amount of time is that after two hours, the light has changed so drastically that the scene you are painting is no longer the same as when you began painting.

The first painters credited with painting en plein air were the artists of the Barbizan School, a small group of Parisian artists of the 1830’s, who communed with nature and recorded their experiences by painting outdoors on location. Their mission was to capture the essence of the “true light” found in nature. Most of these artists used these sketches of “light” that were small, painted for convenience and portability, as examples for larger works that were finished in the studio and hung in salons.


The next time you start a painting, I invite you to ask yourself, “Should I paint on a standard size canvas, or could my experience be more accurately recreated by painting on an 8 x12 or 9x13 canvas?” You may be surprised how your compositions will thrive if you are open to using canvases that fit your artistic expressions, instead of having your artwork fit the canvas.

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

What colors do I see?

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California has over 1,400 forest fires that are burning mostly in the central and southern parts of the state, but the smoke from these fires significantly affects the air quality in Shasta. This morning I followed a road that connects the northern route of Shasta with the quaint town of McCloud and the eastern slopes of the foothills. I painted this northern view of Mt Shasta with the visible haze that shrouds the mountain in a smoky veil.

When artists see a mass such as a distant mountain like Mt. Shasta, they see values and know that these values are variations of gray. Trained artists not only see values, but also see colors that they can attribute to the values. These colors are often subtle but are very important to include. To see the color of a value, it is useful to visualize a color wheel and ask, “What colors do I see?” Look for hints of red, yellow, or blue in the gray. If you cannot confirm a color, assign one. Just make it up. Artists often paint beautiful color harmonies and transitions by focusing on their feelings of being there - with their eyes closed, using their imagination to guide their color choices.
Like a great mystery plot in a movie, these subtle colors are present, but the artist must collect the clues to solve the underlying puzzle, “How can I reflect the subtle changes in values and colors to enhance the expression of my experiences as I paint what inspires me?”

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

The Fine Art of Seeing Color

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We just completed the third weekend painting-on-location workshop at The Grand View Ranch and life is just settling down so that I can return to my painting and sending my observations of nature to you through my brush and this blog. The weekend was huge success, and many artists reported that they had breakthroughs in their art. You can read their comments at www.thegrandview.com.

I have never lived in a place that has so many different locations to paint just yards from each other. On the way from town to The Grand View Ranch there is a beautiful, peaceful place called Shasta meadow. This is just one of hundreds of meadows that dot the countryside here at Mt Shasta, and even though it is called Shasta meadow, the view that I painted for you today highlights the meadow with the Eddies in the background.

There is no special way to mix color and no special way to apply it on the canvas.
Just like a musician’s ear, the art of seeing color is sharpened through frequent practice.
Every artist sees and paints color differently, and after teaching thousands of artists how to master painting on location, I can say that color is so unique to the individual that just choosing to mix your palette your way is the beginning of developing your own style. I teach many secrets of mixing color in my workshops, and all of my students begin by using identical colors. However, each artist’s personal vision and use of color is so individual that by the end of the day, I can identify the creator of each painting by the distinct color palette that the artist used in his paintings.

The nerves of the eye become more sensitive to color the more you use them. Painting on location and NOT using photographs is the first step to master seeing color. The second step is to paint in both the lightest and darkest values first, and then compare every color that you apply after that to these values. And, the third step is to choose a color scheme. Ask yourself, “What am I looking at? Are the colors that I see predominately blue, or red, or yellow, and are they warm or cool?” Just asking some of these questions will start you on the right track to mastering the fine art of color before you even lay the first brush stroke down.

And remember, perfection leads to paralysis. You must begin creating and taking risks with your painting even if you think that you do not know something, or you won’t be powerful as an artist. Ansel Adams stated, “If I waited for everything in a scene to be exactly right, I’d probably never take a photograph.” The secret in fine art as in all of life is “Just do it.”

If you are interested in experiencing a breakthrough weekend that will take your art to the next level, visit our new website at 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