Sue Flanagan’s Website

Yesterday, May 23, 09, the Plein Air Painters Chicago-Southwest (PAPC-SW) painted at a new location for us. We went to Cantigny in Wheaton, Illinois. Cantigny has acres of gorgeous manicured gardens. It is also a war memorial. There is a visitor’s center, a restaurant, coffee bar, museum and golf course. This is all part of the Col. Robert R. McCormick foundation. We were welcomed by the staff. This was a nice place to be on a Memorial Day weekend.

Every where you looked there was a scene worthy of a painting. Our group tried to capture the beauty of the gardens. We met at 8:30 a.m. and reconvened outside the visitor’s center for a critique at 12:30. Here is the scene that I chose. It was a nice composition and I purposely wanted to challenge myself in two areas. There was a lot of information in this scene so I had to work on simplifying. I also had to work on perspective. My view finder helped with this.

Here is a picture of me painting the scene and the result of my efforts. There are some adjustments I have to make. However, I think I have good information from this study and the photo to make a nice studio painting.

Our critique is mostly a group problem solving session. It is so interesting to see what other scenes were painted and the different styles. Artists worked in watercolor, acrylic, oil and pastel. Here are some photos of the group and our paintings.

It was about 70 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. The weather and company could not be better. We agreed that it all made for some “happy” paintings. Yes, plein air painting does not get any better than this!

Sue Flanagan

Spring is finally here! After 6 months of cold weather, we finally have some warm days. I do enjoy the changes of the seasons. Color is returning to the midwest United States. I have been to the Morton Arboretum three times for plein air painting. Here are some photos of my first day out. Here is my easel with pastel painting supplies, the set up and my inspiration.

It was a beautiful day for painting! On another day, I got to the Morton Arboretum early and joined the deer for their breakfast.

The Morton Arboretum was established by Joy Morton of Morton Salt Co. It is 1,700 acres of woodland, lakes and praires that has a collection of 4,000 trees and plants from around the world. It is a plein air painter’s heaven year round.

In the studio, I have taken a break from my pastel ground exploration. I have temporarily gone back to commercially prepared sanded papers. I am almost finished with two Ireland landscapes. I have also done a couple of non-objective multi-media pieces and I have a couple more in progress.

It’s great to be an artist.
Sue

Here is a painting that has literally been brewing in my head for almost two decades.

This pastel painting is called “Misty Morning on Apple Canyon Lake.” I woke up early one morning when I was on a retreat in northwest Illinois. I stood on the dock and took this photograph. The beauty and quiet have stayed with me. This is the second painting I have done of this scene but the first on a homemade support. This time I did not use a commercial acrylic ground.

I took an acid free matboard and applied a ground with a roller. The recipe for the ground was published by Richard McKinley in the August 2006 Pastel Journal. I used the Simple Grit Mixture No. 1: 1 cup acrylic gesso, 3/4 cup fine pumice powder or marble dust, and 1/4 cup water. This time I was careful to accurately measure all of the ingredients.  I also mixed in a variety of acrylic paints to make the ground a light gray tone.

I applied this mixture to one side of the matboard and straight gesso to the other side so that the board would not warp. Even so, the board tends to warp a little. If this bothers you, compress the support under something heavy for awhile or use a heavier board.

Then I did a water color painting. After that dried, I applied the soft pastel on top. I liked this surface so I used it again to make this painting, “Misty Winter Morning.” I guess I am into mist right now.

After the ground was dry, I lightly sketched in the big shapes. For the foreground hill, I applied extra texture with rice paper and light acrylic modeling paste. When this was thouroughly dry, I again, did a water color painting with pastel on top of it. I still feel this is a pastel painting because that is the pigment you see. What difference does it make if I use pumice, paper or paste for texture underneath? Next time, I will try the next formula for making a ground with acrylic gel medium instead of gesso.

This month I am showing 15 paintings at Essential Chiropractic and Health Center, 7229 W. 103rd St. Palos Hills, IL. 60465.  Dr. Rory McKenna is the owner. There will be a reception at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 26, 09. Please come and bring 5 nonperishable food items for the local food pantry.

Hope to see you there,
Sue Flanagan

Ahhh-acrylics! So much to explore!

My interest in multi media art leads me to exploration in acrylic grounds for my pastel paintings. A ground is the primer that is put on a surface (paper, board) that gives it tooth or texture to accept the pastel. Until lately, I have used manufactured sanded papers and pastel boards that have a fine and even surface. Here is a summary of my experience with making my own surface using commercial grounds. Click on any image to enlarge it.

I started with a 16 x 20 in. acid free mat board in a neutral color. I did know how well the acrylic ground would cover the surface.

I used a small, smooth, foam roller to apply gesso to both sides of the mat board. This is necessary to prevent warping of the board and to seal it.

After the gesso dried, I taped the board into 6 equal sections.

Then I applied different grounds to each section using the same paint roller.

This is a close up of the sections. Starting with the upper left corner, there is Golden Pastel Ground undiluted. In the middle is Colourfix white and the top right square has Liquitex Natural Sand Texture Gel. The bottom left is Golden Pastel Ground diluted 20%. The bottom middle is Golden Pastel Ground diluted with fine pumice added. Finally, the bottom right has Lascaux Pastel Ground. Each square has one coat. I have to admit that I was careless with the bottom middle square. I think that I added too much water and applied it heavily. This made the ground crack when it was dry.

This is a picture of my set up. I decided to do a simple apple study. This is the initial application of pastel to each surface. As you can see, the opaque white of the Colourfix shows through.

Then I used water to move the inital pastel around for an underpainting. When it was dry, I started to apply more soft pastel. I primarily used Rembrandt pastels. I did not intend to bring these images to completion. I just wanted to see how the surface accepted the pastel, erased, blended, etc. In fact, I had to abandon the Liquitex. It created a beautiful underpainting but the next layer of pastel would not adhere. I will use this in the future but in selected areas in a pastel painting. Also, the cracked Golden surface (bottom middle) could not be covered so I abandoned that one as well. Next time I will be more careful about measuring and following the instructions.

I hesitate to tell you my impressions because this will vary with each artist’s technique and the pastels and tools he/she uses. I will probably use all of these surfaces in the future. I do recommend that every pastel artist tries this. It may bring you out of your comfort zone and take your art to the next level. I learned some new ways to paint.

Still to come-my home recipes for grounds and using other surfaces besides mat board.

Keep painting and by all means, enjoy!
Sue Flanagan

This is a recent pastel painting that I did. The mixed media work that I have been doing is making me more adventerous with pastel.  I set up a still life of a cup, potted plant, and an apple. The first picture is the beginning step where I laid down pastel using the pastel sticks. I then took a bottle of distilled water and sprayed the image, tilting the board to let the pigment move like watercolor. I used too much water and the paper I was using buckled too much for my liking so I had to press the paper between boards.

Then the real challenge for me began. I then layered pastel over the dried surface but only as much as needed to give the viewer enough information. I did not want a lot of detail. As you can see I ended up eliminating the glass cup of coffee and cropping the image to a 16 x 16 in. size. The picture on the right is the final painting.

Well, I was going to show you pictures of the Koi fish paintings that I did for a client. However, the video card in my camera is damaged and I cannot retrieve the images. The client ended up buying 3 paintings for Christmas presents and for herself. This is just one more battle I have had with technology.

Laura Svencner, a collage artist at the LaGrange Art League, organized an “Art Jam.” Approximately 15 artists came together in the League’s studio to make art. We all challenged ourselves to do something that was different.  I experimented with acrylic products: self leveling gel, gloss medium, polymer, string paste, sand medium. The artists worked in a wide variety of media. We brought food and music. It was a wonderful, creative, day. For more information and pictures go to www.lonecrowart.blogspot.com.

I hope you are off to a good start for the new year!
Sue Flanagan

This pastel painting is called “Family Outing.” It is a scene of a family enjoying a nice spring day at the Morton Arboretum. This painting has been accepted into the “Young in Art” show at the McCord Gallery in Palos Park, IL. It will be used in the promotional material for the show.

Right now I am working on paintings of Koi fish. I am experimenting with different approaches. This is a commissioned piece for a Christmas gift. I’ll post a picture of it when the client makes her choice.

I won the best of show award at the LaGrange gallery in their holiday show. I also sold my first miniature painting. This was a picture of an Oregon sunset approximately 3 x 2 in. Working that small was more time consuming than I thought but I liked the outcome.

I apologize for the lack of pictures in the galleries. I have had another computer snaffoo. I will have to put the photos back into the pages and this will take some time. I hope you are having a good holiday season. May God bless you and your family in 2009!
Sue Flanagan

Hello Friends,
There is a lot going on in my artistic endeavors. I won best of show in the Holiday show at the LaGrange Art League for my plein air painting, Crystal Trees. The reception was well attended. The above painting, Irish Castle Silhouette was juried into the LaGrange Art League’s show, Eclectic Elegance. The show will be in the LaGrange Library for the month of December. Click on the link to the league for more information about it.

I have mentioned that I am taking classes from a local artist, Joyce Leas. She teaches multi media abstract and non-objective art. She has me working on large pieces. She is teaching me “controlled” splattering and throwing of paint and gluing papers. I am learning more about composition and value.  Here are some pictures of our little class in her studio. Click on the image to enlarge.

The first picture is Judy Goral, Joyce Leas, and Bill Keck. The second is of me working on a piece and then there is Joyce supervising. Joyce’s philosophy is “anything goes.” Here we are in front of her painting entitled “Anything Goes.”

Joyce’s class is great fun. Another fun activity was going to a Saturday workshop by John Howard. John is an excellent watercolorist and he has fantastic drawing skills. The workshop was offered by the Town and Country Art League. We worked on drawing including drawing a model. Here are some pictures of the experience.

I am back to working in pastel. I am working larger and I am experimenting with making my own textured surface. So much to do and so little time. That is all for now.

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!
Sue Flanagan

Fall has arrived and the Plein Air Painters of Chicago-Southwest had a good turnout at the Field’s Nursery. The group painted the fall colors and had paintings for sale. Most of the work was from our many experiences at the Field’s. They are particularly known for their DayLilies.

October is Illinois Art Appreciation month. To promote the arts, I painted in a cafe, the Crooked Arrow, at a local train station in Palos Park. Here is a picture of my set up. I was open to my subject matter. When I got there, I decided to paint the house that I saw through the window. It was surrounded by trees and bushes with a lot of fall color. Even though it was a dreary, rainy, day, in my picture I captured the 5 minutes it was in the sun.

The LaGrange Art League will have their holiday show starting November 7th and extending through December. I will have 5 paintings including 4 minis and bin work. It is a great place to shop for the holidays. Check out the link to gallery.

I just took 5 paintings to the Celtic Cottage gallery in Palos Park. I am still working on some pastels but Joyce Leas still has me excited about abstract work and acrylic media. I have added a few of my recent paintings to the abstract gallery.

Until next time,
Sue