A Pine Tree Sketch

Here’s a pine tree study. A simple, non-revolutionnay pine tree study. Because when I paint outside, my focus is on observing, not inventing.

I keep a receptive attitude, open to register colors, movements, smells, and everything up to the tingling of the pine needles. There is a selective process going on, there has to be (I did not paint each branch individually, nor every crack of the bark), but the exercise is one of careful study.

Not every artist goes through that process, but it is essential for me. These conscientious studies teach me; they feed my imagination, grounding it in reality. And they allow me to be in contact with what I want to express that lies on a more subtle plane.

How close do I need to be to the real thing? I don’t know and it doesn’t really matter. Each sketch expresses what I could capture, then and there.

As I work on these sketches, a dialogue is formed between what I notice (Did I grasp the essence of this pine tree? Did I manage to express the splendor of it, the strength of it’s trunk or the softness of it’s foliage? How about that swooping sound the wind makes in the branches? Can I ever get all of this???) and what I intuitively perceive, that lies beyond the sensory impressions.

It is this subtle perception I am after. It reveals itself while I am sketching a tree or a lake. It comes casually, when I am attentive, not searching for it.

Louise Jalbert, “Pine Tree, lac Paré, July 27th, 2018”, Watercolor on paper, Moleskin Album, 8 x 23 inches

Painting Outdoors

Why paint outdoors?
Because you learn a lot by observing. It’s that simple but not so simple to do.

I do sketches more than paintings, but the exercise is the same. They are a first step in my work. The rest happens in the studio, based on these sketches and the experience that came with them.

Because outside, things happen. The eleven o’clock light has disappeared at noon, clouds get carried away by the wind, a bird sings then stops, it’s hot, it’s cold, now it rains and the lake has become gray, the water making a clapping sound.

Meanwhile, I try to grasp a little something: the diagonals formed on the surface of the water, the clouds that are reflected on it, the colors right under my nose or farther away. In this array of details, I make choices; each essay is a unique lesson.

This is better than being at the movies with special glasses on, because my whole body gets involved. Between what happens, what I manage to do and what comes as I do it, this little exercise is a bit of a happening in itself. It’s rather simple, don’t you think?

Louise Jalbert, “Lac Paré, July 27th, 2018”, Watercolor on paper, Moleskin Album, 8 x 23 inches

Outside

is one of my favorite words. “Go and play outside, children”, my mother would say, and it was free time, winter as well as summer.

Oh! The snow forts we built and the fun we had on swings! Maybe that is why I so love to paint from nature, because I feel so alive outside. As soon as weather permits, I love to take my gear outside and work there.

For practical reasons, I use techniques like watercolor and drawing, because they are easy to carry and organize. What matters to me is to feel and capture life as much as possible, let myself be infused by light, colors, sounds, smells which all contribute to inspire me.

This is why I’ll be happily out of the studio as much as possible for the summer. Acrylics will wait for a rainy day and will benefit from the harvest.

 

Painting by a lake, Lanaudière, Québec, summer 2016

It’s Been a Year

…since I started this newsletter, and what an incredible experience this has been!

It all started with the above drawing and the desire to bring you a weekly moment of delight. It turned out to be a mutually rewarding experience, fed by your response and willingness to follow me on a journey about the meaning and process of creating art.

I am deeply grateful to each of you for being there, reading, sharing, even warmly responding. Your comments rejoiced and inspired me.

Special thanks to the very first subscribers, whose kindness allowed this to happen: dear friends Daphne Morris, Jeff Arnold and Lynn Harris, benevolent colleagues from Seth Godin’s Marketing Seminar : JR Lawhorne, Francesca Saveri, Rob Wickham and David Shirk. Cynthia Beebe generously and thoughtfully edited my written English until I could fly on my own, albeit with some grammatical twist once in a while. And finally, Guillaume Sanfaçon, webmaster irremplaçable who maintains my website.

Louise Jalbert, “The Cherry Tree, 2017, felt-marker on paper, 5 x 8 inches

(Français) Juillet

Summer is here, with all it’s might here in Québec, with temperatures that feel more like Delhi than Montreal. Vacations and water come to mind, and I thought I’d give you a refreshing sight to cool you off.

Here’s a glimpse at the sketchbooks I do outside. They are an important part of my summer routine.

 

Louise Jalbert, “Watercolor sketchbook, Lacs Pinatel”, July 14th and 15th, 2016, Watercolor in Moleskin sketchbook, 8 x 23 inches.

Making Progress

The technical part is taking shape. After a few tests, two or three errands to the art store comparing and buying supplies, I am getting a handle on acrylics.

I had done acrylics before, but it had been a while and you do have to get back into practice with your tools to work with a free mind.

https://louisejalbert.com/en/oeuvres/orange-et-sortilleges/#/i/1

I find this medium rather easy and very versatile: it can thinned to do watery effect all the way to heavy textures, with fast drying times, and without worrying about cracking because the emulsion that holds the colors remains flexible.

I did this small painting above rather quickly, using very transparent colors.

Colors tend to vary in rendering from one medium to another, so you have to adjust. For example, the bluish green above was made with Phtalo green diluted with acrylic medium. In watercolor, to have this effect, I would use Viridian and water, as I would in oils but with thinner.

I am starting to see what colors and marks I can use with acrylics. I guess I am making progress.

 

 

 

Acrylic dries fast and hard
One of the reflexes I am getting back to is to wash brushes and plates immediately after use, because acrylic dries fast and is a powerful adherent.

 
Louise Jalbert, “Foliage in summer,June”, 2018, Acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 inches

Making Choices

Last week, I went back to an oil paining that had been left to dry a few weeks ago, windows wide opened, perfect conditions to work… and I hit a wall. After hours of work, I was exhausted and unsatisfied with the result. Everything felt heavy: the process, the painting, even the paint on the brush. Something was amiss.

But what? Since I want to take my work to a bigger format, I need a medium that will adhere to canvas, or some other larger grounds than paper. Oils and acrylics can do that, and I wanted to get back to oils.

I did my studies with this classical technique, learning to admire the masterpieces of the past six centuries. That’s quite an impressive heritage and thinking about it, I realized that in the back of my mind, oil painting had been set by default as the best way to paint, certainly the most valuable or noble one.

But is it really? In 2018? For what I want to do now?

The quality of what I want to express is light, colorful, vibrant, and fluid. Oil is a rather heavy bodied medium.

My vision is intuitive: I must be able to be spontaneous, and a water-based medium would probably suit my needs better. I’ve used acrylics before, but not a lot, and more often on paper than canvas. The quality and range of this material has expanded a lot since I did; it’s worth the try.

So I will be putting grand old oils aside for now and will be focusing on acrylics, in the freest manner I can imagine. Bold, colorful, fresh.

To create is to make choices, constantly reassessing them in relationship with our vision. Is this choice supporting the vision I have? That’s what I intend to find out.

About choices: the best teaching I ever took on the creative process was with Robert Fritz. Whether you are an artist or not, understanding and applying the principles of the creative process in this masterful way can help you create what you want in your life.
https://www.robertfritz.com/wp/programs/choices/

Louise Jalbert, “Foliage in Appletree” oil on canvas, work in progress, 2018, 30 x 30 inches
(detail)
“Some foliage”, and “Water effect experiment” 2018, Acrylic on canvas paper, 16 x 20 inches

Back to the Drawing Board

I am back in the studio, my head still busy with the impressions of India. Most of what I am doing now is still uncertain and a bit of a struggle, it’s still too fresh.

This is a drawing I did during the trip. It stems from my previous work, but points to new development in what I am striving for, an all-over composition, inspired from the spirit of nature. The birds are a new addition.

It came as a vision one morning around 4 or 5 am, while I was half asleep. Somehow, in the Himalayas it was easier to wake up that early, and totally worth it. I bolted outside my room to catch the light coming up. Sitting in the small garden overlooking the Ganges, I drew quickly, holding the image in my mind. Birdsongs were rising as the sun was slowly making it’s way over the mountains.

This small sketch is a reminder of that moment. It is also a first step my further development of the idea of tapestry, or how things and beings are intertwined, which I what to convey in a bigger way.

I’ll be developing that idea in the next few months and share the process with you. Let me know what you think on Instagram!

Louise Jalbert, “Upanishads in a dream”, 2018, Feltmarker in sketchbook, 6.5 x 4.5 inches

The Artist in India

The main purpose of my trip to India was spiritual, but the artist very happily came along.
And what a feast that was for the eyes and soul!

From the polluted streets of Delhi to the small villages of the Himalayas,
I was thrilled by the unabashed colors displayed on people’s clothes, fabrics, and objects of all sorts in shops, houses, even on temples and buildings.

Women in their striking saris impressed me considerably, like walking jewels in the dusty landscape.

 

 

Even the smallest shops had an amazing array of fabrics and patterns.

I wonder if there is any other country that manifests as many diverse and intense color combinations and contrasts as does India? Is there a symbolic meaning for each of them? It is so powerfully invigorating!

 

 

 

Houses were painted in pistachios and purples, and so were the clotheslines.

I am still bathing in the myriad of impressions I gathered there. It will sustain me and my art for a long time: there is much to assimilate.
I stay tuned with my yoga practice, contemplation, meditation and asanas.

 

 

 

 

In their race towards progress, I hope the young people of India (50% of the population) will keep grounded in their spiritual heritage, essential for inner peace.

 

 

 

 

I connected a lot of dots on this journey. My intuition deepened as to where I want to take my art and what I want to share.

More or less consciously, I have always felt that art and spirituality flow from the same source. Now I know they can become one expression.

All photos: Louise Jalbert, “A pilgrimage to India”, 2018