 God's beauty is all around us and my goal as an artist is to capture and interpret that beauty on canvas and to take you the viewer along with me on this painting journey. Hi and thank you for joining me. This is Painting Journeys. My name is Kitty Lynn Klisch and we're not traveling very far today, but first of all I have to tell you about our last segment when we were in Assisi, Italy. I don't know if you remember that adventure or not. I lost my credit card and oh my it went on and on. But anyway I chose to do this little corner of the garden and what really moved me about it was that the there was an arrow pointing away from the garden and I thought that on a sign and I thought that was kind of cute so I that's what I decided to paint. So this is what the what it looked like the photograph that I worked from and then after we worked on it for an hour this is how it looked. It was pretty rough and then I took it back to my studio at home and I finished it and here it is. And as you can see a lot has been added. I have punched up the flowers added a few extras. I over here I brought in a some flowers up here in that in that pot that the window pot because I mean why why have that there if you're not going to have something growing in it. Okay and here's that funny sign it was metal like a copper and it you know there's that arrow pointing that the garden is this way and it seemed to me that all the garden was over here. So here's my corner garden in Assisi, Italy. And now today though I have something very exciting. We are going to stay right here in Sheboygan County where I'm where I live and we're going to go to a farm in the Kettle Moraine. The Kettle Moraine Forest is a it's a big area of Sheboygan County and there are many farms out there that are like a century maybe 150 years old and this is this is a very old farm and the farmer was so accommodating a group of us painters we went out one Saturday morning and to paint on his property and I saw this red truck okay and it's right here in my painting and I it just wasn't sitting in the right position you know so I wanted to move so can you believe that he actually brought a battery charger out a portable one and he charged the battery and he cranked this old thing up and it was like smoke was blowing out of the back of it and he was you know moving it around and then eat holler is this okay is this okay anyway it was it was very it was very he was very accommodating he and his family were very lovely people but this is how far I got now I don't know if if you understand what a plein air painting is plein air means to paint outside in the open air and some artists do that year round they will go out in the winter in the snow and the ice rain whatever and paint well I'm not that hardy of a soul but this was a rather cool day and even though it was cool it was quite sunny and so I tried to find a little shady spot where I could you know peek at my scene so I was back over here in the in the where I was standing when I was painting so I'm going to be finishing this today for you I hope that's my goal and and telling you you know some different things about the place okay I get my paint and this as usual it's just a standard palette with my my colors I like to keep all of my warm colors on this side of my palette and all of my cool colors over here don't know if you know this or not but the opposite of like the complement of a warm color will always be a cool color and vice versa so you always have to take if you want to make a color you always and it say you want to make a warmer color okay I want to make a nice warm gray so I'm going to take this blue and I'm going to add just a little tiny bit of this warm cad red light and put that in there and mix that around and that is going to make a real gray for me you see that I call that my elephant gray okay and if I take that and I put just a little bit of white in it not much I'll get a nice pretty warm color if it's not warm enough I'll add a little more of the red to it okay now maybe just a little more red okay now I've got a nice warm gray and just to show you the contrast I'm going to take over here I have Payne's gray Payne's gray is just ivory black and ultramarine blue together but if I take that gray which is a very gray color if I take that and I add a little white to that and make the gray here hopefully you can see how cool this is and how warm this is so that that is the difference between a warm gray and a cool gray so that's enough of the lessons for tonight today now let's just start painting here I want to kind of I just fell in love with this red door here I'm not going to go back into this area until I get my boards and things finished over here on the side so I think I'll just kind of I know we have some dark up in here and the dark will be kind of that cool gray that I showed you because that's in shadow and then the that's coming down here and then coming out of that we'll have these these lighter warmer boards that are coming down here and to to get those boards to look like boards we kind of have to load the brush with a lot of a lot of paint so that the different colors will show through it almost looks like I used a knife up above that day when I was out there painting anyway there's this there was this old barn there and we sat in the barn on hay bales to eat our lunch and it was just enchanting and the farmer was so nice he brought out all kinds of drinks for us and it was just it was I don't know it was just like being in another world I live I mean Sheboygan Falls the town that I live in is small it's quaint very quaint and but it isn't at all like a farm you know we moved here to this area from California oh my quite a few years ago now I'm thinking pretty close to 25 years ago and see that's that see that where the woods ends okay comes down that far and then then it has that little shadow there that's what that's for okay and I'll probably want to get some little little things in there to kind of make it look like like the boards I'm just gonna play with it a little bit you know doesn't have to be perfect that's for sure and now I'm gonna come down here underneath here oh okay and do this this was the most beautiful this area here where I have the brick I have moved this a little bit from or I must have moved when I took the photograph because there was more of that field stone base of that building there and all that field stone was so beautiful and years ago they would go out into the fields and have to pick that stone so that they could tilt till the fields and grow their crops so hence they made stone fences around their property sort of like the people in Ireland do and you can go out and into the countryside and and you'll see the remains of these stone fences that were put there by the early settlers and it's just amazing to think that how they how hard their life was I remember when I first moved here to Wisconsin from California was driving down this road one day out more out in the country and I was thoroughly enchanted with with the place because it was so different than the scenery that I'd been used to seeing but I saw this old farmhouse and across the front porch she had a clothesline and on the clothesline in the middle of the winter and I swear it was our first winter here was very hard it was like 22 below zero she had clothes hanging underwear her husband's underwear and some bloomers I couldn't believe it I thought what a hearty soul that would get out and hang their laundry in the middle of the winter time like that you know and then another thing that I couldn't get over is as I would drive along the roads looking for things to paint women wouldn't be on these great big tractor like things and they'd be mowing the lawns you know I thought oh my god I'm never gonna be mowing the lawn I don't care what my husband says that's not gonna be my job I guess you can tell right now I'm kind of a city girl that's alright though to each his own you know but I just I was impressed I was impressed with the with the their lifestyle I'm trying to do right now and I it's very difficult when you start a painting and then you come back into it a couple weeks later you you don't feel the same you're not the same person when you come to your easel you're a culmination of everything that you've experienced right up until this moment in your life and so where I was and how I felt the mood I was in everything that's all different than it was the day that I was out there painting so it's kind of hard to get this you know to recapture where I was and so that's why I'm just kind of poking around over here hoping and praying that something is gonna happen here pretty soon this is gonna look a little bit better than what it does now but anyway I forgot what I was even gonna say to you where was I it'll come to me hopefully before the hour is out that happened to you just be talking along and all of a sudden you lose what you're talking about I don't think that looks to that we'll take a little bit more dark and put in here and I'll just kind of soften that edge there and bring that down and I think that's just probably gonna have to be good enough for over here I think when we get that red Dorian that's going to to do it for us oh I remember what I was going to just tell you I don't know where you live but to me there was some of the bravest people in the world are farmers are the farmers because they have no guarantee and no guarantee of what the weather is going to be like with the crop prices are going to be you know if they're going to get sick and not be able to get their crop in I mean you talk about a risk taker you know you think oh farmer dull boring life and those people were 24-7 I mean it's just amazing I couldn't do that I couldn't live that kind of life I could never be a farmer's wife my husband grew up on a farm and he hated it he left and went to the city no it just not for everybody but then what it's that old saying different strokes for different folks I think we'll put a little more of a highlight along the top of this little roof right here this seems to be a little too yellow to me I think I want it to be a little gray or a little lighter brighter hmm stiff paint brush I wonder if that means I didn't clean it well enough that's too light kitty that's a little better sometimes you stand in front of the easel it's so easy to make magic and then other times you stand in front of the easel and it's like pulling teeth to make magic I wonder why that is I'm just gonna try a little something with my knife here see if I can get a little edge on that knife maybe not that much and come with that knife and kind of just in a couple spots here try to make a little magic for us yeah that did it all righty now I feel better something worked that's always a good feeling okay now that that door I can't wait to get to that door all right let's see here now I'm gonna put the I'm gonna you see this light that is going right around the door there okay I'm going to put that on first because if I put the red on first red will bleed into the white and it's very difficult so I always instruct my students put the white on first and then put in the red because if the white bleeds in to the red it's not that big a deal but I suppose you've all noticed that I I like to paint kind of thick impasto now I'm gonna come with a little bit of dark maybe just make this just a little bit lighter here trust you wipe out and kind of soften this down here we go and now then we have a kind of a of a shadow inside the door and right up here underneath here and we have it on the outside right here I'm gonna come with my brush that I was making the slats with and narrow that down by coming in with what's behind it here coming in from the shape around it there we go okay now we have that window in there we have to paint the window I always like to put you know even though that's very dark in there in the window I like to put a little bit of alizarin crimson in the dark where the window is going to be so I'm just gonna paint the whole thing there we go just a nice thin coating I'm kind of like scumbling right now and this needs to come across here and be just a little more pointed right there oh boy there we go now then I'm just gonna take that little tiny brush again see about making some little cross lines across there and that really isn't all that that dark or red that door is kind of a real faded look you see it up here too and you see his dish for his television there's no way I'm putting that on I leave things like that off I don't like to put like electric poles and telephone lines and things like that into paintings I don't know why just don't okay so I have to kind of divide this into thirds there to make sure I'm going to go and then it has to be in thirds here now it'll probably it'll probably be messy but that'll be okay because I can always come back in and clean it up with the dark and that really looks crooked doesn't it so now we'll come back and clean this up we need a little more red in there I saw I see some artists they they don't worry about crooked doorways and crooked windows and and things like that but I don't know I don't feel real comfortable with that a little hint of this I'm just gonna smush in here because how do you like that word isn't that artistic smush anyway I'm just gonna get rid of that because it's all crooked and I don't like it so easy that was there we go in fact I'm gonna come with a little blue over it I think that that window needs a little bit of the feeling that we're seeing a little maybe a little sky in it or something okay now I'm gonna try to put the red crossbars in there at the right angle I just keep wanting to go up with it hmm well well just clean it up again can I say here that's okay now we'll put some red onto the door you have to get moving here because I want to get that tree in the background there I guess that doesn't look too bad I'm not gonna put those little signs he's got in the window we'll just have a little door knob right there I think I want to go in here though and kind of soften this up a little bit okay a little bit like this okay I'll knock that down just a little bit that's just a little too harsh and we'll knock this down there we go that's good enough sure now we'll just put some light on it when the light hits it everything it changes then we'll just put a little light right down here there there we go it doesn't look too bad and then underneath here we have this dark because that's kind of in a shadow maybe if I add a little bit of blue to that so the dark the black is a little harsh whoops whoa whoa girl let's come back here and lighten that up a little bit that shadow there we go that's better light that one up too that looks better and the only thing that we have left here is whoops not quite so much a little bit of dark on the bottom of this wood here coming up where it's kind of coming up from the there okay it looks okay all right let's move on this tree is really bothering me so what I'm gonna do it's got lots of rough paint on it what I'm gonna do and try not to listen is I'm gonna scrape this down and by doing this what I'm doing is I'm scraping off the clumps of paint as I was saying I paint rather with thick paint a la prima and it leaves bumps and sometimes I don't when I try to go over it then it doesn't it doesn't look like I want it to look because it you're going over these bumps underneath and it will look like you paint it over it'll look like you corrected it you know and if you don't want it to look like that why now this tree over in here that area right in there is quite dark right in my my trunk of my tree I think where I stepped out and took this picture was not in the exact same place that I was painting because I see a lot of things that are a little different but I'm not gonna worry about that I'm just gonna go with what I have here with what is what it's telling me right now this is coming down a little bit in here and we do have that lighter up there this back in here seems like it needs to be just a little bit darker too not much just a little bit it's some may perhaps just a little bluer green I'll use my cool green Viridian is a nice cool green to use when you want to have a little bluer look in your green greenery in your trees a nice Viridian will do that quite nice in fact I think I'm gonna take that right up to here I know it doesn't look that way on the painting but my goal is not to copy the photograph but to create something that I think looks like a painting all right now I've got some stuff going back there and it's starting to look I'm starting to get excited you can always tell when I get excited because I start talking faster and I am getting excited I can see I'm starting to feel it and I can see different things happening that are gonna make it come to life for me and that is a wonderful feeling it's oh my goodness it's nothing quite like being able to take this canvas and work on it and make it do what you hope it will do a little bit of dark back in here in between those trees for the light we'll get in that yellow lighten up that green now I have I'm working with a very grayed green and a grayed yellow green and that's gonna give me a whole different look and I'm trying to like dance my brush just dance that brush and make that stuff happen out there and there we go okay now we can see that there is a lot happening back there and it's so much more interesting now than it was before now I want to take a little bit of my pure sap green and add a little bit of white to it and I'm gonna come up in here and I'm just gonna try to get this to be a little more airier I mean it's it's it's on there now but I want to add a little bit of airiness to this tree to make it look maybe that's too light I think we need to go a little darker yeah I think this will be better no it's still not dark enough I'll add a little blue and I'll take a little bit of the yellow there we go that's what I'm talking about and you see now I have that dark base in here but there's light showing up in front you know so there is the dark base but then there there's branches that are coming forward and so you see the dark and through there and up in here you see the lighter I'm afraid that my trees grew but oh well you know what if I bet I bet if I waited 20 years and went back out there to the farm his trees would be that big too so nothing like helping nature huh oh dear we have so much fun I at least I hope you're having fun I'm having fun all right now right back in here I want to make a real I want to make it really light and so that it looks like it's quite distant so I'm gonna make a cool green and I'm gonna put that back there oh don't you love it now that really looks like it's popping there that's what I want maybe we'll put a little bit of that up in the tree there too maybe there's some spots for that tree isn't hanging down that that far yeah that looks good okay you can tell him having farm I'm just goofing playing so what it is is playing okay now down here looks to me like it's kind of a gold color right down in here it kind of softens up into this bright green so I'm gonna put that down there and now when I painted the truck the cast shadow was right underneath the truck and you could see through to the other side so I'm gonna keep that look but maybe not have it quite as quite as wide as it is there now I like this I like this really bright stuff that I made so I think over in here I think we'll have a little bit more of that only here we're gonna make it come up so that it looks like bushes or something you know how I like to improve upon nature all right so we're gonna make that look like it's bushes and then we're gonna come in there and we're gonna put some beautiful bright bright red that's why I wore red today because I knew I'd want to put right at red flowers in there maybe no I better do this differently better back up take that green brush get some nice dark green and I you know you have to plant those roses before they're gonna bloom kitty so let's get the planting done here the light is coming from this direction now we'll take a little bit of that light and dance around on here make a flower garden and who knows maybe they're not roses maybe they are who knows what they are can be anything we want them to be right there are flowers you know what I think I should have made those sunflowers that's what I should have done I should have made those into sunflowers what was I thinking hmm well you know what I don't think it's too late let's do that we'll wipe them out and we'll make big sunflowers and at least I think we'll wipe them out yeah we should get most of it off and I've seen sunflowers that are kind of a dark orangey red so well just or maybe the sunflowers will have some little red flowers in there and I just don't I don't think I like all that red so I'm just gonna scratch this out here and you know one thing that I tell my students is you cannot create out of fear if you don't like something don't leave it change it fix it come back in and do something different okay now I like that little bit of red that's still on there that's showing through I like that and I think I'm going to put some stalks and stuff growing around this tree here then I am going to take this brush and I'm gonna lighten that up and go back in there a little bit to soften that edge there we go and put that back a little bit I'm in here with some yellow soften it in there now all that stuff doesn't look like it's growing in front of the truck and now I'm gonna take a clean brush and I'm going to make some sunflowers is that what I want do I really want sunflowers I think so looks pretty bright doesn't it and we'll tone them down in a minute those are those great big ones and I'll put those big brown centers into it I don't know I don't even think I like these hmm maybe I just wasn't supposed to have flowers here we'll loosen them up a little bit so that they don't look all there now now they look like they're hanging down like sunflowers do there we go a couple of strokes we need a couple of big leaves on them and everything I mean what what would a farmer's farm be like without any sunflowers on there I can't imagine that we're speaking of sunflowers that reminds me when I first moved here was driving down the road again seems like I was always on the road huh I was pretty fascinated with the area actually and I found that was the first time in my life that I had ever seen a field of sunflowers I had to stop the car and get out and took them many many pictures I could not believe it I don't know what I thought I mean you know being from the city I don't know if I thought that sunflowers just you know you saw pictures of sunflowers but that really it was just a seed and a trick but there okay that works now all this leave that we are left with here that we really need to punch up is this truck and once we get this truck to look like he is a little more with the program here now he's starting to show up a little better whoops little detour here and then I think I really think that that is supposed to be more of a wood color on the back of the truck here and it seems to be like it's a little gray rather than the red and it's a I think it's a wooden bed on the truck that shows up a little better then of course he has his bright red see here it's tires need to be a little darker you're kind of dirty though come to think of it of course why wouldn't they be they were sitting there in the but we'll just come and try to make them show up just a little bit more that's the way up in here was quite a bit darker right under there where the engine was that was I think I want some lines coming across here to kind of show that that is wood yeah all right we're cooking take a little bit of orange let's bring him really bring him up that son is hitting him he's a happy camper sitting there let's just there really make him show make him make him the star of the show that's what we're doing there now these little red hubcaps or wheels they were kind of a reddish color going around this way and then there was dark in the center and right there and it came around I'm trying to use a really dark big brush here because we're running out of time and I wanted to get this done for you let's see here no I've never regretted moving here to Wisconsin I don't miss Los Angeles I love it here the they have all these ethnic trails and ethnic groups that moved here all the years ago and settled the the Germans and the Dutch and what they must have gone through to accomplish what they did to make this area like it is proud to be here and I know wherever you are as you're watching this that you probably love where you live too that's not to say I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not trying to say my place is the best I just want to assure you that I love it there we go okay he's starting to show up a little bit better maybe he's a little bit more in here and definitely needs a little touch back in here there for the other side okay now I think I need a little more green I'm seeing that I need a little more of the green coming up in here I'm running out you know what I'm running out of the green on my palate so I have to stop here pretty soon and it looks like I had another tree in here I don't know if I yeah I guess I'll put it in what the heck that was there so we'll we'll let it grow let it thrive and we'll put a little bit of color on this right in here we don't have any branches in here we need to break this up with some branches whoops that's pretty thick kitty oh well you get for not using a smaller brush but I think that does help now we just need a little highlight on the branches I'm really liking this I hope you are this has really been a lot of fun he's got a spare tire in the back we have to show it's coming up right there little spare tire inside of the truck there there we go okay now I think we're just about done with it we will I'm going to change the color of the foreground real quick I want to warm that up for you it's too cold and light and I want it to be warmer and I should be using it well don't have one handy so we'll just do it with this this is the fun part of the painting this is where you just let her go let her rip and here we go we're here it's perfectly okay if we have some thick stuff that just means that his little driveway there probably has a few rats in it maybe this needs to be softened up just a little bit right there and maybe this needs to come up into this a little bit so that there's not such a hard transgression into that and then if I were to sign this I would sign it and I'm just going to sign it real quick for you because I can't leave it unsigned but if I were going to sign this I would sign it in red days the red day all right and I would sign it right here like so and just step back take a look at it oh it looks okay to me thank you so much for joining me today once again this is painting journeys with kitty Lynn Plish I've really had fun bringing finishing this old painting that well not old painting but this painting of an old place bringing it to life for you on campus this was our journey today through the Kettle Moraine to a farm thank you so much for joining me bye bye for now