Paintings of France, Italy and Beyond http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes of Europe and the American South Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:19:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 en http://feeds.feedburner.com/jenniferyoung/uNkc?format=skin Landlocked http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jenniferyoung/uNkc/~3/cOxH4ctvUlE/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/28/landlocked/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:19:50 +0000 jennifereyoung alla primaannapolisartartistart showsart travelsboat paintingscoastal paintingscompetitionsexhibitionsfloral artgarden paintingsimpressionismjennifer younglandscape paintingoil paintingpaintings for salepaintings of flowerspainting on locationpaint annapolisplein air paintingsmall works http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/28/landlocked/ The Paint Annapolis plein air exhibition ended on Sunday, so on Monday I drove up to Annapolis to pick up unsold work from the competition. It would have been nice to do some more painting up there while I was at it, but I had to get back home so it was rather a whirlwind trip. I rather like this little skipjack, patiently waiting for some action as it sits in a drive just behind a veggie garden. It’s probably my favorite piece from the event.

plein air painting boat by Jennifer Young

“Landlocked”
Oil on board, 9×12″
Contact me for purchasing info!

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Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
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Contact Me! ]]> The Paint Annapolis plein air exhibition ended on Sunday, so on Monday I drove up to Annapolis to pick up unsold work from the competition. It would have been nice to do some more painting up there while I was at it, but I had to get back home so it was rather a whirlwind trip. I rather like this little skipjack, patiently waiting for some action as it sits in a drive just behind a veggie garden. It’s probably my favorite piece from the event.

plein air painting boat by Jennifer Young

“Landlocked”
Oil on board, 9×12″
Contact me for purchasing info!

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
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Contact Me! ]]> http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/28/landlocked/feed/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/28/landlocked/ October Maples http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jenniferyoung/uNkc/~3/MiypdZN17ac/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/23/october-maples/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:21:06 +0000 jennifereyoung alla primaartart tipsartistartworkautumn paintingsBellevueimpressionismjennifer younglandscape paintingoil paintingpaintings for salepainting on locationplein air paintingRichmond Virginiasmall workssouthern landscape paintingstreet scenethe painting processtime management for artistsurban landscape painting http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/23/october-maples/ When I woke up the other morning it was so stunning outside that I decided to leave the studio for a bit and do some plein air painting in my Bellevue neighborhood. Dave and I passed these gorgeous maples on Newport Drive during our walk in the ‘hood the previous evening and I made a mental note to check them out again in the morning :

autumn plein air painting Richmond VA by Jennifer Young

“October Maples”
Oil on Linen, 9×12″
For more information, contact me!

This is not the greatest of photos, so I will try and re-shoot this tomorrow morning when the lighting is better.  There are some areas where I might’ve wanted more refinement, but I am going to sit with this a bit and see how I feel about it when I can look at it with fresh eyes.

One thing I realized from the timed exercise I mentioned in my previous post was just how long my plein air paintings look like absolutely nothing. In fact, a common occurrence with me lately is the feeling of a sinking heart as I look at the confusing mess that is my painting and wonder if I might be better off just scrapping the whole thing. Bleh!

But then I’ll think something like, “Just work on it a little more and then you can quit if you want to.” Only a few strokes later (if they are good strokes) I find myself excited again and some logic begins to emerge.  It’s almost as if something switches in my brain (on or off? I don’t know.)  Maybe I just let go of the outcome and relax enough that somehow I can see the scene before me not as an overload of “things”, but as a rhythmic pattern of lights and darks, colors and shapes.

This is not to say that there aren’t areas for inprovement in this painting. But at least I managed to get the impression of place down, which, based on how the painting progressed in the earlier stage, was quite a surpise to me.  I guess the moral of that story is not to give up too soon. Some paintings are indeed “false starts” and probably just doomed to fail. But then there are those that have potential and a solid start and just require more patience and relaxed focus.  Bargain with yourself to just stick it out a little longer and see what happens. By doing so, you often have little to lose and much to gain.

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
My Website
Subscribe to my newsletter
Subscribe to my blog
Contact Me! ]]> When I woke up the other morning it was so stunning outside that I decided to leave the studio for a bit and do some plein air painting in my Bellevue neighborhood. Dave and I passed these gorgeous maples on Newport Drive during our walk in the ‘hood the previous evening and I made a mental note to check them out again in the morning :

autumn plein air painting Richmond VA by Jennifer Young

“October Maples”
Oil on Linen, 9×12″
For more information, contact me!

This is not the greatest of photos, so I will try and re-shoot this tomorrow morning when the lighting is better.  There are some areas where I might’ve wanted more refinement, but I am going to sit with this a bit and see how I feel about it when I can look at it with fresh eyes.

One thing I realized from the timed exercise I mentioned in my previous post was just how long my plein air paintings look like absolutely nothing. In fact, a common occurrence with me lately is the feeling of a sinking heart as I look at the confusing mess that is my painting and wonder if I might be better off just scrapping the whole thing. Bleh!

But then I’ll think something like, “Just work on it a little more and then you can quit if you want to.” Only a few strokes later (if they are good strokes) I find myself excited again and some logic begins to emerge.  It’s almost as if something switches in my brain (on or off? I don’t know.)  Maybe I just let go of the outcome and relax enough that somehow I can see the scene before me not as an overload of “things”, but as a rhythmic pattern of lights and darks, colors and shapes.

This is not to say that there aren’t areas for inprovement in this painting. But at least I managed to get the impression of place down, which, based on how the painting progressed in the earlier stage, was quite a surpise to me.  I guess the moral of that story is not to give up too soon. Some paintings are indeed “false starts” and probably just doomed to fail. But then there are those that have potential and a solid start and just require more patience and relaxed focus.  Bargain with yourself to just stick it out a little longer and see what happens. By doing so, you often have little to lose and much to gain.

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
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Contact Me! ]]> http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/23/october-maples/feed/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/23/october-maples/ Time and process http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jenniferyoung/uNkc/~3/usYuArLXRX4/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/20/time-and-process/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:03:16 +0000 jennifereyoung artart blogsart tipsartworkcompositionimpressionismItalian landscapeItalian villaItaly paintingjennifer youngjennifer young studiolandscape paintingoil paintingolive treespainting on locationpainting techniqueplein air paintingsmall worksthe painting processtime management for artistsTuscan villagetuscany paintingswork in progress http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/20/time-and-process/ Well, for the most part, my resolve last week to get “back to painting “ crumbled, as I found myself distracted by a number of other issues. I haven’t been in the best command of the schedule I’d set up for myself, setting aside my painting time to do a million different errands and tend to personal issues as well. The tendinitis continues to bother me, too, which isn’t helping my stick-to-itiveness.  In hindsight, in spite of my injuries, I  probably should have made myself stick as much as possible to the same schedule regardless of whether I’m actually “painting”– filling the gaps with new art-related activities (like reading one of my gazillion art books!) In any event, I am starting again–finally– with a color block-in which I’m including below:

tuscany painting in progress by Jennifer Young

Because of the shoulder/arm thing, I’ve had to make a few changes to the way I work so that I’m not in a huge amount of pain by the end of the day.  I’ve lowered my entire painting setup, paint for shorter intervals, and also set a timer when I am painting to go off every 30 minutes. It reminds me to stop and stretch and give my muscles a chance to release the locked position I tend to take when I’m hyper-focusing during painting.

Coincidentally, artist Robert Genn wrote an interesting little article last week in his twice-weekly newsltetter about the timed exercises he uses for  attention and focus, (which naturally caught my attention!)  In the article, Genn suggests that by imposing shorter time limits on a work session (in his example 37 minutes), one is required to come into sharp focus, thereby energizing mind and spirit (and often one’s painting as well.) I don’t think Genn is suggesting that one should always commit only 37 minutes to complete a painting! Rather, these are exercises to ’shake things up’ and breathe new life and energy into old, comfy work habits.

It’s a good idea. And it’s one I’ve implemented myself (though  I used a kitchen timer rather than an elusive 37-minute hourglass.) While Genn required his students to complete small paintings in his timed exercises, I’ve also found that the practice works great for plein air and larger studio paintings when you want to limit how long you spend working on each stage of the process. 

For instance, in plein air painting, where the shifting light already imposes a certain time limitation, the amount of time you spend establishing your composition is important not only to the painting as a whole, but also because it will dictate how much time you have left for the block-in and finishing. So for a smallish painting, I might wish to limit myself to 15-20 minutes to lay in my composition- DING! And 40 minutes for a block-in-DING! That leaves another 30 minutes to (possibly) an hour to make changes, refine shapes and edges and finish before the light changes too drastically (DING! Brushes down.)

You can play around with division of time if you wish, but the result, as Genn suggests, is often that you learn to hone your focus and think better on your feet, without giving yourself the chance to “noodle around” endlessly or jump into detail  too early in the game. It helps in more ways too, than just keeping you on track. For some reason, the timer helps to address all of the canvas during each of the timed stages, thereby avoiding the tendency to  get lost in only working (or overworking) one section of the painting to the sacrifice of the others. I’m not sure why this is. Maybe it’s just that using the timer stage-by-stage causes you to take a more deliberate, conscious approach at each stage, making the approach more methodical by breaking things down into digestible chunks.

While the timed-stages works particularly well for plein air painting (when time is truly of the essence,) I’ve found the same principal can also be worthwhile when applied in the studio, either by similarly timing myself at different stages in larger pieces, or, as Genn suggests, by (attempting to) finish an entire smaller piece in a short interval, as an exercise drill or a warm-up. So I thought I’d try it for the painting above, timing the initial compositional sketch and the color block-in at 15 and 40 minutes, respectively. I don’t intend to finish this piece in just an additional hour. It’s a 24×30″ canvas and I certainly don’t want it to look completely slapdash. On the other hand, I do hope to keep it as fresh as possible to re-energize myself now that I’m getting back to work.

Of course, anything can be annoying if taken to the extreme, but I can see how using the timer periodically can serve a useful purpose. It also provides good insight for me about my process, and just how much time I am spending therein.

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
My Website
Subscribe to my newsletter
Subscribe to my blog
Contact Me! ]]> Well, for the most part, my resolve last week to get “back to painting “ crumbled, as I found myself distracted by a number of other issues. I haven’t been in the best command of the schedule I’d set up for myself, setting aside my painting time to do a million different errands and tend to personal issues as well. The tendinitis continues to bother me, too, which isn’t helping my stick-to-itiveness.  In hindsight, in spite of my injuries, I  probably should have made myself stick as much as possible to the same schedule regardless of whether I’m actually “painting”– filling the gaps with new art-related activities (like reading one of my gazillion art books!) In any event, I am starting again–finally– with a color block-in which I’m including below:

tuscany painting in progress by Jennifer Young

Because of the shoulder/arm thing, I’ve had to make a few changes to the way I work so that I’m not in a huge amount of pain by the end of the day.  I’ve lowered my entire painting setup, paint for shorter intervals, and also set a timer when I am painting to go off every 30 minutes. It reminds me to stop and stretch and give my muscles a chance to release the locked position I tend to take when I’m hyper-focusing during painting.

Coincidentally, artist Robert Genn wrote an interesting little article last week in his twice-weekly newsltetter about the timed exercises he uses for  attention and focus, (which naturally caught my attention!)  In the article, Genn suggests that by imposing shorter time limits on a work session (in his example 37 minutes), one is required to come into sharp focus, thereby energizing mind and spirit (and often one’s painting as well.) I don’t think Genn is suggesting that one should always commit only 37 minutes to complete a painting! Rather, these are exercises to ’shake things up’ and breathe new life and energy into old, comfy work habits.

It’s a good idea. And it’s one I’ve implemented myself (though  I used a kitchen timer rather than an elusive 37-minute hourglass.) While Genn required his students to complete small paintings in his timed exercises, I’ve also found that the practice works great for plein air and larger studio paintings when you want to limit how long you spend working on each stage of the process. 

For instance, in plein air painting, where the shifting light already imposes a certain time limitation, the amount of time you spend establishing your composition is important not only to the painting as a whole, but also because it will dictate how much time you have left for the block-in and finishing. So for a smallish painting, I might wish to limit myself to 15-20 minutes to lay in my composition- DING! And 40 minutes for a block-in-DING! That leaves another 30 minutes to (possibly) an hour to make changes, refine shapes and edges and finish before the light changes too drastically (DING! Brushes down.)

You can play around with division of time if you wish, but the result, as Genn suggests, is often that you learn to hone your focus and think better on your feet, without giving yourself the chance to “noodle around” endlessly or jump into detail  too early in the game. It helps in more ways too, than just keeping you on track. For some reason, the timer helps to address all of the canvas during each of the timed stages, thereby avoiding the tendency to  get lost in only working (or overworking) one section of the painting to the sacrifice of the others. I’m not sure why this is. Maybe it’s just that using the timer stage-by-stage causes you to take a more deliberate, conscious approach at each stage, making the approach more methodical by breaking things down into digestible chunks.

While the timed-stages works particularly well for plein air painting (when time is truly of the essence,) I’ve found the same principal can also be worthwhile when applied in the studio, either by similarly timing myself at different stages in larger pieces, or, as Genn suggests, by (attempting to) finish an entire smaller piece in a short interval, as an exercise drill or a warm-up. So I thought I’d try it for the painting above, timing the initial compositional sketch and the color block-in at 15 and 40 minutes, respectively. I don’t intend to finish this piece in just an additional hour. It’s a 24×30″ canvas and I certainly don’t want it to look completely slapdash. On the other hand, I do hope to keep it as fresh as possible to re-energize myself now that I’m getting back to work.

Of course, anything can be annoying if taken to the extreme, but I can see how using the timer periodically can serve a useful purpose. It also provides good insight for me about my process, and just how much time I am spending therein.

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
My Website
Subscribe to my newsletter
Subscribe to my blog
Contact Me! ]]> http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/20/time-and-process/feed/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/20/time-and-process/ Small works invitational http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jenniferyoung/uNkc/~3/wp8Nwt_DxCs/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/08/small-works-invitational/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:49:54 +0000 jennifereyoung alla primaartartistartistic inspirationartworkart galleryart openingart showsconch housesexhibitionsflowering treesgarden paintingsimpressionismjennifer youngKey WestKey West paintinglandscape paintingoil paintingpaintings for salepaintings of flowerssmall workssouthern landscape paintingstreet scenetropical paintingsurban landscape painting http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/08/small-works-invitational/ There’s been a lot happening around here so unfortunately the blog neglect has continued! I do hope to ramp up to more regular posting (and painting!) by early next week. Meanwhile, here are two new little Key West pieces I’ve done for a small works holiday invitational that opens at the Miller Gallery on November 20th in Cincinnati.

key west oil painting by Jennifer Young

“The Shady Side”
Oil on Canvas, 6×8″

Key West oil painting by Jennifer Young

“Towering Bougainvilla”
Oil on Canvas, 6×8″

I am so honored to show my work in such a lovely looking gallery alongside artists of such fine caliber. Check them out!

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
My Website
Subscribe to my newsletter
Subscribe to my blog
Contact Me! ]]> There’s been a lot happening around here so unfortunately the blog neglect has continued! I do hope to ramp up to more regular posting (and painting!) by early next week. Meanwhile, here are two new little Key West pieces I’ve done for a small works holiday invitational that opens at the Miller Gallery on November 20th in Cincinnati.

key west oil painting by Jennifer Young

“The Shady Side”
Oil on Canvas, 6×8″

Key West oil painting by Jennifer Young

“Towering Bougainvilla”
Oil on Canvas, 6×8″

I am so honored to show my work in such a lovely looking gallery alongside artists of such fine caliber. Check them out!

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
My Website
Subscribe to my newsletter
Subscribe to my blog
Contact Me! ]]> http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/08/small-works-invitational/feed/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/08/small-works-invitational/ Happy birthday studio! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jenniferyoung/uNkc/~3/fdAEJlMlmqI/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/01/happy-birthday-studio/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:39:50 +0000 jennifereyoung building an art studiogarden paintingsjennifer youngjennifer young studioRichmond Virginia http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/01/happy-birthday-studio/ It’s hard to believe it is already October…I am still trying to figure out where September went. The leaves are starting to turn, so I’ve spent a good deal of time this week in the garden trying to get some new shrubs in the ground around the studio. Needless to say, I haven’t any new paintings to share, so I thought I’d share a slide show of my year-old studio and the even younger gardens. This slideshow is from a web album I created for readers of my email newletter. It shows the development of my studio from groundbreaking to what it looks like today. Blog readers will recognize many of the photos from the studio build because I blogged about the whole process ad nauseum! But here it is easier to see the progression, and the garden pictures are new: 

To page through the album at your own pace (and read the captions) click here. I’m only in my 5th year of gardening, and while there is a great learning curve, it’s been fun. I certainly had a blank canvas to work with after the studio went up! Hard to believe the groundbreaking was only about a year ago.

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
My Website
Subscribe to my newsletter
Subscribe to my blog
Contact Me! ]]> It’s hard to believe it is already October…I am still trying to figure out where September went. The leaves are starting to turn, so I’ve spent a good deal of time this week in the garden trying to get some new shrubs in the ground around the studio. Needless to say, I haven’t any new paintings to share, so I thought I’d share a slide show of my year-old studio and the even younger gardens. This slideshow is from a web album I created for readers of my email newletter. It shows the development of my studio from groundbreaking to what it looks like today. Blog readers will recognize many of the photos from the studio build because I blogged about the whole process ad nauseum! But here it is easier to see the progression, and the garden pictures are new: 

To page through the album at your own pace (and read the captions) click here. I’m only in my 5th year of gardening, and while there is a great learning curve, it’s been fun. I certainly had a blank canvas to work with after the studio went up! Hard to believe the groundbreaking was only about a year ago.

artpost fin



Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
My Website
Subscribe to my newsletter
Subscribe to my blog
Contact Me! ]]> http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/01/happy-birthday-studio/feed/ http://www.jenniferyoung.com/blog/2009/10/01/happy-birthday-studio/