Jade Gates Art Blog

Summer Newsletter

8/15/2021

My vision was to create a soft place to land...

Palm Trilogy III ~ 45 x 35" oil painting on cradled wood panel

This was one of those paintings that felt like it took forever. I'm sure most of my artist friends know the feeling. When I feel like the painting is complete, I take a photo and discover I'm not happy with it. Photographs are an excellent tool for seeing the image in a new light. I also like to turn it upside down.
I've shared the journey below, hoping that it will either inspire or inform you.

This painting started with a few simple shapes and a basic color selection of ultramarine blue, magnesium blue and transparent red oxide.

The warm colors in the sky and along the horizon brought the background forward and took attention away from the palm trees.

I defined the shapes and experimented with the composition.

The painting still wasn't what I wanted, so I put it away for a couple of weeks. When I returned, I realized that it felt disjointed and needed more harmony in both the colors and the values.
The results are in the final image at the beginning of this post.

Spring Newsletter

4/14/2021

Palm Trilogy 35 x 35" Oil Painting

Stand tall and bend in the wind....

There have been many changes this past year, and as if falling in line, my art has also changed.
After years of painting figures, I’m finding the tropical nature of plants around me fascinating.
These palm trees are the beginning of a series that is unfolding with curiosity and adventure.
I hope you find these paintings very soothing and relaxing.

Have you ever focused on something and then had it appear everywhere in your life? That has been my experience with Palm trees. The way they both stand tall and bend in the wind, inspires me.

I liked how some palm trees looked growing in the parking lot of a shopping center and shot the reference photo below.

I started with an underpainting of transparent red oxide and then laid out the palm trees and elemental composition.

I simplified their shapes and created an abstract beach background.

I played around with the colors and luminosity painting the bottom section darker and then lightening it again, as shown in the final image at the top of the page.

Winter Newsletter

11/9/2020

Sending wishes of health, comfort & inspiration.

I hope to share a sense of vacation through my art. My paintings have become more about open spaces and nature that calm and relax. My intention is tied into the skydiver's adage, "Look where you want to land." and hopefully, this art will take you where you want to be.

I began my artistic career as a photographer and specialized in photographs that were transferred onto art paper and enhanced with watercolors.
Prints are now available for my paintings and my photographs.

"Three Palms" 20 X 16" SOLD

Palm Paradise

This painting is still in process and will probably transform itself a few more times before it is finished.
My paintings often take months to complete.

Framed prints are now Available

Calm

This photo was taken in my studio and includes colors mixed and used in the painting.
I created a sense of space with the distant horizon and hope it feels as relaxing to you as it does to me.

LETTING A BIRD FLY FREE

8/30/2020

"Letting Go" 22x28" Oil Painting on wood panel

During these difficult times, I find"letting go"to be a great challenge, although I didn't start this painting with that in mind.

I started with a loose sketch of a woman in a sitting position. Initially, I painted her hand lying in her lap.

Then repainted it hanging at her side. Neither place felt right to me. I didn't like the composition or the feeling of "giving up" the hanging arm represented.

At that point, I decided she should have her arm lifted into the air in a position that said, "letting go."
I set my tripod up in front of a mirror and began photographing my hand in different positions, flinging my hand into the air and imagining I was letting a bird fly free out of my hand.

HOW "THE GIFT" WAS PAINTED - 20 x 30" oil painting on wood panel

7/17/2020

This painting was inspired by the uplifting feelings of both giving and receiving. The child is leaning forward and giving or perhaps receiving; in either case, there is an excitement, a sense of happiness. I want to evoke the feelings that are present during this act of kindness.

Then I added three figures forming a triangle with their head positions.

In this final image, I added more highlights and darkened the upper right corner to redirect the viewer to the figures.

I started this painting with a playful abstract. Just freely painting without rhyme or reason.

I then focused on color harmony added some vibrant colors and worked on the figure details.

Hope you found this inspiring, helpful or interesting.

PLAYING ALONG THE WATER LIKE A BALLERINA.

5/12/2020

"Discovery" 28 x 22" oil painting on cradled wood panel available at Chasen Gallies (941) 260 5787

The inspiration for this painting came from a small child playing along the water like a ballerina.
I found pleasure in her graceful movements and particularly in the way she pointed her toe.

I was sitting in a beach chair with my camera ready when I captured this painting's inspiration. I took several photographs and used them for guidance and inspiration in my studio.

I let myself apply paint to the panel without considering color or value. It's not finished or pretty but a wonderful loosening up exercise that I learned from www.melindacootsona.com. Putting down paint in a childlike manner spurs my creativity and opens up new possibilities.

Side by Side

4/30/2020

Because life can be complicated and challenging, I use the sky diver's adage: "Look where you want to land" as my guide. It is why I focus and often refocus on the pleasure and beauty of life. It is the positive essence of this focus that I hope to relate.

When I visit the gulf (minutes from my home), I often take photos while sitting in a beach chair. I capture the shot from a low angle rather than an eye-to-eye perspective because I find it more exciting and out of the ordinary.

I use the photos as a beginning inspiration and most often change - well pretty much everything by the time the painting is complete. I changed the color and value of their legs to blend with the sand and shifted their bathing suit colors to harmonize with the water. I added some trees in the background and then created a horizontal line along the shore. The painting seems to dictate what it wants—a bright blue square along the right edge of the picture. Fine, I tell myself, none of it has to make sense; it only has to feel right.

Just Flip Them

4/3/2020

There are a thousand ways to begin a painting, and I've tried them all, from starting with a faint idea to spending days creating a plan of gesture, color and value.

Studying the basics is invaluable although what I find of equal importance is a routine of showing up in my studio and painting.

As Julia Child aptly stated:
"The only way you learn how to flip things, is just to flip them"

These photographs show the progress of "Intrigue" a 35" x 45" oil painting. I titled it "Intrigue" because it appeared out of thin air.

Time to Dance?

3/26/2020

I’ve always loved to dance and when I want to
loosen up in the studio,
I turn up the music
and start to move.

Perhaps someday I’ll get the nerve to make
a dance video, for now,

I just want to share the idea with
my fellow artists or anyone that
wants a break.

I figure that’s just about everyone right now!

Dancers 24” x 20” oil painting available @ChasenGalleries

How Long Does a Painting Take?

3/7/2020

It can take me up to 3 months to finish a painting.
I often turn it upside down and even hang it on the wall in
my home to live with it for a while.
Every painting seems to come around in its own time. This painting started bright and almost garish, so I put it aside for a while.

When I returned, these calm colors seemed to flow across
the painting.

At that point, I felt the woman was moving forward and
the painting was finished.

"Forward" available at Chasen Galleries
22 x 28" oil painting on cradled wood panel

Inspired . Creative . Alive