Been Really Slacking

To my followers and anyone who might be looking for the first time; I haven't written a blog in awhile!  I'm going to try my best to get my momentum back up and supply you with fresh up to date "stuff".  I have made some recent changes to my website and have started a newsletter.  If interested in the past newsletter please email me@ artist@garrettmichaelart.com.  I am still continuing my riverscapes and a press release article is in the works.  My dad and I are excited to get it in front of some editors.  It focuses on what drives me to paint rivers and a little bit about the process involved.  Some other new events include my acceptance to En Plein Air Texas.  Also, you can now find my work in Rivers Edge Gallery in Kerrville, Texas.  I am very excited to be working with Mike and Debbie.  This weekend I will be at Lake Buchanan and will be looking for possible paintings, stay tuned!

Kerrville Festival of the Arts

Come see me tomorrow at Kerrville Festival of the Arts!  I will be in the 200 Section, booth 10.  Hope you can make it, and lets pray for a break in the rain, but the rain can come back after the show!

Goals

"A goal is a dream with a deadline"-Napoleon Hill

I am in the process of writing some obtainable goals for myself.  I am including goals that will help me grow as a painter.  These goals will keep me in track and remind me to stay focused on important steps that will lead me down my journey as a painter.

Website Update!

I've added some new paintings, including my large one to my website. Take a look!

www.garrettmichaelart.com

Studio Session

Rain is forcasted for the entirety of this week.  So, I started a studio piece to fill my week.  The painting came from an area by canyon lake.  I took a photo of an oak tree that was supported by a rock wall and a road.  I wanted to emphasis the tree and rocks but felt the road was kinda dull.  I added a creek where the road was and am happy with the progress!

Boerne Art Waddle

Come see me and some new paintings of mine tomorrow at the Boerne Art Waddle! I'm at spot 10

Canyon Lake

I painted at Canyon Lake yesterday.  I found a neat cove and feel like I captured my meaning

Rivers Continued

This last week was a great week.  I produced some good paintings of river scenes.  I find it fun and difficult to paint rocks below moving water.  I practiced that with this 8x10

Contrast

I feel like this past month I've had a little forward progression on the outcome of my paintings.  I will never admit that I'm happy with where I am as a painter and that's why I paint.  The chase factor combined with obsession of learning and teaching will always keep me humble.  I also find that this journey has one main theme.  Knowledge will always be greater than your ability or execution.  Also this past month I've gained some control on color and shape.  Now I must level up my values.  I focused on value, shape and design today with this 9x12

Rain, Rain, Go Away so I can have a show

This weekend is Wimberley Arts Fest.   I spent today framing and packing.  Heavy rain tonight followed by a pretty mild morning more setup.  If you're  in the area please stop by and see me at booth 25!

http://www.wimberleyartsfest.com

Rocks and water

I wanted to combine rocks with moving water.  I found a image I took awhile back of a small stream with a rock wall.  I really like the movement and submerged rocks.  I focused on clean color

Paint the Town -Marble Falls

This weekend I'm participating in paint the town in Marble Falls.  This morning was full of rain but cleared up nicely! I did this painting off 1431

Cibolo creek study

This morning I drove down 46 and stopped at the low water crossing created by cibolo creek.  Great lighting made for some nice shadows and streaking light.

Friday review

This week I started a 24x30 studio piece.  I've blocked it in and got the local colors in.  I'm ready to bring the more earthy colors out and get this thing closer to finished. 

Olive Oil

Sunday I went out to an olive orchard and painted with a small group.  The place was incredibly beautiful, and has plenty to paint.  I wanted to paint some olive trees beause I've never done it and the color seemed a lot like a sage bush which I have painted.  They grew in rows, and one row pointed to a blooming oak. 

 

                             Olive Oil

                               9x12

Big shapes equal small adjustments

After reading notes and print outs from previous workshops, I made an outline that I need to follow on every painting I do.  These new ideas will change how I previously went about doing a painting.  Most of it has to do with what I do before paint touches the canvas.  I got a chance to paint at a ladies ranch near Pearsall earlier this week.  It was good to apply these new ideas to a unfamiliar area.  I'm still trying to have strong values within 4-5 main shapes.  If I can get just that, the finalizing touches are edge work and highlights.  

                             6x8's

Landa Park Painting

Today I painted at the park here in town.  I painted a tree that was hanging over the river, and thought I could make it something interesting.  After painting for an hour and a half,  my design never came through.  I am willing to go back into this and add some interesting aspects.

9x12

New Paintings Uploaded

Today I uploaded some of my new paintings I've been working on.  I'm excited for next weeks turn of weather.  Im ready to get outside and paint and gather source material!

Cool Pool

This morning I painted from the picture in the previous post.  The image was taken at Toms Creek, near Startzville.  I changed the design up, and added some larger shapes.

                     

Cool Pool

9x12

Blurry rocks

I really like to paint submerged rocks, so I've been trying to find some scenes that portray this new obsession.  I took some pictures of Tom creek, near Startzville today.  By studying rocks underwater, I found the deeper they are the more blurry they become.  Seems simple enough right? We'll see.

Here's the photo.

 

I will change it up some but really enjoy the area in the bottom left.  Stand by

Still raining....let's try fishing

This last weekend I went on an overnight float trip on the Colorado River.  My buddy John joined me and a few other friends.  We chased bass armed with fly rods.  We caught some fish, although it did rain on us, but we prepared for it!

Today I worked on the cypress painting.  I I feel like its finishing well

Studio Session Continued...

I spent another morning in the studio.  Today I found a photo my grandma took a while ago, and by awhile ago she means longer than I can fathom.  Anyways, the photo had a nice lead in with oaks and distant hill country giants, real Texas stuff.  As a Texas artist, I feel like I should paint bluebonnets.  I find the flower to be beautiful, and pretty fun to paint.  I set a limit on my usage of the flower.  I have seen them "blanketed" across a landscape, but when painted like that it seems garish, to me.  So I set some rules in the studio this morning: 

1. Use the flowers to define a line in design 

2. Distance flowers should be lighter

3. Don't over do it

With these rules applied, I finished my first Texas bluebonnet painting.

                            12x16

Missing the Sun

This week has had no sun and has remained cold.  I know that's a bad excuse for not getting out to paint.  So, I've had a lot of studio time.  I am also low on source photos.  This week I started a 12x16.  I wanted to have a simple motif and emphasize movement.  This piece is still in progress.  I want to had some darker warms under the rocks and get a since of where the light is by adding warm highlights on the rocks.

Cabin Fever

Wow, what a cold morning.  I thought all I needed to stay warm was a jacket and a cup of coffee, but I was wrong.  I decided to grab my outdoor painting bag and bring it inside and do a painting.  I used a photo I took awhile back.  Here's the painting…

Organic Mirror

6x8

www.garrettmichaelart.com

Wet hang

This weekend is my local show.  Very excited to get my work back into the public. I want to invite anyone to come see me this weekend from 9-5 in Gruene, Texas.  Weather should be decent for February!

This painting will be there and will be wet, as I just finished it today

                          

                                      

8x10

www.garrettmichaelart.com

Not all turn out

The more and more I paint outdoors, I found a result that keeps repeating itself. Failure.  I learn from each mistake and bring new ideas to the next painting.  Failure is part of the creative process.  I enjoy moments when the direction I planned goes down the right path, but sometimes it jumps off the road and barrels through the brush.  These moments are the failures.  If only I could fail harder.  I learn from each of these and makes me chase after growth as a learning painter.

Back to that same spot

I went back to River Chase to do a painting. Last week I had only brought a camera.  Today the weather is great, and was excited to paint this scene.  I painted it looking down a creek that feeds the Guadalupe River.  Evergreen cedars of all colors and value frame a sweet little shallow creek full of warms against cools. My kinda stuff

         

      8x10

www.garrettmichaelart.com

Preparing for Gruene

This month is Gruene Market Days.  The third week this month I'll be setup in historic Gruene to show my recent works.  I'm framing pieces up and taking inventory.  I'm excited for the start of this show! Come see me down in Gruene, every third weekend of the month.

www.garrettmichaelart.com

Rainbow trout and limestone

Yesterday was spent taking pictures and trout fishing.  Yeah trout, in Texas?  The state stocks thousands of rainbow trout in the Guadalupe River for anglers to chase and sometimes catch.  I found a neat creek draw that really spoke to me.

Here's the picture I took 

Now the painting

I wanted a larger lead in with more water so it felt like the viewer was standing in the water, much like I was doing yesterday.  I was standing in the water, waving a stick after one of these

Here's another painting I completed during the weekend. I wanted to lay down big shapes and bring in the trees over them.

www.garrettmichaelart.com

6x8's with more paint!

This week I painted a few 6x8's.  I applied new techniques, like using more paint.  I never would have that I had more control with more paint!  Having fun with it.

www.garrettmichaelart.com

More paint means more control

I'm applying new techniques.  Last week, Matt Smith told me that I needed to use more paint.  He said by doing this, you'll have more control.  

This morning I headed out to Palmetto State Park to gather some photos for reference.  While looking for scenes I remembered to look for big simple shapes. I took many photos.

Here's a painting from one, keeping in mind: simple shapes, color, and design 

Last day

What a bitter sweet end to the workshop. I'm excited to get home and apply these new techniques and ideas to my home landscape. However, I am sad to leave such a great painter and a group of the nicest people I've been around in awhile. One more night in Arizona, flying back tomorrow.  Hope my wings don't get too tired 

Demo

My painting

Day 3

Holy cow, what a great morning.  Another great demo by Matt.  I painted a desert scene, which I have never done before, and it seemed to show.  I worked on mixing color to achieve a warm distant  cool. Tough.  I wanted a comforting lead in lined by bushes. 

Day 2

This morning we hit the ground running with painting.  It's a comforting feeling to have such a great instructor to ask questions and solve some issues.

Matt Smith Workshop: Day 1

I am beyond excited about where I spent my day today.  I signed up for a Matt Smith workshop in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Day one was full of lecture with a sweet demo to end on.  I'm still trying to process evrything that was said so I can sit with it and put it to study.  Every great artist teaches fundamentals and how they are so important.  Originality and creativity is encouraged but grounded by the basic design principles.  We talked about how drawing is the foundation for painting.  We even had a color theory session with color mixing. Huge help!  The demo was showing how cool shadows are made and placed, and how powerful line quality in highlights are.

Tomorrow the students paint!

Focused on a Finished Look

Monday, January 12, 2015

Just recently, after studying previous paintings, I discovered they are missing that "finished" look.  They are missing some elements that make them looked finished.  These certain elements are subtle but the impact of them are very noticeable.  They include: attention to edges, a small range of values, and most importantly, careful installment of "jibber jabber" (Roy Smith 2014).  As a design element, repetition has its place and that place is hardly in a landscape.  With entertainment to these elements I found that my painting this morning to be more finished than previous paintings.  Again, a very subtle difference but a new tool for the box.

Four Lanes with Feeder Road

12x16

Missing a Place

This week was less productive in getting outside to paint as I wanted.  Instead, I searched my library for a decent photo to create something in the comforts of a warm studio.  I came across a photo taken while I was at a Jill Carver workshop a couple years ago.  The colors up there, in the water, are warmer and more purple than the green waters of the hill country.  -G.Michael

Upstream, Downhill

9x12

Monday/Friday blog starts now

       I have decided to change a few approaches this year, let's just call them resolutions.  One involves keeping up with a blog.  I feel a blog will keep me focused on creating and journaling art.  This blog is as much for me as it is for you.  With that, I want to publish a blog every Monday and Friday.  On Mondays I will talk about my focuses and approach for the week and on Friday my progress for the week will be reported.

                                  Monday, January 5th 2015- "A Deadline Approaches"

      

      As the OPS (outdoor painters society) Southwest salon approaches, I am determined to create a piece that I am pleased with.     https://outdoorpainterssociety.wildapricot.org/page-1860112

      This morning was spent in River Chase along the Gaudalupe river.  I have fished this stretch many times and was attracted to a certain area.  There's a island that separates a rapid from a slower movement of water.  The scene is framed with greys produced by winter cypress and grounded by a warm slab of water.

                                       

         

                                                             "Two sides of movement"

                                                                              9x12

My fishing friend John, came with me and fished while I painted.  I left my rod behind but feel I caught a decent painting today.  Here's his catch...