PAINTING & PROVENANCE

Provenance for a painting means its history—who painted it, who has owned it, and where it has been exhibited. The provenance of a painting adds value for the art collector. A painter can’t have provenance like a painting but sometimes knowing about the artist enriches the experience for a collector. Craig Reynolds participated in both years of the plein air events in Gadsden and is scheduled to be one of the professionals at this year’s Southeastern Plein Air Invitational. Craig’s late father was also an artist whose watercolors are avidly collected. Now Craig continues the tradition but in his own style—oil paintings with the loose brushwork and soft edges of Impressionism but with strong contrasts and color combinations that are uniquely his own. Look for Craig’s work at the Shelby Lee Gallery in Charleston, The Gale Gallery in New Orleans, and The Renaissance Gallery in Northport, Alabama. But for the week of April 25-29 look for Craig on location in Gadsden and his painting in the galleries of the Gadsden Museum of Art until June 3.

I was lucky to buy one of Craig’s painting at last year’s plein air event—an evocative study of late afternoon in the James Martin Wildlife Park, an urban greenspace bounded by busy streets and a shopping mall. I was immediately attracted to the sense of peace it captured, a meditation on the beauty that is all around us if we only take the time to see. Notice the many shades of green in the trees and the water? Green is the hardest color for artists to mix but Craig is a master of this difficult task. Still, would the painting have any impact without those hints of red and orange? In the art world this effect is called simultaneous contrast—opposites placed close together intensify each other. Since red and green are opposite on the color wheel and opposite in temperature (warm and cool), the addition of touches of red to a mostly green painting makes it glow with an inner radiance. I enjoy the painting everyday not only for its beauty but also in appreciation of the highly developed skills of the artist.

In the next blog I’ll preview the locations for this year’s painting days.

A PAINTING CAPTURES A MEMORY

The railroad bridge across the Coosa River has been a landscape feature in Gadsden since the late 1800s when it was the only bridge. Vintage photos show pedestrians and horse and buggies using the bridge between scheduled trains. More recently citizens and city officials declared its rusty girders an eyesore and began looking for grants and contractors to paint the structure. But artists look with different eyes and many plein air painters at the 2009 and 2010 spring events hosted by the Gadsden Museum of Art made paintings of the bridge, rust and all.

At the 2010 event Dmitriy Proshkin used the location as the site for a workshop attended by aspiring plein air painters. His demonstration painting shows the thrust of orange girders against a blue sky, beautifully crafted stone supports, the wide Coosa, and steep river banks. I was lucky enough to buy this painting and it became the focal point of my dining room. Everyday I’m struck by the sensitive brushstrokes, color contrasts, and light effects—notice how the girder structure is lost and found against the bright sky, just the way the eye sees but most of us never notice.

Dmitriy brings an international touch to the Southeastern Plein Air Invitational because he was born and received his art training in Russia. He admires famous Impressionists like Monet, Pissaro, and Sisley and Russian Impressionists Shishkin, Savrosov, Vassilev, and Levitan. He explains that the Russian School of landscape artists seeks simplicity, to bring out the richness and poetic beauty of ordinary sights. I can see this approach in his painting of Gasdsden’s railroad bridge. As Dmitriy puts it: “I feel one of my most important tasks in painting landscapes is to express and bring out the true reflection of the mood of the moment.”

What will happen this year at the Southeastern Plein Air Invitational? What surprising subjects will artist choose? Will some once again choose the railroad bridge? Since last year the rust has been scraped off the bridge and it is now pristine silver. Will artists still find it appealing as a subject? I’m so thrilled to have a painting of the bridge as it was during my lifetime and will not be again. A good reason to buy a painting is that it captures a moment in time that will never return—a memory in paint.

BUYING A PAINTING OF A PERFECT SPRING DAY

The first plein air event was a gamble for both the organizers at the Gadsden Museum of Art and the artists—the year was 2009, the depth of the recession. Would people worried about the economy buy art? One of the artists taking a chance on the event was John Guernsey, a businessman transplanted from Southern California to Georgia who transitioned into a fulltime art career.

I remember noticing John on the day artists, museum volunteers, and visitors traveled to Wills Creek Vineyards (willscreekvineyards.com) in Duck Springs for a day of painting. The weather was perfect, clear and sunny and not too hot. With meadows and vineyards stretching to a range of blue mountains, a lake, and high white cumulus clouds, artists quickly fanned out setting up their easels to capture the views. But John did not. Instead he kept walking around and looking this way and that. Since I was one of the volunteers assigned to greet visitors and assist the artists I asked him if he needed anything. “Just looking for something to paint,” he said. I remember being astounded because it seemed to me that we were surrounded on all sides with things to paint. But John walked away still looking.

When all the paintings were hung in the museum galleries ready for the opening reception and sale it was hard to choose a favorite—the artists had transformed our local sights into fine art! But I kept returning to one particular painting of the meadows, mountains, and clouds on that day at Wills Creek Vineyards and it was a painting by John Guernsey. Why did that painting captivate me so? John explains it best, "I strive for a tonal, atmospheric look - and try to communicate to the viewer the feeling of 'being there'."

I bought the painting. It hangs across from my desk, a daily reminder of that perfect spring day. I wasn’t the only buyer to discover a painting I had to own—the plein air events for 2009 and 2010 resulted in over $30,000 in art sales!

ART COLLECTING MADE EASY

In the last two years I’ve become an art collector the easy way—I attended the plein air events hosted each April by the Gadsden Museum of Art. This year the Southeastern Plein Air Invitational offers a chance to see 15 professional artists from eight states painting the spring beauty of the Deep South—April 24-29, each day at a different location. Join me as I search for my next acquisition among the over 150 original paintings created in that one week. Watching the paintings as they are created on location and meeting the artists makes the owning the paintings so special.

What is plein air painting, you may ask? Today’s artists continue a tradition begun over 150 years ago in France by artists like Monet and Renoir who left their studios to paint en plein air (in the open air) and became known as Impressionists. Like today’s artists they wanted to save the light, color, and atmosphere of a moment in time. A plein air artist captures dancing sunlight with a flick of the wrist, a spring garden in a swirl of color, and historic architecture with a few brushstrokes. While it seems like magic, painting the landscape on-location requires a mixture of talent and years of observation, study, and practice.

Tomorrow meet John Guernsey who painted my first acquisition from the 2009 festival. This is his third year at the festival. Can’t wait to see this year’s landscapes!

Painting by Robin Roberts of Decatur, AL A beautiful rendering of the area looking up River from behind Twin Bridges Golf Course.

Noccalula Falls - Always a favorite attraction for tourists and artists alike. This painting, done by Katrina Weber of Huntsville, Al, was completed from the view not seen by most visitors - near the wedding chapel at the Falls. It was also the artist's choice as the best painting completed on Tuesday of the Plein Air Festival. Congratulations, Katrina!

The mark of a good artist is to find an interesting angle not perceived by everyone and make us take note. I think Donna Chieves of Birmingham was successful in doing so - don't you? Someone else must have thought so, too - this one sold during the silent auction.

And I guess this would be considered the "big" winner - the Old Rail Road Bridge by John Guernsey of Marietta, Georgia. John won the "Best of Show" prize for this work done on the first day of the Festival

Wow! Plein Air 2010 came and went so quickly I can hardly believe it. And guess what? We're already busy making plans for 2011. Thought you might like to see some of the paintings completed this spring -- Enjoy! Look for more of the paintings plus plans for 2011 on my blog - More next week! Elaine (Girl Friday!)

Stormy Weather

The weather was really bad last evening, but thought you might like to see some of the photographs taken by Volunteers Harry Parker and Julie Curtis before the rains came!

Plein Air "Stars" for 2010

Well, the time is getting really close for GMA's 2010 Plein Air Festival and things are a bee hive of activity around here! We have a truly great line up of professional artists (Stars) for our Second Plein Air Festival:

Ron Bayens from Auburn (native of Canada)

Donna Chieves - Birmingham, AL

Dot Courson - Pontotoc, MS

John Guernsey - Marietta, GA

Greg Little - Oakland Park, FL

Susan Loeb - Atlanta, Georgia

Deborah Pellock - Suwannee, GA

Brenda Plunkett - Cave Springs, GA

Jan Polk - Southgate, Kentucky

Dmitriy Proshkin - Chattanooga, TN (native of Russia)

Craig Reynolds - Gadsden, AL

Ann Rhodes - Atlanta, GA

Robin Roberts - Decatur, AL

Ann Stickney - Northport, AL

Joan Ray Weaver, Fayette, AL

Katrina Webber - Huntsville, AL

Two volunteers have been busy with the camera taking shots of potential painting venues for the artists to consider. Here are a few of them for your viewing pleasure!