My journey in decorative painting

Hello Friends,

I have just returned from a 5 day floral seminar at the Jansen residence and am very pleased with what I have learned. I have posted about my experience at the Jansen's on the Heritage Forum so I won't repeat that information here. This post is very different.

Normally when I learn a new technique I am not totally satisfied with my painting. Of course when we learn something new it should stretch us and we should need to practice these techniques a great deal before we master them. However, this seminar was different. I felt like the actual techniques were fairly simple but the finished look was quite different. I also felt like I really understood the look and that we were going for so I am thrilled with my finished pieces.

Actually my 5 days of painting got me to thinking...... I have been in the arts forever but I have only been in decorative painting for about 7 or 8 years. I caught on quickly, had great teachers and practiced everyday so my technique, artistic eye and understanding have grown quickly. I had a natural affinity for strokework which has led to a certain amout of brush control. I say none of the as a "brag" but as a statement of fact. I have a lot to learn but I am so pleased with my journey. Decorative painting has opened up so many doors for me and has introduced me to really wonderful friends. As I often say...I am so very blessed.

When I came home from my seminar my family had lots of warm greetings for me and then they "oohed and ahhed" over my paintings. I was so pleased that they liked my work and was proud of my accomplishments. When we finally sat down to catch up Cathy said, "those paintings are so pretty. Do you remember your first painting?" I had to think about it but I did find my first painting and wanted to share it with all of you. It is a little hard to see but it is a folk angel that is all basecoated with a couple of painted stitches. There is no highlighting or shading on it at all. Just a basecoat and a little liner work. Now lets move to the three paintings that I recently completed in the 5 day floral seminar. This first painting is a simple study panel we did to expose us to the techniques used in direct painting. Thank heavens we started with this piece. it gave us a chance to make errors and learn.

This next piece is one of my favorite paintings. I love the composition and the warm background.

Finally, this painting was a real challenge and was a true study of Premier Coup techniques. I especially like painting the bird. Good times!

It is really thrilling to see my first piece and my most recent pieces and to be able to chart my own journey as an artist. However, I have to honestly say that I am as proud of my little watering can as I am of my Premier Coup paintings. They all represent my journey and each piece holds a story and it's own special memories. My sincerest hope is that all of you have had the same kind of wonderful journey that I have had. Once again...I am so blessed.

Sincerely,

Paul

Nadine Rogers

Hello Friends,

We are so blessed to be surrounded by scads of very special students and friends. When we decided to open the shop I was not expecting to create the intense relationships that we have. Frankly it was something that I never thought about. However, that has been, by far, the very best thing about our shop. I am a bit proud that our little shop in the mountains has become a mecca for so many people that find relationships and fulfillment through the arts. It is our dream to create a community of artists where everyone contributes to everyone else. The shop and the friendships have been life-changing.

Every now and then, a student will distinguish themselves in some way. Perhaps one student is incredibly creative, another is very neat, another may be quite flexible and have a great attitude. You get the picture. I have one student, Nadine Rodgers, that has been painting with me from the very beginning. She was in the first beginner class and from the first day that our shop opened she has been a part of our lives.

Nadine is hard to describe. She is a person that has lived on the same street practically her entire life, but her view of the world is rather large and she has a wide tolerance for others. She is also a person that loves simple things, a good book, family, her home etc...but she is a very intelligent and observant person. She is also a person that is very loyal and loving to the people in her life but has a quick wit and a very funny sense of humor.

I could go on and on about her but I have come to realize that there is one thing that I value about her above all others. Nadine thinks "out of the box". She has her own sense of style and her own tastes and her own eye and I support her decisions. She will often make small changes to the pieces that we are working on but will still retain the basic look of the piece. I applaud her independence and encourage her to continue. The wonderful thing is that she doesn't do it all the time but on occasion she will change the background color of a piece, or the color scheme etc etc.

During the prep for our last Palekh seminar Nadine told me that she didn't want to paint it on the surface that we recommended. Our policy is that seminar pieces must be painted on a piece purchased through the shop so she looked through our inventory and found a lovely scalloped edge plate. We talked about how she could adapt the surface to this pattern. She did a wonderful job with it and added a lovely scroll border to the outside of the plate. In addition Nadine studies some of the pictures that I handed out that talked about the history of the style and saw another painting of Father Frost with some pretty interesting hair. Nadine decided to change the beard and the hair and her piece is truly stunning. She is such an artist. It comes out of her mouth, her brain and her brush and I am so grateful to be her teacher.

I am posting a closeup of her painting. Isn't this truly a great accomplishment. Congratulations Nadine!

Sincerely,

Paul

Painting Palekh in Pennsylvania with Paul

Hello Friends,

Okay, the alliteration is a bit goofy but I put it in anyway! Our summer schedule has been crazy. We have been working lots of long hours to prepare our lessons for the new Heritage Education Program, continuing to teach our weekly classes and preparing for our seminars. Our studio is really hopping with activity and we are so thrilled with the artistic energy that we are creating.

This weekend we had the first of our three summer seminars. Our seminars are not long, extended seminars that span several days....our market could not absorb that. Our seminars include a three hour Friday night painting session and an 8 hour session on Saturday. The day and a half seminar is perfect for our students and our market. It provides a concentrated period of study but allows our students to have limited time away from work and family.

Our current weekend seminar was based on the Palekh painting style that I studied with David Jansen in May. I took the class from David because I wanted to learn the techniques that are associated with Palekh painting. While I was sitting in the class I realized that this painting style would translate beautifully to one of our condensed weekend seminars. It was really perfect because the style was new, the techniques were not too difficult and the finished painting would be beautiful. I decided that I would not do the lesson on the small Santa surface that David used so I resized the design and taught it on a sled that our woodman had already made for our studio. The upside of the resizing was that some of the tiny details were bigger! When we painted the Palekh at David's seminar we used a magnifying glass for the small details. Our resizing avoided that need.

Anyhow, the seminar was such a wonderful experience. We had 13 students in the seminar which was a nice size for our studio. I had a goal of completely finishing the painting during the seminar so that meant that I had to be a drill sergeant! No slackers allowed! I told the students to strap in for the ride and for the next two days we worked very hard. The students rose to the challenge and they all have a gorgeous piece of Russian Folk art to display in their home. Following is some pictures from the seminar. I am so proud of all of the students and truly had a wonderful time. Also...a special thank you to David for designing such a wonderful piece.



Nancy is building the snow in layers. Her final painting is gorgeous.





Nadine is adding a wonderful border to her painting. She decided to do the painting on a round plate with a scalloped edge. Her painting turned out great. I hope to post about it after it is varnished. Nadine always thinks outside of the box.

Cathy and Betty multi task as they complete an intermediate step on the painting. Cathy loved this painting and was excited to learn the style. We will often sit as students in each other's seminars. I have to tell you that she was a very good student but she gave the teacher a very bad time! HAHA.

Here I am doing the "teacher thing" as I help Nancy refine her Father Frost face.

This is a picture of some of the class...unfortunately a few students had to leave early and missed the class photo. You can tell by their smiling faces that they were fulfilled by the seminar. I am so proud of everyone. Thank you students!

Sincerely,

Paul

Hello Friends,

I have to share with you the fantastic experience we had this past weekend. Paul and I had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy one of the best side benefits of teaching or taking regular painting classes - the phenomenal camaraderie that comes from a group of people sharing something they love.

My Tuesday night class had a double session on Sunday so that we could wrap classes up by the end of June. After class, we celebrated the year of learning together by having a cookout at our house. Class members brought their significant others and we all enjoyed a beautiful evening filled with fun, laughter and good food. It was so fun, and it made me realize how much painting has enriched our lives - from the beautiful artwork in our home to the friends we have met and enjoyed. Students we would have never known if it weren't for the painting classes we teach, we now consider to be our good friends. And this wonderful class of budding artists has developed the rhythm of friendship and camaraderie that a teacher can only hope for. I dare say they truly care for one another and the painting class and this group of people has become a sanctuary for each of them - a place to go to forget all problems even if only temporarily. If you ever have the opportunity to participate in decorative painting classes, weekly or not, run, don't walk, to register. It's an opportunity you won't regret and it has side benefits beyond learning to paint that may surprise you.

Take care,
Cathy

The painting room!

Hello Friends,

Cathy and I are blessed to live in a lovely home. We live in a turn of the century rather large Victorian house with oak beams on the ceiling, lovely floors, nice woodwork, a modern kitchen, 4 bedrooms, a couple of baths, a nice large linen closet, an upstairs family room and .........the dreaded paint room.

To preface this article I must tell you that my wife is a wonderful homemaker. In spite of the fact that she works two jobs (the shop and public school) our house is almost always wonderfully clean and she is a wonderful cook as well. She works tirelessly to make sure that her family has a nice, normal home life and it is important to her that her house is tidy. Even with the 3 kids, the three dogs and me, the house manages to stay in great shape. But there is one room in the house that we have given up on.....our painting room.

Originally this room was some sort of closet or storage room...we aren't really sure. It is a very small room (8x10) and it has a bunch of stuff in it including two big tables, a big amoire for wood storage, bookcases, shelves, about 709879 surfaces, lots of paints, patterns, etc, etc. During the winter months we are in that room a lot but during the summer it is not unlikely for us to be in there for 8 - 10 hours a day. We paint all the time. It is funny that we have this huge old house but we spend most of our time in this little, tiny, over-crowded room. It also amazes me that this "black hole" is the home of so much beautiful art work. We stay in our painting room because at this point the mess is contained. We have a huge studio/store but it is away from our home and we want to be near the kids so for us... painting in a postage stamp is the best option.

I know that our painting room is a casualty of our unbelievable schedule. We have to prioritize and, quite frankly, a room that no one else ever sees and that would take us forever to clean, we let go. I know that if Cathy weren't juggling all of the things that we do our painting room would be spotless like the rest of our house. But for now it will have to do.

As we have reported before Cathy and I do a lot of shows in order to recruit new students. We have done well at these shows but one of the excuses we hear from people is that they do not have room to paint. Poppycock!!! If you have a kitchen table or a card table you can paint. We painted at our kitchen table for a long time before we started using our painting room. Currently we process about 300 paintings a year through our painting room. The point is this...it doesn't have to pretty, it doesn't have to be particularly organized or clean, it doesn't have to be permanent but, if you want to create beauty you can find the space. So for now we will continue to paint in our little tiny, messy, cramped room and love every minute of it.

I don't want you to think I am exaggerating so I have included a few pictures of our "lovely" space. When you are looking at the pictures please keep in mind that we spend many, many lovely hours in this room together! Thank God we like each other.

Have a great day,

Paul

A Parent's bragging rights

Hello Friends,

It is 6:30 am on the last day of school. Summer means so much to a teacher. The most important thing is that summer represents a time for renewal. So...over the next three months I am going to renew..and renew again. Life is good!

Yes, life is good this morning but there are lots of times when life is a struggle. I am sure that all of the parents that are reading this can relate to what I am about to say. Parenting is the most difficult and most rewarding jobs that we can undertake. My children bring me more total joy and more intense worry than I could have ever imagined. This year has been no different. My kids are truly wonderful people but they have all of the flaws that the rest of us have. The only difference is that it is our job to condition our kids so that these flaws don't interfere with their life. Not an easy job but so important.

Lately, we have had a month of "prouds". Gabe is doing a wonderful job on his baseball team and is a real contributor. My brother John is his coach and I love the fact that they are interacting on their own level. Devon has completed her freshman year in college and is taking summer classes to help her along in the fall. She is also working a very difficult job this summer and earning minimum wage for doing it. I am hoping that she gains an appreciation for those that struggle day to day to simply exist and that she gains a deep appreciation for her education. Mariah is finishing her junior year in high school and has established herself as a really wonderful singer. She has done very well in lots of local, regional and state level singing competitions and truly works very hard.

Which brings me to my next point. Don't you just love when a plan comes together? Mariah has been taking French for the past 3 years and has developed a true affinity for the French culture. She has a wonderful teacher that inspires her to learn and examine the language for all the beauty that we associate with French. This teacher has exposed Mariah to music theater in French. One of the musicals has a song that truly captured her heart. I won't try to spell the French title but the English translation is "You are My Everything". Mariah listened to the song and she and a fellow classmate researched the music and put together their own performance of this song. They didn't practice a tremendous amount and they recorded this at 8 am with no warmup or thought to quality. They just sat down and made music. The results are lovely, and honest. I am particularly proud that Mariah has become a true student in her own right. She didn't do this because her parents expected it but she did it because she had a truly inquisitive mind that led to this discovery. Below I am including the link to "You are My Everything". The actual link might not work so you might have to cut and paste it into your address bar. Please enjoy. I am quite proud and Cathy and I claim "bragging rights" on this one.

http://cchs.k12.pa.us/high/senior_projects/collaborative_learning/

Sincerely,

Paul

Our recent painting...the end of school....my sister Paula

Hello All,

I only have 3 days of school left but Cathy has 5 days left. Please don't worry though. I promised her that for the 2 days that she is in school and I am at home I will sit up in bed and wave good bye. I'm all heart! Anyhow, it has really been a great school year. I have truly felt a connection to my students and I will forever be grateful that they have taken this musical journey with me. We have shared so many wonderful musical and personal experiences and all of them have made me quite proud.

I am going to take a moment and stand on my soap box. My father was a public school teacher and a powerful and charismatic man. He told me some truths before he died. My dad said that teachers will never have the respect they deserve because the public view teaching as an easy job. I assure you that if it is done well it is not easy in the least. He also told me that teachers always make a difference. I can see how my work makes permanent changes in the lives of others. That is so important to me. Teaching is an over-criticized and under-valued profession. It is also one of the most important jobs in the world. If you have the chance thank a teacher for the difference they have made in your life or the life of one of your children. Those small gestures of thanks motivate teachers to "get through the day".

My painting life has been a bit sporadic lately. By sporadic I mean that I have not had the schedule that allowed me to dedicate time every day to paint. My concert schedule was pretty grueling but now that is over. I still found many hours every week to paint but it wasn't as much time as I was used to. During the past weekend I started to clock a lot of time in the studio again. I am working on my Rogaland Rosemaling lesson for the new education system and have had such a great time. I am going to do this lesson a little different than the other lessons that I have put together. I am going to do three different Rogaland designs on three completely different surfaces. However, all of these pieces will use the same color palette. So, if the student chooses they can paint all of the Rogaland pieces and have a collection of them. If they just would like to paint one piece...so be it. I have decided that our students are going to spend much more time on Rosemaling and stokework next year. What I find is that our students are very artistic and have a wonderful sense of color and form but that they lack some technical expertise that can only come through strokework. Strokework is beautiful in and of itself but it is also a gateway to improved brush control and technique. Spending time with strokework is important in the evolution of a decorative painter so students beware - 2010-2011 is going to be the year of strokework. You will be better off for it!

This past weekend was a long one because we celebrated Memorial Day here in the states. This is the day that we dedicate to saying thanks to the people that have served in our armed forces. It is an important and meaningful holiday. One of the highlights of the past weekend was that I got to see my sister Paula and her husband Ed. Paula and Ed live in Arizona and lead a very busy life so we don't get to see them often enough. So, when we do get to hang out with them it is always a party. Paula is my oldest sibling and has always been so special. I could write a book about how generous, successful, classy and funny she is but let's just put it this way....she is a wonderful and unique person and I value every second I get to spend with her. Her husband Ed is exactly the same. He has such a sense of family and is truly my brother. Ed had some surgery this past week and I am hopeful that all continues to go well.

Anyhow, school is ending, summer is beginning and life will change. More time to paint, more time with family and less stress. Life is good!

Paul