Jester Park Paint Out

Last weekend I was privileged to participate in a paint out at Jester Park, in northwest Polk County. The paint out was organized the the county conservation board as a way to publicize county parks, conservation, and art. Happily, the weather cooperated with sun and moderate temperatures and humidity. 

The park lies on the shore of Saylorville Lake, a Corps of Engineers lake about seven miles or so north of Des Moines. It is huge and features golf, camping, hiking, boating, and other outdoor activities. 

Hoff, "At the Nature Center," oil on panel, 9x12

The six participating artists rotated among several assigned places around the park's Nature Center and not far away at a pond nestled among old growth woods that's full of fish and other wildlife.  

On Saturday I set up on the patio of the Center, a shady place that offered vistas of prairie and woods in three directions. As I was setting up I caught a glimpse of an elk, standing on a low ridge to the west--it is a life size bronze, one of several such along a sculpture trail that follows the high ground. There is other outdoor and indoor art there, too. The morning produced an oil and a watercolor, and the afternoon another oil. I did the oil paintings the usual way, starting with a thin wash of burnt sienna then sketching in basic compositional shapes with the same color and brush. After the very thin washes dry--generally only a few minutes--I lay in darks first then mid-tones and lights and highlights last. Because there wasn't much time left before lunch I sketched an image in graphite on a piece of 6x9 watercolor paper and did a quick study of the woods. This time I kept the paint very watery--"juicy"--and layered paint. When the colors were dry I used a technical pen to establish masses and emphasize edges. 

Hoff, "Jester Park Woods," watercolor on paper, 6x9

The next morning I spent several hours on the bank of that pond a half mile or so from the Nature Center. The varied woods, still water, and slanting light were great fun. 

Hoff, "Pond at Jester Park," oil on panel, 9x12

This was the first time a paint out has been held at the park, with a plan to make it an annual event. If so, my plan is to be back next year.

A Saturday Sketch

The Saturday sketchers were at it again last weekend. The weather last Saturday was beautiful, sunny and warm, and the site we chose--a local city library--offered a lot of opportunities. Almost all of us found shade along the banks of a graceful pond that flanks the main building. The grounds there have been landscaped beautifully and include new and old growth, walking paths, benches and sculptures. The pond isn't all that large but it's flanked with trees and shrubs and at one end a blue-green bridge crosses a creek. The bridge reminds me of Monet's famous one at Giverney. (No water lilies though.) The breeze from the south was cooled just enough as it spread over the water, and I sat and painted the scene for a couple of hours. 

Hoff, "The Bridge," watercolor on paper, 9x6

I set up along a walking path not far from the "Monet" bridge. The sketchbook I'm using these days gives me space to make an image about 6x9. This time the beginning was a careful drawing because I wanted to make certain of angles and perpendiculars. After that I washed in colors in various spots and then layered colors one over another. When satisfied I added ink to emphasize foliage the bridge, and the tall lights.

Artists in Action

This coming weekend, the Polk County Conservation Board is holding a paint out event, Artists in Action, at Jester Park, near Granger. The event is intended to highlight the beauty of the park, a 1400 acre gem, and further the mission of conservation of natural resources. As one of several painters were selected from applications submitted a few weeks ago, I'll be painting and meeting the public to discuss the creative process, oil painting and other media, and showcasing the park. We will be painting around the Nature Center grounds.

Hoff, "Across the River, August," oil on panel

Hoff, "Gray's Lake, Northeast," oil on panel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, an exhibition of selected works by participating painters will open in the gallery at the Nature Center and run until December 26.  

Come out and enjoy the park, the art, and the conversations at the Jester Park Nature Center, Saturday and Sunday 9-3pm each day.

The Galleries at Jester Park

Landscape Artist of the Year

Some time ago I posted a link to a program from Britain called Portrait Artist of the Year, a reality show competition among painters. Each week a new group is tasked with doing a portrait of a prominent person in a few short hours. The winner of the competition is then commissioned to make a portrait of someone famous. 

Now, to my surprise I've run across the companion program to the portrait competition: Landscape Artist of the Year. Like it's sister show, this one features rounds of competitions around the United Kingdom, but the work is done outdoors--en plein air. Both professional and amateurs must produce a landscape painting of a well-known site in a timed event. Each weekly winner (selected by three judges)  advances to a semifinal and then a final. 

For a painter of landscapes the opportunity to watch others at work is wonderful. Although the programs are necessarily fragmented, you get a chance to understand the thinking of others, the ways they use their materials (and what those are), plus hear comments and criticisms from experienced judges. The whole series is available via YouTube, each lasting about 45 minutes. 

In the Midst of the Plague

Harvey Dinnerstein, "Self Portrait," pastel, 1976

Harvey Dinnerstein (1928-) is a realist painter who is working well into his tenth decade. A life-long New Yorker, he attended the Tyler School of Art (Temple University) and later taught at the School of Visual Arts, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League. Although he came of age during the ferment following World War II, he disdained the abstraction movement of that time for an exploration of realism and the human figure. 

Harvey Dinnerstein,"The Plague," pastel, 2020

Just like other artists Mr. Dinnerstein has been profoundly influenced by the covid pandemic of the past couple of years. Although he is well-known as a portraitist and illustrator, Mr. Dinnerstin is also comfortable with allegory, as seen in his pastel from last year, "The Plague," a work that shows us people clinging to a subway post, along with the skeletal hand of Death. 

Dinnerstein's work is in collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and numerous others.

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Harvey Dinnerstein: In the Midst of the Plague 

Cities

Hoff, "Goodbye," oil on panel, 2009

Although landscapes have occupied the majority of my time these last months of pandemic, cities and the life of the street still catches my interest. 

In a city street life happens everywhere. People meet and part, hurry and loiter, aloof or engaging, and the world swirls and eddies around them. An artist can capture the moment. Cities comprise all of mankind's foibles and failings as well our heroism and selflessness. We humans reach the heavens with our arts and our buildings and plumb the sewers with our stupidity and our trash. Beauty and ugliness compete. The human comedy plays on.

Hoff, "Eat," oil on panel, 2009

Hoff, "Pushcart," oil on panel, 2011

Hoff, "Invictus," oil on panel, 2013

Saturday Sketchers

Someone asked me about the sketch group I've mentioned here a few times. It has an interesting story.

The Saturday sketch group began long ago, in a very different era. It started in 1948 when a handful of men--Drake art professors and a writer for the Des Moines Register and Tribune--decided it might be fun to drive into the countryside and draw or paint watercolors. The original members seem to have been Karl Mattern (an artist and teacher at Drake University); Jim Morrison, a fine artist; and George Shane, a feature writer. They enjoyed themselves enough to recruit others to join them on Saturday afternoons. Leonard Good, a noted painter who had come to teach at Drake, joined in 1952, as did numerous others as the years went by. Rain or shine, ice or snow, they spent their Saturday afternoons sketching. The group grew to twenty or more (all men) to include artists, art teachers, attorneys, physicians, bankers, a cartoonist, and even a detective. Women only began coming during the 1970s and today comprise a majority of the group.The sketch group is very informal, having no constitution or rules, nor dues, and yet has continued for eight decades, meeting and sketching together regularly after lunch on Saturdays. 

One member with a very long tenure is Dwight James, a retired attorney who has been coming regularly since 1968. Dwight hadn't painted before coming to the Saturday group, though he'd taken a few drawing courses at the Des Moines Art Center. From watercolor landscapes, the forte of the Saturday group, he later branched out to acrylics and oil portraits. Dwight is the source of much of the information in this post, both from personal memory and from his files, having been given archives of the group dating into the 1950s. He also invited me to participate a few years ago.

At first the Saturday sketch group met at a member's house to decide on the day's location. Later on it switched to the current spot in the parking lot west of the Des Moines Art Center. Then as now the group meets after lunch on Saturday, decides on a place to paint after a brief discussion, and heads out. After about two hours we meet at a local cafe for conversation and discussion of the work. The original group met similarly but would knock off a pint or two at various local bars instead. Most still adhere to the watercolor medium because of its portability and simplicity, though a few do pastel and occasionally someone makes a small oil painting. The looseness of the organization means that some of us come regularly, some sporadically. Regardless, the Saturday sketch group goes on.

Gary Hoff, "Grandview Park," watercolor on paper, 2020

Leslie Leavenworth, "Des Moines Botanical Center," wc, 2021

Current members include respected professionals like Leslie Leavenworth, who says, “I have spent most Saturdays afternoons since 2003 with this intrepid group.  The camaraderie of painting outdoors is inspiring and motivating.  I love that there are no dues, no membership, and no rules except to be on time or be left behind! We all share a mutual love for painting plein air in beautiful Des Moines." Leslie has recently begun teaching outdoor watercolor workshops.

Chuck Mertes, "Winterset Bridge," pastel on paper, 2021

Chuck Mertes is a member of the group who completes large pastels en plein air during our Saturday forays. He's also at home in other mediums and says he feels lucky to have "the vast experience of the plein air group as a resource." He looks forward to each Saturday as an adventure. His brilliantly colored pastels like the bright red covered bridge above, are beautifully composed and painted.

Mary Helen Grace is an avid painter with more than 30 years experience teaching art in public schools. She is a regular participant and loves our afternoons at various locations, from sites along the Des Moines River, the Botanical Center, and many others.

Mary Helen Grace, "At the Botanical Center," watercolor on paper, 2021

The Saturday sketch club is basically a comradeship of painters, a group of friends who spend two or three hours together on Saturday afternoons. The Saturday sketch group--it has never even had an official name!--is a unique opportunity to let the pleasures of nature and making a picture take over, as it has for three generations of Des Moines artists.

Digital Sketchbook?

One of the great promises of tablets like the iPad, Microsoft Surface, and others (for artists anyway) has been their use as a digital sketchbooks. And for me at least the ones I've used haven't been as useful as I had thought. For one thing, the interface programs can be daunting to learn quickly. People who sketch with pencil and sketchbook don't have that problem; on the other hand, artistic and expressive use of the pen or pencil has to be learned, too. Nonetheless, it takes time to become comfortable with the tools, both the tablet and the program. 

Over the past couple of years I've worked with an iPad as well as on a Surface, trying to find a tablet and program combination that felt as comfortable as pulling out a pad and pencil. There are a lot of tablet programs out there--Procreate, Sketchbook ArtRage, Photoshop, others--and I've tried all of them. Recently Sketchbook (for desktops) has been my go-to program and so I've tried it on my tablets too. Even though I'm very familiar with the program the tablet interface is a bit different and takes some getting used to. In any event, it's been fun to work with the iPad--the Apple Pencil is excellent--running Sketchbook, a program I know well in its desktop version. 

"Marty," digital study

Recently it finally felt as if my digital sketchbook had arrived. One morning I wanted to do a quick study of a companion and circumstances dictated speed. We were waiting to be called to breakfast and I really only had minutes. I opened my iPad, started Sketchbook and drew subject with Sketchbook set to emulate a relatively coarse, blue-black crayon and a white one. I sketched the basic likeness on the first layer over a blue-gray background, then layered in dark hatching in the next and white accents and hatching in the topmost layer. Mostly I tried to capture shapes, not outlines. Just as I finished the final layer my subject was called to the table. But in this case, my tablet was at last a really usable digital sketchbook.