Large-Scale Corporate and Residential Contemporary Landscape Paintings

Workshops

Recycled, Reclaimed, Reused Paintings!

Posted on by LeeAnn Brook

If you’ve ever wanted to explore a more abstract way of painting, my next workshop called “Recycle Your Mind” is a fun one. Working with found collage materials in combination with painting, this workshop helps cut you loose to explore more abstract concepts. (Hint: it’s not your mother’s scrapbooking class!)

Evolution | 40 inch x 30 inch mixed media on 4 inch maple box
Evolution | 40 inch x 30 inch mixed media on 4 inch maple box

My fascination with using found materials in my art goes back to kindergarten, when I used moss, rocks and straw to create sculptures in my back yard. I then advanced to using burlap and other fabric scraps from my mother’s sewing basket, incorporating them into large paintings in high school. Today, my pack-rat mind scrounges for anything that is interesting in color, shape and texture (or anything that can be manipulated into something else).

The photo above is a close up of one of my paintings that uses cheesecloth, magazine scrap, Chinese gold leafed paper and block prints from my collection of wood type. My motto? You never know how or when you can reuse something, so save it! (The one quality Robert has trouble with about me, especially when our storage areas become stuffed with “potential art projects”.)

Sustainable art? Recycled art? Reclaimed art? All very hip right now, and part of my life for over 50 years. My response? Of course!

Workshop details: Saturday, April 6, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., downtown Nevada City. $115, students to supply their own collage materials and paints. For materials list or to reserve a spot, go to https://leeannbrookfineart.com/contact/.

Learning to Unlearn

Posted on by LeeAnn Brook

Remember when you first painted as a child how you had fun experimenting? You experimented with colors you liked, things you could use as a brush (like your dog’s tail), and how a crayon could take on a life of its own. We knew exactly what to do without even being taught.

WorkingQuickly

And then we grew up. Then we were told that our drawings needed refinement, our colors needed to be more harmonious, all while noticing that the art done by the kid sitting next to us was much better than ours. That’s when we gave up. We became timid about choosing the right color, and became scared to draw something, anything, that wasn’t perfect. The joy that once appeared as a splash of brushstrokes with poster paints suddenly disappeared into a dark corner, never to be seen again.

The biggest fear I find that most of my students have when taking my painting workshops, is that they are afraid to start. They are afraid they will fail, even before they start.

We all need to warm up, whether it is in exercising or painting. We need to loosen up and remove the intimidation of wondering if we will succeed.

In teaching how to work quickly with several 10-15 minute painting warm-up exercises (see above photo), I find it helps break the ice of worries, and encourages play and spontaneity. Oftentimes, a study done as a warm-up is the prelude to a larger painting. Or sometimes, the time-restricted painting is actually perfect just as it is. Imperfections and all.

Sometimes You Just Need to Step Back

Posted on by LeeAnn Brook

In preparing for an upcoming show in March, I’ve been burning the night oil in the new studio. With more room to back up and view my work in process, more room to experiment on several projects at a time, I can’t wait to start each day.

LeeAnn Brook Fine Art

The process of painting is quite an evolution, as the students in my workshops fully realize at some point. Each new painting builds on another. Each time we learn, that knowledge comes forth in layers of colors, layers of new directions. The very beginning of a painting is often mysterious. Where will it go? Will it accomplish what I want it to accomplish? Or maybe it will be set aside to rest against the wall in a corner, put to bed to work on another time.

So how does a painting begin? Where does the inspiration come from, how is it translated to canvas? My paintings begin in my mind, but often are a reflection of something a while back that caught my eye…the reflection on a pond, the color after a rain, the infraction of light on a tree. Starting with shooting a photo to record the memory, it may sit untouched for several years. Then one day it starts.

I let my intuition guide me as to what colors I will use. I let unplanned drips, scrapes and meanderings with the brush tell me where the painting will go. It will ofter start like this:

 

The inspiration is there, but the key is 1. to not ruin what is there, 2. to maintain the feeling of the inspiration while forming the painting at the same time, and 3. to know when to stop. This is where the trust comes in.

Sometimes, I think I have a plan as to how I want to painting to come out. It rarely goes as planned. Decision making is based on years of experience in painting, but trusting that you really don’t know the outcome, takes even more wisdom. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  I didn’t know the exact outcome of the paintings below, but I knew when I was done and satisfied. Believing in following what you know and what you don’t know and letting the painting form on its own, can be as powerful a tool as any in the hand of a painter. Sometimes you just need the room to step back.

 

Color, Creativity and Courage

Posted on by LeeAnn Brook

I never thought that I would be a teacher. And once I started teaching in my painting workshops in 2006, I never thought I would become a student as a result of it. The fact is, my workshops have provided as much growth and learning for me, as it has for my students. Every demo I do, (especially while struggling with a painting in front of a class of 16!), I learn humility. Every piece of advice I offer, that advice always applies to me. Every success, every failure, every bit of new information that I come across in teaching, is what I still need to learn…as a student, and as a teacher.

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