Penny and Shelly Chicken Out

Penny and Shelly
Chicken Out

at the Springvale Public Library's Bruce McMillan
Watercolor Painting Chickens in Springvale, Maine
four minute demo painted on August 8, 2017
10" x 7" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
most permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on
140 lb. Arches cold press rough 100% cotton watercolor paper
online at my art blog HERE where you may leave a comment
Gifted to the Springvale Public Library

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Photo of Shelly (chicken) and
Vicki Clendaniel (chicken keeper)
at the Springvale Public Library in Springvale,
Maine on August 8, 2017

A Mystery
As a chicken peered
at her keeper's locks,
the color puzzled,
both like a red fox,
yet hair, not feathers,
flowing, so she gawks,
for she had the comb,
so unorthodox.

© 2017 Bruce McMillan

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 Strange but True Facts
"Why shouldn't
a chicken cross the road?
Because it would be a fowl proceeding."
(edited) from Potter's American Monthly,
1892, page 319

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Painting Chickens
Using Watercolors at
the Springvale Public Library
with Bruce McMillan
August 8, 2017
 

3
Our models, Penny (white) and Shelly (red )
were ready, posing for an audience of fifty-eight
young and old and older artists.
 

4
After a quick story
about my grandson's
painting advice, "Grampa Bruce,
it's a painting, you can do anything,"
everyone gathered around my easel
for a four-minute demo to inspire
their painting freedom adventure.
 

5
And as I circulated among the artist,
they painted their chickens on Strathmore
postcard size watercolor paper,
soothing to send if they wished.
 

6
I was fascinated to see that the cage
disappeared in all but two paintings,
one by an adult and one
by a young artist.
 

7
Young artist painted alongside
older artists, some accomplished
adults, who'd painted watercolors before,
and all created masterpieces.
 

8
I was impressed how the artists
used the white space of the paper
for their white chicken (Penny).
 

9
"Every child is an artist. The problem is
how to remain an artist once we grow up."
-Pablo Picasso
 

10
My thanks to Librarian Assistant Samantha
"Sam" Clendaniel (here) and her daughter Vicki
for bringing our model chickens to paint,
Penny (white) and Shelly (red) and
for taking many of these photos.
And thanks to Children's Librarian
Sheila Dube for organizing our
event and for  taking our
portraits with the
chickens. What
a great
watercolor day.

Springvale Public Library HERE

Lightning Struck

Flash-Boom
is part of the reason the final
David Dewey posting is delayed.
Lightning Struck
Yikes...
no pause between the flash and thunderclap.
I jolted out of my seat by the window in Shapleigh.
In a flash gone were the water, no pump, the land line phone,
the satellite box, the internet line, the answering machine,
and who knows what's yet to be discovered.
So many work men and women
visiting as a result.
Meanwhile...
Inspired by David Dewey,
I'm ready to hold my own workshop and
paint chickens with many aspiring artists,
young and old and older at the
Springvale Public Library
443 Main Street
Springvale, ME 04083.

The Problem with Chickens HERE and HERE
More tomorrow.

Until then...I'll see you at the library HERE.

Beach Day at Birch Point

Beach Day at
Birch Point I

at Birch Point State Park in Owls Head, Maine
painted plein air on July 21, 2017
19.5" x 6.75" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness
and most permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink
on 140 lb. Arches cold press fine grain
100% cotton watercolor paper
$340 USD including frame and shipping, $300 unframed

Beach Day at
Birch Point II

at Birch Point State Park in Owls Head, Maine
painted plein air on July 21, 2017
19.5" x 6.75" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness
and most permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink
on 140 lb. Arches cold press fine grain
100% cotton watercolor paper
$340 USD including frame and shipping, $300 unframed

The Hand of David

David Dewey painting his demo at Birch Point State Park
in Owls Head, Maine, sketched and painted
plein air on July 21, 2017
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
most permanence, and #3 graphite on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico
cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
NFS, gift to the artist

Ruth and Skye Observe

David Painting

Ruth Kaldor and Skye Maher studying David Dewey's
painting style during his demo at Birch Point State Park
in Owls Head, Maine, sketched and painted
plein air on July 21, 2017
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
most permanence, and #3 graphite on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico
cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
NFS, gift to the artist

David Dewey Watercolor Workshop Day 5
2017 07 21
At the far end of the beach at Birch Point State Park we gathered
by the rocks that David has painted many times before.

1
"How do you paint rocks? 
How do you paint light?"

2
"I'm painting light. I'm not painting stones."

3
"Okay, the sky, there's yellow in the sky, and not a cloud."
"I'm going to bring that light down into the rocks
so that it pours over it."
"That's how you paint rocks."

4
Slow deliberate, well thought out, brush strokes,
more on the rocks, and a pause . . .

5
"Value is flat, color is form."

Cue the gull. And action...

6
Hmm. This bird is dreaming. No way is he going to be
painted today. David Dewey doesn't include birds,
including sea gulls, in his paintings.
Got that Óskar?

7
No John James Audubon treatments today.
Onward.

8
"I need to put another color in here,
a skin color (for the rock),
before I get to the blue."

David uses Kleenex to dab his brushes,
to dab his painting, to lift watercolor.
How much did he paint this week?
"Three packs of Kleenex this week."

9
A sure steady hand guiding well worn brushes.

10
"I draw during the painting, instead of doing
the whole drawing first, to break things
down into smaller pieces."

11
Under the rock: "That's just it, there."

12
"I'm not sure what I want to do with the water yet."

13
"Okay, water...

14
...just a little lighter, just to get a sense of it."
Done.

15
Like others painted and done, each one unique,
in his Birch Point Beach Rocks series. 

See David's 2014 painting demo
of these rocks on my blog HERE,
which hangs in our home. 

See Ruth Kaldor's 2017 painting of the same rocks
on her blog HERE, where you may leave a comment.

Dock View of Houses Views . . .

The view that I painted
across the harbor at Sharp's Point South
on Mechanic Street in Rockland, Maine

Dock View of Houses Views

across the harbor at Sharp's Point South
on Mechanic Street in Rockland, Maine
painted plein air on July 20, 2017
12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and most permanence, and Uniball waterproof
fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press
rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
$240 USD including frame and shipping, $200 unframed

Critique
of the painting
above by David Dewey:
"It's Stuart Davis like.
It has a slight recklessness 
that holds the composition."

Egg Beater No. 1
Stuart Davis (1892-1964)
Oil on linen, 36" x 29" (w x h), 1927
Whitney Museum of American Art, NY

Two Sailboats Too

at Sharp's Point South on Mechanic Street
in Rockland, Maine painted plein air on July 20, 2017
5" x 7" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
most permanence, and #3 graphite on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico
cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
$120 USD including frame and shipping, $100 unframed

David Dewey Inside
His Color Full Workshop

at Sharp's Point South on Mechanic Street in Rockland, Maine
sketched plein air on July 20, completed July 26, 2017
7.25" x 5.5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and most
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb.
Strathmore 400 Series cold press 100% watercolor paper
$160 USD including frame and shipping, $140 unframed

David Dewey Watercolor Workshop
Day 4, 2017 07 20
"Sometimes I see a painting."

1
"I'm going to do a two-minute thumbnail,
a values snapshot."

2
"I'm painting color over value.
Value simplifies everything and then
the color pulls it together."

On to the painting . . .

3
"Mixing my paints I'm watching the value."

4
"I want to make the space around the
paper dynamic, to control the brilliance
of the page by the way I add value, shaping it,
and the color makes it dance."

While painting David says, "I'm just piddling around."

piddle verb (used without object), piddled, piddling.
1. to spend time in a wasteful, trifling, or
ineffective way; dawdle (often
followed by around).

"Watercolor is the subject,
not the subject matter."

5
In the middle of painting David stops,
picks up his pencil, and explains.
"I'm drawing a little so I can
see where I am in this painting."

6
"The baguette, I wet the paper first,
just to give myself some elbow room."
Paint flows. "Then I weight the bottom
of this down (paint flows on the tilt) to
ground it. And add a little more red
on the bottom, not changing
the values."

7
David seems to look more at the scene that he's
painting, constantly taking it in, more than
looking down at what he's painting.

8
There was a granite statue of a nude woman
directly in front of the view where David
was painting. He stated, "What's that
woman doing in a boatyard?"
We all laughed.

9
That woman, that sculpture,
had been carved by the night watchman
who works here in this boatyard, Joe Auciello.

"Joe Auciello is a self-taught sculptor. His primary passion is the human form, and he has demonstrated his versatility in public and private art commissions. Joe's work has a large following throughout the northeastern United States, where he has sold functional and representational art and garden sculpture through such venues as Directions: Mount Desert Island, Three Rivers Arts Festival and the Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show. Joe's work for the garden uses the natural shapes and properties of stone that comes from Maine and beyond. The grace and beauty of field stone and granite lend themselves to gentle and dynamic carvings that enhance private and public spaces. A founding member of the Maine Stone Workers Guild, Joe can be seen each fall at the Common Ground Country Fair, where he joins fellow guild members in demonstrating his craft. He is a resident of Rockland, Maine, with a workshop in Warren. A man of few words, Joe prefers that his work speak for him." Source: HERE

"Okay, now a little bit of the reflected color
and that's it. I'm ready, ready to glaze the sky."

He was going to wait for it to dry, but . . .
"Aw, what the heck, I'm going to paint the sky."

"I'm going to make the sky luminous,
maybe throw some yellow into it, sunlight."

10
Holding the painting upside down,
then right side up, both at an angle,
so color flows through the wet over the
paper. David evaluates the whole painting."

11
"Look what happened to the water."
The white pops. "Notice the horizontal
division. It's a one, two, three division."

12
Then we painted in this idyllic mid-coast Maine location,
some of us, like Ruth Kaldor, in their
plein air bare feet.

13
David popped by to observe and comment.
He observed Kathy Baribeau's work in progress,
and said, your mast could use some Jaune Brilliant #1,"
which she didn't have. No problem. David dashed over to
his palette, which he'd loaned to Amelia since she'd
lost hers, was back momentarily with a fingertip
full of Jaune Brilliant #1.
It was a Michelangelo moment.

That evening we gathered at Millers Lobster Company
on Wheelers Bay in Spruce Head, Maine (HERE) to eat.
It was a beautiful evening. There was a moment,
observed from the float, and seen by only
the curious few who ventured down,
when our day closed with another
Michelangelo moment.

14
Way to go Sistine.