December Storm Breaking

L0-l/2 x l3-l/2 inch image in a l6x20 inch white mat. Dolores Mitchell, painter. As a teenager, I went to Saturday classes at the Chicago Art... more

by Dolores Mitchell

Title

December Storm Breaking

Artist

Dolores Mitchell

Medium

Painting - Giclee Print Of A Watercolor

Description

l0-l/2 x l3-l/2 inch image in a l6x20 inch white mat. Dolores Mitchell, painter. As a teenager, I went to Saturday classes at the Chicago Art Institute where we were encouraged to paint the most ordinary of daily sights, such as puddles on streets, boarded up buildings, and rows of telephone poles. This taught us to find interest in views that are often considered ugly. I went to UCLA hoping to hone skills or realism at a time when the art faculty preached Abstract Expressionist approaches. Thinking back, that opened my mind to alternate ways of making art. I obtained a B.A. in studio art and a PhD in art history. I then taught art history from the l5th through 20th centuries at CSUC for over 30 years. I had no time or energy to paint, but continued to draw. When teaching on summer programs in Italy, France and England it was my habit to sketch art in museums. Upon retirement in 2002, I began to paint with a passion once more. I want my oils to look "painted" rather than overly illusionistic. I paint on canvas or masonite that I've coated with yellow or orange, or I paint on top of an old painting I like the unexpected textural effects. My recent landscapes express thoughts as well as visual experiences. This spring the greens in the fields around Hamilton City almost hurt my eyes. I saw in them the power of growth a reaching up for energy from the sun. To express that, I "booted up" the greens through value contrasts and touches of complimentary colors. I slathered Cadmium and Permanent greens onto the canvas with a palette knife. After a week's drying time I glazed sections with transparent Hooker's Green, Sap Green and Prussian Blue. When I work with watermedia, I often make a mess by accident or on purpose I'll put a watercolor out in the rain, or pour color over sections. The accidents suggest further developments. In the next stage I work with opaque paints (gesso tinted with ink) and anything else I have around such as watercolor crayons or even pastels. In both oil and watercolor I like to layer pigments to suggest impermanence and the passage of time.

Uploaded

March 1st, 2010