Discussions with Mark Norseth

Because I’m beginning to find my way into creating prints of my work, I’ve decided that over the next year I’d create some paintings particularly suited to reproduction.  On my list has been Halona Cove, a very special and very challenging location that I’ve painted repeatedly over the years.

Halona Cove, final painting, watercolor, 15 x 22″

I brought this painting into existence using the smaller “plein-air”  sketch shown below augmented by a number of pencil drawings, my preferred approach when painting directly, in situ, isn’t a practical solution.

Halona Cove watercolor study, 11 x 14″

The watercolor  study managed to grasp general colors and big shapes, some topographical information, and some figures for scale, but that’s about all I could glean from a watercolor excursion to this place, and the work falls short of my ambitions. However, I can use this as a guide in-studio, and when accompanied by pencil drawings and notes, I was able to create the larger and more complete painting  that expresses more fully what I’d like  to say.

I find that compositional sketches, a simple breaking down of the basic elements into patterns, is indispensable.

Because I’ve immersed myself in painting and drawing on location in Hawai’i, I’ve accumulated a large body of sketchbook material involving figures that I can use and manipulate as reference for paintings.

As my students know, I  prefer this approach over the more popular method of using photography.  Almost every painter I’ve come to admire worked without much reliance, if any, on the camera.  I suspect that some of the shortcomings I find in contemporary representational art, as compared to the work of the older artist’s,  is somehow tied to our  reliance on the convenience of the camera over the impressions of the mind.  At least I think that, and have been willing to challenge myself.  Does anyone else think that bowing to convenience has seriously eroded our skills as observers?   But more practically, the benefits of working  this way are that I’m constantly strengthening  my observational skills by drawing from life,  am disciplined to create stronger mental impressions, and gain a deeper personal connection with what makes a place special.  Perhaps  such a practice will prove to  have a positive accumulative effect over the years.

A detail of the background figures invented from rough sketchbook suggestions.

Working out the foreground figure

I  have had an agreement with myself for a number of years, and that is that as often as possible,  I’ll paint my watercolors from direct observation.

This commitment arose from a real desire to observe life and react in paint as directly as possible.  To work i situations where everything is moving, the people, the light, and the effect, is an exciting challenge, and pretty much the only way to keep me interested  in watercolor.

Painting on location, being in the beehive,  also has it’s drawbacks…you can make bad decisions in the heat of battle, carry something too far, or lose your objective. But after a while, I believe that you learn  to collect and focus all your facilities, and see/respond to the world in a much more real and vivid way.

King Street Market 16 x 12″                                                                    Watercolor

It’s good to break things up with a morning on the Waikiki side for some watercolor work.  Like anywhere one lives, it’s one of those areas that is sort-of off my radar unless I have a specific reason for being there. But it’s beautiful, no doubt, and there is always something to paint as long as you look with your own eyes.  And the weather is almost always something like what I had today.

Here’s this mornings catch…don’t have a title yet, but one will come, as they always do.

11 x 14″ watercolor on paper

This is a plug for my upcoming two-man show in Honolulu at the Academy Art Center at Linekona.

Entitled “Double Vision”, the show is the work of myself and my friend Roger Whitlock, an esteemed local watercolor painter.  We’ve been selecting subjects and painting together for over a year, with the intention of showing our renditions of the various subjects side by side.

Double Vision will be having an opening reception on March 26, at the Academy School at Linekona, 5-7 PM,  on the second floor gallery, a perfect venue for a show of this size.  Guests are welcome, and we are anticipating a healthy sized crowd.

Two of my 12 watercolors follow.  I’ll see if I can get images of some of Roger’s fine pieces as well. 

I’ve been in the watercolor groove for about two months now…something that seems to happen about every year and a half or so.  I’ll either treat myself to a period of somewhat careful  drawings in pencil, which I feel sharpens me and re-centers me, or go the other way entirely and try to hammer out a group of small, fresh watercolors, which is what has occurred this time.

Erik Spear Fishing, watercolor 11 x 14″

This piece was a complete roadside impromptu.  I showed up in the morning with my son’s Scout troop, who were going spear fishing for the first time as a group. While they were out in the bay, I trudged around looking for a subject that I could pull together in about an hour or two.

I  finally decided to set up on the side of the highway, shaded by a few trees and parked cars, and get to work on this scene, hoping to find the group returning here, the spot where they set out  from.  I thought it would supply me with great material, all these wet people clambering about on their return, hauling their gear and excited from their adventure.  I had my sketchbook out and ready, but instead, they came ashore behind me, and so I convinced my son to come over and pose for a few minutes while I worked out  a sketchbook drawing, which I then placed into the painting.

In typical Hawai’i fashion, I had two pre-teen girls wrapped  in beach towels sitting in the shade at the foot of my easel,  texting their friends and snacking on treats from the crack-seed store. I almost bailed on this piece and went after that subject instead; it was beautiful…dark hair and skin, white, yellow, and pink towels, and dappled blue shadows over everything, but experience has taught me not to jump ship once I’ve left the dock.

The fishermen came back with some fish, by the way,  including a nice octopus which ended up on the barbecue for lunch.