Painting More Freely: A Workshop at Goleta Beach with Marcia Burtt
Travel, change and learning are freeing for the soul. And freedom was indeed the theme of a recent trip to Santa Barbara to paint under the tutelage of my friend and artistic mentor Marcia Burtt, an acrylic landscape painter who is a master at capturing the Zen-like essence of a place.
A dozen or more of us met for three wonderful days at Goleta Beach with the theme of "Painting More Freely." Even if oil or collage was their usual medium, nearly all the artists there used acrylics as suggested. Its quick-to-dry chemistry offers the artist an excellent means of exploration and change, perfect for those who prefer to feel, rather than plan, their way into a painting. Acrylic paints allow easy revisions without muddying one layer of paint atop the other, enabling the artist to achieve the perfect gesture after dozens of tries. You can even paint over a passage with white and lay down a fresh transparent color similar to watercolor. (For these reasons Marcia eschews slow-drying acrylics offered in recent years.)
This was my third workshop with Marcia Burtt and I always learn a lot from just watching her paint. It's not only from seeing how she conveys so much with so few gestures (painted even more thinly than I remembered or than photos convey). It's also what she has to say about painting in a meditative state that leaves little room for separation between the painter and the painted.
At first it seems otherwise, for this longtime plein air master has much to say about the mechanics preceding painting, insisting that "setup is everything." She shows, for example, her discovery of using a plastic fishing tackle box to lay out and also preserve the acrylics. She urges the use of of easels that adjust to vertical, of large brushes, of large canvases and of large absorbent rags. She shows us why we need to keep the paintbox on the shadow side of our bodies so it doesn't dry too fast, why we need a large sprayer to keep it from skinning over, how tall side tables save your back, why we must keep the water, brushes and palettes clean and refreshed. She explains how New Traditions AC 14 linen panels do wonders for your work. And so on.
Why this attention to setup and materials, more than most any teacher I've studied with? The aim, she explains, is to free the painter from even the slightest hesitation, awkwardness or delay in reaching for the paint. After the setup is mastered, we are free to become the very process itself.
From there, much as I would like to explain it, I cannot describe step-by-step what Marcia Burtt does that gives her style such a freshness. There really is no formula for spontaneity. It's like a poppy opening on a spring day. It just happens.
It is easier to say what she doesn't do and perhaps this will be helpful or liberating for some readers. Unlike many artists, she does not use thumbnails, cameras or even view finders. She doesn't consciously design or even sketch out the composition. She does not consider the complementary color. She cannot say exactly how she achieved a certain color mix when asked. She does not aim to paint from thin to thick or dark to light, nor seek to accentuate a defined center of interest with texture, value or detail. (One might generalize that most of her dark and light passages are thinly painted, whereas midtones are more opaque.)
The mind keeps seeking the how-to, the principle, the known. So at times while watching her paint, I thought I observed several techniques commonly taught by artists. A few times I would offer that idea for clarification. But to these comments, she would simply turn and say, in all sincerity, " I don't know about that. I try to think as little as possible when I paint."
So, what does she do? Surely something can be said or described about that.
In her own words, Marcia starts an outdoor painting by first looking for what she most loves in the scene. (In another workshop she said, "Painting is an act of loving."). From there, she passionately feels her way into the composition, adjusting as she goes, just generally aiming for simplifying and abstracting the masses.
"Whale into it," she advises as she scrubs broad strokes of color onto a large pre-used canvas, one of many less successful paintings she is happy to paint over.
"Swept Clean," 12 x 24 Acrylic, Susan Pitcairn
While overlooking the beloved lagoon she has visited and painted for decades, she urges us to feel as if the brush is "out there," actually in the landscape. "Keep your eye on the scene, not on your canvas. Let your hand follow the form in one long gesture," she demonstrates.
She also suggests we make every stroke meaningful, depicting what we see. She urges us to limit our use of white, using yellow or orange (or painting thinly over the white canvas) to lighten values. She notes also that with acrylics both lights and darks dry toward the midtones.
But really I think the essence of the Marcia Burtt "method" is to venture beyond the assumptions, formulas and thoughts that often cloud our artistic instincts. This is particularly true for those of us who have studied a number of styles and media with several teachers.
And thus she teaches freedom. She teaches freedom not to know, freedom to experiment, freedom to use large canvases, freedom to test a color mix right on the edge of the developing piece and even the freedom to play off an earlier painting as her ground, incorporating it beautifully into the new piece. I loved that especially.
Most of all, Marcia teaches the process of learning to free oneself from thought and to merge with the very essence of nature.
The author at Peppertree Retreat, Ojai, California
