Back in the summer of 1990, I believe, I was at the home of Ted Goerschner and Marilyn Simandle for a weekend workshop.
Ocean Home was one of the two paintings I completed that weekend.
Ocean Home, 12×16 by Bill Inman
Ted mentioned that he was recently with a group of artists who wanted to bring back to the art world an emphasis on the fundamentals of oil painting like draftsmanship, composition, deft mixing and handling of paint – everything that makes masterful realism so magical.
He said they were going to call it the Oil Painters of America.
In 1991 Shirl Smithson became the founder and brought that dream to life. The organization took off like a rocket rising in membership to more than 4000. Their awards and recognition have helped fuel the careers of many of the top artists in the world today. Their Master Signature artists include exceptional painters like Quang Ho, Daniel Gerhartz, John Michael Carter, Peter Adams, Clyde Aspevig, Albert Handell, C. W. Mundy, Jeffrey R. Watts and Kevin Macpherson.
The 26th Annual National Juried Exhibition was in Cincinnati a week ago and, as under the gun as I am with deadlines, I just couldn’t pass up the chance to go. This was also the first time Master Oil Painting has been a sponsor for such a large event, so there was a special sense of excitement I felt in being there. I took the whole day Friday so I could watch demonstrations by William Whitaker and Johanna Harmon.
William Whitaker demonstrating how to paint a gunslinger at the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition
Mr. Whitaker is quite the storyteller and his wit made the time engaging. I picked up several painting insights – his way of developing an image from seemingly random values and restrained colors was intriguing – I would never have foreseen that he uses that same beginning process for such refined realism as Cove.
Cove, 30×40 by William Whitaker (http://www.williamwhitaker.com/B_HTML_files/01_show/Cove.htm)
Another fun tidbit I picked up is that for the past 25 years or more he has used ABS plastic for his panels. He has a local plastics company deliver it to his home. He said it is tough, perfectly suitable to oil painting, doesn’t need to be primed, can be cut easily with a knife, and if you don’t like your painting, you can sand it down to white and start a new one.
Not only was Johanna’s demonstration fantastic, she also happened to have a painting in the show that won an award!
Cari, 16×12 by Johanna Harmon (http://johannaharmon.com/workszoom/2334837)
Johann Harmon demonstration – painting live from a model at the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition.
Having watched about a dozen demos by some of the best artists in the country in the last 2 months I noticed a strong similarity – the emphasis on accurate values – get the values right and the painting will practically paint itself – well maybe with a little nudge from the artist.
Another highlight of my day was the presentation by David Mueller titled “Sophisticated Fundamentals” where he discussed, you guessed it, values.
David Mueller OPA Presentation “Sophisticated Fundamentals”
But not just any old values – he is passionate about the powerful effect of carefully designed dark, middle and light value relationships in a bracketed 80/15/5 distribution throughout a painting with attention as well to the hard and soft edges. An example he used was Toward Night and Winter by Frank O Meara that he changed from color to black and white.
Toward Night and Winter by Frank O Meara
Notice that most of the painting is middle values (80%), a smaller part is light values (15%) and a touch is dark (5%). Mueller states that much of what we consider great art follows pretty closely to this bracketing of values (the light, dark and middle can be in any arrangement of those proportions). Definitely something to experiment with.
That evening we headed to the Eisele Gallery to view all the wonderful paintings in the show. I took some pictures of some of those I considered standouts – not the best photos, but they’ll do in a pinch.
Journeyman 20×16 by D Edward Kucera
Kucera has phenomenal ability with color and value. Top notch work.
Longhorn 24×24 by James E Tennison
Tennison’s work has impressed me since I saw his paintings in person when we showed together at Galerie Kornye West in Fort Worth. Paula the gallery owner, a very gracious lady with a wealth of understanding of art, retired a couple years ago and brought to a close the long run of a magnificent showroom.
Yelllow Kimono 30×40 by John Michael Carter
This was a simply masterful piece by Carter! The delicate shifts in color and value – one of the best paintings I have seen in a long time. This would have been my gold medal choice.
Welcoming of Winter 22×28 by Nikolo Balkanski
Nikolo and I have shown together at the Broadmoor Galleries for many years. He has produced a lot of excellent paintings, but he hit this one out of the park. Some lucky buyer snatched this up the first night.
Red-backed Fairywren 8×8 by Mostafa Keyhani
Sorry for the poorly taken image, but I got to meet Keyhani while I was capturing an image of it on my phone. I told him this was one of the best pieces in the show – very simple and completely beautiful. Turns out he has watched my videos on YouTube – small world isn’t it!
Calm Noon 24×38 by Ruo Li
This painting struck me because of the calm feeling it presented and because I’m a total sap for rocky tidal areas at the beach – they bring back a lot of happy childhood memories. It’s also obviously skillfully painted. Li, if you ever read this – the horizon line on the left seems a bit high – probably a wave in the distance and not a game changer, but it felt a wee bit distractive.
It’s still quite beautiful though!
Apple and Cherry Blossoms 16×12 by Jim McVicker
You all got to know Jim pretty well last week when he joined us as a Featured Artist, and his work is just as incredible as it looks – he captures life elegantly. This painting should have won an award.
That’s the nature of juried shows – we all have our biases – this judge chose some paintings that I thought left much to be desired – I would imagine he would think the same of my choices. We can’t ever let the jurying process discourage us. Just keep forging ahead with a smile knowing, as artists, we get to be a part of something grand.
Prayer in the Desert 40×30 by Robert T Barrett
The reason for my love of this painting is probably self-evident. But I want to say that it’s not just the subject matter – the painting is expertly crafted by Barrett and is very striking.
You have until June 24th to see the show – I highly recommend it. And when you do, please let the rest of us know which paintings captured your heart!
Remember too, seeing a photo of these paintings is not even close to seeing them in person.
Happy painting,
Bill
Lovely to look at beautiful art and learn about artist I didn’t know before. Just an fyi. I know the grayed out text color is ‘in fashion” these days but for older folks the lack of contrast makes it frustrating to read. Might want to select a darker gray if not black if template allows.
I agree Elizabeth – we have tried to change it, but the software doesn’t seem to allow a change to any darker text.
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I love the journeyman… the face….. it’s all about the face!
I like the brushwork and the colors in the longhorn, but I would love to see a photo of the shadow… They are always tricky for me. I’m sure that, Mr Tennison no doubt got it right.
Your colors in your ocean house, Bill, are just what I’d want if it were mine.
The Yellow Kimono is ..well..Just Beautiful.
The winter scene is spot on!
The apple and cheery blossoms… Lovely!
Prayer in itself is always a beautiful thing, but as you said, is striking as well.
The wren brings focus exactly where needed…
I was so busy looking at the calm noon rocks, that I hadn’t noticed the horizon line at first. It’s still a nice painting though.
Toward Winter……..thumbs up.
Cari, very impressive….
…and Mr Whitaker’s Cove is very brilliant
but last and not least… I was immediately impressed with his Gunslinger!
So, now… does this qualify me to judge the next show???!!! LOL
These are all truly beautiful paintings!
t
I think you are probably just as qualified as any other juror Dianne – it’s mostly a matter of personal interest from what I’ve see – especially when most of the work is of such high quality.
What’s up, the whole thing is going sound here and ofcourse
every one is sharing information, that’s genuinely fine,
keep up writing.