Hello and thanks for dropping by my art world! Today I’m reflecting on why I paint realism, and jotting down some of my creative thoughts.  So, why did I choose realism? What does make me love it so much? And oh boy, also how my personality fits in is there somewhere. Deep thoughts! Here we go..

From a young age I drew with a pencil, and always wanted to represent what was in front of me. Actually, that’s all I knew “good” art was. Probably influenced by my teachers’ and parents’ ideas of what art is, but I also realized that I loved drawing realistically and something in me needed to keep trying to get better and better.  My brain has always worked in a very pragmatic way - I’m completely right brain dominant but also need order and rules - go figure. That part of me lends itself well to realism.  Without some boundaries, and a quantifiable way to judge my improvement, I’d have an uphill battle to fight when judging my skills and improvement.  And even question the monetary value of my work. How is it worth the asking price? I chalk that up to the artist’s skills and rules, values, proportion, painterly qualities - as well as demand - the things you can see and judge easily no matter where you went to school or who you’re inspired by. It’s a very vulnerable thing being a realist painter.

So maybe you figured it out - abstract was never my thing!  But when I watched my daughter paint completely carefree as a 5 year old, I was amazed at how she FELT her abstract kid’s painting while she created it. The colors, the mood, the balance. Somehow she made it work and created beautiful little images that had no context other than she wanted to make them. I know a parent is partial but she really is good! Kids are just so free spirited and creative like that.

I truly believe there’s something to be said for getting in a flow state - where the creative intuition kicks in. You’ve probably experienced that mental flow when your mind is switched off but you’re in the groove cranking out work. That flow in art really helps organize and balance an image.  Even one that has no real form like so many abstracts: the ones with no identifiable components. I’m thinking even realistic painters - maybe more so impressionistic ones - get into a flow state creating details that get a little murky, but somehow still work. So, that’s abstraction isn’t it? You could argue there’s some super abstract shapes in say, that dark patch of trees that implies something, even though you can’t identify even just one leaf or branch. That type of dark patch uses some intuition and unknown mystery to work for the viewer.  But without the whole context of the landscape painting around it, that patch might not hold up as anything on its own. 

Paintings without life and feeling, and some sort of deep thought - balanced with NO thought when you rely purely on that flow! - Struggle to be successful. And anyone - not only artists - can see if it’s got that something. That’s the most exciting thing about showing art - if you felt it, if the painting vibes, when you know your rules on composition, values, hue, and know how to bend the rules and create your own special touches, it comes screaming undeniably across to the viewer as a solid painting.

 I still have a lot to learn, but I can appreciate the vast knowledge of how-to on painting that’s available out there.  The time and skill it takes to paint realism is unmatched by photography, and the vulnerability of realism when shown to the non artist - that vulnerability is something abstract can’t compare to and any confusion in that genre can be easily written off as the viewer not being in the know.

So I’m hooked on realism - landscapes and oil painting.  Maybe I’ll branch out one day but for now I have so much more I want to learn and accomplish in this genre. What do you think about realism versus abstraction in painting? 

Thanks for reading, I hope to write some more blogs in the future when time allows.  Have a good one, until next time!

I’ve been reflecting on my goals lately, and wanted to write a blog about my journey so far.  Over the last few years since I committed to painting realism - specifically landscapes - I’ve made many deliberate steps to improve my craft.  It hasn’t always been easy taking steps needed as life is busy outside of painting, and who doesn’t have a lot going on these days! But I’ve managed where I can to progress, and I’m going to share a little with you on that today.

https://www.instagram.com/DebraDartez.fineart

This past week I had the pleasure of participating in the 2021 Blowing Rock Plein Air Festival with about 100 other professional and emerging plein air artists.  Held in the idyllic mountain village of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, the festival was four days of painting followed by a juried show and sale at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM).  After a close encounter with a tropical storm Fred who dramatically rolled through right before the competition started, it was blue skies and gorgeous clouds for days (and a little rain from time to time, which turns out is typical in that part of the country!).  

After checking out the beautiful BRAHM, and hiking down to the Glen Marie Falls in town, it was the first day of the festival and time to get to business.  There was no shortage of beautiful places to paint from mountain vistas, to lakes, creeks and waterfalls, to historic buildings and lovely gardens.  Everywhere you went artists were set up, and I had a nice time chatting with the ones I ran into. Plein Air artists are a friendly, down to earth bunch!

 In all, I completed five paintings over hours and hours of work (ok.. I really love that part;)), two paintings of which could be entered into the competition.  I woke up the last day of the festival not knowing what I would paint that morning or submit later, and I went on to finish “Sims Creek Bank” of ‘banking’ trees over a shady creek, and by the next day it had WON second place in the professional artists category (judging the competition was the amazingly talented Jeremy Sams) and it was also sold to a collector.  So humbled and thrilled, I’m still in awe of how so much can change from moment to moment.  

*here are three pieces created at the Blowing Rock locations of Annie Cannon Gardens, Price Lake, and Julian Price Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway:

Truth be told, participating in plein air events has been a challenge for me, being somewhat new to the art world. So when I show up and know virtually no other artists and nothing about the area that I didn’t see online, it’s intimidating.  But I feel deeply passionate about what I do and believe all the steps towards my goals are important no matter what the outcome.  So going out on a limb into the uncomfortable paid off big time for me this week and I couldn’t be more grateful.

* here is a painting I created at dusk over two nights from my hotel room at the Cliff Dweller’s Inn (the name doesn’t lie - you drive straight up a cliff to get to the parking lot! ):

*all my paintings from the festival: 

It doesn’t always turn out this way and there are plenty of moments of disappointment, but I’ll hold onto this one for a while and know that if I keep improving at my craft and buckling down to work it will all pay off.  I hope you’re able to do the same in your life and remember to follow your heart and keep working at whatever it is you’re passionate about, believe in yourself and trust things will work out and pay off in time.  

Thank you for checking out my blog, if you have time hop over to the website and see what’s new!

Until next time,

Debra

www.DebraDartez.com 

Exciting locations to paint? Yes please! I’d like to start this blog by saying that I am by no means an adventurer, and I’m usually content to be a homebody.  Take for example how staying put at home during the pandemic was far, far less of an issue for me than it was for my extrovert Dartez crew. Poor guys! But from time to time I get the bug to see new places, and painting new places has really become an exciting goal to look forward to.  

So, after a lot of thought and planning (both planning inside my household and outside), I took a trip to Luray Caverns and Natural Bridge this spring! 

Luray Caverns came to mind as a dream painting destination mainly because I grew up going to the Caverns with my family, and my mother even went there as a kid (see the photo above of her family and friends - dated 1961. Already 400 MILLION years old, the caverns of course haven’t changed).  I’ve also admired artists like James Gurney , who’s amazing cavern artwork in his Dinotopia books made me think, WOW what an amazing place to paint! So after some casual attempts to contact the Caverns, I finally got serious and received the OK to paint there from the wonderful staff.  

On the big day, I felt pressure to do the place justice and also excitement to be doing something so novel.  I probably hiked a couple miles from the car down to the chosen locations and then back out again, it was a challenge to focus in the dark, and I also felt the eyes of the onlookers who were trying to figure out what this person was doing in the middle of all the rock formations. Despite the challenges, it was the most thrilling painting I’ve done so far and will be a tough location to top!  

I came out with two studies from my time underground.  I’ll create a more finished studio painting out of the first, which is a view into the illuminated waters of the “Wishing Well”.  Here you can make a wish and throw your coins into the underground pond (interesting fact: the coins are painstakingly gathered once a year, tens of thousands of dollars in total, and all donated to various charities). You can see this painting above, also in another photo where I stood and painted.  

In the light of day my second painting was less impactful than expected because of the dark alongside the contrasting bright easel lights.  I have more work on that piece but I’m happy with the start, so I’ll share it anyhow.

I have to say how I cannot thank the staff of the Luray Caverns enough, they are a friendly and knowledgeable crew and made me feel right at home and well taken care of. Such a great experience.  

I went on to paint the Natural Bridge in Rockbridge County VA, which I’ve never seen despite growing up in Virginia.. and it didn’t disappoint!  The ancient rock formation is so stunning and SO massive.  

Coincidentally, The Virginia Museum of Fine Art also has a show going on of all Natural Bridge artwork that I discovered during some trip research.  I haven’t visited the show yet, but have been keeping up on their instagram and there are some gorgeous paintings on display.  If you’re in the Richmond VA area while the show is still up (through August if I’m not mistaken) definitely swing by.

Check out my own Natural Bridge painting below, 6x8” oil on board:

As life starts to resemble normal again, I look forward to the next exciting painting locations. I’m thinking the beach, maybe the Westmoreland cliffs in summertime, the Blue Ridge mountains, the Smokey Mountains.. who knows where I’ll wind up and it’s so fun to plan.  Thanks for stopping by - I hope you follow along this year and check back here or on my instagram to see where I paint next!

This past September I had the pleasure of painting in the Arts of Great Falls Plein Air Festival.  With the pandemic looming the festival looked a little different (like all things now!) with more time and location flexibility.  BUT since painting is more or less a solitary venture it didn’t stop me from heading out to some beautiful spots to paint.  Of the two paintings I submitted, a painting of Jones Point Lighthouse entitled “Lazy Day at the Lighthouse” was awarded an Honorable Mention.  The nod was unexpected and also humbling to be recognized among all the other fantastic artists. This painting was a fun one to do and I spent many hours on location working it out. One of my sons even lent a hand by bringing my dog Rally to hang out on the porch while I painted him -  a nice touch the judge commented on.  

Even more exciting, Great Falls Connection featured me on the cover of their magazine, here’s the full magazine-skip to page 5 for the featured article.  I’m painting my other entry here of the Falls themselves.  It was ovecast most the week which made things challenging, but I still managed to submit paintings I was happy with.  Relocating to Virginia and jumping into the fine art world is off to a good start all things considered.. thanks for stopping by!