Daily Painting

October 1, 2009

After successfully painting all day on the bank of the Snake River, we return to camp. Bright tones of amber, crimzon, umber, and sienna blanket the landscape.
Squirrels chatter in the trees as they jump from branch to branch, from tree to tree, as if today is the last day to gather pinion and seeder nuts and hoard them inside old hollow trees for quick snacks during the cold winter months. In the woods not far us, we can here the unmistakable bugling sounds of Wapiti (elk) as they establish their territory and breeding herd. Bears, too, eat continuously to store fat for their long winter’s nap.

At our camp near Coulter Bay, just on the boundary of the Teton National Park lives a bear whose name is Number 399. The National Park service gives Bears numbers to identify each bear, keep track of their activity, and to monitor if any bears are interacting with park tourists in an unpleasant manner. Every bear has its own personality and interacts differently with members of the human race. Number 399 is a popular bear at the campground. Rangers and park visitors like him because of his natural curiosity about people, and as a result, many park tourists enjoy seeing this beautiful four year old, honey-colored grizzly. He likes the attention and poses for pictures, and he has never been cited for unruly bear behavior, although his natural curiosity makes a few campers a little uncomfortable as he wanders from campsite to campsite.

I capture my first glimpse of Number 399 as I enjoy a cup of tea just outside of our Silver Streak Trailer. I grab my sketchbook to make a quick sketch on paper knowing that I can later transfer it to canvas. The bear stands for a few moments among several fallen tree trunks before lofting away to another campsite. While he stands there, a burst of wind makes his fur ripple like waves on water, back- blowing his thick winter coat. The following day, I learn that a hunter, who had just killed an elk, shot Number 399 three times and killed him. The hunter apparently was worried that he might have to share his kill with the bear. This was a poignant reminder of the value of sketching in the moment as the opportunity presents itself.
SWB

“Sketchbooks and the Artist”

Artists haven’t always carried their paints and canvas with them on their travels. The practice of painting on location via plein air is a relatively new concept in the history of painting. Many artists prefer the traditional method of sketching their experiences in a sketchbook. Artists can draw models or objects of interest, jot down notes and observations about a subject’s shapes, colors and unique features, or work on ideas for upcoming paintings in their sketchbooks. In this painting, “Curious Bear,” I worked from a sketch that I drew of the bear that visited our campsite. Having only seconds to jot down ideas, I worked on an idea for a painting from my notes the following day after I learned that this bear was shot and killed. This is an example of why it is essential that an artist always have a sketchbook and a pencil or pen to sketch and write notes and observations.

I recommend using a book that has about 50 sheets of plain paper with a spiral spine to start, and urge artists to carry it with them everywhere. Make a point to draw at least three drawings a day in it. Practice drawing in it everyday, and use it for everything from ideas for your next painting to making your shopping lists. It is not practical to invest in expensive journals with upgraded paper and leather binding displaying the artist’s name in gold leaf. Although these can be impressive, the fancy journals are intimidating and rarely, if ever, used. Don’t think of your sketchbook as a holy relic. It is just a book with pieces of paper. The real value is not the book itself; it is using its pages to practice your sketching and to journal what you are thinking and feeling each day about the world around you, with the possibility of capturing a precious moment that later can become your next great painting.

I have devoted my life to touch, move and inspire others to see and appreciate the beauty of art and its relationship to nature. And, as we travel through this great land with our 1970 Silver Streak trailer following behind our truck, I passionately desire to share the power and beauty of nature and art with others.For a FREE book on everything I know about painting go to http://www.thegrandview.com/

2009-10-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

Capturing Animals on Location part 2

“Wapiti Study: Opus 1”,
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The National Parks

September 30, 2006

Today the fall colors of the trees blanket the hillside with a palette of green, crimson and amber foliage signaling that the seasons are changing. Bursts of air blow through the groves of aspen trees tickling the golden yellow leaves making them quiver. Light breezes start from the foothills and briskly float upwards to the peaks of the mountains. In the distance, I can hear the faint whisper of the streams of air moving through these beautiful trees. The leaves tremble, making quaking, rustling sounds, and all at once, they serenade me with a grand symphony of song. Millions of leaves let go of the safety of their summer resting spot in the trees high above the forest floor and rain down upon me in a turbulent whirlwind. Millions of leaves fall spontaneously like the confetti at the finale of a political convention, covering the forest floor with a thick carpet of yellow interwoven leaves. Against the background of Blue Spruce, massive Douglas fir and the White Bark Pine, these bright leaves shine like golden diamonds on a dark green velvet backdrop. I am aware that I am just an observer of a moment of the symphony of seasons that has existed for thousands of years. In the distance I hear the call of the Wapiti (Elk) echoing throughout the canyon as the males gather their mates and begun their rut.
SWB

Placing Animals in Your Paintings, Part II

When I was painting this painting, “Wapiti Study: Opus 1”, I was in a meadow capturing the fall colors, and all at once, a massive elk came out of the aspen trees to check out what I was doing. We locked eyes for what seemed like minutes but probably was only for several seconds, and after he was satisfied that I was not another bull elk that might be interested in invading his territory, he retreated into the woods. When composing a painting in nature, artists imagine and hope to have living creatures included in their composition. Occasionally, an animal will comply and grant a brief but most appreciated opportunity to see and paint them. Artists who are interested in adding wildlife in their paintings spend hours practicing, drawing, and painting studies of animals to use in future compositions. These studies (small renderings in pen and ink, pencil, and paint) become invaluable tools and a vital resource for adding animals to their paintings in the future. I recommend that artists start by drawing people because all the techniques needed to draw anything are practiced when drawing the human form. Next, practice drawing a dog or cat. Many quadrupeds have similar characteristics of their counterparts in the wild.

“The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colors, lights, and shades; these I saw. Look ye also while life lasts. ”
This verse is on a plaque hanging at the Moose Visitor Center at Teton National Park in Wyoming. The original message was etched on a gravestone in Cumberland England. This humble and unselfish message describes my dreams and efforts with The Grand View, my art classes and workshops along with the national PBS television show over the past 25 years. I have devoted my life to touch, move and inspire others to see and appreciate the beauty of art and its relationship to nature. And, as we travel through this great land with our 1970 Silver Streak trailer following behind our truck, I passionately desire to share the power and beauty of nature and art with others.
For a FREE book on everything I know about painting go to http://www.thegrandview.com/

Capturing Animals on Location

2009-10-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

West thumb Yellowstone NP

The National Parks

Capturing Animals on Location

Painting animals on location can be tricky. Animals are usually very poor models because they are unwilling to hold still for extended lengths of time. If you paint animals that linger like cows or horses or, in this case, bison do, it is possible to capture their basic outline and essence as you compose and sketch your initial painting on location. The finer details of the animal will come into focus once you begin painting. Look very carefully as you are painting your sketch and you will find that all the detail information that you need is right in front of your eyes - even though the animal’s pose may change. Start by painting the animal’s eyes first, and paint outwards to the head and then the body. If you enjoy painting animals and want to paint extraordinary animal studies, it is important to learn how to paint them accurately by drawing them frequently. Great portrait painters draw the human face and figure everyday to hone their skill. The painters of domestic or wild animals must do the same if they want to excel. However, if you only want to paint an occasional cow, you can be successful by just drawing what you see.

September 20, 2009
Our journey continues north into Yellowstone as we follow an old logging route. We carefully tow our trailer through the forest knowing that we risk the chance of breaking down in a very remote part of the country. This is a very difficult day for both the trailer and us. The standing trees are so thick that it seems impossible to find a space wide enough for the trailer to squeeze through. We finally reach the southern point of Yellowstone lake, and find the west thumb of the Geyser Basin where we discover a herd of American bison that are grazing nearby, lingering as if they want me to paint them during our stay. In my painting, I capture the oldest male in the herd on my canvas. SWB

For a FREE book on everything I know about painting go to http://www.thegrandview.com/

September 18, 2009

2009-10-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

Teton Splendor

The National Parks

It has been many years since I began painting twenty of America’s National Parks for the PBS series “The Grand View, America's National Parks through the Eyes of an Artist. ” Lately, I have been yearning to return to the wilderness near Yellowstone and paint along the way. Earlier this year, we bought a 1970 Silver Streak Trailer (pictured below), and after much preparation, we hooked it onto my truck, and began our exciting journey. The next few blogs come from observations that I wrote in my daily journal and paintings that I sketched of locations that captured my eye along the way. So, come along with us as we travel through the northwestern corner of Wyoming on our road trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park.

September 18, 2009
As we approach Jackson, Wyoming, we travel off the main road onto on old prospector’s trail. The ruts are deep and it is hard to move forward with the trailer. After about a mile, the truck cannot go any further on this dirt road, so I collect my paint supplies and hike up the pass by foot. All through the day, cool breezes and a few light showers signal that the seasons are changing and winter is on the way. The aspen trees are also changing as their green summer tops turn into a more suitable coat of yellows, oranges, magenta, and browns. Thick layers of clouds cover the Teton Mountains. From time to time, the clouds clear revealing the mountain's majestic crags and peaks above the foothills so beautifully sprinkled with aspen trees and colored with a thousand gorgeous autumn hues. SWB

For a FREE book on everything I know about painting go to http://www.thegrandview.com/

Imagination

2009-09-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

View from Inspiration Point

Imagination

Shasta, from Susti'ka, is the name of a well-known Indian tribe who lived in the Mt. Shasta area in the 1840’s. These native people lived in three major groups in Shasta Valley, Scott Valley, and near the Klamath River. A small tribe of the Shasta clan called the Okwanuchu occupied the territory southwest of Mount Shasta where the headwaters of the mighty Sacramento and McCloud rivers converge. Very few of the people of the Okwanuchu clan remain, but I had the good fortune to meet one of their ancestors. He told me about a path above the Ney falls that would take me to a breathtaking vista of Mt Shasta that they called Inspiration Point. I wanted to capture and share the experience that I had when I visited this magical place at sunset by painting “View from Inspiration Point” for you.

Imagination is the key that unlocks originality. The question today is how do artists develop their ability to create something from their imagination that they haven’t seen before. Before anyone can be original in their creativity, they must begin with the elemental aspects of art, and that means studying, practicing and applying all the skills needed for that artistic endeavor. If your goal is to paint a scene from nature that you originate without being in nature or using a photograph, you must study nature, and learn her lines and shapes, every nuance of lights and shadows, times of day, weather conditions, atmosphere, and the seasonal times of year. Next, artists must repeatedly practice drawing and painting what they observe and feel when they paint in nature. Accurate sketching, along with skillful color choices, and practiced, intentional brush strokes assist the artist’s representation when painting the scene first hand.
The additional lesson that you as an artist must learn is to take time to memorize what you see, feel, hear and smell at the scene, and to be able to recall accurately what you have seen and experienced later. Then, you are set free to imagine everything that you have stored in your memory and use it when you create paintings in the studio without using photographs. Using your imagination is like using any muscle in your body. By using your memory frequently and consistently, you will see improvement quickly. Painting from your imagination is a skill that is essential for an artist to reach the next level of originality and creativity.

Your growth as an artist will take a lifetime. It is a continuous path of frustration and joyful insight. You will never know everything, and most artists quit before they discover who they really are as an artist. When your imagination employs the rich sensory memory of all that you have experienced, the artwork you create becomes alive, and this is what the world is waiting to see in your paintings.

For a FREE book on Everything I know about painting go to www.thegrandview.com

One quality needed to become a great artist.

2009-08-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

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Sense of Place

One quality needed to become a great artist.

I painted “Silence at Siskiyou Lake” on location during the May painting workshop at The Grand View Ranch. This romantic scene captures the essence of the feeling of Mt Shasta and the ethereal quality that surrounds her majestic slopes. The low angle of the light and the colors from the cool haze lightly covering Mt Shasta and the foothills contrasted with the warm highlights of the morning sun just breaching over the high alpine tree line give this painting a “sense of place.” Creating a “sense of place” requires an understanding of nature that one acquires by closely observing nature and sketching what you see, combined with a good sense of design and composition that one learns with practice and effective instruction by a competent instructor. When I learned these skills, I read the works of early poets and scholars to understand the old methods of depicting a “sense of place,” a romantic vision that seems lost in painting lately.

One such poet and observer of nature that I found particularly fascinating was John Ruskin. Ruskin was a formidable voice during the 1850s and 1860s when early artists like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran established the direction and instructive influence of art. Ruskin promoted “direct imitation of nature’s vital facts” as the path to “truth.” He advised students to begin by studying a single leaf, and expand their range of vision gradually, avoiding any view that would make a “pretty” picture. He recommended that in preparation for study “in the field,” the serious art student should select one photograph of a natural place like a riverbank or a corner of a park, then hold the image up to a window, and trace the outline as accurately as possible. He wrote that by doing this, it might improve the artist's ability to simulate nature more accurately. I recommend it as an exercise for beginning students who want to create a realistic portrayal of nature in their paintings.

Artists who make a career in art share one quality that makes them successful. This quality separates great artists from the meek. All successful artists have the ability to persevere and do not quit. Quitting is contagious. In our 21st century, kids are encouraged to quit when the going gets tough, or when they are bored with a hobby or interest. We have dreams of becoming a great a pianist, a writer, a soccer player, a singer, or an artist. Quitting guarantees that you will not become anything great. Students come to my studio and they have stories about how they dreamed of becoming something but quit because it was too difficult, too risky, or not attainable. All artists encounter aberrations of failure, and they can be consumed with negative conversations in their heads about why their art does not sell, or even worse, why it is not liked. Artists quit when they are convinced that their next work is doomed to fail.

Those who continue to create art have learned how not to quit. What would you do if I could guarantee that you would not fail, and that the next piece of art that you create will be the masterpiece the world is waiting for? What if you already have everything that you need to complete an extraordinary painting, and that all you need to do is to pick up a brush and paint it? Unfortunately, I can only guarantee that if you do not create art, your dream of painting a masterpiece will never happen. If you wish to become an artist- step up, find a subject that you feel excited about sharing, and paint. The world is waiting to see what you have to offer.

At our workshops, we explore and disarm many of the limiting and judgmental ideas that people have believed to be true since childhood and introduce new possibilities for creativity and artistic expression through the excitement of outdoor painting.

Come and join us in October for a life-altering experience!

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 can email me anytime Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime. I welcome your feedback

Creating Great Art

2009-08-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

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"Shasta Sweet Peas"

Mount Shasta is renowned for the splendid displays of wildflowers that cover the foothills every summer. Because of the high altitude and mild climate, abundant varieties of flowers, including some that grow only around Mt Shasta, burst with color all summer and well into the fall. The wildflowers that are the best known and loved are the wild sweet peas that blanket the meadow of the Shasta region. Today’s painting captures some of these magnificent little blooms that I found growing on the Grand View Ranch.

When I coach painters in my outdoor workshops in Mt Shasta, a recurring question that artists frequently ask as they struggle with their experience is “How do I create great art?”
First, it is essential for you as an artist to be true to yourself and create art that reflects what you care about and how you see the world as you develop your individual style. One of the reasons that I created The Grand View Ranch in Mt Shasta is that the landscape speaks to me. I am continually inspired to paint the infinite number of vistas, animals, and flowers that call to me. I am never at a loss to come up with original ideas for a painting. I believe that art is integral to your sense of who you are, and it is best if life and art intertwine.

Secondly, most artists, including myself, are driven by their desire to make art beautiful and meaningful for themselves and their audience by consistently probing and expanding their boundaries and setting new goals. To do this, artists must learn that great art results from doing your craft frequently, diligently, and passionately. If you only think about creating something, very little is accomplished. The fact is that you must actively create art to feel inspired.

Finally, the desire to enjoy art begins at a very early age. Give a young child paper and crayons and you will see that they instinctively create original art that has a message. Their works of art not only display passion for colors but also include stories about their world, family, and pets. If you ask them what their work is about, they will tell you a story that goes on and on.

Why do so many people lose the ability to share themselves openly through their artwork as they get older? I believe that everyone has creativity and talent, and the only thing that stands in the way of experiencing their creative self is fear, the fear of looking bad or failing to reach expectations that art must done “right,” perfect, or beautifully from the beginning. The “ego” is the part of our selves that censors our actions and limits our impulses so that we fit into society and behave in acceptable ways, but the ego can limit our creativity by demanding that we do things that are ordinary so we will blend in, instead of being unique and extraordinary when expressing ourselves. The fear of not being good enough can discourage artists so profoundly that they put down their brushes, and never paint again. Just think of the beauty that would be lost if the flowering sweet peas that I painted worried if they were good enough to be in the meadows, or pretty enough to be painted by artists, and hid from view so that no one ever saw them at all.

At our workshops, we explore and disarm many of the limiting and judgmental ideas that people have believed to be true since childhood and introduce new possibilities for creativity and artistic expression through the excitement of outdoor painting.

Come and join us in October for a life-altering experience!

Stefan Baumann, Premiere Artist of Mt Shasta

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 can email me anytime Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime. I welcome your feedback

Contrast and Consistency

2009-07-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

“Mt. Shasta Afternoon”

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Contrast and Consistency
Atmospheric Perspective

As summer days lengthen, we have many hot days and warm nights at The Grand View Ranch in Mt Shasta, and my focus turns to the stunning effects of light on the mountain. Mt Shasta is one of the seven most spiritual places in the world, and her volcanic peak can be seen hundreds of miles away in many directions in Northern California. Every year, thousands of people and artists visit Mt Shasta to heal, be inspired, to camp, and to paint.

Just painting her majestic slops and grand cliffs is difficult for any artist, but capturing the effect of sun light on the mountain that creates a sense of the time of day is almost an over-whelming challenge. By using a few artistic principles such as color mixing to make warm, bright light to contrast with cool, dark shadows, and including Atmospheric Perspective (that results when the moisture and particulate matter in the atmosphere makes distant objects look softer, cooler, and lighter), success can be just a painting away!

In this painting, Mt. Shasta Afternoon, I wanted to create the late afternoon light just as the sun disappears on the horizon. Because light changes quickly, I took several minutes to memorize the scene so that I could remember where the areas of light and dark, warm and cool, and the brightest focal points are located. Then I quickly painted in the basic shapes and values with contrasting light and dark areas.

To create a sense of warm light on the mountain, I painted the areas illuminated by sunlight with warmer colors and lighter tonal values. Using warm colors like yellow and red gives the effect of warmth to any painting, and by lightening up the value by adding white to the yellow or red, the effect of light will appear even brighter. I made the effect to be even greater in the center of the painting (the central focal point) by emphasizing the middle rock in the foreground. I did this by making the contrast even stronger and warmer by applying almost pure white with a little yellow added in to paint the atmosphere silhouetting the rock.

Next, I wanted to add even more contrast in the foreground by using darkened values of brown, green, and cooler colors for a more dramatic statement against the lighted areas. Notice how the warm light comes from the upper left and is consistent on the background hillsides and the mid- ground trees. The areas that are not in light are cooler, darker, and less intense.
If you want to create a strong sense of the time of day in your painting, be consistent with your treatment of the contrast between the light and shadow areas throughout your painting. In addition, by contrasting the foreground areas (with their sharp detail, strong value, and temperature differences) with the distant objects (that have less detail, cooler colors, and softer contrast,) you can successfully intensify the sense of depth and realism in your landscape paintings.

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 can email me anytime Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime. I welcome your feedback

Taking Your Art to the Next Level

2009-07-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

“Last of the Rhododendron Bloom”

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Working and maintaining a ranch is time consuming and hard work. While we are doing our daily chores, I see hundreds of ideas for paintings like the wildflowers that call to me wanting to be painted, along with those commissions that are due to collectors. I often have to just stop and take note of the fantastic abundance that we have at The Grand View Ranch. Today was the last of the Rhododendron bloom, and with this in mind, I put aside the tasks at the ranch to paint these magnificent blossoms.

For some people, art has been a part of their life since an early age and these artists are lucky, because for them, art is a way of life. Many people gravitate toward becoming an artist later in their lives because they are looking for an activity to bring relaxation and meaning into their hectic lives. Others are looking for something to do during retirement. Most people become artists because they enjoy the creative freedom to paint what inspires them, and find that they are encouraged to express their deepest ideas, visions, and desires as well. Some artists want to create something from their own experience to share with others, with their family, and with the world. They may have a moment when they see an amazing, morning sunrise and say, “Look at that! It’s beautiful. I wish someone could see how breathtaking it is.” And, if they take their time to paint what they see and feel, and share it with others, they discover the magical ingredient that compels artists to create art- the connection of sharing one’s self with others - which becomes the power that can take your art to the next level.

I painted this painting of the rhododendrons for you because I wanted to share the moment when I discovered these beautiful and delicately colored flowers as they gave their best in the last days of their blooming season.

If you wish to accomplish anything extraordinary in art, you must do everything necessary to paint effectively by including some simple elements such as a central focal point, subtle values, and accurate drawing in the painting. In order to be successful, you must grab the viewer’s attention and be able to hold it. An artist is like a great conductor or director who knows how to focus the attention of his or her audience on the art at hand. Contrasting light and dark colors, the artist captures the viewers’ eyes and leads them around the canvas from hard to soft edges, from detailed to loose brushstrokes, and with the addition of counter-balanced values, gives the finale that wows them with a crescendo of light. Creating great art is no accident; it is as deliberate as an Agatha Christie mystery novel. It takes knowledge, hard work, concentration, and dedication to create a masterpiece that looks free and feels expressive. When choosing your subject, let the subject come from within you and let your painting be a simple act of sharing. It does not have to be complicated or heroic, or have some great meaning or message. Great art touches us deeply in a way we cannot forget.

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 can email me anytime Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime. I welcome your feedback

Just as I see it

2009-06-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

“View from Louie Road Bridge”

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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

2009-06-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

“The Last of the Spring Bloom ”

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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

2009-03-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

“Birthday Orchid ”
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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

2009-03-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

“Winter Dogwood”

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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

2009-02-10T22:26:00.000-08:00

“Crossroads in Weed”

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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

2009-02-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

“Times Gone By”

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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.

Inspiration

2009-01-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

The Last of the Herd

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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

Examine the Attributes of a Tree

2008-12-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

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The Trees of Castle Crag Lake

We are experiencing unusually mild weather here in Mt Shasta and we have been able to venture into some of the most beautiful landscapes in America. One of the jewels in the American crown is Castle Crag Lake, a high mountain lake located just west of the town of Shasta. Students who attend my workshops especially enjoy painting at this location because of the exceptional beauty of this alpine lake, and its convenient location for artists to drive and park near her shore, set up their easels, and begin painting. On the day that we came to the lake, the mid-day sun backlit the trees creating an unusual effect against the cool wash of the background wall of rocks. This effect of light caught my eye and I knew that I wanted to capture it forever in this little painting.

When painting trees in nature, it is more important to capture the life of the trees than just the texture of the foliage. In many plein air paintings, I notice that artists place too much attention on the amount of paint that they apply rather than how they apply their paint. Although this method is eye popping, it can become very boring to the viewer. What is more important in painting landscapes is to capture the essence of nature.

For example, carefully examine the attributes of a tree. When looking at a tree, notice its energy and how it shoots up out of the ground, how the branches reach outward to the sky, and how the limbs pull down to the earth as they flow away from the tree. Notice how elastic the limbs are because elasticity in the limbs indicates the tree’s strength, growth, and how it lives in its environment. Observe the tops of the trees and notice how the sprays stretch high towards the heavens; observe the motion and the energy of the wind and atmosphere that exists high in the trees.
These details tell the story of the tree, its history, and its place in a landscape. Painting just the texture of a tree does not tell the viewer how it looks right now. It is like painting a portrait of an old woman without wrinkles. It may be painted to look pretty, but the result may not be interesting or revealing. It is the lines and wrinkles in her face that tells the story of how she lived, laughed, and loved. I believe that these details are missing in many plein air paintings today. In the background of my painting, I have included subtle details embedded in the shear cliffs, and you can see lines in the crags that mark its stratification. You can also see how it has been washed and rounded by glaciers and weather, and that it is not just a wall of rock. The main reason that artists first moved from the studio into the wilderness was to be able to carefully observe and record nature with their own eyes, because without close observation and the use of details, painting can become mechanical and over-simplified.

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

Breaking into the Art Market: Part One

2008-11-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

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Grand Buck of the Siskiyou

Earlier this week, I met an old timer who used to track wild life in and around Mt Shasta who lives just beyond The Grand View Ranch, and he told me that a small herd of elk live on the east side of the mountain in the summer and if I hurry, I can see them rut. I hiked deep into the woods on the east side of Mt Shasta with my thumb box in my backpack and my camera ready to capture anything that moved in the bushes. I carefully descended into the thick brush in search of my target. After hours of wandering through the hillsides and rivers in this desolate area, I found the herd. It was a small herd with six cows and one buck. They were unaware of my presence so I quickly made some sketches. This sketch called “Grand Buck of the Siskiyou” is one of many sketches that I began on this journey.

Every year, 10,000 artists graduate from art schools across the country. Most of these artists will go into other occupations within a few years. A lot of hard work and a little luck are important to making it as an artist. Here are some other ideas.

Take initiative and network! Artists must believe in their work and imagine that it can have a place in the art world. It takes time to develop a recognizable name, and to do this, you must create a loyal customer base at a local level. Be open to showing your art in many different venues. Begin by placing your art in Cafes and local restaurants. Contact your local art group to find out about opportunities for showing your art in their art shows. Have an open studio and paint while potential customers enjoy your finished, framed pieces. Start now to develop a name for yourself. Networking to promote your art is not a one or two year plan. It may take 5 to 10 years to become well known. We often look for the “one piece of the puzzle” that will open the doors to success, but this is not a realistic approach to becoming successful in the art world. It takes many pieces and many attempts to put the whole puzzle together to have your art in public view.

Represent yourself! The only person that really cares about your art and your success is you. Few new artists understand this when they are beginning to show their work. Galleries are most interested in keeping their doors open and will seldom spend any of their commissions on advertising your work or sponsoring a show. Few galleries have the integrity to share with you the names of clients who collect your work. However, they are the first to ask for your client list. Galleries and charity events are good exposure opportunities and should be part of your marketing plan. However, they are not the only ways to have your art be seen by the public.

Keep Creating! It takes a lifetime to be an overnight success as an artist. Keep painting and perfecting your craft and your message. Artists have to be prolific and proactive in producing and promoting their work. Once a door opens to show your work, you must have some paintings available for sale. Success may be a long time in coming, so keep in mind that painting is a craft, and every painting is a learning opportunity for the next painting to be a masterpiece.

I will be sending other blogs about marketing your art, and until then, be intentional about yourself as an artist and create your own success by painting those moments in life that you want others to experience through your art.

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

Artistic Frustration

2008-11-11T23:19:00.000-08:00

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Before we moved to the Grand View Ranch, a young buck made a home for himself beneath the elevated deck off the back of the house. He stayed there all summer until the fall when he had grown a magnificent rack of antlers. Every time we went onto the deck, the startled buck would scurry out from beneath the deck with his antlers scraping the bottom of the cedar deck. He would sit nearby and observe us, the new tenants in his old domain. I could just image that he was thinking, “Well, there goes the neighborhood.” I created this painting from sketches that I made last summer on the back deck at the Grand View Ranch.

As many beginning artists begin to paint, they are amazed by what unfolds beneath their brushes. Smoothly their artistic focus emerges stroke by stroke on their canvases as the unsuspecting artists passionately pursues their craft, loving every moment, and savoring their experiences as they learn to create and be in the world of art. Then one day, they create a painting that sucks. “F*1@!” and “S@$%!” are some of the words used in these moments of artistic frustration. It is an especially good idea to have a separate studio from the rest of the house, not because artists need a quiet place to paint, but because of the outbursts artists experience when they verbally express their annoyance and despair with the creative process. When an artist is confronted by his disappointing efforts, the artist somehow wants to disown his work. This experience is destined to occur to all artists. And, when it happens to you, I recommend that you seek encouragement from other artists who have gone through the same experience.
At these times, I love to read the insights of John Ruskin who wrote a series of books at the turn of the 19th century called Modern Painters. He puts all of this into perspective when he said, “When we paint, let us think that we paint forever. Let it not be for present delight or for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendents will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stroke by stroke, that a time is to come when those paintings will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, “See! This our father did for us.” –John Ruskin

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 Importance of Drawing From Life

2008-09-30T20:32:00.001-07:00

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"Sunday Morning on the Cliffs"

We are just coming down from September’s successful workshop at The Grand View Ranch, and are planning for the last workshop of the year that will take place on October 16th-20th. We still have one opening if you are interested in spending an inspirational weekend in Mt Shasta. This year, artists from all over the country have come to Shasta for a fun and insightful weekend of painting, and I am committed to creating an experience that will inspire you and change the way you paint forever. Please register on the www.thegrandview.com website if you wish to attend the workshop in October or call me at 415-606-9074.

As I go through my sketchbook from my travels in the National Parks when I filmed my PBS Television series, The Grand View, I came upon several sketches that I made in Glacier National Park. This big boy, un-startled by my presence, sat still for hours letting me draw him from many different angles. If you learn to draw and paint on location, you will experience many exciting opportunities to capture the wonders of nature in your sketchbook or on your canvas.

Sketching on location is one of the most important activities that one can do as an artist. The impulse to want to draw is as natural as the desire to talk. Learning to draw is a rewarding and important exercise that allows artists to be capable and free to express themselves when they want to paint what they see flawlessly. I recommend that every artist take a figure drawing class and practice drawing every day. Drawing is a skill that is learned, but drawing accurately requires practice and tenacity. The best way to learn to draw is to use all of your senses to observe, and then, record the impressions of life that catch your attention in the world around you in a sketchbook, and build your collection of “I’ve drawn that” images that is stored in your imagination for your use as you begin your painting on location.

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

Finding Your Artistic Muse

2008-09-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

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“Moose, Opus 1”
Those who know me know that painting landscapes on location in nature is one of my greatest passions. The Grand View television show features my experiences on location in the national parks. What many people don’t know about me is that I also have a deep passion for painting wildlife. I have returned from time to time to visit my artistic muse as I paint animals, and this week, sketches that I made when I hiked and painted in the Teton National Park inspired me. As I searched through my sketchbooks, my senses filled with the memories of that trip, and I recalled the feelings of awe that I felt when I personally encountered so many magnificent animals that exist in America. Those memories served as my source of inspiration as I painted, “Moose, Opus1.”

Finding one’s muse refers to the unintentional and unplanned burst of inspiration that beckons us to create. Many artists say the experience of finding their muse moves through them like the “breath of god.” They do not feel in control the process, but they feel compelled to “go with it” while they are transported beyond their own abilities to see and express their experience on canvas, paper, sound, or movement. The muse seems to be the connection between the inner soul or the unconscious mind and the artist who creates with paints, pens, musical instruments, or dance.

When you cannot find your muse, it feels like you can’t seem to get started with your work or that you just can’t get it right. You can work on a project for hours, and then, wipe it all off, or toss it into a pile of paintings in your garage. You know that you want to create, but you can’t imagine what to paint. There can be a great sense of frustration and unhappiness as an artist struggles to find his way back to feeling inspired again. Often artists will look for inspiration by searching outside of themselves and will look through pictures in books and magazines. Musicians spend hours exercising their connection with the keyboard hoping to hear a pattern, beat, or melody that inspires their creativity. The following ideas may help you to connect creatively within yourself in preparation for your muse’s return.

#1: Ask yourself, “Why did I want to be in artist in the first place?” When you create, you choose many paths, and occasionally you may find yourself feeling lost. Being in touch with why you began creating art is the first step in finding the way to your artistic muse.

#2: Take a long and relaxing walk. Do something that is physically active to clear your mind. It will calm any frustrations, and give you time to have fresh ideas or new approaches that may come to mind when you are away from your studio.

#3: Don’t do anything at all! Don’t even look or think about your painting, Inspiration will come to you when the time is right. Instead, watch TV, go out with friends, or go to bed. Just do something to separate yourself from your art. Sit back and enjoy being creative in other ways.

#4: Think of a book or movie that moves you to feel your emotions and paint a picture about something in the story that touches you. Every great work of art is inspired by connecting to life in some way.

#5: Listen to some inspirational or unusual music. I prefer tribal music, Classical music or movie soundtracks. Few things are as artistically stimulating as a great symphony by Beethoven. Let the music guide your art. Allow yourself to let loose and go with the sounds. Leonardo daVinci felt that he painted better when he listened to music.

#6: And go outside of yourself for ideas and inspiration. Browse through books to see and experience other artists’ work. Sometimes, we are so concerned that all of our work has to be original, and we forget that other artists have had huge breakthroughs after losing their muses, too. Visit a museum or surf the internet to see what other artists are creating, because it can be insightful, inspiring, and can connect us with the ups and downs that others in our special group of human beings known as artists experience.

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

Artist’s Block

2008-09-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

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Farmhouse in Mt Shasta

My parents came to stay with us over the summer, and my father loved working on the ranch clearing the property and making trails for visitors to explore. After my father retired, he took my advice and started painting. Over the years, I have seen his focus and drive increase, and the quality of his work improve. Recently, we painted together in Mt Shasta, and although he is new to painting on location, he is discovering the importance of being able to paint on location. This little painting is the result of a grand morning when I painted with my father.

Artists often create with passion and drive, and much of the time are inspired and determined to express themselves with no limitations. However, other times, they find that they fall into what artists call an “artist’s block.” This is very common among artists, and this term is widely used by painters, writers, musicians, and poets. When the fear of not being able to create makes an artist question what talents they might have or not have, passion and inspiration disappear. This state of mind can go on for years, and it is the reason that people stop creating forever. That is why it’s very important to do something about it.

To move on from an artistic block, it’s important to encourage yourself to set new goals, and change your thinking from “I can’t” to “I can do this.” Stop focusing on yourself and your feelings of being a failure. Ego is one main factor that will block your creativity. Consider what is important to you and share it though your art with another person. Art is a conversation between you and another person, and the other person wants to share a moment with you and experience your personal insights through your paintings or writings.

Ask yourself, “What if?” “What if I completed a book?” “What if I had a show in a major gallery?” “What if I could change the world with my art?” These questions are more than just dreams. They are magnificent possibilities about what your art can be.

Take a trip somewhere that you have never considered going before, even if it's only to a local town you have never explored. Always take a sketchbook, a notebook, a journal, or a thumb box everywhere you go. Commit to write, draw, or paint your observations every day, as grand or silly as they might be.

If this does not work, look for a coach or a class, or someone you can talk to because you might just need a mentor to give you a new perspective or to change your view of something that you may take for granted. Remember, you are unique and significant in the world, and few people possess the talent that you have right now. So don’t keep them waiting.

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

Sky & Harmony

2008-09-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

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Just north of The Grand View Ranch is the small farming town of Gazelle. This little old town on Hwy 99 was once a bustling town but it has shrunk in size, just like so many other rural communities in America that have disappeared because of commercialism and the popularity of box stores. I found this barn as I was searching for new locations for my workshops in Mt Shasta. The morning light was just breaking over the mountain, and I quickly set up my pochade box, and sketched it before the light changed.

Sky and sunlight together harmonizes a landscape, because the color of the light source (sunlight) shining through the atmosphere fills the scene with harmonious colors. But, how do you harmonize your painting? I have heard that some artists mix a mother color (a color that is made of red, yellow, and blue) on their palette, and once they have mixed a tone that is close of a color in the scene, they add it to all the colors. Other artists have a blue or red glass that they look through to see the changing values and see color temperatures. Other artists tone their canvas purple or brown. Although these methods work for some artists, I feel that if you paint all your paintings with the same approach or method, your work will look the same and can become boring. I recommend that you paint what you see. Nature harmonizes everything and always provides the best example: so if you paint what is there, the colors will be harmonious. Whether you paint from still-life setups, figure studies, or by looking out your window or painting outdoors, painting from life provides the most realistic, original, and true to life color, allowing you to create your own view of the world as it appears to you.
.Painting outdoors is not an easy task. You must have everything at your disposal to make it go smoothly. It requires even more discipline than painting from still life or a live model. If you do learn to paint outdoors, you will acquire the ability to see color and analyze values in a very exciting manner that will inspire you forever. If you want to grasp the secret of painting, just paint from life. With practice and experience gained by painting outdoors, you may not want to paint any other way and in a very short time, you will have the power to paint anything that you desire.
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

Keying the Values

2008-08-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

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We are gradually clearing out most of the old dead growth and are cutting in trails behind the Grand View Ranch so that guests visiting the ranch can wander around and see the beautiful vistas. I painted “Another Smoky Day at the Ranch” while viewing one of these vistas. I imagined painting this as an intensely lit scene to illustrate a High Key painting. Light is frequently the main attraction in a painting, and establishing the mood by using appropriate light and color is often the first decision an artist must make.

In the last Blog painting, I chose a Middle Key scheme to suggest the feeling of tranquility in the subject matter. In today’s painting, I selected a High Key value scheme with intense colors and values, creating a painting that will POP off the wall. I chose predominantly dark values that contrast with the faded appearance of the misty, smoky atmosphere, and then combined them with a strong, warm color theme to create a harmonious composition.

An artist’s job is to push his or her craft to the limit without feeling trapped by “perfectionism that leads to paralysis.” All artists secretly desire freedom of expression, but the reality is that great artists must know their craft and subject matter first. Learning how to paint is just the beginning. Spending time painting on location is the ultimate teacher for the landscape painter. When you learn to paint on location, you will discover the freedom and ease of capturing nature on canvas, and you will be amazed at the impact that this will have on your artwork.

As artists, we are not attempting to reproduce nature. When we experience the amazing impact of the whole, grand effect of nature’s beauty within ourselves, we yearn to paint our interpretation of what we see and feel to share with others. Ask yourself two important questions before you paint. First, what do I want the viewer to feel? Secondly, is the value range consistent with the mood I want to portray? Please view my blog to see how I painted this painting step by step.

(Plate 1) I painted this painting on location using a 12x8-canvas board that was primed with gesso. I quickly composed and sketched-in the view that I found captivating with Asphaltum and turpentine. I used a # 8 Flat bristle brush so that I could sketch my ideas quickly.

(Plate 2) Next, I placed the darkest and lightest values on the canvas early on so that I could judge all my values against these original values.

(Plate 3) Then, I painted the value and colors of the smoky sky, and covered my original sketch of the trees as I painted in the ground values of the forest. I worked with contrasts, and gauged every color and value against the light and dark values that I established originally in the painting.

(Plate 4) I softened all the edges and blurred the values into the sky. I wanted to create a very mysterious setting by using values to establish the shapes.

(Plate 5) I painted the sun using very thick paint. Remember, the thicker you paint, the brighter it will appear on the canvas. This has to do with how the light reflects on the surface. I began painting in the trees using dark brown and a lot of turp. If you want to paint wet into wet, it is necessary to mix more turpentine into the top layer so that it doesn’t pull the paint away from the layer underneath. Finally, I painted the rocks and details in the foreground using pure, saturated colors to enhance the High Key effect of the painting. I painted this vista in about 2 hours.

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

Creating Atmosphere & Tonality in a Painting

2008-08-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Smoky Day in Mt Shasta

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California is experiencing a record number of forest fires, and the smoke from these fires affects Mt Shasta. Although the devastation caused by the fires is heartbreaking, the light effects because of the smoke in the air are dramatic. Early this morning, I traveled deep into the woods behind the Grand View Ranch. As I descended into the brush, I discovered an old Indian path that led me to this secret place. Many early Native Americans made their home near Mt Shasta and their presence is still felt everywhere. I’m sure that many of those early explorers were as impressed by the grand vistas of Mt Shasta as I am. Inspired by the luminous glowing effects of the sun filtered by the smoky air, I quickly painted “Smoky Day in Mt. Shasta,” before the mood and the value changed.

A great landscape painter includes his own emotional experiences for the viewer to identify with and relate to in a painting. Many artists use the subject matter to tell a story. However, when artists paint a landscape, they essentially convey their personal experience of what they see and feel by painting the wondrous effects of the light on objects, and communicate the mood of their story on canvas with beautiful colors on their brushes. Artists can express themselves by using time of day, sunlight, heat and humidity, particles in the air, and even weather to influence the feeling of their painting to open a dialog with the viewer.

Successful artists carefully choose their tools of expression to use before beginning the painting. For example, you might include what kind of light (warm or cool) is present, and what time of day it is. Also, see if you can determine what angle or direction the light is coming from. Observe the light to see if it unifies or divides the values in the scene, and then choose the value and color key that enhances the mood of the painting; a light and bright key for an up-beat mood, and a dark key for a more heavy or subdued mood.

In this example, “Smoky Day in Mt Shasta,” I chose to paint with a middle range of value or a middle color “key” that gives the painting a tranquil effect. The smoke in the atmosphere affects all the colors and objects so the light is consistent throughout the painting. The sun has the highest value and is the lightest color key in the painting. If the overall tonality or key in this painting were too light or too dark, the message of tranquility would be lost.

If you would like to experiment with these tools, begin a painting using a few colors to create an atmospheric color such as a cool bluish-gray or a warm, yellowish-orange, and paint the entire canvas in that color. Then, use dark values and highlights in the same color key to form objects such as trees, rocks, and mountains in the atmosphere, and see what develops.

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

Point of Interest

2008-07-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

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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

2008-07-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

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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?

2008-07-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

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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

2008-07-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

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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

“Sfumato”

2008-06-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

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Announcing…
The Grand View Ranch Has A New Web Site!

By popular demand, we have created a new web site which artists can go to and find information about workshops, events, painting tips and receive a FREE book on “how to” paint on location.
Please check it out and let me know what you think at :

http://www.TheGrandView.com

Just south of The Grand View Ranch is an isolated forest that contains an incredible tapestry of canyons and waterfalls. Many of these destinations are unmarked and without visitors. I learned of a place like this, and knew that I had to explore it for myself. Faery Falls is exceptionally beautiful. In the spring, the water in Ney Springs Creek powerfully rushes to form a lovely 60-foot high, fan-shaped waterfall that crashes into a deep, clear blue-green pool of water below, while butterflies dance around the edges of the cascading waters like little fairies. Because of the huge amount of spray and mist at the base of the falls, the one difficulty I had at Faery Falls was finding a dry spot to paint without getting wet.

A secret key that unlocks the mystery of painting waterfalls is to paint them as if they are dry. Start by painting the rocks in cool, dark colors, and sculpt them first. Novice painters usually paint the white of the waterfalls first, leaving the rocks flat without depth. The best water effects are created using shadow and form. Notice also that the highlight on the water is not white but a light, warm color. Try using Cad lemon yellow and Cad orange with white to paint the bright, shimmering sunlight that dances over the falls.

Capturing the feeling of the water free falling to the earth below is what distinguishes the master artist from the Sunday painter. Leonardo da Vinci would call this subtle ability to paint feelings “Sfumato,” referring to a technique which overlays translucent layers of color to create perceptions of depth, volume, and form, requiring a delicate approach as though one was trying to grasp and hold smoke (fume). Painting is personal expression, and most artists learn to paint objects. However, when an artist challenges himself to paint the elusive qualities of his own response to objects in life, he becomes a great artist.

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 First Impression Counts

2008-06-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

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The First Impression Counts

In our weekend workshop at Mt Shasta, we experience some of the most extraordinary places in America. Most of the locations that we paint are accessible by car. Participants who have never painted on location before find that plein air painting is very rewarding, and by working right from the car, they can focus completely on the task and begin painting from life. However, on the east side of Mt Shasta, deep in woods, there is a place that is so awesome, so breathtaking, and so grand, but the only way that you can see this sight is by hiking to it. The McCloud Middle falls are so beautiful that I was inspired to include a “hike and paint” in our itinerary for the workshop.

One key to painting on location is getting your first impression on your canvas as fast as you can. The effects and feelings change every moment, and a skilled painter must remember the scene that called the artist to want to paint it in the first place. Painting is a series of memory exercises, and the act of painting requires practicing this skill. Most artists lose the feeling of a painting because they spend most of their time chasing the light and changing what they are painting, moment by moment, as the light changes before them. When you find a subject that engages you, look at your subject and ask your self, “Why do I want to paint this?” Then, freeze that image in your mind and stay focused on the first impression you had of the subject.
Painting from life will help you develop somewhat of a photographic memory, and your memory will support your ability to create landscapes that are more convincing and captivating, both on-site and in the studio.

The Grand View Ranch will have a new web site this week; we will provide updated information about it as the week progresses.

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

A View From The Grand View Opus 1

2008-06-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

A View From The Grand View Opus 1

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Self-Doubts and Criticism

The spring weather is here at The Grand View Ranch, and with spring’s beauty arriving, there are incredible compositions to paint. Today’s painting is just one of many views that caught my eye at the ranch, and I painted it during a demonstration at the May workshop. With each workshop, I learn more about what art is, and why so many people feel intimidated when they are creating art.

Let us examine the enemy within ourselves that creates our doubts and fears about our ability to be a successful artist. Where does this self-doubt come from, and why do we have it? Most of our self-doubts and criticism originate from experiences that happened in our childhood, and we make it to mean something important about ourselves. For example, if you were five and you drew a horse, and your mom said, “That’s a funny drawing of a dog,” you could have felt that everything you create will be criticized, and could have decided that you will never let that happen to you again. When we listen to the internal story that we created when we were five, we are influenced by the strong opinions formed at that young age about the world and ourselves. Self-doubts are real and powerful and can stifle creativity. It is important to recognize where the story comes from, and go on creating.

If you want to paint great trees in a landscape, here is a secret. Notice the setting sun behind the trees in “View from the Grand View Opus 1,” and how it provides an interesting effect as the light comes through the holes in the tree. If you paint the sky first, and then lay a tree on top of it, the effect will look flat and not real. If you paint the trees first, and then paint the sky and the sky holes in the tree, every sky hole can be a different color and value, because the holes vary in value according to their size and the consequent amount of light they admit through them. The smaller holes are darker or grayer than the larger sky holes which are lighter in value and similar to the sky color and value surrounding the trees.

I want to thank you for all your emails asking when the next blog and painting would be posted. I am inspired and touched by your interest and comments, and am happy to say, that after a busy month of Workshop preparation and website construction, I am eager to resume posting my blog for you.

The Grand View Ranch will have a new web site this week; we will provide updated information about it as the week progresses. 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

Middle Falls Mc Cloud River

2008-05-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

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Leap of Faith

The Grand View Ranch is just a few miles from McCloud, a historic town on the east side of Mt Shasta. In 1829, a party of Hudson Bay Company trappers and explorers, led by Alexander Roderick McLeod, were the first white men to travel through the valley where McCloud now stands. George W. Scott and William Van Arsdale, founders of the McCloud River Railroad Company, established the town of McCloud. The railroad made it economically feasible to transport lumber to more populated areas. Thus began the lumber company town of McCloud.

Just outside McCloud is the McCloud River. Some boast that this river has the best fishing in America. I just discovered this river, and plan to make it part of our painting workshops this spring. It is just a short hike from the road, and I think the
McCloud river “middle falls” is the best of three waterfalls located on the river itself.

On this day, I decided that I would paint the very first effect that caught my eye, and only paint that. I believe that painting an effect is more powerful than painting a thing. What caught my eye first was the brilliant mist of the waterfall in contrast to the soft backlighting on the green moss. It gave the feeling of being by a waterfall, without painting a waterfall. Painting the mist hovering near the falls was a challenge, not because of the skill needed, but because of the concentration required. When you find a dramatic setting like this, it is tempting to paint the post- card shot, including all of the falls, part of the river, and the trees and rocks that make up the location. I had to remind myself that my intention was to capture the effect of light, and not be distracted by all the other beautiful objects of nature that begged to be included.

Choosing to be an artist is one of the hardest decisions to make, in part because of the experiences in our past when we were young. I remember when I was young and stated that I wanted to be an artist, people would laugh and say, “No, you need to have a real job.” However, to be an artist of any kind is the noblest decision that a person can make. If you choose to be an artist, you must have faith: faith in your self, in your ideas, and in your abilities. You must take leaps of faith; some that are as simple as choosing a medium, and some leaps that require you move to other communities so that you can pursue your art. You must follow your own dreams, and conquer the fears that try to stop you. As each negative thought says, “you can’t,” you must fortify yourself by asserting the truths of “I can and I will,” and set a course for a creative journey that results in the extraordinary experience of being an artist.

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

From My Studio Opus 1

2008-05-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

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Today I gazed out of my studio window watching Mt Shasta and the seasons passing from winter to spring. We were preparing The Grand View Ranch for our second painting workshop, and I was constantly interrupted by the changing mood and light on this majestic peak. I painted this painting of the mountain mid-day when the light on the mountain is relatively flat, and even though this is not a dramatic time of day to paint, it is a challenge to capture the mood of the afternoon sun.

As I faced my own challenges when painting today, I was thinking about what is it that causes some people to achieve excellence, while others settle into a mediocre complacency. What would you have to do to take your art to the next level?
The most important quality that you can bring to your painting is desire. Desire has conquered nations, brought lovers together, and is the key for anyone one who wants to paint inspiring works. Many artists don’t trust their own voice that speaks about what is important and attractive to them. It is important to trust in your uniqueness because when you create art, it is a reflection of you. If the work pleases you, there is a good chance it will please some others. It is important to excel in your effort every time you begin a new canvas.

A good way to step-up a level in your art is to imagine yourself at your own one-man exhibition, and see it as others might see it. Imagine yourself walking through the gallery, and seeing your paintings on the wall with the lighting and framing just perfect. Ask yourself these two questions: are these paintings your visual response to the world, and are the works on the wall an extension of yourself? Try to listen to the conversations that others are whispering about your paintings and you. If you can imagine what others might feel and experience, then paint what you see and feel for them.

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

Mossbrae Falls Opus 1

2008-04-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

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Following the railroad tracks, I trusted my internal compass as I searched for a waterfall that is seldom seen by visitors to Mt Shasta. Local residents told me about a breath- taking view of a wall of water that cascades into the Sacramento River. The subtle climb of the tracks reminded me of the hard work men must have endured in 1901 building this winding metal trail, flowing like a river itself, through the mighty Cascade Mountains. I continued following the Sacramento River located far below me, at times stopping and looking in awe at the canyon and the roaring waters that created it. Then the unmistaken sound of water falling directed my eye, and I saw for myself, what only a few locals have experienced, Mossbrae Falls.

Mossbrae Falls is a unique waterfall. It is only about 50 ft. high, but it is 150 ft. wide. The water cascades from springs down a moss-covered canyon wall into the Sacramento River, creating a wall of water. It is actually quite a bit taller than 50ft., but you cannot see the upper cascades through the brush and trees. In the fall, I want to offer an advance-painting workshop on location, and hope to include this spot as one of the vistas.

When you pack your supplies to paint on location, keep your palette simple, containing the fewest colors necessary for the way you paint. The less you travel with, the more productive you will become. When painting on location, I prefer to use three colors,
Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Cad Yellow, and white, and an earth color such as Asphaltum or Burnt Sienna. These five colors work best for most effects. Any easel that works for you is the best one. The key to painting and choosing your supplies on location is to pack light and “Just Do It!”

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

“Hedge Creek Falls Opus 1”

2008-04-26T22:50:00.001-07:00

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Things in my life have finally settled down so I can continue our conversations through this blog. During the past week, we at The Grand View Ranch had our first on location workshop. The participants and I had an incredible weekend painting the stunning vistas of Mt Shasta and the surrounding countryside, and everyone’s expectations were highly satisfied. I look forward to the two other workshops this spring, and have scheduled two new workshops this fall. After the success of this weekend, I can truly say, “You do not want to miss this opportunity.”

Today, I found time to revisit one of the locations that we painted on Saturday. As we journeyed deeper down into the canyon, moss-laden rocks and oak totems guarded the trail from intruders. We heard the mighty torrent that stopped us in our tracks. The sound beckoned us to venture yet deeper down the trail; we obliged, and with our easels and paint, we continued our decent. The air was moist, the rocks wet, and we saw the majestic source of the canyons hidden secret, Hedge Creek Falls.

When we create, we draw from our inner source. This source will become stagnate or blocked if not frequently revitalized. We must take time to self-nourish our artistic source. It is imperative that all artists replenish the artistic soul and paint from real life and not images. When painting from photos it is easy to paint things instead of painting feelings of what you see and are experiencing. Our brains require the active pursuit of real images to reconnect reality to one-dimensional photographs. The world is not waiting for another painting of something; what it hungers for is your personal view of the subject. A mechanical device like a camera can never capture this personal conversation with nature.

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

Grand View Ranch Spring Runoff

2008-03-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

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The spring melt has begun at The Grand View Ranch, and the many creeks that surround our ranch are bursting with water. The oak trees that flank the creek banks are like islands surrounded by rushing water and everything is holding on tight trying not to be swept away.

The forest is a place of peace, a sanctuary, a wonderfully balanced ecosystem.
When I enter a forest, I am aware of an eloquent silence with a myriad of pleasant sounds that seem to hang in the air. The mighty old oak trees with their rugged moss-laden trunks and twisted branches are the stalwart guardians of the forest. They welcome me into their home with their branches reaching high above, meeting in a cathedral style arch overhead. As the morning light shines down through the trees, the leaves reflect the glow causing millions of dancing shadows and golden-flecked spots of light to fall upon the thickly covered forest floor. Hundreds of tiny little eyes gleam timidly from their refuges; they sit motionless, their small ears alert to determine the intention of an intruder.

Every tree has a personality, yet it is common for a painter to take them for granted. Beginning painters paint trees and the forest as a heterogeneous multitude of vertical sticks with some horizontal green strokes to simulate branches. Trees and forests are more than just objects to paint to fill up a canvas, or be painted in a flip, blasé manner that detracts from a viewer’s serious appreciation of their beauty. Painting trees involves more than merely slap sticking a #2 fan brush across a vertical line and hoping that the viewer will get the message. Trees must be studied on location, and the best way to do this is to take a pencil to paper and draw them. One good pencil drawing detailing every branch of the tree will teach you everything that you need to know about painting trees.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

Grand View Burn Opus 1

2008-03-29T21:47:00.001-07:00

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Recently, we have been preparing The Grand View Ranch for upcoming workshops in April, May, and June, and have spent many days clearing dead trees and fallen limbs left by the winter storms. Because the property is cluttered with 70 years of growth, we are clearing it branch by branch, and this takes many days of hauling and burning. One of my favorite activities is “The Burn.” We drag 40 to 60 lbs of tree trunks over an acre of land to a burn pile, and then, we hoist them onto the burning flame. Grand View Burn Opus 1 is one of a series that captures this activity.

When painting fire or anything that would be an eye-catching subject, it is important to make good color choices. A painting is most effective when the color relationships and transitions are well synchronized so they themselves express the idea of the picture. Good color does not mean prettiness, or color that is dashed upon a canvas. It is color that is intentionally used to make a powerful statement; and to use color powerfully means to reserve for it for the punch or climax of its full force on the central focal point. An exercise for seeing if there are good color relationships and transitions is to turn the painting up side down to view the painting as an abstract, and see if anything stands out as being out of place.

Blog readers have asked about my goals for The Grand View Ranch. It is my dream to create an idyllic artist retreat, where artists can participate in location painting workshops that nurture the artist in a place of unparalleled beauty and inspiration. I am interested in offering an experience that reflects the philosophy of one of my mentors, John Ruskin, author of “Modern painters.” Ruskin rejected the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution, similar to what we are going through right now, with mass produced imports from other countries, and very few items made with the artist’s hands, mind, and heart. I hope to work with other similar thinking artists to make a difference, and to provide a location for human connection and artistic expression to grow. This type of project takes a battalion of helpful colleagues to make it work, and many artists have contributed to this dream. I thank them with all my heart.

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

Basalt Cliffs North of Shasta

2008-03-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

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To the north of Mt Shasta, the climate is dryer and the landscape is like a high desert. Throughout the region, there are dirt roads that lead explorers to amazing vistas that few people ever venture off the paved highway to see. This is the part of California that resembles the way that America was 100 years ago with very little population and seemingly endless roads that were seldom traveled.

The spot that I painted today is one of those places. The incoming storm provided dramatic lighting, turning this rocky basalt range into a glorious ever-changing kaleidoscope of color. I will explore more of this mountain range in future blog paintings, so stay tuned.

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

Shasta Barn Opus 3

2008-03-08T23:55:00.000-08:00

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Painting expands our intelligence and develops sensitivity to all things in the world. Our curiosity about everything is awakened. Every day experience is enhanced when you explore the world around you and share it with others on canvas. Painting can create a record of your life, lived.

Just down the road from The Grand View Ranch is the Hoy Ranch. This 2,000-acre farm has an extraordinary view of Mt Shasta. I painted this fabulous barn on the Hoy ranch to add to my “The Barns of Mt Shasta” series. This spring when I give my on-location painting workshops in Mt Shasta, we will paint this awesome location.

The artist is a juggler trying to keep many balls in the air. This is especially true on location when every moment is part of the experience, and the painting. There are vast amounts of information about the subject matter to see and sense about what you are painting. One’s senses are filled with smells, noise, wind, bugs, tourists, exhaust, warm sunrays, and cold feet. It is a wonder that we can keep our wits about us to do the task-at-hand.

As you begin, you must focus and imagine the concept of what you want to paint before painting the first brush stroke on the canvas. Then, with eyes wide-open, look at the subject before you, and see color, composition, light, shadows, form, dimension, atmosphere, prospective, values, weight, movement, balance, rhythm, and the subject itself. Then, you make important choices; what the painting will include and exclude, what time of day, where the focal point will be, and so on. Choosing is a very powerful and essential part of successfully developing and portraying what you feel about the subject or place. This is where all great works of art begins.

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

Shasta Mountain Lioness

2008-03-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

Shasta Mountain Lioness

Part 1

This is part one of a three-part demonstration of a studio painting that is in progress. In the next week, look for parts two and three to see how this painting progresses. This is the first day of painting, and, as you can see, after just a few hours I have a clear vision of my inspiration captured on canvas. Later, I will complete this painting with details and lighting.

While exploring and painting the wild country in the American West, I have witnessed hundreds of compositions like the one I am painting. This weekend, on a steep and strenuous climb that I thought would take me up to the Eddys, the rock that I was standing on suddenly dropped away, and I realized I was on a ridge. As I looked around, I was inspired and had a vision for a painting of the matriarch of the forest, a mountain lioness, as she surveys her kingdom overlooking Mt Shasta, the jewel of her crown. Perhaps the simplest way to understand me is to recognize my intense attraction to the mountains and all the living things within them. In nature, I find endless ideas for paintings. I marvel at the way Mt Shasta can appear beautifully, then vanish, and reemerge as clouds and fog roll in and out over the mountain. I feel grateful to be able to witness sunsets and storms that are in themselves the work of a higher power. My most memorable impression of traveling through the Shasta wilderness is how vast it is, with distances that seem to go on forever. The enormous volcanic mountain does things in a big way.

In this blog, I have suggested that artists paint from life, capture what they see, and convey their unique experience of the world to the viewer by painting. However, artists and collectors who know my work know that I create my studio paintings in a very different way.

The sketches that I paint on location train my painting reflexes and are recorded in my memory, so that I can render them again in future paintings. I am able to combine personal observations with passionate memories to compose paintings in my studio. None of the elements for this painting comes from photos. In fact, I rarely travel with a camera. I cannot stress the importance of painting from memory. In this blog, I refer to painting on location as a way of learning to see what you are looking at. It is with our imagination that we excel in the art of painting. If you would like to practice painting from memory, after painting on location, paint your painting again completely from memory in your studio without your sketch or photos.

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 Old Bunkhouse

2008-03-03T23:22:00.000-08:00

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This afternoon I discovered a wonderful ranch that was established in 1854 just outside the town of Edgewood at the foot of Mount Shasta. Jackson Ranch is a 2000-acre ranch that a prospector homesteaded after making a fortune gold mining in Yreka. As I began painting, an old man came out of the forest with a rifle flung over his right shoulder. He had a kind and welcoming smile. He noticed that I was painting and wandered over to see what I was doing. He told me that the structure I was painting was the old bunkhouse that his great-great grandfather built it in 1856.

The great thing about painting on location is that it is not like jumping out of a car and snapping a photo. Painting invites conversation. People stop to talk with you, and have nothing but praises to say about what you are doing. Most people admire the fact that you have the ability and interest to do what you are doing, and wish that they could do it, too. It is very intriguing to see a painter in a field with an easel and umbrella, and the old hunter’s curiosity led him to approach me when he saw me painting “The Old Bunkhouse.”

Often I paint what I see as an exercise in capturing the mood of a place in the moment. Today the light was defused by clouds and offered little highlight, but the soft light intensified the feeling of history as I painted the old structure. The mood of a painting conveys the artist’s emotional response to the place, object, or person that is being painted. Mood is the prime differentiating quality between a painting done on location and one painted from a photo in the studio. The more you sketch on location, the more you store feelings and observations to use in future expressions on canvas. Great paintings are mostly studio paintings that originated from a personal experience, recalled later in the studio, and expressed through the artist’s brush from memory.

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

Shasta Valley Opus 1

2008-03-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

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While exploring some of the country roads that crisscross the landscape in Shasta Valley, I discovered thousands of landscapes waiting to be painted. Hay and alfalfa farmers along with their livestock made this fertile valley their home. The grand landscapes and the ever-present shadow of Mt Shasta in the background dwarf the little farms and rancheros. The landscapes whispered to me “come here and paint me.” It is difficult to paint every subject that you see. There is a moment that you must just stop the car and say, “this is it.” I set up my supplies, and then stood with my brush poised, took a breath, and allowed my thoughts to focus on the result that I wished to capture. Once the image was clear, I started painting.

There are rules that help to create a sense of space or the feeling of air on a two-dimensional canvas. One rule that governs color gradations is that all colors become cooler as they recede from the eye, except white. Color that recedes into the distance has some blue added to it. Likewise, objects in the foreground are warmer with yellow or red added to the hue. Orange is the warmest color of all. Additionally, yellow fades out as the landscape recedes. That means that the green in the foreground will have lots of yellow present, but in the middle ground, you will find the yellow gradually diminishes yielding a grayish blue. In the background, the yellow will fade all together and become a bluish color.

Another rule that helps to create aerial perspective is that all things get lighter in value the further they recede into the distance. By adding white to a color that is receding, it becomes lighter in value and appears to be distant. Be sure to squint and observe the landscape before painting any color, because to create depth, the value must be correct. Notice that the colors and values change and become cooler and lighter as they recede into the distance in the newest painting, Shasta Valley Opus 1.

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

“Spring Light Meadow”

2008-02-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

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From my studio in Mt. Shasta, winter is retreating and the spring air is melting the snow on our side of the mountain. The Grand View Ranch is awakening with artistic subjects galore. Water, from the snow melting, seems to be flowing from everywhere creating creeks and waterfalls in places where there weren’t any in the fall. The radiating and enveloping light now illuminates the landscape. The fresh clear atmosphere transforms our everyday world into a lively and beautiful place. I feel the omnipresent light saturating everything, bringing it all into unity. Now I understand the true meaning of “tonality.”

Light seems to be an entity apart from color and form; yet it is the creator of both. Light creates the color of an object because each object possesses qualities that absorb some rays and reflect others. The ratio of absorption and reflection determines the color of an object. In light, a complete spectrum of color is present. This means there is red, yellow, and blue color in every light source. This is what we see.

In a painting, we do not create light; we attempt to create the illusion or impression of light by using values and temperature. It is the contrast of values (the range of white to black) and the use of warm and cool colors (blue, violet, and green) that give an effect of light. As painters, we never use white for a highlight straight out of a tube because white is a cool color and needs to be tinted with a little red, yellow, and blue. White paint is used to lighten a value. If a highlight is a reflection of light from a light source, and light contains all spectrums of color, (red, yellow, and blue), it makes sense that a highlight would have all three colors present to make up the effect of light.

Try this on your next winter painting to highlight the snow; combine Titanium white with just a dash of Cadmium orange, Lemon yellow, and Cobalt blue. Use gray violet and gray blue shade in the shadows. I used this recipe when I created “Spring Light Meadow.”

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

A Single Rose

2008-02-23T23:41:00.000-08:00

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It’s snowing again. This morning in my studio, I was thinking about today’s painting, when the rose that I painted for Valentine’s Day caught my eye. In contrast to the stormy white landscape outside my studio, I marveled at the soft pinkish petals of the rose and the wonderful wilting green leaves, and I captured it again on canvas for you.

The most important time that you can spend on any painting is the first ten minutes; time not spent painting at all, but thinking. When you start a painting, it is important that you have a clear vision of the completed piece before you start. Having a strong mental picture of what you wish to see on canvas means that you think about the finished details of the painting, which includes visualizing how the piece is framed and how it will look hanging on the wall. Once you have a vivid mental picture of the completed painting, you will be able to capture the image more clearly.

It is important to work from life as I did with ‘A Single Rose”. If you want to practice your skills for location painting, this exercise is a great one to start with. Choose one object in your studio and place it in your still life stage where you can create a pleasing composition using light and shadow, contrast and color. Take 10 minutes to imagine the painting as a finished piece and then begin to paint. Once you have practiced your observation skills indoors, you will be more prepared to paint outdoors.

When you begin painting on location, carry your paints and canvases into the fields and woods. If you can, set up near a stream and see for yourself the kaleidoscope of color and light. Sit quietly for ten minutes before starting to paint. Study the scene as an artist would, noticing the value and the color, the details in the shadows, and the warm and cool colors that make up the light. Look at nature with a painter’s eye and not merely as a tourist. After sitting still, you are ready to begin painting. Once you have completed your painting, return to the studio with the completed piece for quiet study; and then, you will begin to understand the things you used to look at and did not see.

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

Road to the Foothills

2008-02-18T22:51:00.001-08:00

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Shasta has many different sides to her beauty. To the south, thickly wooded forests and wonderful rivers flank her foothills. To the east, there is high mountain terrain. To the West, where we are, there are large meadows with willows, dogwood and oak trees that make the landscape interesting. To the north, an arid high desert where pinion and sagebrush find their home spreads over miles of land. This is where I painted “Road to the Foothills.”

While scouting for locations for my upcoming workshop this spring, I traveled off paved roads to discover hidden vistas. On the other side of Weed, this one special place called to me to paint it. I like to paint in the morning or in the late evening when the lighting is more dramatic. When I arrived at my location early this morning, I set up my easel, umbrella, palette, and everything else. I reached for my brushes and realized that I forgot them at home. I repacked everything, raced home and then drove back again. The light had moved to midday, but the vista still waited to be painted. Moral: always make sure that you check off your list of supplies and pack everything before you leave home.

The best art not only challenges the maker, but also the viewer. Often artists fall short when conveying their message, not because they lack talent, but because there was never a message to communicate in the first place. Before you start a painting, you want to ask yourself two questions:

“Is it worth doing?” Mediocrity is seldom rewarded because many can obtain it. Set out to push yourself beyond what you think that you can do and strive for something great. We remember those artists who set the standard of excellence high for other artists to reach for.

“What do you want to say?” Remember, as human beings, we are alike in many ways. In order for us to communicate, we must have something that unifies our understanding. When we enjoy a sunset or a flower, it is not the object that makes us look. It is the emotional response that we have to it that makes us say, “Wow, look at that.” When you paint, tune in to your emotional self, and say through your art to the viewer, “Look at this.”

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

"Shasta Barn Opus 2"

2008-02-17T23:00:00.000-08:00

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Since moving to Mt Shasta, I have been in love with all of the history that surrounds this magnificent peak. It is located near several old logging towns, and it is the main route for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It also boasts that it has the best trout fishing in the country. The land is rich and fertile, and the people that live here are friendly and welcoming.

Shasta Barn Opus 2 is the second barn a series of six paintings that depict the many unique barns near Mt Shasta. It is exciting for collectors to collect a series, but it can be challenging for the artist to paint one. In my title, I use the reference “Opus” as homage to my love of music. The word Opus is used to number works in a musical score; I use it to number the works in a series of paintings. You might want to paint a series of paintings to challenge yourself.

There is no magic in creating a painting. What magic other artists have in their work is something they create within their work. Your challenge is to discover what you need to do in your own paintings. Painting is a process of lessons learned. Learning to paint happens step by step, painting by painting, by slowly avoiding the mistakes you made in your last painting, and repeating your triumphs on your next painting. With time, you will start to develop a consistent pattern. This becomes your style, and that, is your magic.

If you try to learn to paint by using a method, using proven strokes, and color recipes that generate a consistent outcome, you will find that you can repeat that method, and your paintings will look the same every time. And, that my friend, would lack magic and would be boring.

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

Valentine’s Flowers

2008-02-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

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After returning home from teaching my classes in San Jose, I did what most American men did on Valentine’s Day. I quickly stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some red roses before venturing home. I guess I’m a romantic. Walking by all those beautiful, colorful flowers inspired me. I said out loud in the over-lit aisles of Wal-Mart, “That’s what I’m going to paint for my Blog tomorrow.” I quickly picked out the most beautiful rose and some carnations, and headed to the cashier as fast as I could. This painting, “Valentine Flowers” is dedicated to all the women who did not get any flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Today I had in interesting day at my easel. I usually paint with a spotlight. Today I painted my subject under natural light. What a difference. If you are having issues with your colors when painting a still life, turn off your spotlight, put the subject in direct sun light, and see if that helps. When painting from life, everything that you need to know is right in front of you. All you have to do is correctly identify a color that you see in a subject, mix that color and then put it on the canvas. See it- Mix it- Stick it. That is it.

In making art (whether music, writing or painting), you are declaring what is important. You show the world what it takes for granted as you expose the viewer to a new way of seeing. For example, Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” some people love them and some people don’t. Some people don’t have any opinions either way. However, you have to agree, once you have seen Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” you will never look at a sunflower the same way again. You possess this power as an artist as you share your view of the world with others.

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

Mt. Shasta Barn Opus 1

2008-02-12T22:27:00.001-08:00

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I spent another day on Old Stage Road in Mt Shasta and again I am inspired by the old barns that surround us. This barn is just yards from the one that I painted yesterday. It is also about the same time of day. I have included a step by step on this one on my blog for artists to see how it was painted.

The question that students ask the most in my classes is “How do I paint that?” The individual recipe of any artist belongs to that artist alone. Though you may find it interesting to know exactly how I painted this painting, you will not be able to create art in the same way. However, over time, you will develop your own way of seeing and painting, and this is what makes creating art so rewarding.

It does help to see other artist’s different approaches and to explore different ways of thinking and painting by viewing other artist’s methods. It is a great way to grow as an artist because it may help you think differently. Try not to look for a “how-to” formula when you start a painting. The joy of creating art is discovering your own way of expressing what you see. So, jump right in and you will find that you have the answers to your own questions as you go along. You will come to understand that every artist has struggled with the same question, “how do I paint that?” You are not alone!

First, I lay in the overall concept of my painting using a big brush. At this moment, I try to visualize the finished painting. Many great paintings are lost because the artist has no vision before he starts.

I begin by sketching the easy shapes and I make every stroke correct. I make corrections as I go instead of waiting until the end to get it right. I start with the chosen center of interest and work out from there.

Next, I lay in the sky and I don’t make it complicated. I use plenty of paint and apply the strokes in different patterns. Then I “chunk” in the values with no more than 4 to 5 value planes.

The completed painting should have soft and hard edges, good values, and a strong focal point. I use the knife to scratch in many of the sticks and branches. Many artists also scratch in their name when they finish so that they can indicate to other artists that they completed the painting on location.

It is interesting that creating art is such a solitary process. Most artists throughout the world spend endless hours in their studios creating art alone. It is only in the moments we are truly working on our own art that we experience the fundamental connection that we share with all makers of art, and it helps to know that there are other artists out there doing the same thing I am doing.

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

Old Stage Road

2008-02-11T22:28:00.001-08:00

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Just about two-miles from The Grand View Ranch is the small town of Weed. It is drastically different from her sister city Mt Shasta, in that it is an old wood-milling town. The history of the area is rich and diverse, and the landscape is dotted with old little farms. This barn is off Old Stage Road and is just about a mile’s drive from us. For the past few months I have been captivated with the landscape and been itching for the snow to melt and let me paint some of the wonderful scenery. Many of the locals are curious to see a painter in the field and stop to chat with me. Although I hear there are many artists in the area, I have not met many painting on location.

Every day you go out to paint, challenge yourself to produce something different, and remember that the art is in the practice not the final result. When a performer practices his craft, he makes many mistakes and the public generally does not see these mishaps. Great artists have piles of paintings that did not work. Mozart and Beethoven both composed some really bad music. Every one knows of Barry Bond’s home run records, but check out how many times he struck out. Don’t worry, you will be known for the homeruns that you produce. The strikeouts will find their way into a garage sale or two.

When painting on location work with careful brushstrokes from the start. Begin by choosing the central point of interest for the painting. In this painting, I chose the barn. Carefully sketch the focal point. Take your time. If you get this accurate, you can leave the rest of the painting to chance. Begin by painting this center of interest first, and then move on to the sky. When painting the sky, apply the color with short vertical strokes and cross strokes, and avoid using horizontal strokes. Then apply tone for the trees and foreground, and use as many different strokes as you can. Notice that the sharp edges and strong colors are on the barn (the focal point), and the rest of the painting is what I would call a “strong brush” 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

"Shasta Sunset Opus 2"

2008-02-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

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It is hard to imagine that we live so close to Mt Shasta. The summit is only 10 miles from my studio window (as the crow flies). I marvel moment-by-moment at the spectacular beauty that surrounds us here at The Grand View Ranch. The view of the mountain changes every second. At times, I wonder if I paint the light on the mountain at this very moment as I see it, would anyone believe it could look that amazing.

I remember Miss Gogolinsky, a woman that I met early in my painting quest. I admired her paintings and wanted to learn from her the secret of painting (at that time, she was 95 and this was 25 years ago). She had studied in Paris when women where first accepted into the academy and she knew many of the famous impressionist painters personally. She told me that the secret of painting is “Paint what you see.” I could not imagine that one statement has stuck with me for so long. I use it in every workshop and class. The answer to every question about painting the subject is right in front of you. Students just have to look at what they see and not make it up. It is very simple. Everything is right there; color, perspective, value, shape, form, etc. The whole method of direct painting is to depict faithfully what you see and not to demonstrate cleverness with a brush. The secret to great painting depends upon how critically you observe the subject and paint what you see.

In the past weeks, I have had many questions about supplies and painting outdoors. I recommend that you check out www.outdoorpainting.com. This is a great resource for outdoor painters with articles and tips on painting. I also recommend that you visit www.artworkessentials.com for outdoor painting easels. In all of my years, I have never worked with a more professional outfit for supplies. Let them know I sent you.

Remember, this is a forum for sharing information and inspiration. 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

"Store Bought Tulips"

2008-02-09T22:45:00.000-08:00

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Yesterday I mentioned that I went into a flower shop and bought a Begonia to paint for you. What I had failed to mention is that I bought Tulips as well. Painting flowers takes everything that you have as an artist. Not only do you have to get the colors right but since flowers are living things, they change every minute. Painting flowers from life is great practice if you want to hone your outdoor painting skills. I feel that painting with red is one of the most difficult colors to get right. I recommend that if you want to paint flowers from life for the first time, stay away from flowers that are made up of pure primary colors (red, yellow and blue) and look for models of a softer hue.

When I paint, I mix most of my paint directly on the canvas instead of the palette. This is a great way to achieve a fresh looking color effects. If you mix on a palette, it is a good idea to mix with your brush and don't over mix your paint. Colors that are mixed too thoroughly lack the brilliance of paint that is just slightly mixed. Colors that are lightly mixed will appear broken within each stroke which adds more variety and interest.

Always keep your palette clean, and paint like you are a millionaire, with big squirts of colored paint. Rinse your brushes in clean turpentine between every stroke. For cleanups, use Awesome Cleaner. You can find it in the Dollar Store. It is the very best cleaner to clean your paint brushes and it works great to get dried paint out of your clothes and car upholstery.
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

"Store Bought Begonia"

2008-02-08T22:29:00.000-08:00

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After returning from my teaching obligations in San Francisco, Mt Shasta had embraced a heat wave (if 45 degrees is a heat wave). The snow is slowly melting back but Mt Shasta is bright and white with her new winter coat. I plan to paint some stunning sunsets the next few days. This morning when I was in town, I ventured into the flower shop and was dazzled by all of the colors after seeing so much white for the past month. Inspired, I grabbed a 99-cent Begonia and raced home to paint it for you.

Artists often find that the piece they imagined in their mind is one step removed from what they create. In fact, artists spend 2 percent of their time developing the design and concept of their work of art and the remaining 98 percent of the time working to hold onto what they imagined in the first place. The masterpiece in your head is always perfect. It always has great perspective, great color and composition. However, once you complete it, you may step back and decide that you are not satisfied with the end result. The truth is that no artist is ever satisfied with what they create. At the same time that an artist is working to complete their work, their knowledge of art grows; new insights, possibilities and ideas open up, and a new vision appears. I recommend at this point you move on and save the new idea for a new work.

The secret of learning to create art is not to focus on one perfect piece every year, but to create 360 masterworks a year, and then step back and ask your self, am I satisfied?

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

"Hammond Ranch Oak In The Snow"

2008-02-03T22:45:00.001-08:00

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It’s still snowing.

What a treat. The snow is still coming down and I’m amazed at how this ranch changes from moment to moment. Along with the beautiful scenery, there is a sense of calm when the snow falls. It is an experience that can truly change your life. This painting is a view from The Grand View Ranch. There are hundreds of views like this that surround us every day. The only trouble I have is choosing which one to paint!

This Blog is a conversation between us. The reason that I started one is I believe that artists need a place to be inspired and have questions about art answered.

This week I received some questions about painting snow. Painting snow is an exercise in painting light to dark values. To see values, students must practice squinting until it becomes second nature. Never doubt what you see when you squint at the subject. Choose to be bold rather than timid with values. Don’t hold back at the first stage of lying in your painting. Place in the values first before shapes. Work in simple value planes with no more than 4 to 5 value chunks. Dark values are important in a painting (even more than highlights) because they provide contrast and depth.

Highlights are rarely as bright as you think they are. It is better to leave them out than to over do them. If you are going to paint the highlight, only paint the highlight where you want the viewer to focus. Look for one highlight to dominate all others. If you paint highlights, especially on snow, don’t just use white alone. Look at what color the white really is remembering that in life, white has tints of red, yellow and blue combinations. Squint at the highlight, compare it to the main value, and then, check it against what is really white like your palette. Painting things too light or too dark happens when you don’t accept what you see when you squint. However, don’t squint at your painting as you are applying paint. Look normally when you are painting, and only squint at the subject.

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

"Lady Shasta in the Snow"

2008-02-02T21:39:00.000-08:00