Discussions with Mark Norseth

I’ve gotten this picture to a point where I’m satisfied that it’s a completed work. That is, any more work on it seems counterproductive to the overall effect of the picture.

The underlying idea of the painting, a study of subtleties of color, space, light and shadow, seems resolved.  As it was painted mainly at the location, within the Honolulu Museum of Art’s building complex, I was sometimes surprised a bit by the question “Why did you choose to paint this?”, which I was asked a few times.

For me, it was self evident. Can’t others see how wonderful this is?  But once I considered it,  I can also understand how the people who spend their working days here had naturally become accustomed to it, to the point where there was no longer anything terribly special about it. I have that experience every day in my own workplaces.

Coming to the courtyard with a fresh eye, my answer is that there is something of the sublime in the illumination, the colors of the containers and colors within the shadows; rich, complex grays with violets, blues, and yellows reflecting into them, constantly shifting and shimmering, and the quietness of the physical space.  Maybe it’s only some painters who respond to this sort of thing, but I couldn’t miss it. A quiet corner, indeed, restful and renewing. I’ll never forget the experience of painting here.

“Quiet Corner-the Palm Courtyard”   18 x 22″   oil on linen canvas.

This is a pastel demonstration piece I executed at Spalding House for my Painting the Model en Plein Aire class last week.

Our topic that day was “Selection and Emphasis”…the idea that one must select from what Nature presents according to your priorities, and then appropriately simplify. Every element must be considered and it’s value to your picture determined, much will  need to be eliminated, and what is left must be simplified and refined.

         Dulce in the Sun      Pastel on Canson       12 x 9″

I thought I’d start the New Year with something from the end of the old.   This is the last piece I did as a pastel demonstration in the Drawing and Painting the Portrait class I teach, and it’s been nestled in the flat files for a couple weeks for safekeeping until I get a frame made for it.

The model, Sarah, is an artist herself, and the granddaughter of the distinguished teacher and painter Snowden Hodges.  We did this over about 4 sessions, if I recall, which was just about right.

S.H. in Profile, pastel on Canson paper, 16 x 20″

Sarah has agreed to be my subject for a drawing demonstration I’m doing at Art After Dark on the 25th of January at the Honolulu Museum of Art.

It will be a very active affair overall, I’m told that 1000 + visitors can easily pass through the doors of the Museum that night, but  Sarah and I are  promised safe haven in the very lovely Mediterranean Courtyard, and it will be  a  pleasure to spend the 3 hours drawing Sarah and providing some insight into the process for interested guests.

I was excited to take myself on a field trip Saturday, May 5, to head to the high cliffs nearby and take a shot at the spectacular full moon that was promised.

I loaded up my oil painting gear and my small pastel kit and was at the Lanai Lookout on our Eastern shore by about 4:30 PM. Folks were already assembled to watch the much-anticipated moonrise over the ocean, and so I was fortunate to grab a parking spot, and from there hiked with my gear about a quarter mile across the old basalt flows to a high point that I’d decided in advance was a good place to work from.

From previous posts, you may know that I try to define my mission in advance. By this I mean that I decide whether I’m going sketching (looking for a general effect), making a study (fact-finding), or doing a finished painting.  Since this was a sketching trip, I brought small oil primed panels along, as well as pastels, hoping to capture colors that would be of help later. Because of the brevity of the sunsets here in Hawai’i, I already realized that seizing any shapes, except the simplest ones, would be more than I should expect.

As the wind was quite strong on my location, I opted for oil, and I didn’t get anything terribly fancy, but was pleased with having caught the general color mood.  I worked as hard as I could, loving every second of it.  The sketch (9 x 12″) was done with Liquin as a medium, which I rarely use outdoors in Hawai’i, but it helped in this case.  This small piece will serve as an important reminder of the color I experienced for anything I do later in the studio.  

By the time this oil sketch was done, it was too dark for more painting, so I hiked out, loaded up my gear and backtracked in my car to another favorite piece of shoreline about a mile back.  For perhaps the next hour, I sat on the shoreline making mental notes of the rocks, the action of the ocean against them, and the effect of the light, which gradually become much cooler as the evening turned to night.  Drawing was hopeless, but I felt that I had formed a pretty strong mental picture of the values and colors.

The following evening, I returned in the very late afternoon with my pastel sketchbook to make some quick sketches, such as this one.

I didn’t have the moonlit effect in quite the same manner as the previous night, but had already fixed in my mind what the effect was, and began the following morning to produce this pastel study, 14 x 18″, in-studio from my sketches and memory/imagination.

This should serve me pretty well if I decide to work up a more involved and larger  painting from the experience.  Right now, I’m able to envision a large pastel or something along the 30 x 40″ size in oil.

The finished painting is now happily and safely framed,  and hanging.  Here’s a look at the finished piece, plus a couple  of other working shots.

I won’t get into much about the painting here, because I’m in the process of  getting each day’s work into shape for a step-by=step demonstration piece on the website this week.  I hope you’ll look it over when it’s ready!

Commencing the last day’s work in exactly the weather conditions I needed. And the artwork is level with the horizon, a big deal when working outdoors.

Unfortunately I didn’t  shoot the painting in it’s mat and  frame before the glass was placed. The final combined effect contributes to the work a great deal.  Most of my attempts to shoot work already behind glass are an exercise in frustration, so you will just have to visit Hawai’i to check it out in person.

I can’t  believe I’m still wearing that t-shirt after all these years.