79 MAKING THICK PAINT





MANY people have asked me how I make my Thick Paint videos so I decided to do a short entry on the process. There isn’t too much mystery although some have inquired how I film as I paint. I hope you enjoy this and I’ll see you again March 2012.


Here are links to the items mentioned in the video. Note that I am using a Mac with OS 10.5.8:


Sony Cyber-shot (I notice they have a 14 mega pixel version available now.)
StudioBoom (be sure to get a stand AND an adapter).
Ott lites
Axiotron Modbook
Dragon Dictate (this link is to the Mac version.)
Sony MP3 recorder


All images and words © Brad Teare 2011

78 INNOVATION HAPPENS....

I AM making an exception to my No Blogging Until March 2012 rule because a friend sent me this great web site. I found Austin Kleon’s ideas both inspirational and practical.

The only thing I didn’t absolutely love about the essay (and this is very minor) was the idea that there are no new ideas. I only emphasize this small difference of opinion because I think it is important to believe in radical innovation, those quantum leaps that change everything.

I know it is a really small thing but my method of scraping the palette with the left hand and swiping paint off onto the canvas with the right is a new idea (albeit it a small idea). As far as I know that specific idea has no genealogy. It is dissimilar from any painting method I know (although I freely admit that someone else may have stumbled on this interesting but simple way to paint). We all make our contribution and small innovations can add up to large changes.

Not everything has been discovered relating to landscape painting. The genre is alive and well and poised for change by a series of innovations. Such discoveries will not be made by those who view painting as a series of recipes but by those who believe innovation is possible.

In short, I think it is best to borrow freely but be open and hope for true, unfettered innovation. Maybe these small innovations are like mutations (an idea I borrowed from this book). Innovations seem to come out of nowhere, but when they prove useful and are fused with other ideas they begin their metamorphosis as others borrow them and make them their own. One thing is certain; the rate of innovation increases as we share our discoveries with each other.

I admit that bolts of lightening from the sky are few and far between. But when they strike no other experience compares.

Brad Teare © 2011

77 TAKING A SABBATICAL AND LOOKING FOR A NEW CHAPEAU


AS I MENTIONED in my last blog I will be taking a break until March 2012. This will give me time to recharge the batteries as I work on a more commercial project. I also need a new hat and am willing to trade a painting for information on where to order one (see video). So next time I film I hope to be wearing a new chapeau (my old one clearly needs to be replaced!). I hope you have a great year painting and hope to hear from you again in March 2012. Many thanks!





Brad Teare © 2011

76 THE ART ADVENTURE

AFTER High School my friend Joe Hebert and I left our Kansas home and traveled to the foothills of Moscow Mountain (in Northern Idaho) where we built a log cabin. A nearby farmer let us salvage lumber from an abandoned barn which we used to build the floor, roof, as well as the door and furniture. It was an interesting project and allowed me to live frugally so I could pursue art full-time.

Toward the end of my one year stay in the cabin I enrolled at the University of Idaho and began my formal study of art. I took drawing classes and started learning the rudiments of oil painting.

An early influence was the work of Rockwell Kent whose work I discovered in the local library. I was fascinated by what I assumed was woodcut, although Kent worked primarily in pen and ink making the occasional wood engraving. But his strong composition and stark contrast deeply impressed me. Above all I was fascinated by Kent's adventurous life. Later I would purchase a printing press and begin my own adventure illustrating in New York City.

The artist's life seemed infused with vibrant potential. I look back with nostalgia on that era. There were many things I didn't know about an art career, that there are many factors outside an artist's control, that the economy can create seemingly insurmountable obstacles, that the tastes and fashions of the art world can present frustrating challenges.

Strangely, it was a recent trip over the Sierra Nevadas to San Francisco and down the San Joaquin Valley that sparked my introspection and rumination on my artistic roots. As I passed through a region of lush green foothills sprinkled with majestic outcroppings of rock I remembered an earlier phase where I painted large acrylic paintings on stretched watercolor paper mounted on plywood. My favorite motifs were rocks covered with moss and lichens.

I recalled other periods where I sculpted, painted in watercolor, created science-fiction book covers, illustrated children's books, wrote and drew alternative comic books, animated television shows, and of course, painted landscapes with strokes of thick oil paint.

I undertook all these projects with a sense of adventure. That sense of adventure is perhaps what I like most about the artistic life. Through it all my most persistent ambition has been to paint the landscape. Yet currently I find very little air beneath my wings. So for the next year I have decided to set aside oil painting and begin a new project. This project will be of a more commercial nature but ultimately designed to reinvigorate my painting career. If all goes well I will return to the Thick Paint blog revitalized and ready to create new videos and blog entries chronicling larger, more energetic paintings. Although I will not be making new blog entries or videos for a year I will monitor comments and continue to answer questions.

I look forward to sharing what I learn in the coming year. I hope you will rejoin me in March 2012.

Brad Teare © 2011

75 THE SLOW PAINTING MOVEMENT

THE PLEIN air movement has been good for painters and landscape painting. It sparked a renaissance in the art of observation and a return to artistic fundamentals. It helped refocus landscape painter's attention back to the source of its inspiration. I have benefited artistically by painting in the field and financially from invitations to various art festivals. I commend these festivals for substantially enlarging the number of landscape collectors in America. I plan to continue painting en plein air as well as attending plein air festivals.

However an unintended consequence of the resurgence of plein air painting has been an emphasis, perhaps an overemphasis, on painting as a virtuoso performance for the benefit of spectators. At such events the most prized paintings are often the paintings done the quickest. I don't criticize these events. They're a lot of fun. But the trick is to compartmentalize this mental state and relegated it only to the proper moment. And the proper moment for a virtuoso performance is not when you're in the studio struggling to express your inner vision.


Recently I've noticed that the mental state I have while performing at plein air events has invaded my studio painting. While painting in the studio I not only habitually intend that each painting be a virtuoso performance, but often that each brush stroke be one as well. The pressure became so great I needed an escape. So I have switched, perhaps for just a season, to a completely different medium. The medium I chanced on is encaustic. There is a roughhewn quality with encaustic reminiscent of the art of woodcut, accompanied by the mental state I associate with sculpting. Encaustic is a medium that can't be hurried. It is also a medium that doesn't need to hurry. The drying time is indefinite and I can reactivate the painting surface simply by reheating it.

I will explore this medium for as long as it takes to unshackle myself from the burden of virtuosity. I intend to immersed myself in the encaustic process until painting becomes a kind of meditation and I relearn the art of painting slowly.

Brad Teare © 2011

74 USING A WAX MEDIUM PART 2 OF 2


THIS video completes my experiment oiling up the canvas with a cold wax and oil medium. Specifically I used Gamblin's Cold wax and their appealingly thick G-Gel. There are few surprises here, I basically just complete the painting using ideas started in part one. But it was satisfying to note that the medium maintained its thickness despite wiping off, adding pure paint, and generally pushing paint all over the surface.

73 USING A WAX MEDIUM


AFTER dabbling in encaustics I’ve been intrigued with wax lately and decided to try adding it to a couch on an oil painting. I applied the wax medium to a failed painting and was able to add quite of bit of texture, which I adjusted so the values created a more pleasing design. I was surprised at how buttery the wax medium was, and how it really grabbed my paint off the brush. I’m very intrigued with wax as a medium and will be trying adding cold wax medium to my paints as well.

72 FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY

I MENTIONED to my brother, Steve, that my blog had been on-line for a year. He suggested posting an interview as a way of commemorating Thick Paint's anniversary. Since my brother and I have been bouncing ideas off each other for as long as I can remember I thought it an interesting and potentially productive idea. Here are his questions and my responses:

STEVE TEARE You have a number of Google Followers. Have you ever looked at what they do and where they live? Any stories worth telling?

BRAD TEARE I'm a very private person so I haven't looked too deep into the backgrounds of followers and subscribers. I have been intrigued on occasion by certain photographs of art and checked out the follower's websites. I've been contacted via email by a variety of artists thanking me for posting information about painting and creativity. Recently a writer in Australia wrote that the blog was helpful as she researched a book she is writing. Such emails are very rewarding.

ST There are a few permanent links on your blog. Debra Teare, Jim Gurney, and a few supply links. Tell us why these are on your blog? Who are these people and places?

BT Debra Teare is my wife and I find her paintings a constant source of inspiration. Her color sense is fantastic and I analyze her color schemes quite a bit. She doesn't paint thickly, in fact she paints quite thinly, but I mention her regularly on the site and felt readers might like a convenient link to her work.

James Gurney was the first artist to showcase Thick Paint on his blog Gurney Journey. Immediately after he linked to my site I had hundreds of hits per hour. That dropped off considerably over the next few weeks but it was enough exposure to give my site a really great launch. In addition to my appreciation for James Gurney's generosity Gurney Journey is a great blog that should be on every artist's favorite blog list.

The Rational Painting site and Tad Spurgeon's website really helped me get a handle on how academic techniques could relate to impressionist painting, which is something I don't think has been fully explored. A lot of my techniques relate directly to what they are doing and they are both fantastic resources.

ST If I google the search phrase Brad Teare, I find you're more than just Mister Thick-Paint. You've experimented in lots of other areas. Like book covers, children's books, comic art, graphic novels, woodcuts, museum exhibits, private art collections, and others. Most of your blog readers don't know these different aspects. Do you think it would upset them to know you're so diverse? They normally only see a serious slice of your interests.

BT We live in an age dominated by specialists. I do think it might be confusing to some that I have roots in so many diverse fields. But since I obviously didn't edit out this question maybe I'm finally ready to own up to my past. A lot of what I did in the past doesn't seem that relevant. For example, I never thought my work in animation had much relevance except as a great preparation for my illustration career. But now that you pose the question it might be useful, especially for younger artists, to reflect on how artists evolve and progress. It is particularly important for young artists to understand that meaningful art is mostly a product of hard work and not necessarily of genius. I've been very conscious of young artists as I've created this blog so maybe it's time to acknowledge my roots. I will definitely reflect on this theme (maybe it will appear in a future blog).

ST You rely on video quite a bit to communicate on your blog. Do your blog visitors enjoy these most? Or do you think there's a fair number who get into the read, too?

BT There's no doubt that my videos draw the most attention. I think a lot of people have discovered my blog via YouTube and I suspect a lot of YouTube subscribers don't bother with the essays. But I hope that the two mediums complement each other. I try to edit out any redundancy. A lot of people do creative work on the computer and they're able to listen to videos while they work so the videos have that advantage. There's no doubt that a part of the genius of YouTube is its incredible search engine. I can monitor how viewers discover my site and the accuracy of the search engine is amazing. I take my hat off to YouTube.

ST You've been blogging for over a year with Thick Paint. You've had success where others have failed. Why do you think your blog traffic is good?

BT I really have no idea how my site compares to other sites. And, of course, success is relative. But much to my surprise the site has attracted nearly 100,000 visitors. That is far more than I ever imagined. I attribute the high traffic mostly to the YouTube portal. Other than that I think people respond to my practical, straightforward approach, an approach that might be hard to find in some art schools.

ST What do you feel are some of the rewards of producing the Thick Paint blog? And how about the downside? Any negatives?

BT The biggest reward for me has been how filming and writing about painting has clarified my thinking. I now know what I want to do with my painting, or a least much more so than a year ago. It's difficult to describe how writing about process clarifies your thinking but it definitely has happened. What remains for me now is to harness that insight and create a body of work that reflects that clarity. As far as negatives go, I can't really think of any except that occasionally the filming process for some reason inhibits my concentration. It doesn't happen often and if it does I just stop filming. Most of the time the filming just gets intertwined in the creative process. Sometimes the editing process gets too lengthy. But lately I've been trying to film so I have less editing to do.

ST Have you had any surprises or serendipity with Thick Paint?

BT I am fairly confident I was invited to the Door County Art Festival due to my blog. And due to my participation in Door County I was invited to exhibit at the Marshall LaKae Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. That was a convoluted and extremely satisfying series of serendipity for which I'm grateful. My detour into encaustics has been a huge surprise and only possible due to previous discoveries, many of which occurred on the videos.

ST Has reader response been helpful in the creation of new blog ideas?

BT Yes, readers have often prompted follow-up essays and videos. I appreciate both the gratitude readers express as well as their questions, comments, and suggestions. I've had readers recommend books that proved quite interesting as well as offering variations on technique. Recently I read an intriguing book entitled The Rational Optimist that basically related how all advances are due to a cross-pollination of ideas. I hoped that Thick Paint could be such a vehicle, although I'm certainly striving to magnify that role.

ST If Thick Paint had a manifesto, what would it say?

BT The manifesto might be The history of painting begins now. Back in the 90s there were scores of essays with titles like The End of Art, The End of Painting, The End of Beauty, or other such nonsense. I had a college professor who basically said to me everything in impressionist painting had been discovered 100 years ago. That just didn't ring true. In fact it sounded a lot like scientists in the past who claimed that every innovation had already been discovered. There is something shockingly small-minded about such a declaration. Yet I also knew that the great majority of painters were churning out images far too similar to what we'd seen in the past. But I know that innovation is still possible. I'm not claiming that my work is outrageously innovative. But Thick Paint is a small attempt to be a part of what I suspect will be the beginning of a very innovative era. There's no better way to share information than the Internet and I think it will revolutionize painting as ideas increasingly cross-pollinate.

ST You created a lot of blog content in December 2009 right after you started Thick Paint. Where did you find all the energy?

BT I did create a lot of content initially and am not sure how I did it except to say I seemed to be on automatic pilot. I'm really a very introverted person. So for me to essentially invite dozens of people into my studio was pretty nerve shattering. Had I known it would be thousands of people watching the videos I'm not sure it would have made any difference. Once I got the idea I just had to do it. I had to see where it would lead. As you've noticed the frequency of videos and essays has diminished quite a bit so the initial burst of energy has tapered off. But I still have a list of great topics I hope to write about and film so I hope in time they'll make it onto the blog.

Brad Teare © 2011