Sandpiper Trail 11 '15

Jef Sturm is a well established regional oil painter, who is known for his loos brushwork and vibrantly colored landscapes.  When a member of my local guild told me that Jef was mentoring open workshop sessions, I jumped at the chance to get some tips on how I could loosen up. 

A reference photo of Sand piper Trail in Huntington Beach State Park, SC

The first session Jef had me bring one of my reference photos and try to paint it within  three hour period,  I  chose a photo I had taken of a hiking train through toe maritime forest in Huntington beach State Park, SC,  I used a palette knife and got most of the painting completed within the three hours.  It is worth noting that the restricted time allowed to paint the scene forced me to put in less detail and use looser strokes. 



Completed 8"w x 10" h oil painting of Sandpiper Train in HBSP

Jef's objective for this session was to learn how I paint and take note of my strengths and weaknesses.  He watched how I, set out my palette, the media I used, how  approached the subject, and the way I applied the paint. This time he didn't make many comments, but the next session he wants me to paint a scene from one of his reference photos.

PS You can see Jef Sturm's work at:
http://jefsturmpaintings.org/

Lake Thurmond Hickory Knob State Park 11 '15

 My 12" x 12" painting of Lake Thurmond at Hickory Knob State Park 

This is third week  of mentoring from Jef Sturm, He had originally suggested we paint the same scene together this week, but when I didn't receive a  source photo from him I thought he had changed his mind. Earlier this week I had started a painting of Hickory Knob State Park from one of my reference photos .  I had finished painting all the landscape portions of the scene and was really anxious to  complete the  painting while the vision was still in my head.

Reference photo for Lake Thurmond at Hickory Knob State Park.

The day the reference photo was taken it  was raining.   All the landscape colors were vibrant, but the sky and the lake were just a dull boring gray. I was hoping that Jeff would give me some tips on making the sky more dynamic. He did  look at the colors I was mixing, but  I guess he like the direction I was taking it as he didn't offer any direction so I finished it off on my own.  ( see the final painting above).

Meanwhile Jef  and another artist  started painting from a photo of a woodland and stream that he was projecting onto the wall.  It was very  informative watching how Jef paints.  The traditional way most of us learn to paint with oils is from dark to light. We start by putting down the darkest shape in some sort of dark blue, then the next darkest in the next  coolest color, and layering lighter shades atop the darker.  

Jef  uses a medium he mixes himself to thin his paint:   5 part gamsol, 1 part stand oil, one part  Damar Varnish (shake together until completely mixed) .  He dilutes his oil paints with this mix down to the consistency of water.  Then he paints large transparent shapes of every major value using various hues to cover all but the lightest part of  the white canvas.He uses a very large brush to do this.  The medium dries fairly quickly so by the time he has finished covering an 11 x 14 canvas, the first hue is dry enough to start adding another layer of transparent color atop of it.  When he is finished it is almost like looking at a watercolor, except that because he is layering atop dry paint, there is no mud. and the colors really sparkle.

I tried mixing some of this formula myself and playing with it at home.  It is wonderful for water with reflections, skies and other areas you want the light to show through (like leaves back-lit against a sky), but is less helpful for creating the heavy texture I love so much in oil paints.  In the next session,  Jef and I are each going to paint from one of my source paintings.  This will help me to better understand his technique for working with such thin layers.  I am pretty sure I will use  his approach in some parts of my paintings an continue to apply impasto like texture with a palette knife  in other sections.  Every new technique I learn has the potential to reshape my style into something even more exciting. So I am really looking forward to the next session.