Tamarack Artist!

The jury for Tamarack was yesterday -- a long 10-hour trip down and back to Beckley, but it turned out to be worth the trip: I was accepted into the Tamarack artists' gallery! That's been a goal for the last several years, and I am very happy (and relieved) to have made it.

Tamarack is a large art and craft gallery located on the W.Va. turnpike (Interstate 77) outside of Beckley, W.Va. It opened in May 1996 after about seven years of work devoted to developing the concept, working with artisans, contractors, designers and local officials.

Its goals, according to the Tamarack Web site, are: "to boost the state’s economy by fostering a market-driven approach to selling indigenous products. As a world-class facility, Tamarack is destined to become a major tourist attraction, expand job opportunities and draw more than 500,000 visitors a year. The Tamarack facility is the focal point of the Tamarack distribution system, which markets West Virginia-made products throughout the state."

The facility is supported by the state of West Virginia. Its operation is currently under the umbrella of the state Parkways Authority administration. Gov. Joe Manchin is talking about moving the facility under the direction of the state Department of Commerce, but no moves have been made yet.

A conference center was added to the facility in 2003.

The shape of the facility is similar to a doughnut or a wheel, with a central, open courtyard for sculpture. The interior circles back onto itself with displays divided among fiber, jewelry, pottery, glass, furniture, books and music, etc. The triangular spires on the bright, orange roof, which resemble a quilt pattern if viewed from above, are the most striking part of the building's design. The design is also used in Tamarack's logo.

Most of the work in Tamarack is artisan- and craft-oriented, and Tamarack buys much of its craft and fine craft inventory through wholesale sales, but there is an art gallery, the David L. Dickirson Gallery, that usually puts on six or seven shows a year. Artists are paid by commission in the gallery.

The shows at the Dickirson are usually thematic. Animals, for example, are the focus of a show going in later this month.

As a member artist for the Dickirson gallery, I am to stay in contact with gallery staffers and let them know what kind of works I'm completing. The staff then uses the information coming in from the artists to compile ideas for shows, which are planned about a year in advance.

I am eligible for a show next January for the newly juried artists, called "Emerging Artists."

For more information on Tamarack, visit their Web site and E-store at www.tamarackwv.com.

Taking the plunge

I've decided to take the plunge, so to speak, and attempt to jury into Tamarack, a large, state-supported artisan gallery in Beckley, W.Va.

I was approved through a pre-screening process at the start of this month, and have been debating whether to take the next step. I've been hesitating because I worry whether the few pieces I have on hand to submit to the process are worthy. (Now I really regret selling some of my best works).

I'll have to take a day from work to make the attempt, but I guess now is as good a time as any -- I hope.

Jury is April 21. I hope I make it.

New project hits close to home

I'm beginning a new project that I expect will require many weeks to complete. It's also a painting that I've been putting off for years.

My father wants me to paint the home in which he and his siblings grew up. The house burned back in 70s, so I all I have are old photos of the place. His siblings and their spouses have also expressed an interest in the project, and have been searching for more photos. So now I have the formidable expectations of my father to meet, and more still.

Here's an example of the challenge I face. This photo includes one of my great uncles, a cousin, and a neighbor. I think the image was made in the 1950s. And this photo is about the clearest image I have of the house. The structure appears in random photographs, but always as a cropped background element as photos were taken of my dad and his siblings, other family members, a pony, farm equipment, etc.


From these fragments, I can create rough line drawings, but I need better information on the structure as sunlight passes over it -- the key element I look for as I create realistic paintings.

To counter the limited information I've gleaned from the photographs, I am taking the experimental step of building a rough model of the house from foamcore and shining a light on it to simulate the effect. I'll update that project as it moves along.

Finished Old Iron

I believe this one is finished. Or, at least I've removed it from the board, trimmed the edges and signed my name. That's usually a good indicator that I don't know what else to do.

Some elements of the tractor please me, some not so much. I think I was trying to include too much detail in too small of a shape.

The barn slats, however, I'm very pleased with. It's a technique that I want to use again.

I also am pleased with the background foliage, particularly the woods to the side of the barn. I scrubbed out areas after I had painted tree trunks and shadows and flooded Quinacridone Gold (PO49) into those spots. Sadly W&N discontinued this paint a few years ago, so I use what I have sparingly. It's wonderfully active in wet-into-wet applications, creating natural-looking sunlit foliage as it floods the paper.

I'm pleased with the overall look, and think I've accomplished the goal of reprising a scene that includes the elements of the earlier painting, but in a distinctly different composition. I hope that my friends who requested the piece are pleased with the result.

Almost there

I'm almost finished with the tractor (and with the painting). I still have to work on the shadows of the steering wheel and tighten up some of the darkest areas so the highlights will stand out better.

One thing is for certain: As much as I love the 7x10 size of watercolor paper, I've got to start painting larger works if my eyesight is going to hold out. I've spent a couple of hours this morning with my glasses removed and my nose only an inch or two from the surface of the paper so I can work on the tiny details in the tractor. The whole tractor is only about 4 inches wide, wheel to wheel, and two inches high.

The grays on the tractor body are a mixture of Pthalo Blue and Burnt Sienna, which tends toward a greenish grey. I've also added touches of Ultramarine Blue in places. The red wheels are Winsor Red (Pyrrole, PR254), with the shadowed reds being touches of Permanent Alizarin Crimson dulled with Viridian, and sometimes mixed with Ultramarine Blue for a purplish shadow effect.

Masking fluid removed

I've removed all the masking fluid from the foliage and from the tractor, so now I am working on those areas.

Foliage is pretty well done. I like the hard edges of the foreground leaves contrasting with the softer, wet-into-wet areas of the background trees, and the bright yellow (aureolin) pops.

The tractor will be slow-going work. Lots of tiny areas and I'm using small brushes. I've also discovered another characteristic of aging...despite my pronounced nearsightedness, I have to take off my glasses to paint tiny details now....with my glasses on, the brush never hits the mark I intend it to.

Removing mask

I've removed the tape and masking fluid from around the tractor, and also from the shadowed windows and stone on the barn's foundation. The blue mask on the foliage remains, but that will be the next to go now that I have the rough shape of branches added in. The foliage will fill in more after the highlights are exposed, so I hope the branches will lose some of their scarecrow effect shortly.

Background foliage

I'm filling in around the barn with the foliage. The bright blue is masking fluid, reserving bright, sunlit foliage, and the foreground tractor is masked off with tape and some more masking fluid. By preserving these areas, I can use more wet-into-wet techniques to soften the foliage, particularly in the background, so the barn and the tractor can move forward in the composition.

The greens are a combination of Phthalo green mixed with Phthalo blue, burnt sienna, raw umber, and yellow ochre. I also used a little of Quinacridone gold because, when dropped into wet areas, it pushes other colors away, creating warm highlights in foliage.

Barn boards technique

Here's a close-up view of how the tape technique turned out. I really like how the low-tack tape allowed some amount of bleeding under the edges, allowing for a nice contrast between very straight edges and rough uneven patches. It visually matches the rough textures of the barn slats.

Old Iron begins

So far, not much progress to report. With my "real job" schedule, it's hard to find an undisturbed period in which to paint. But I finished the drawing, prepared and stretched the paper, and have begun working on the barn..though using a technique very new to me.


I taped off the geometric shape of the barn (which is in the background) and mixed Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue for a very wet wash over the area. I wanted to get some texture into the color to create the look of weathered wood, and in this version, unlike the last, I'm using cold press paper. So I can't use the tooth of the paper to help create the effect. While still wet, I splattered clear water, then followed that with a darker mix of the complement.

After letting that dry, I trimmed out thin strips of drafting tape (which is what you see in the photo above). I'll paint successively darker washes over the taped area to created the shadows between the vertical slats.

I don't usually use those sorts of techniques because they are very time-intensive, but I wanted to try some different effects in this painting.