Esther Williams in Featured Artist Spotlight on OCArtsandCulture.com

Today I am featured as the spotlight artist on ocartsandculture.com this will take you to the front page of the website. Go here to link directly to the article featuring myself, http://ocartsandculture.com/2009/03/artist-spotlight-esther-williams/

It is a Q&A style article where I answer questions pertaining to my profession as an artist with some images of my art and myself. You will gain insight about me by reading it.
Thanks,
Esther J. Williams

The O'Neill Corral at Caspers Wilderness Park

Here is "O'Neill Corral - Caspers Park, an 8X10 oil painting on linen, I began this painting about a week ago at Caspers Wilderness Park. It was a return trip from my last excursion there a week before. This time I wanted to paint the old O'Neill Corral, water tank and windmill. They are painted a dusty red and it reminded me of the cowboy days that have disappeared from Orange County. As I drove into the area and opened up my back Jeep gate, a horse trailer pulled in also and let three gorgeous horses out and into the corral. I told the ladies they made my day, I really didn't want to paint an empty corral. The ladies were having a picnic and wanted to allow their horses to graze and that is exactly what any normal horse will do. The green grass was the perfect compliment to the red subjects. I had to peer between the rails to see what I wanted to paint, the space was wide enough.






























In the back gate of my Jeep was my puppy Chihuahua as you will see in a picture here. She is the reason I have slowed down in painting lately. I am trying to train her, it's been a challenge, so far if she wants attention, she is getting it. Of course she wants a lot of attention and I have to sketch in my painting on the canvas fast. Because I do not like to rush a good painting, I have resorted to laying in the composition, mixing some colors I see on the easel palette and taking lots of digital images with my great SLR camera. Then I can go home as the sunlight changes too much and finish the painting in my studio. The puppy has really dictated my life a lot in the past three weeks, so this painting took a week to finish. I would start in one area one day and then move gradually up the canvas in sections and make sure I tied in all the areas by wetting down previous ones, no harsh edges. Someday the pup will want to hang out and relax instead of going pee, poo or nap on my lap all the time, so I can finish a painting in one day.
I also have been very busy entering three juried exhibitions in the past two weeks. This painting has been entered into one. It was a lot of work to get all the images ready and send out checks and applications. I plan on being in an outdoor art show at the Mission San Juan Capistrano on April 4-5. It is with the Socalpapa art association. I am looking forward to that, I will have new art works there. I will hopefully have this little painting accepted into the special juried section at the Barracks Gallery there. Price has not been set yet. If you want me to send you a postcard, email me at ew@visions2art.com. I would love to see art lovers visit me.

Print or Giclee Release of Crystal Cove Painting

I have received an extremely high resolution copy of my painting above titled Low Tide Afternoon - Crystal Cove. The original is a 20"W X 10"H oil painting. I am using a company called Pro Photo Connection to produce a limited edition of prints, they are experts in photographic prints and giclees. I am taking orders for either a giclee on canvas or an acid free matte paper giclee. The canvas will be stretched onto stretcher bars, all you need to do is place it into a ready made 20X10 frame. The second choice giclee will be on museum quality and acid free paper, thick stock. The edition will be 50 or less and they will be hand signed and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Price is $125.00 plus S&H. It is a stunning painting of Crystal Cove, one you can cherish and remind you of the nostalgic place.
The original painting image has just been entered into two juried exhibitions. I will post any news up here if it was accepted.

Creekside Birch Plein Air Oil Painting

Creekside Birch, 8X10 Oil on stretched Linen. SOLD I went to Caspers Wilderness Park out the Ortega Hwy on Friday the 13th, it was a lucky day for me. The rain held off in the distance while I sketched this lovely scene in tonal red-browns on my canvas. I spent the rest of the time mixing the colors I saw on my palette to match the values I placed down in the preliminary oil sketch.















I love creeks but this was a mountain lion country and I was alone out there after a group of artists who were a distance from me left. So being all alone was not a wise thing to be doing there. I was given a bright yellow warning sheet about it being mountain lion country and I didn't read it until afterwards. I heard one trail horse whinny it's heart out while it's owner's left it at the corral. I walked over to her, gave her a pet and left, happy to have been spared any wild animal confrontations. Back to the beginning, below you see the scenery where I first started the painting, blue sky was poking through the puffy clouds. It was brisk and windy. The trees in the background were shadowed as the sun was behind them and to the west. My umbrella took flight and crashed several times into the creek, it's time for a new one. I loved the sound of the babbling brook as it had many rocks. I found lots of animal tracks so I knew to make it quick here, I have been in many situations of seeing mountain lions and bears.


















The second image shows the tonal oil sketch, it looks very antique like the old masters drawings. But this was an important first step to grab the values on the scene so I could then develop the composition and the real look. I began mixing colors after some breakfast and thoroughly enjoying my solitude, my Jeep was 200 feet away, so I felt okay for awhile. When I got many puddles of distinctive oil colors down on my glass palette, I packed it up, said my blessings to God and Almighty Nature for my splendid time and drove away. I had to stop and take several pictures of the windmill and old corral that was placed there in 1940 by O'Neill, a cattle rancher. I will paint that old red windmill sometime. When I got home and rested a bit, I began the color application of the painting and it went rapidly, I was done in less than 3 hours because I knew where to place my colors I mixed and had a bunch of fine digital images from my SLR camera. I also had a lot of the paint puddles left, so two days later while they were still wet, I painted this small 6X6 on gesso board with the same colors and I was tickled pink that the painting went super fast, like 45 minutes to finish a 6X6! Maybe it's the gessoboard, the brush slid that oil paint on like butter. I kind of like this little one better, it has spontaneity and freshness to it. I also departed from the first painting as I reached a comfort zone and dipped into my artistic soul for adding triumphant brushstrokes and color. Which one do you like? I really want to keep one because I would like to paint this scenery again, only larger and I need the actual colors I blended to do that. One last trick I placed scratch lines with a dental tool on each painting to make the white birch branches, it looks very natural and adds some spice.



















Creekside Birch #2, 6X6, oil on gessoboard. $50.00, maybe it will go on eBay. I will add a link later.

Crystal Cove Beachgoers, Plein Air Oil Painting

2/3/2009, Image was updated. Crystal Cove Beachgoers, 20"Wide x 16" High. Plein Air style by Esther Williams, Oil on linen, hand stretched over stretchers bars. Wired at the back, ready for framing in a plein air style frame. Done completely on location en plein air. Price $650.00 plus S&H. This is the first time in five years that a painting this large has been done on site. I felt a surge this time to go large and I did with confidence. This is painted from the Burger Shack at Crystal Cove State Beach, in front of the Beachcomber Restaurant. So many people saw me paint this and they loved it. I was taken by the compliments during the two days of painting such a wonderful setting. I will sell the original and probably do limited edition giclees on canvas from order. I wanted to combine the ambiance of the beach attendees and the beauty of the tropical paradise. It is drying as we speak. This might go on exhibition. Stay tuned for more info. Send me an email via my Profile for any details. I handed out so many biography's this past weekend over this painting experience, it was exhilarating.

The Sense of Crystal Cove State Beach

I went to Crystal Cove this past Saturday in order to paint, at least I brought my supplies to do so. I went past my schedule by going to a lecture at the Laguna Art Museum on William Wendt. I also stopped by a local Laguna gallery and chatted with an artist friend Jean Glass for a long time. By the time I arrived at Crystal Cove, the sun was descending rapidly. Instead of painting, I opened up all of my senses and my camera lens to absorb this wonderful moment of watching the sunset. I wrote this on the beach right after it set in my sketchbook:


"Watched the sun go gradually down. When it set, a form of clouds erupted to the south in tails of pink pointing towards the "Beaches" cottage. Bands of crimson streaks spread out like fireworks above Catalina Island cast in deep violet. Reflections of the clouds were all over the sea and wet sand like oil spots. Looking up north, the cottage windows reflected the warm lights in the skies. Bands of pink cast across the sky to the cliffs which the cottages were tucked into. The lights along the cottage entries began to come on with a soft roundness. The air was warm and had a tropical breeze flowing around your skin ever so softly. Scents of grilled food permeated the air from the Beachcomber. Darkness was setting in. People's voices were everywhere as kid's playing and grown-ups chatting. Waves repeated their muffled roar and simmering sounds. Seaweed washed ashore, left to dry, released it's salty essence of the sea into each breath you took. It was the end of another perfect day at Crystal Cove."














Look for some inspirational studio paintings to come forth from this visit. I felt every sense within me absorbed by this day. Those clouds were awe inspiring. The smell in the air, the touch of the warm breeze, the sounds of the waves and happy beach goers. There was one more sense, the sixth sense. I was enlightened by my own spirit driving me to go here this day by a vision I had in the early morning. I saw myself in the tunnel that goes under the coast highway. When I saw the tunnel, I knew where it was and felt I must go there for some reason, I hadn't planned to earlier at all. But when my spirit sends me a visual, I follow it's suggestion. It proved a point, I was going to miss out on a most fulfilling sunset and day of tonality with the sea if I didn't go. I am blessed to have that inner sight and this spiritual place to visit.

Of Interest to Artists, Painters -Life Attracts

People will pay attention to the beauty of a well painted landscape by a good artist. But the instant that a sign of life is placed in the point of view, it attracts more interest from the viewer. Why do you think this is the case? Because human beings are more drawn to focusing their attention to the movement (action) of life forms. Trees, grassy meadows, bushes, hills do not move unless there is some wind. Animals, natures creatures and the human figure provide the action that automatically draws the human eye to observe. Great artists, our forefathers have known this and skillfully placed life forms into their works more than paintings of just landscapes, seascapes, etc... that do not show a sign of a creature of any type.
I am not saying to always express a human figure involvement into your landscapes and such. Sometimes the peaceful containment of an inanimate landscape or seascape is inspiring to us all. Although, it is important to recognize that this psychological aspect of the eyes being attracted to people, creatures and their forms of movement will also attract more people being interested in looking at your art if it contains them.
So, put a little more time into studying the human figure or creatures by sketching them often. When you are comfortable, place them into your paintings, not going overboard with detail. It will change the direction of focus in your painting but it also gives it life. Or try to paint more figural works instead of landscape, seascapes, still lifes, etc... Life is happening all around you, see it and record it on canvas or whatever medium you choose. I am going to do this more often too.














The above painting is titled "Surfside of Pier - San Clemente" 16"W x 12"H, oil on linen, Plein Air style. I consider this a workstudy to enable me to be more experienced in painting surfer scenes. They are difficult to paint en plein air as the surfer does not stay still. I kept watching this guy and quickly painted the exterior lines of his pose as I saw it, then filled it in with various shades, but kept him slender. You do not want to paint blobs, humans have limbs and heads that bend. I painted this location twice during the Paint San Clemente Plein Air Competition last June, the first without a surfer, this one with a surfer. I will try to dig up the first one to show how lifeless it is, I felt it was only a preliminary study in comparison to the above painting showing life and action as it is seen by this pier. Until then, just put your finger over the surfer and watch the life disappear from the scene, see what I mean? I intend to further my studies and paintings of surfers, it is a subject I love. Who doesn't like watching surfers ride the waves? This will be up for auction on eBay, click here to go my eBay auctions.