Adventures in Plein Air

New Orleans is blessed with perhaps 10 perfect days, weather- related, each year. On one of those gorgeous mornings in April, I trucked down to the French Quarter and began a watercolor study at one of my favorite locations: the 1200 block of Royal Street. Actually, most streets in the French Quarter are my fave spots....but I digress. This perfect April morning, I set out to paint 2-3 very small watercolor studies, to get back in shape. I found my spot in the shade, across the street from a beautiful window box planter, saluted on either side by ancient aquamarine shutters. Watercolor is the type of medium that can be very accommodating, but she/he also demands regular and repeated attention and practice. Like preparing for a triathlon every day. Skip a few days, and the muscle memory needs a bit of refreshing. So it was this April morning.

I painted happily and obliviously for a while. Someone stopped to ask me something, perhaps directions, and as I changed my focus to look at him, I found that I had no words. No, it wasn't a stroke. It was as if I was enveloped in a thick gauze and it took a few moments for his words to penetrate that haze. I forget what he wanted. Not three minutes later, a second gentleman stopped. He looked at my study, walked six feet away, and brandishing a very sophisticated and large camera shot several photos of the same subject I was painting. He turned, facing me and triumphantly declared "Done!".

All I could do was laugh quietly. My visual concentration had already ebbed, as I wondered at the mystery of the creative process. I had been in no hurry, save that the light would give me about 2 hours before shifting radically. And that time frame was quickly coming to an end. Some days you work hard and nothing happens worth keeping. Other days, everything flows smoothly, before it rains. Most days, it's a good idea to suspend judgement on the merits of the work until a few days, sometimes weeks, have passed. Moreover, after analyzing all the difficulties inherent in Plein air painting, and any other painting or sculpting for that matter, I've come to accept the fact that it's really about enjoying the process and results are the icing. 

In the process is the real joy. 

Let me know what you think. 

Cheers, Joan

"Boarded Up on Filmore"

watercolor, 11 x 14 inches

"Evening on the Marsh"

  Oil on linen canvas, 18 x 24 inches, $2800.00 Now available from the artist's studio. Call (504) 914-     4152 email at art at joandagradi.com, for more information.

"Southwest Memories", oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

Last winter and through spring, I spent most of my painting time working on a series of oil landscapes, 24 x 30 inches or larger. I've painted hundreds of small landscapes, but painting in a larger format requires a slightly different set of skills. Occasionally, I have been able to paint a large landscape directly, plein air. From painting for so many years, I have a back log of ideas and inspirations that I'd like to explore in either oil or watercolor. The painting on the right is from a memory of a landscape near Apache Junction in Arizona.

"Marsh Near New Orleans"

Watercolor, 7 x 6 inches

A work in progress.... "Softly, in a Morning Sunrise"

oil, 26 x 26 inches

"Gallatin Rocks and Waves", oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

David Levine, 1926-2009

I'm sorry to report that David Levine, master watercolorist and political caricaturist without peer, passed away on December 29, 2009. Check out David Levine Art for more info. Memorials are posted online at D.Levine Dot Commie . Remarkably ego-less, with a penetrating gaze that seemed to look through you, Dave Levine was not only a profoundly inspiring artist with an extraordinary wit, but will also be remembered as a generous and empathetic human being.

Random Art Thoughts 1

"Cranberry Glass and Blue Cup", oil, 10 x 8 inches

As a practicing, professional artist, I often think about what actions encourage productivity versus what actions tamp down and limit creativity. There is no end to self-help improvement advice offered to artists, replete with templates for writing an artist statement, connecting with collectors, blogging, designing a web page, entering shows, publishing Giclee prints and even step by step sales instructions on how to respond at a show when someone says "I love your work". It's easy to get lost in the details.

When I first began this journey, I frequently visited the National Gallery of Art, not far from the Capitol, in Washington, D.C. There I saw a small Chardin still life of a few rabbits, a simple composition so quietly powerful that I still feel the sensation in my gut remembering that first encounter. The painting drew me in, captivating my sight. Nothing else existed in that moment. I again had a similar sensation while copying the Juan de Pareja, by Velasquez, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Truly, I felt that the painting was alive; I could have sworn that I saw Juan take a breath. Three years ago, while in a doctor's waiting room, again I was able to completely dive into a painting, this time a reproduction of a Winslow Homer watercolor. For a brief moment, I was able to transcend all the worries and problems attendant with caring for an ill, elderly loved one, and completely see a world through Homer's eyes.

No doubt, creating fine art remains a great mystery. Somehow, art happens. Is there something in the artist's intention that dictates the final product? Does entering a show help one to create great art? Does winning an award help one to create great art? Looking into the writings of some great ones like Degas or Vuillard might offer insight. New post, next year....

"White Milk Pitcher", oil, 10 x 8 inches

Portrait Sketch of Judge M

oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches

This is one of many sketches made for the portrait of Judge M that I'm working on. The final portrait will be 3/4 figure at 29 x 40 inches.

Charcoal Sketch

Quick Sketch: Bella'via

Conte on masonite, 12 x 12 inches

20 minute sketch

Laura's Portrait

12 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

Two Bas Relief Sculptures

These bas reliefs are @ 12 x 16 inches. They both depict my son, Dominic as a young child. The standing pose reflects his adventurous first steps. The seated pose relates to a game we used to play at Cafe Du Monde. We would take a bag of Cheerios and I would savor a delicious cup or two of coffee with chicory while Dom would enjoy the procession of trucks moving past the cafe, munching on Cheerios.

Both reliefs were originally modeled in a water-based clay. The standing pose was kiln-fired and thus remains a one-of-a-kind piece. A mold was made of the seated pose which was then cast in plaster, with the surface painted.

Drawing: Study of Standing Pose

Charcoal, 16 x 12 inches

In September, I began to work regularly with a group of local artists, meeting on Thursday nights to sketch the figure and Saturday mornings to paint a portrait. Dell Weller, a great artist, close friend and teacher at the New Orleans Academy of Art, founded the group many years ago. In fact, Dell was one of the two founding members of the New Orleans Academy itself, 30 years ago. But I digress....

Working from the model regularly has been exhilarating. On Thursday afternoons and early Saturday mornings, I get to ask myself "What do I most want to do with the figure? Draw in charcoal, paint an oil, try a pastel or perhaps a bas-relief?" I then use the sketches later to generate new ideas. Certainly, not every drawing is successful. Some are pretty terrible, some are OK and once in a great while, magic happens. Drawing is the most satisfying endeavor. It can be frustrating, like last night, when every piece of charcoal that I picked up was too soft for my purposes or my hand was too heavy for the line I was trying to create. But even when feeling frustrated, there's still an inner sense that the direction is the right one.

This drawing was made about 3 weeks ago, on Canson Mi-tientes Light Blue paper.

While I obviously wasn't totally pleased with the central figure, which was the first one drawn, going on to try again and again finally gave some relief.

If anyone in the metro New Orleans area is interested in modeling, clothed or nude. please contact me. I'd like to have a model in my studio 3 days a week, for 2-3 hours at a time.

That would be divine!

"Cantaloupe & Peaches"

Private Collection, Ft. Worth, Texas

This 6 x 8 inch oil is the companion piece to "Silver Cup & Peaches", sent to Galerie Kornye West recently for their annual Fall Art Walk.

Of the two, this was painted first, as an homage to Chardin. His painting, "The Cut Melon", remains one of my favorites.

As I tried to set up the cantaloupe so that it would have a shadow pattern similar to the original, I received my first "aha!" surprise from the great Master. It was impossible to set it up in the same way, tho I tried many times. With my daylight source coming first from the right, then from the left, moving the cantaloupe slice this way and that, it slowly occurred to me that Monsieur Chardin painted reality as he wanted to see it, not necessarily as it was.

His work reminded me that representational art is not simply about copying, but about creating something poetic with the look of reality.

As Degas said "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."

"Silver Cup & Peaches", oil, 6 x 8 inches

Recently sold at Galerie Kornye West during the Fall Art Walk.

The Blue Cup

Oil, 12 x 16 inches
For more info, contact Galerie Kornye West

Or stroll by for the Fort Worth Fall Gallery Night Art Walk, this Saturday evening, September 12, 2009.

See you there!

Luis Melendez [1715-1780] at the National Gallery of Art

Luis Melendez, the major Spanish still life artist of the 18th-century, has been honored with an exhibition of his work, now on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. This is an exhibition of some 30 canvases that showcase the master’s virtuoso talent for rendering everyday objects with exacting detail, marvelous effects of color and light, and subtle variations of texture. Paintings from a royal commission, including eight from the Museo del Prado in Spain, as well as works from other European collections, will be on view with related works from American collections. Several paintings on loan have never before been exhibited in public. Also on display will be period objects—including an 18th-century cork wine cooler, Alcorcón pottery, a lusterware honey pot, and a copper chocolate pot—like those represented in Meléndez’s mesmerizing still lifes.

This exhibition closes at the NGA on August 23rd, but continues at the  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 23, 2009–January 3, 2010 and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 31–May 9, 2010.

Additionally, the wonderful monograph associated with this show is available at Amazon.com or from the participating museums. The essays and print quality are excellent, with many beautiful reproductions. This volume brings Melendez's career to life and vividly pictures the working conditions and sales prospects for 18th- century Spanish artists.  

The National Gallery of Art has posted two very short and interesting podcasts about the artist on their website.