One South Mississippi Artist's Journey

By guest artist Karen Bennett of Kokomo, MS

Karen- Honorable Mention, SMAA WCU Show, 2018

My Journey with art started about 13 years ago when I walked into an Artist’s studio and ‘Felt’ the flowing water and gentle breeze from the canvas on her easel. Art is not only in the ‘Eye of the Beholder’ but also the ‘Emotion of the Soul’—Karen Bennett.

“ I have to do this!” was my thought. From that day forward I have sat under many teachers from across the nation to learn and grow as an artist. 

Light in Darkness, 2017 SMAA, WCU Show

The expression of the soul on canvas is such an emotional and beautiful thing. To call myself an ‘Artist’ is quite a humbling title; for my visual art journey began later in life. The more I learn, the more I learn what I do not know. But the journey is worth it!

Plein Air Photo, courtesy of Cooper French

After years of studio painting, I attended a workshop and learned about Plein Air painting. That was such an awe inspiring moment. To me plein air painting was like standing next to the Great Artist in His house (landscape); soaking in the beauty all around. To attempt to paint on canvas what I see around me is such an awesome privilege. I feel His presence all around. Plein Air painting on vacations is a great way to document my adventures and the beauty of our nation.

Summer Sunset in Cedars Show, 2017

In January, 2017 I signed up for the Strada Easel 31 day ‘Painting from Life’ challenge to paint something (still life, figure or plein air, if weather permitted) from life, every day for 31 days. At the end of the month, everyone that participated everyday would have their name in a drawing for a Strada easel. I really wanted a strada easel and knew that painting everyday would be a great opportunity for growth, so I signed up. I made a commitment to myself to paint plein air everyday, no matter the weather. I figured a few cold days, but nothing bad; this is South Mississippi, we wear t’shirts at Christmas.

I was in for some extreme challenges. 

2017 Plein Air Strada Art Challenge

We had some of the coldest days, stormy days with tornadoes in our neighboring city, Icy days, windy days, rainy days and a few sunny days. What a challenge I signed up for, willingly. This turned out to be a great challenge with great rewards. Yes, rewards, plural. 
The perseverance to get outdoors everyday, no matter the weather and find a subject to paint took planning and organization. I ‘had’ to plan and prepare meals, watch the weather forecast, organize and schedule appointments and activity to allow ‘paint time’.

At first, my husband said ‘you’re crazy painting in this kind of weather’, then he started helping me find locations around the farm and community to paint and helping me watch the weather forecasts and then by the end of the month he stood at the door watching me paint the hay in the pasture and told me when I came inside “I’m proud of you and your dedication to this challenge and I want you to order that easel, you deserve it with all the hard work you’ve done to see it through.” 

Karen with husband Danny

Hearing him say how proud he was of me for following through no matter what, was a Bonus I had not expected, regardless of getting a new easel! I didn’t win the easel, but did order it a few months later, with his insistence. 

Plein Air Art in Oddfellows Gallery Hattiesburg Photo credits to Oddfellows.

But the reward was more than the easel. It was time with the Creator, painting his creation, family & friends cheering me on, surprising myself when I made it through everyday no matter the weather; it was Growth in all aspects. Some of the paintings turned out ok, some were not so good and some were pretty nice. One of the January paintings,  “Light in the Darkness” was juried into the 2017 South MS Art Assn. William Carey University show in Hattiesburg, MS. and another one “The Hay Patch” won 2nd place at the South MS Art Assn. Christmas show, 2017. And I also sold a few. 

2nd place 2017 SMAA Christmas Show

Thanks for allowing me to share part of my journey and my hope is that it has encouraged you to persevere and find that inspiration in your soul. I’m still growing & learning while presently considering the next monthly challenge. Stay tuned…..

2018 New Art Studio 

Bio….

Karen is married to her wonderful husband, Danny. They operate their third generation family Dairy Farm in South Mississippi, where she gets most of her inspiration for her paintings. She also enjoys traveling with Danny across the nation while plein air painting their adventures. She has studied under many renowned artists from across the nation. Galleries representing Karen’s art are: Oddfellows Gallery in Hattiesburg, MS, Artwistic Revolution Art Gallery in Columbia, MS and Gulf South Art Gallery in McComb, MS. She is also a member of local and national Art associations.

Karen invites you to follow her Art Journey on Facebook at Karen Bennett Art, Instagram at Karen Bennett Art and her Website at www.karenbennettart.com

A big thanks to Karen Bennett for her story!

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Follow this blog about Mississippi plein air artists. In the coming weeks, this site will be publishing contributed articles by painters from the state of Mississippi. 

 

Email Dot Courson at artist@dotcourson.com to find out how to contribute to this blog.

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Mississippi Plein Air Painting

By Guest artist Benny Melton of Yazoo City, MS

Benny plein air painting.  © 2014|Benny Melton

Plein air painting in Mississippi is like recording a pictorial narrative. Successful paintings are like interesting conversations, they invite engagement.  Sometimes the more simple conversations tell the best story.

Angel of Repose

I recently graduated from college with an M.F.A in Painting (University of Mississippi 2014). It was an extraordinary experience for me as a non-traditional student and I relished every minute of it. 

About the time of my highly anticipated first summer break I was informed that I would be required to attend an Intercession Class on Plein Air Painting. Well, I thought, there goes the summer! Instead, I learned many practical things about becoming a professional artist.

University of Mississippi ©|Benny Melton

Each year my painting professor invites colleagues to come to Mississippi to help teach a Plein air Painting class. Yes, Mississippi... the lush and green rolling hills of North Central Mississippi. These professional artists have studied and taught at some of the best art schools in the U.S. and they wanted to come here to teach and paint and learn about Mississippi.

Cole's Bluff, Sardis, MS © |Benny Melton

We started each day looking at the work of contemporary and historical painters in slide presentations and then went to paint the local parks, farms, a large reservoir, town square and other locations. Every student had a similar paint palette and easel to use in the field. 

The instructors did demonstrations to get us all heading in the right direction. We would stop for lunch to gather and critique the mornings’ work. After lunch we returned to painting and painted until late afternoon. The next morning we would meet in the class room for another short critique and lecture and announce the next painting destination.

Spillway © |Benny Melton 

This continued for 5-days and then we selected work to display in a “fresh paint” show on the square in downtown Oxford. Paintings were actually still in the process of drying. Undergraduate students, graduate students and instructors displayed their work together and the stories were outstanding.

I graduated in the spring of 2014 and with the momentum of 3-summers worth of Mississippi Plein Air Intercessions my wife and I hit the road for a two-week residency program at Lakeside Labs in Okoboji, Iowa. 

Add caption

The plein air skills learned in Mississippi were put to use about 1000 miles away. Here are my works:

Iowa-Minnesota State Line

Lakeside Okoboji, Iowa 2014 

Iowa

Little Miller's Bay Oil on Panel 8x8

Prairie Stream

Twin Forks Prairie

Benny has a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Mississippi and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Belhaven College in Jackson, MS. He was employed in Chemical Manufacturing for many years in Yazoo City, Mississippi and Sioux City, Iowa. His artwork can be seen in various venues in and around Oxford including Provisions Oxford and Oxford Treehouse Gallery and View Gallery and in Jackson, MS

Born in South Dakota and raised in Mississippi Benny enjoys the influence of both the Mississippi Delta, the plains of South Dakota and the farmlands of Iowa.

He lives in Yazoo City, MS and works for CF Industries, Inc. as the Training Coordinator for the Yazoo City Manufacturing facility.

Benny taught painting classes at Ole Miss in the fall of 2014 and drawing at Memphis College of Art in the spring of 2015. He taught Art for one year at Yazoo City High School before returning to chemical manufacturing in June of 2016.

He enjoys painting people in the landscape and his current work focuses on landscapes and the working people of Mississippi and the Midwest.

Website: www.meltonart.net

A big thanks to Benny Melton for his story!

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Follow this blog about Mississippi plein air artists. In the coming weeks, this site will be publishing contributed articles by painters from the state of Mississippi. 

 

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An Essay on Plein air and Studio Work

by guest blogger Curtis Jaunsen of Ocean Springs, MS

Plein Air East Beach, Morning 8x10 by Curtis Jaunsen

One of the things I’ve read about in art marketing essays is that the artist benefits from having a consistent “look” or style to their work. According to this theory, consistent work is easier for the potential collector to connect with, particularly if it is different enough from other artists work that it stands out just by that virtue.

Lemons and Vase 18x18 by Curtis Jaunsen

                I don’t dispute this, it’s something I’ve been trying to be a little more careful about with my work, its just something that I haven’t really achieved yet. I paint inside my studio probably around 75 percent of my working time and outside, ‘en plein air”, the other 25 percent.

Studio Painting, Ocean Springs Sunset 24x36 by Curtis Jaunsen

 I probably paint an even number of landscapes and still lifes with an occasional portrait when the spirit moves me. When I first started out though it was almost exclusively still lifes and then always painted in the slow and careful method I learned from the Florence Academy of Art. In those paintings the subject was light and how it revealed the objects and surroundings in my still life setup. My sole focus was on capturing the atmosphere that gave it all a sense of life. 

A couple things happened over the last few years to change my approach. One was that when I went outside to paint I discovered slow and careful doesn’t really work. The light conditions change too quickly and the artist is almost required to be bold. The other was that after painting a few hundred still lifes in a classical, traditional manner the whole process started to feel repetitive and boring. 

Bowl with Lemons, 9x12 by Curtis Jaunsen

Studio Painting, Coast Harbor, 16x20 by Curtis Jaunsen

Now I have an almost two separate approaches when working. When I’m outside or when I’m inside painting something that I feel needs a more direct treatment I try to paint with the concern being accuracy. I look for the subtleties that require a bit of careful observation but then I try to put it on canvas pretty much as seen with little concern for paint handling, just straight forward brush on canvas. Hopefully these paintings have emotional content but if so probably more from the observation of the scene and less the painting process if that makes sense.

              

When I’m inside my studio however the rules are different. Whether it’s a landscape or still life being painted, I am still looking for subtleties, still looking to create a sense of close observation. I start off my painting as before, carefully drawing and establishing the accurate values and colors, but rather than refine and continue this process, while the paint is still wet, I like to use a variety of methods to move it around, blending objects into the background and vice versa. The process becomes a lot more important, making the paint and how its pushed around as important as the scene being rendered. In the studio I use several different palette knives, a large scraper, a few different putty knives, tissues and paper towels and of course different brushes to put paint down and move it around. 

Glass Vase and Lemons 16x20 by Curtis Jaunsen

During the process I’m looking at the canvas more and the subject less. I can push it into a more realized rendering of the subject or a more abstracted direction. Which direction I go while painting is determined by what I’m seeing on the canvas and whether I think it’s working or not. This open ended process makes the final painting more of a discovery than something predetermined. The best result is one where both the scene and the painted surface look fully observed, meaning you can tell the artist really understood the shifts of light, the gesture of the forms in the scene being painted and the paint itself.

Plein Air- Biloxi Harbor 9x12 by Curtis Jaunsen

One thing I think I’m going to try in the future is bringing some of the studio methods outside. Its good to keep trying new things and maybe that can lead to more consistency.

               Curtis Jaunsen is a Mississippi artist who lives on the Gulf Coast. Formerly an architect practicing in Atlanta, Curtis moved with his family to Mississippi almost twenty years ago to be closer to his wife’s extended family. He began his life as artist by first studying classical painting at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. Since 2005 Curtis has been painting portraits, still lifes and landscapes, outside or in his studio in Ocean Springs, MS.

Curtis’s plein air paintings are available at the Pink Rooster Gallery in downtown Ocean Springs. His studio work, including portraits, landscapes and still lifes can be see at the Carol Robinson Gallery on Magazine Street in New Orleans. He will be having a solo show at Carol’s gallery this September 8^th. Additionally his work can be seen online at curtisjaunsenart.com. A link to his facebook and Instagram pages can be found on his website.

A big thanks to Curtis Jaunsen for his story!

Follow this blog about Mississippi artists... In the coming weeks, this site will be publishing works by several plein air painters from around Mississippi. 

Contact Dot Courson at artist@dotcourson.com to find out how to contribute. 

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The Creation of North Mississippi Plein Air Painters

By guest artist, Linda Peters of Oxford, MS 

As we approach the middle of summer, we have begun to plan the 4^th Annual Paint Out for the North Mississippi Plein Air Painters. Looking back over the last three years, I can truly say we have come a long way.

Four years ago, after attending Olmsted in Atlanta, my passion for painting outdoors was without a doubt going to be a part of my life that I wanted to share.  

Mississippi Sunset, 8x10, Oil on Panel, Private Collection ©2018|Linda Peters

Untitled, 8x8, Oil on Panel, Wolf River Swamp in Pass Christian, MS ©Linda Peters

After getting a few artist friends to commit, we started a group called North Mississippi Plein Air Painters with a plan to meet once a month, and have a three-day event each fall. Most didn’t know much about outdoor air painting and I had only experienced it a few times.

Pam Locke, Sony Strauss, and Katherine Adams

To kick off the start of this group, I offered my farm on a remote county road away from any hustle and bustle. The three-day paint out was very organized and I was well received with my “know how”. The first day got off to a good start with Mother Nature giving us a beautiful display of lovely fall colors.  The attendance was surprising with most not knowing what a “Paintout” is all about. At the end of the third day, most knew that this style of painting was truly adventurous.

Linda Peters with her pet donkey

That first year we came away with a few incidents and stories to tell: someone’s umbrella went for a float in the pond, (more than once), my donkeys were more curious than I imagined and got paint on their noses and then on us, and each person looked as though they had packed their entire studio without really knowing what they needed, but the fun we had learning from each other reinforced the idea that Mississippi needs this group to show what our state looks like through the eyes of outdoor artist’s.  

Susan Rose with Linda's pets

Many lessons were learned the last three years including numerous studies to take back to the studio.  The highlight of 2017 was how each artist had become inspired to study the outdoors, anticipating the elements, while creating lovely paintings. As I recall, the umbrella did get in the pond again and the donkeys are always happy to help.

Spring Serenity by Linda Peters, 6x16, Oil on Panel, Calhoun County, Private Collection

I was with Susan Patton painting on the side of a county road. The wind was blowing so hard, we both had to stand behind our vehicles!

 

So, as we plan for this year, the opportunities are limitless for this brave group as we share this with other artist across the state. Our goals are to mature as outdoor painters, travel around the state, and share our creations with others who have no idea what adventures they are missing.

L to R, Front: Vicki Ramsey, Carol Roark, Pam Locke, Janet Barnes, Linda Peters

Back: Debbie Myers, Tammy Cook, Pat Gillenwater, and Justin Treadaway.

Linda is a self-taught artist who has painted for as long as she can remember. Her favored medium is oil, which she uses to great effect in her bold, brightly toned canvases.

Born and raised in Mississippi, she currently resides in rural Oxford, Mississippi. She is the founder of North Mississippi Plein Air Painters and an active member of both the Oxford Artist’ Guild and Gallery and Oil Painters of America.  She most recently illustrated the children’s book, Farzana’s Journey: A story of the land, water, and people.

Although she has no formal art training, Linda pursues her art education by attending workshops, studying the “masters”, and constantly reading. She works hard under the direction of other well-known and fellow artist to reach her full potential as a landscape artist.

A big thanks to Linda Peters for her story!

Follow this blog about Mississippi artists. In the coming weeks, this site will be publishing works by several plein air painters from around Mississippi. 

Contact Dot Courson at artist@dotcourson.com to find out how to contribute. 

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