Carmel Yum!

"Carmel"

By James Swanson / Traveler Andy
20" x 16" Oil on linen panel

Watch the journey of this painting

If Caramel is candy for the soul, than Carmel is eye candy for the senses. Our next painting project takes us to Carmel by the sea in California, where we meet up with our New Traveler Andy.

Andy's photo that I first saw,
and all these photos comes from Andy.

I came across Andy just by chance. I was picking out some pictures for this blog a while back, and came across a photo of Andy's that I just loved.

Hearst Mansion indoor pool

So of coarse I had to meet the person behind the camera.
Traveler Andy only had a few words about the shot I chose to paint.


This is the Carmelite mission as shot from across the bay, from Point Lobos State Park. The town of Carmel gets its name from it.

California road trip in 2009. Highway 1

The Travel Painting- "Carmel" Ever since I met Andy, he has always impressed me with his shots.

Point Lobos

He has a natural flair for photography and shares his flair freely.

This is the photo that I chose to work from.

Now it's my turn to share. The shot of Carmel by Andy when I saw it stopped me. I could feel the air and sea in his photo and knew it would make a great candidate for a painting.

Again I will be painting this painting as a paint a long demonstration with my painting class.

The Sketch: I like Andy's composition in the photo, but for making a painting I wanted to make it a little different. I started off by making it a vertical instead of a horizontal design. I then pulled a few things in from the sides for better layering. And finally what drew me in was the little tiny bench under the trees looking out at the sea. That is what my focus was going to be. The mountains and mission would take second.

The sketch on canvas: The canvas was rubbed with a paint mixture of Burnt Seana and Raw Umber. I like starting paintings on a toned canvas to get rid of the glaring white.

I painted in the darkest colors first. The cliff is the closest so it would have the darkest and most contrasting colors.

The hills I wanted to rough in next to give me the right balance in depth for the painting.

Now the middle tones are filled in. These are the dark shadows for the distant trees. A lot of air between the cliff and the hills, so a lot of the shadows turn to blue in color because of it.

The water and rocks are next. Working the contrasts here, trying to make the cliff and water come forward.

The painting is pretty much blocked in here. Painting on the cliff now.

End of class. I got a real good start on this painting I thought. My students did too.

Student painting from the class. Nice start Karen.

I thought I was about done, but after going away from the painting I saw it with a fresh eye I knew I wasn't.

Artist's Tip:The hardest thing about painting is to know when to stop and when you have to keep going. It's hard when you've been working on a painting for a long time, to make changes. But that is what makes it yours. It's your ability to know something isn't right and keep going and making the right choices to finish the painting.

Done again, but a lass no. I liked a lot of the painting, but it just didn't hold together right yet.

Now I'm Really, Really, Done. I thought I was done so many times on this painting, but now I am done. What turned this painting around was a comment from a Italian Traveler who liked the painting at an earlier stage. In reading her comment, I saw that the painting had a ton more life to it. So I went about to bring it back.

Details from the Painting

Framed and ready to go.

"Carmel"
By James Swanson / Traveler Andy
20" x 16" Oil on linen panel

What a beautiful place Carmel is, trying to capture it wasn't as easy as I thought it would. Thanks to Traveler Andy and his California road trip I gave it a good try. Andy is now traveling in Europe and I'm hoping he keeps me in mind I can always use some great shots from there.
And if you have some great shots you want to share send them along to me at www.theArtistandTheTraveler.org and maybe me get a painting out of it.

Until next time Hang loose.

A Double Feature

"Winter Hay Stack"
By James Swanson/
Traveler Helmut
16" x 20"
Oil on Canvas

"Winzendorf"
By James Swanson/
Traveler Helmut
14" x 18"
Oil on Linen

Two for the price of One! Buy one get one Free! Double your pleasure!

These are a few advertising slogans that are meant to entice you to buy and get more.

Helmut with his dog Sheila and Ann Hiley
( photo from the Hiley website )

This next painting project is also meant to entice you, it's really two projects, thanks to our new Traveler Helmut.

Photos are from some of Helmut's many walks

Helmut is a walker in Austria I found through a link from another Traveler. The link said something about “Helmut’s photographic record of his trips around his home in Winzendorf Austria”.

Helmut know his botany.

But when I looked at his site, it was way more than just a record. Helmut takes some wonderful pictures that captures his home and other journeys of his. Take a look when you get a chance.

From one of Helmut's many walks

Helmut’s Story: I share my landscape impressions as seen through the lenses of my digital camera with all who are interested.

Helmut's home Winzendorf

I am reporting about short walks and bicycle tours to the surroundings of my home Winzendorf as changing during the seasons, as well as about other areas visited on day tours, journeys and vacation.

Helmut's walking companion Sheila

2 Traveler’s Paintings - “Winter Hay Stack” and “ Winzendorf”

The photo of Winzendorf I used to work from.

These next two paintings are a Double Feature for you. The “Winter Hay Stack” painting was started as a painting demonstration for my painting class and “Winzendorf” was a paint along the class and I did together. I don’t have many photos of either of these as they were painted, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and show both.

The photo of Helmut's I used to paint from.

“Winter Hay Stack” Out of all of Helmut’s beautiful photos I picked this one because when I saw it, I saw it as a painting. That’s how I pick out a lot of photos for this journey. I see it and it just says paint me. And that is what I did with this one.

The Sketch: Yes, I did this little sketch in front of the class. It’s funny no one laughed at me for the dumb little drawing. But this little drawing has all the info for the painting. Helmut already had a nice design in the photo all I had to do make it work in a painting.

This where the painting was after the first class.

It was a good start and I thought I'd be able to knock it out the rest of the way pretty easily. Wrong!

This where the painting was a few days later. I didn't get to do much with the hay its self in class, so I started the work there.

A few weeks later- After staring at this painting for a couple of weeks I finally came up with what was bothering me. The snow was just too strong and needed to be knocked back, and the hay stack its self was too wide.

Now the painting is getting somewhere. A lot of small fixes are adding up. I lighten the snow- again, and worked on the background. I'm trying to get Helmut's village back there to read but not be seen or over powering.

My photoshop fixes to be done to the painting. There is nothing worse as an artist than reworking a piece and screwing it up, because you weren't sure what to do. That is why when a painting gets to this point I photograph it and play with it on the computer.With this fresh look I could see right a way what needed to be changed. First clean up the trees and things in the back. The big thing thought, was to add a fence and it's shadows.

Done! Only a few months have gone by since I began this painting. But know I can finally say it's done, complete, finished!!!

Here are some details from the painting.

Done and Framed

"Winter Hay Stack"

By James Swanson / Traveler Helmut

16" x 20" Oil on Canvas

Painting #2

Helmut's photo that we worked from.

“Winzendorf” This painting was done as a “paint along” with my painting class. The whole class and I worked from the same photo of Helmut’s. I’d paint and the class would follow. As I was painting and walking around making painting comments to the students, I forgot to take photos of the paintings progress, but I did take a few shots of some of the student’s paintings for you to enjoy.The Sketch: as a group we dissected the photo for our paintings. One of the things the students wanted to take out of the picture was the telephone pole. But I over ruled saying that was one of the photos strongest elements to me. And with the strong diagonal coming in from the corner it would be a stop in the painting.

Student Teri working near the end of class. She had a real nice start for one class.

Student Karen's painting at the end of class. Heck of a start too.

The teachers(mine) painting- It was a good start for me. I wanted everyone to paint the depth that was in Helmut's photo. After painting in my darkest darks we worked from the back mountains forward, trying to capture the depth.

End of class. Lots of things need to be done yet, but over all a real good start.

I finish the painting the next day. I like to leave the important little things until the end - like the trees and the houses. And finally the pole went in. I painted it with the edge of a palette knife.

Framed and ready to go.

"Winzendorf"
By James Swanson / Traveler Helmut
14" x 18" Oil on Canvas

That was double the fun wasn't it. I want to thank Helmut for the use of both of his photos, and I hope to paint a few more of his wonderful walks soon. Take a look at his site www.landschaftsfotos.at/ he really gets around and knows his flowers.

And if you get around and would like to join in on this painting adventure send me a note here or at www.TheArtistAndTheTraveler.org.

Until next time “ So long, far well, I really have to go.”

Mulroy Bay- Back in Time.

"Mulroy Bay, 1983"
By James Swanson/Traveler Larry

20"x 16" Oil on Linen

Watch how this journey was painted.

Oh Brother, What a Trip.
We've all dreamed about leaving everything behind, taking off and seeing the world while you're still young.


Back in 1983, Traveler Larry and his brother Steve did just that, they left their home in Chicago and went on an adventure of a life time to Europe and Asia.

London-All photos are from Larry's photo album

And part of their 8 month adventure was to return to their roots, Mulroy Bay in Northern Ireland. And that is where we catch up with the two.

Traveler Larry and Steve. (Larry is on the right)

Travelers Larry and his brother Steve's Story: After gallivanting around London, walking the heights in Wales, visiting the jazz festival in Edinburgh, Scotland,

The Fairy Flag

and seeing fairy's in Skye, the two brothers traveled on to Mulroy bay in Northern Ireland to see their ancestral home.

Road to Mulroy Bay

One of their many stories of the place, was calling home all excited to tell their Mom that they where there, in Mulroy Bay, her families original home. And also finding out that the river that runs into Mulroy bay had the same name as their fathers last name.

A page out of Larry's travel album on Mulroy Bay.

How weird was that? It must have been destiny or karma that their parents would meet, or it could be Traveler Larry and his brother just visited one too many pubs while they were there. Which I wouldn't put pass them.

The photo I'll be working with is from NW tip of Donegal Ireland
- near Sheeps Head Point and Mulroy Bay.

The Traveler Painting - "Mulroy Bay 1983" Traveler Larry was one of the very first people that I told about this idea of seeing the world in paint. He was also the first to offer up this trip that he and his brother took. And at the time I thought it was very appropriate that my painting journey would started over a green beer with a friend close to St Patricks day.The Sketch: This is my rough little sketch of how I was going to break down the photo and put together the painting. First, I was going to concentrate on the town and road. To do that I decided to make the painting vertical. I slid the most interesting part of the mountains in the background over, and left the foreground to your imagination.

Dark colors are blocked in first. I pretty much always start this way. Painting the darks in thin, and letting them show through in the painting.

Here I'm putting in some foreground color and background color to start getting the correct depth for the image.

Now comes the sky and the water. Since the water is reflecting the sky here, both were able to be painted in pretty fast.

The Painting is blocked in. One of the things that I try and do is block the painting in as soon as I can. That way, I can see and judge all the color combinations going on in the painting, with out seeing the canvas color.

Color adjustments- I really liked the warmth in Travelers Larry's photo. With the painting now blocked in, I can work on bring some of that warmth back in.

Done- I kept a lot of my first impressions in this painting. I was really close with the mixing of paint colors on my palette, so making that adjustments on this painting went pretty fast.

Details from the Painting:

Framed and ready to go."Mulroy Bay, 1983"

By James Swanson/Traveler Larry

20"x 16" Oil on Linen
This painting was started as a painting demonstration for an Oil Painting class that I teach and finished it up later.

Working from someones old memories is fascinating for me, because of what a Traveler chooses to remember about a trip is a journey in it's self.

Traveler Larry and his brother Steve have some more wonderful stories about their long adventure, and I hope to tell a few more sometime soon. Thanks Larry and Steve for letting me tag along. If you have a trip that was memorable let me know and maybe we can make a painting out of it. Contact me here or at www.theartistandthetraveler.org.

Until next time Slán libh.