Hope you like horses

As I mentioned in my previous post, I can't reveal the painting I am working on right now. So, I thought you might like to see some of the wonderful Icelandic horses on my most recent trip to Iceland.

One aspect which added a bit of romance to them is that they were in remote areas with few, if any, buildings in sight.

 

 

Love the mane on the left horse!

It's a Secret

 I'd love to share the painting I just finished and the next piece I am working on. But, the show they are going to be submitted to requires they remain a secret until the opening day of the show. Unusual, but I will honor their rules.

I will tell you that the one I just completed is my first painting of walrus (inspired by the ones I saw on the small boat trip out of Svalbard, Norway) and the one I am designing right now is a colony of one of my favorite sea birds.

In the meantime, I will share a few photos from my recent trip to Iceland and Norway.

Today I'd like to show you a few photos from an added stop on our self-drive on what is referred to as Diamond Circle in northern Iceland. No wildlife at this spot except for a small bird which was using a chimney shaft as a nest, but the place holds a nostalgic fascination for me.

Preserved Turf homes

   The turf home settlement we visited was Laufas which belongs to the National Museum of Iceland. Laufas is mentioned in the some of the earliest Icelandic records and has been the home of priests since 1047. Complete with a church, this place was a revelation. The four main structures are connected below grade. One would think a "cellar" area would be dank and dark. On the contrary, the lower area was dry and light came in from carefully designed above ground angled shafts. The current buildings date from the mid-19th century and have furnishings from that period.

   There was also a section dedicated to livestock so they could get out of the cold in the Icelandic winter.

 

  

 

 The Laufas area has had a church since early Christianity in Iceland (early 1000s.) The current church was built in 1865 but its ornate pulpit was made in 1698.

   The last residents of Laufas were the vicar and his wife. They left in 1936 when a newer vicarage was available. 

 

 

Next up "in the meantime" before I start a painting I can show you in progress, Icelandic horses.

Finished

 Lobster Presentation

Original Oil

16" X 20"

 

This painting was certainly a departure from my usual wildlife paintings. 

 

Will elements from it be incorporated in future paintings? I think so. Figuring out different types of reflections, using bold colors, and creating unique compositions can carry in to any painting.

The Claw

The deep rich color of the claw helps the lobster hold his own against the tablecloth color and the lemon. This triad of primary colors is a bold choice and with the fun theme of the painting, I think the correct one.

 

 

 

 

More Lobster

 

Butter, Lemon, & Lobster

 I guess I never envisioned I would paint clarified butter!

 

For the lemon I used cadmium yellow deep, yellow ochre, and in some spots lemon yellow.

 I can already see that my "reds" will run the gambit from orangey red to a deep cool red.

 

 

 

 

 

The Cracker

 

The cracker, which is close to the lobster, has the lobster's red reflected on it.

 

You can also see a small splash of red on the nearest fork to the plate.

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections

 

Silverware. 

 

Such minute color changes can make all the difference in how silverware - y the utensils look.

 

 

 

 

Something Completely Different

 Painting dead animals is something I have done before: a lion with a zebra kill, a fox with a sik-sik, a leopard with an impala, a snowy owl with a sharptail.

 

This dead animal will be in a different "setting" - a place setting.

 

Each element in this painting is something I have not painted before. And why am I doing this? Once again, this is a chance for me to "stretch my brushes." 

 

In addition to painting new things I am exploring bold primary colors. 

 

Here goes.

 

 

I met this creature in person. He was my dinner.

We were in lobster season and he was plucked from the ocean by a lobsterman that morning.

In designing this painting there was a lot of editing. All extraneous elements were removed; the white bowl of fiddleheads, extra water glasses, the bread bowl, the bread plate, and the background dinners of my husband and mom.  None were essential in telling the story.

North, way north

 I've been up north. From the end of May to mid-June I've been back to Iceland (first visit 2001) and have added new destinations of Svalbard, Norway and the very northern tip of Norway from the North Cape to Tromso.

To give you a sense of the location of these far-flung lands, see the map below.

 

The scenery was spectacular and of course I was also interested in the wildlife. One of my goals was to see walrus in the wild which we did from a small boat out of Svalbard. 

As usual on my trips some fun adventures were thrown in such as snorkeling in Iceland between the North American and European continental plates. Since the water temperature was a balmy 34 degrees, I did don a dry suit!

Linda snorkeling between continental plates

The water clarity was astounding!

There was seeing the Dettifoss waterfall in Iceland from the east side after traveling on an "impassible" road and crossing a snow field (and being the only four people there,) traipsing along the cliffs of Iceland"s West Fjords to see nesting razorbills, traveling remote roads in Iceland and encountering the endearing Icelandic horses, and heading out from Norway's North Cape to the bird islands to see puffins, razorbills, gannets, and white-tailed eagles.

 

In the two day sea crossing from Iceland to Svalbard we had winds of 44 knots and seas up to 8 meters as we worked to keep ahead of a gale to the west of us. On the full day sea crossing from Svalbard to Norway the seas were bigger and the winds topped 66 knots. What great fun! Most of the areas we visited have had 24 hour sun since May 17. 

Dettifoss, Iceland, 2nd most powerful waterfall in Europe

 

You'll see paintings evolve from this trip once the ideas roll around in my mind for a bit.

Finished

 At the start of the blog posts about this painting I showed you the inspiration. Below is that photo again. When I took the photo I thought it a rather boring scene but something about the boat resonated with me. Its lines were intriguing. There was a seed for a painting.  

 

 

 

 And here is the result.

Landed

Original Oil

30" X 42"

 

                                                                             

Resuming

 It has been a while since I have posted. I did not drop off the face of the earth - merely went to the ends of it. Just returned from Iceland and Norway. En route we hit Svalbard, Norway at 78 degrees north (halfway between the northern tip of Norway and the North Pole.) At some places which we visited the sun had not set since May 17. More stories and paintings from the adventure to come but for now, back to the boat.

Though the actual boat I saw did not have planks I thought they would add character and make the outside not look like fiberglass.

 

 In the same light I've added natural wood highlights.

Water Reflection

 

This reflection is a bit different. Reflections are dictated not only from the color of the water, the agitation of the water (how rough or smooth), and the object reflected, but also by the depth of the water. This particular reflection signals that the boat is resting on a sandy bottom. 

 

 

 

More Water

 

I enjoy painting the many moods of water. To create this scene I used two main looks: distant semi-rough ocean water and calm water inside a shoal and at the sand/shore line. 

 

 

 For the calm water I created texture with color differences and varying brush stroke thickness so it doesn't appear flat and lifeless. 

 

 

 

Adding sky

 

 

The first change I think the "boring photo" needed was a horizon line. 

 

Oils are perfectly designed for sky and water. I started with a group of white clouds to the left and a block of white clouds in the middle extending across the board. It was much too busy. So, I kept blending blues in to the wet paint until I was happy with what you see above. The extended drying time of oils gives me time to play around with ideas, especially with this painting in which all the decisions are not made before I start.

 

 

 

A Boring Photo

 I've taken a lot of reference photos. In my studio drawers are over 25,000 4" X 6" photos (all cross-referenced by subject) and I have well over 170,000 digital photos. Some of these photos are gems from around the world and some might only have a tiny bit of information which could be useful in a future painting.

Then, there are boring ones like the one below.

 

I took a number of angles of this boat when I saw it a couple of years ago. What is the appeal? The water is a nondescript color, the background buoys are not terribly attractive, the brown pole doesn't do anything, and the brown/rust above the water line on the boat is unattractive. 

But, there was something about the lines of the boat, it's closeness to shore, the light on it which drew my interest. Guess that is why I took seven photos of it. 

Over the last couple of years I have visited the digital photos of this boat only to leave perplexed. How do I turn this in to a painting? 

I have an idea. Watch me - I think I can make it work.

Finished

 

Grass Is Always Greener

Original Oil

21" X 32"

 

 This painting certainly used a variety of greens! As for the color of the horse, to me this was the obvious choice. The pops of reds, rust, and orange stand out to create the story hinted by the title.

The next painting will not be "all"  greens. I'm working on my summer collection for the Martha' Vineyard gallery and the next piece will feature water and reflections.

Thanks for following.

More Green

 

Finally. The upper right leaves from a foreground tree are a nice warm green. I was able to break out the sap green and mix it with Gamblin's radiant yellow. Some sections have a touch of Rembrandt's cadmium yellow deep but I found the radiant yellow got me a more intense color.

 

 The farm has this craggy tree right next to the rock wall. I could have made it "pretty" but I found parts of it were quite interesting. I didn't paint every branch but went for the elements which in my mind defined the tree.

 The foreground grass and vegetation are rather loose. With all that is going on in the painting I didn't want one's eyes to stop on really detailed foreground plants/weeds. I did however want to make sure the brightest and warmest greens were on this side of the rock wall.

 

 

 

Rocks

 

 

The rock wall in the background has few colors but to make the foreground rock wall read well I put strokes of raw sienna and blues in the shadows and played around with the warm sunlit colors. This is all to the right of the tree. To the left of the foreground tree I went with cooler colors to help that portion of the wall recede in to the middle ground.

 

 

 

Rock Walls & Gates

 

The background rock wall is "bluer" than the foreground will be. As you can see from the image below, I start with the dark areas first.

 

 

From this vantage point of the farm you can see two gates. A common design on Martha's Vineyard is three to four horizontal boards, a middle vertical board for support if it is a wide gate, and an angled board attached to the top of the granite vertical post on the right and at the lowest part of the gate on the left. 

 

 

More Greenery

 

 

At this stage I really want to leap in to mixing warm greens to balance the cool greens. However, I know  there is plenty of the painting to go which will need the contrast. 

Before I finish for the day I painted the more warm green line in the middle of the painting. Just a touch of warmth to suggest where the greens will go next. 

 

 

Painting Greens

Near when I first started painting, I hated working with greens. They would be too vivid, too blue, too muddy. They just didn't read real to me. So, I decided to do a piece which was basically shades of green. From a yellow-green to a deep blue-green, I got to experiment. Below is the result.

 

Shades of Green

Original oil, 2001

16" X 24" 

 

After this painting greens were no longer a nemesis. Difficult, but I didn't hate them.

 

I bring this up because this next painting on my easel has a lot of different greens. They are the driving force to the depth of the piece. 

 

The interior of Martha's Vineyard, an island off the east coast,  has rolling hills and pastoral farms. Rock walls from centuries past cross the landscape. This particular farm has been a favorite of mine. 

 

 The pond in the distance adds an extra layer of depth and almost a longing to walk in to the scene to go swimming on a warm summer afternoon.

 

 

 

 

The greens on the right start to add a flavor of warm bright color to the scene. However, the deepest and richest greens are saved for the foreground.

 

 

 

 

Finished & coming up with a title

 

Title - see below

Original oil painting by Linda Besse

14" X 18"

 

Image above is a scan of the original painting

 

 

Sometimes I have a title of a painting before I start. There are paintings in which a title develops while I paint. Then, there are paintings in which the title eludes me, briefly.

 

I wanted a title which reflected a sense of place and maybe the presence of the Adele penguins. 

So many titles were rejected. Way Down South felt confusing as that is also used for the southern part of the U.S.  I considered Way Cool but it didn't resonate the way I hoped. Shortening Way Cool to Cool! wasn't right either. It wasn't cool, it was cold!

 

Ah, cold. The title?

Cold Never Bothered Me 

 

For any who have seen the Disney animated movie Frozen, the last line of the block-buster song Let It Go is the cold never bothered me anyway. While the movie Frozen takes place in the north, the "frozen continent" is Antarctica. I like this title because it is packed with meaning and though it does not specifically name the penguin species, it says everything about them.

More Ice

 

Colors!

 It is easy to think of Antarctica as lots of white and then throw in the blue water. Yup, two tubes of paint.

But the colors of the ice on a sunny day are so magnificent they can take your breath away.

 

One of the dangers in painting them is relying solely on one's reference photos. A photo sees the surface but our eyes see through the surface. I like to memorize the colors I see. It even helps to write them down and/or make color marks shortly afterwards. I find this also particularly helpful for northern lights for which I don't have adequate nighttime camera equipment.

On the main block I still have to paint the "white" on the upper side and blend it with the shadowed colors.

Rearranging

 

 

I was fortunate to have a beautiful scene to work with. While my photos of it might have been picture perfect they were not painting-perfect.

The mid mini-berg in the middle of the right edge extended to the large blocks on the left. This visually cut off the back landscape from the foreground. So, I made a gap.

I cropped the right side of the scene which eliminated one of the background mountains. I didn't feel the painting needed it.

The main block was heftier and was more rounded which gave it a ball-like appearance. This did not seem to fit the angled stratified appearance of the ice so I modified the shape. 

There is a bit of the main ice block sticking out from behind the right penguin. In my reference this piece was very tiny which made it confusing. I enlarged and extended it.

This does not mean I am done making changes. At this point I already see another change to make in what I have already painted.

 

South, way South

 One of the best trips I have taken was to Antarctica. After a rolling crossing of the Drake Passage with seas up to 48 feet and wind gusts up to 108 knots, our arrival at the continent was greeted by clear skies and crystal water. The light was the purest I have ever seen with a clarity that is hard to describe.

I want this painting to imbue a sense of place and the beauty of this continent.

For this piece I am doing something different in the preparation. In my paintings I use a light turpentine wash with a touch of yellow ochre over my drawing. To try and capture the unique light in Antarctica I thought I might be fighting the underlying warm wash the whole time. So, here my turpentine wash was a mixture of cerulean blue, ultramarine blue deep, and paynes gray.

Our small 100 passenger ship was able to give us two continental landings from zodiacs. The vastness of this place was evident. We climbed a gentle slope of a glacier and the full sun was so warm we could take our coats off and lie in the snow.

Finished

 

Forever Wild

 24" X 36"

Original oil by Linda Besse

 

 

The image above is from a professional scan of the painting.

 

 

Thanks for following along on the creation of this piece. 

Up next is a completely different wild part of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

More Horse

 

Black & Tan

 Lest you think I am talking about a beer drink with pale ale and stout, in this case it is about the horse coloring.

However, the colors are not that simple. Not only will there be black and tan, but also gray, rust red, orangey red, lavender, purple, deep browns, and bright yellows.