Inspiration and Perspiration, the only way to go.

"Hay Day in Waltham"

By James Swanson / Traveler Angela

12" x 24" oil on canvas

See the journey of this painting.

1% Inspiration and 99% Perspiration, 

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits. - Thomas Edison

For an artist, creativity is suppose to come easy as pie, with no writers block, mental blocks or ruts that you can't get yourself out of, just create, create, create right, Wrong! Finding a way to keep yourself motivated is a problem for everyone.

Our Traveler Angela and her dog Bailey

Recently an art show about horses came up, and I thought to myself, "I love horses, why haven't I painted any? I should try and get one done for that show and this painting series",   Ahhh! The Inspiration.

The start of Angela's walk at Waltham with friends. All photos are with the permission of Angela

Now for the Perspiration, and that is where our new Traveler Angela comes in.

Angela is another one of those wonderful walkers in the UK, who makes splendid photographic journeys of her walks. I've always admired her walks and photos and was very excited when she agreed to take part in this painting journey.

It's not all hard walking.

Traveler Angela Story of her walk: 

My first walk of the year with Sherran & Bill. Our arrival in Waltham saw significantly more snow that we had left at home, this was confirmed by a friendly local who stated that at the lofty height of 500ft above sea level they always had more snow than anyone else! A lovely walk in wonderful winter conditions.

Lunch Break

It was a perfect winter day, blue skies, sunshine & powdery snow. Cold obviously, but well wrapped up & in the warm sunshine we didn't feel cold at all! The icing on the cake was to see the stunning sunset at the end of the walk. I guess it was about 9 miles in length.

Stonesby Church

The Wolds is a term used in England to describe a range of hills which consists of open country overlying a base of limestone or chalk. There are at least two such areas, both remnants of a much larger chalk system. They are geologically a single range but are physically separated by the Humber Estuary.-Wikipedia

Back at Waltham on the wolds.

Traveler Painting "Hay Day in Waltham"- 

I'm always trying to find reasons to start a painting. Painting for painting sake doesn't work for me. I like to be focused when I paint. To know where I'm going in a painting, or at least feel like I do, is what drives me on to my goal.

The Photo of Angela's that I worked with for the painting.

Traveler Angela's photo stopped me the first time I saw it a time back, but I didn't know where it would fit in this series. There was something about her photo from the walk that told me a very simple story, about horses and hay in the element of snow that knew would work in a painting.The painting story "Hay Day in Waltham"-

The Sketch on canvas. One of the feelings that I felt from Angela's photo was, that this hay was just put down and that the horses just noticed it.  That's was I wanted this painting to be about, so to do that I tightened the image up  to show that.

The dark colors are painted in first as always with me. I paint the warm darks for the foreground and cooler darks for the background. That gives the idea of depth right away in a painting.

Painting in the snow. I've found one real truth in all my years of painting, that there is no  pure white in snow. If it's there it's barely there. Color is everything when it comes to snow. 

Painting in the sky-The sky and the snow are one. What ever the sky color is the snow will reflect some of it. The sky will be brighter a painting, and the snow a close second.

Making Hay, Time to start adding color to this painting and finish the block-in.

At this point in the painting I felt I was close. The color was starting to work the horse were indicated but not rendered, and the focus was the hat pile.

But later on with a fresh eye, I saw some problems. The hay and the horses were almost the same,; the same size, the same place,  but on opposite sides of the canvas, and same attention getting.

The first thing to fix those problems was to make the hay bigger. I went back to my original sketch  and saw  that I didn't make the hay pile big enough. Then I needed to also make the hay come more forward in the painting. I did that by adding more contrast to it and bring out the sunny side of it.

Done,  With the changes made it's time to send this off to the contest. Even if it doesn't get in it was a excellent paint for me.

Details from the painting.

Framed and ready to go."Hay Day in Waltham"

By James Swanson / Traveler Angela

12" x 24" oil on canvas

I think we're at 100% solution here. Sometimes those simple ideas take a little extra to envision.  A big thanks goes out to Traveler Angela for her excellent foot and camera work. I hope to paint another one of her brilliant walks sometime;  take a peek at some of her walks-Angela's walks

I'm always looking for interesting journeys for this project. If you have one, send it to me here. or visit the website www.theartistandthetraveler.org and leave me a message.

Around and around I go where I stop I will find out, until next time  Ciao!

Bella, Bella, Mondo!

"Venetian Gondolas"

By James Swanson/ Traveler Jim M

11"x14" Oil on Canvas 

See the journey of this Painting.

 A Day of Sun Shine, 

Day One of a Special Edition.

Welcome to Day One!, of this 14 day Travel paint special edition of the Artist and the Traveler. I've come across some wonderful Travelers so far in this world painting expedition. I've met Hill and Fell Walkers in the UK and Austria, a fly fishing couple who travel around in an RV looking for the big catch, to some humanitarians in Africa doing great things. All of them have had special stories to tell me that helped inspire their paintings.

Travelers Jim and wife Cathy

This special project needs an special guest, meet our new Traveler  Jim M.!  In 2007 Jim and his wife took a 14 day trip to Northern Italy following the trail of PBS travel guide Rick Steves' Italian journey.

Venice

Traveler Jim M. did such a great job of documenting the trip on his web site that when I came across it I was floored. Which has lead me to ask to do a virtual tag along on his old trip and recreate the 14 day trip in paint. I'll be doing 14 paintings in a plein air style( as if I were right there painting), each one depicting different day of his trip. A painting a day for two weeks, lets get going!

Jim's photo that I will be working with.

Traveler Jim M. Journal Story of the trip: In September 2007, we began our highly anticipated Italian adventure.   We had never been on an organized tour in the past and started looking at this tour on the recommendation of a friend. (Thanks Renee!)  

Beginning of the painting.
Canvas is rubbed with some
 Raw Umber and Cadmium Red.
 Then the drawing is sketched in.

Although we typically travel independently, we decided on a tour so that we could leave most of the planning to someone else.  

The Palette of colors for this painting

 We chose the Village Italy itinerary for several reasons.   We wanted to experience what I call “The Real Italy” in the back door villages.  We wanted to avoid the crowds in the major cities and the primary tourist destinations.  (We can leave those for another time.)We also liked the idea of a smaller, active tour group.  And of course, we had also seen many of Rick Steves’ adventures on public television.  As you’ll see on our web site the pages that follow, the tour kept us busy (which is how we like to travel) and exceeded our expectations.  The travelogue is about our specific tour.  No two tours are exactly alike, even if they have the same tour guide and same itinerary.   

The tour guides adjust as necessary for the weather, closings, availability, and the specific tour group.  So, if you want to find out more about our tour, grab a glass of Chianti (or two) and explore.

Dark colors are painted in first.

With the darks painted in, it's time for the sky and water. These are the big areas of the painting and get the painting moving when they are done.

Sky and water are added. I'm painting these paintings in a plein air style of painting. Which means that I'm painting as if I were standing right there. Which also means I'm on the clock and paintings as fast as I can. The light is a changing.

Getting there.  With the painting blocked in it is time for some details.

It's close now, just the poles to add. At this point I was a little nervous about putting them in. But I knew it needed them.

Done.

Details of the painting.

Framed and ready to go.

 

"Venetian Gondolas"

By James Swanson/ Traveler Jim M

11"x14" Oil on Canvas

Alright off to a good start on this virtual trip with Traveler Jim M. On Day 2 we will be moving just a short distance on down the road.

This is day One, of this 14 day painting journey of Northern Italy, here is the link to see the next day of the journey- Padua.

Or go to The Artist and the Traveler.org to see them all, and many more places and stories. New Travelers and stories are always welcome too! Until next time, Ciao!

Dog Day Afternoon

"A Dogs Life"

by James Swanson / Traveler David W.

12" x 18" Oil on Canvas

A funny thing happen to me 

on the way to the forum, my Painting went to the Dogs. 

I was on my way to start the painting of Italy this month, but I had a little time to kill before I started. So I decided to get to a painting that I've wanted to for a long while.

Traveler David W at Letchmore Heath. 

The photo that I'll be working with comes from an old traveler of this project David W. In January of 2009 David was in Letchmore Heath just North of London when the snow of the century hit.

  His short stay ended up being two weeks longer than he planned. Lucky for him the pub was still open.

Traveler Davids new best friend Hunter.

Traveler Painting " A Dogs Life." With my sights on Italy, I  found my self with an open afternoon to paint and thought about all the photos from Travelers that I still have to get too. But with just an afternoon I needed something that I thought would be fun and yet quick to knock out. And then I remembered this shot of Traveler David's of his new friend Hunter on a chair.

The sketch on canvas. After I sketch out the painting in my sketch book I rubbed some Burnt Umber and a oil mixture into a canvas. It's a really smooth canvas that I've had really good luck with before. I find that the plate like finish of the canvas holds my brush strokes really well.

Starting on the dark colors first to firm up the painting. There isn't a lot of real darks in this painting, but what darks there are they are everything to this painting.

For a white dog there sure is a ton of color in his coat. Hunter's fur reflex all the colors of the chairs cover. This is one of the things I didn't see until I delved unto this painting.

With the colors of Hunter blocked in it's time to define his space a little. I liked how Hunter was turning out at this point and didn't want to over power him with a complicated colorful chair. So I decided to let the original canvas wash show through and paint just enough to indicate the environment around him.

Done. I letting the brush strokes do all the work in this painting.  The only area that I detailed much was Hunters face. It was almost like painting a persons portrait., if it didn't look like Hunter it wouldn't work.

Details from the Painting.

I really like how thick I put on the paint in the light areas.

I let the strokes a lone to speak for the most part.

Detailing the head had to be done just right. 

To much here and I would have to detail out

the whole painting just as much.

Detailing the head had to be done just right. 

To much here and I would have to detail out 

the whole painting just as much.

Framed and ready to go.

 

"A Dogs Life"

by James Swanson / Traveler David W.

12" x 18" Oil on Canvas

My Dog Day Afternoon painting turned out rather well. Thanks goes out to Traveler David W. for his story and us of his photo. Hearing his story first hand really helped set the mood for this one.

Now it's time to start my virtual travels of Italy. I will kick it off with a painting a day trip following the trail of new Traveler Jim. M, It starts September 13th and will be a 14 day trip of Northern Italy following the route of  PBS Travel Guide Rick Steves. 

Join us for that special event it should be  a good time. Until then, so long.