Painting Journal

Polar Power

February 17, 2016 by alaskanraven

Polar Power
36″ x 36″
painting on canvas by Raven
sold

I am struggling with a painting.
Some passages work like a dream. Color vibrates. Other parts look dead, lifeless. I change colors. Use different kinds of brushstrokes. New layers of paint. I thought it was finished many times. But later it was clear the bear wasn’t breathing. He looked wrong. Embarrassingly wrong.

I work on other canvases but keep coming back to this one. I give it a name to capture the power and majesty of a polar bear. He is awesome in my imagination. If I could just get him to come through these layers of paint.

The title taunts me. Polar Power. This painting might be a failure that I won’t be able to stir out of the ashes. Oh well. Work on another painting.

This morning I walk into the studio and give myself permission to NOT work on the painting. I immediately feel relief. Pressure is off. Other studio work needs to be done. No painting today. Keep away from brushes and frustration for a day. Time for a cup of tea. Do some low stress, no pressure tasks.

I look at the bear taunting me while I sip tea.
Ok. I see what I want to do. Those passages that I thought were working… time to cover them up and try a different approach. I argue with myself. Leave it alone.
No, it is time to go for it. It is time to save it or burn it.

The tea is cold but the paint is hot
I grab the orange paint, my favorite cobalt teal, and cover up my troubled areas plus many of my favorite areas. Time to be bold. The brush goes back and forth with warm and cool colors.

Orange is the heat of the bear, his body heat, his breath, his aliveness. The cold blues are the arctic bone chilling cold. The deep dark purple is the mystery of the polar night. The golden colors are the sunlight. Sunlit parts of the bear become the center of attention. We are drawn to the light.

Finally, the bear starts to emerge
Benzi orange pigment saves me. Suddenly I see my bear emerge and breathe. One of us growls. Yes. The painting has power and color surprises. I celebrate a victory. This was tough.

I share it with you.

Going backwards to go forward

April 20, 2015 by alaskanraven

Climbing up the riverbank reveals the remnants of cabins. Each one whispers a different story. Carefully placed logs sink into tundra.

Where should I paint?

A winding path takes me to each home and deepens my understanding. Empty homes. Cherished memories were dust on the windowsills. A mischievous wind carried hints of laughter and joy. But inside the cabins are only cobwebs and dust. It must have been hard to leave this beautiful place when airplanes replaced riverboats in the 1940’s.

We only traveled seven miles down the Koyukuk River but our boat took us back a hundred years. Gordon Bettles chose this site in 1896 to establish his trading post during the gold rush. It was as far as the old riverboats could navigate.

One of the buildings catch my attention. My friend reminisced, “We used to come here on snow machines in the winter and danced all night”. The General Store appeared to bow in acknowledgment. The dance floor had been removed but the old weathered walls held onto memories of festive days.

Her story made my choice of subject matter easy. I firmly plant my easel in front of the General Store and spill all the contents of my bag onto the ground. Paint tubes, palette, brushes, water, clips, mosquito repellant, sunblock. I went right to work. Old bottles peek at me from the windows. I study the weathered sheet metal and signage. Fireweed dance in the breeze along with the golden birch leaves. A perfect day to soak up local color and paint wildly on a sunny September day in Old Bettles.

Spending the day here made me feel close to the people who had lived in Old Bettles. I don’t know them by name but I feel a kinship from spending time behind an easel in the shadow of their homes on the Koyukuk River. I share that connection with you.

more about Raven

April 16, 2015 by alaskanraven

I ventured to Alaska before there was an oil pipeline and fell in love with the gnarly spruce trees, intense weather and mountains I could touch. Very different from the landscape in St. Louis. I was looking for different.

The spruce trees: those scraggy, wizened, lanky conifers danced onto the first page of my sketch book.

Wildlife artist Bill Berry was my mentor. After two years of study, he encouraged me to pursue my art education in more depth so I journeyed to Colorado.

I returned to Alaska after graduating from Rocky Mountain College of Art in Denver. I had to return. Those gnarly spruce trees had etched a place in my heart. Alaska has become my home.

I sketch and paint in my studio or explore outdoors with a portable easel, brushes and paint en plein air (painting outdoors in the open air).

Interested in more details? A more formal resume is one click away…

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Let’s talk about painting

Golden cadmium yellow oil paint. Luscious juicy orange. Playful purple. Dark mysterious ultramarine blue and sincere cerulean blue. They sit impatiently in their assigned places on the palette. A large scoop of titanium white dominates the upper left corner.

I’ve been planning this new series of paintings for a long time. Bears. Polar bears. Nanooks. I have many reasons to paint them.

These bears are huge. Powerful. Terrifying. Their shapes intrigue me. I study them until I see them moving in my minds eye. They invade my studio and take over my thoughts.

Bold
24″ x 18″
oil painting on stretched canvas by Raven
sold

She is the first of the series. A star. Emerging out of pigment in a new way. Brushstrokes move the pigment around until a bear emerges. She comes through bold and strong and gives me courage to paint more.

This polar bear guards the front entrance of my treasured Ravenista’s home.
She welcomes you if you are a friend.