The Joy of Acrylic

Easton Studio & School, Maryland

September 28 – October 1
9:00 am – 4:00 pm   $520

Take acrylics into the open air!

All levels.  The acrylic medium can provide a new dimension in creative expression, allowing flexibility and the chance to make immediate revisions. California artist Marcia Burtt will share her passion for the medium and valuable tips that can make painting in acrylic easy.  During this 4-day workshop Marcia will offer demonstrations and individual critiques, helping you improve your skills and find your individual voice.  Please bring a couple of simple photographs to work from in case of rain.

About Easton Studio

Click here for enrollment information

The Symbiosis of Landscape Painting and Environmental Awareness

Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, March 8 – May 6, 2012

Through March 18, 2012

The Pacific Coast, defined by jagged mountains to the east and a vast expanse of ocean to the west, is the subject of “Shore to Summit,” landscape paintings of this region at Marcia Burtt Studio through March 18.

Artists Robert Abbott, Marcia Burtt, Patricia Doyle, Michael Ferguson, Ann Lofquist, Marilee Krause, Susan Petty, and Erling Sjovold each approach our dramatic landscape from a unique point of view and with a highly individual personal style, from a drawing of a single monolith in graphite on paper by Susan Petty to a refined oil painting of coastal foothills at night by Erling Sjovold.

Marcia Burtt Studio
517 Laguna, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
805 962-5588
www.artlacuna.com

NEW HOURS 1-5 Thursday through Sunday

quarter scale version of "Fog, Sun, and Tides" painted on location

"Fog, Sun, and Tides" quintych, two panels 48"x78", three panels 78"x48"

IN THE LAST two or three years I have painted some very large-scale works for hospital settings. The tallest was 8 feet tall; the widest was 11 feet wide.

These very large paintings are too big to take on location, and they are too large to paint without a plan, even though ordinarily that is exactly how I proceed. (I think of it as the “fool around until satisfied” approach.)

The method I’ve developed to create these very large paintings is to create a maquette exactly half the height and half the width of the final work, which gives an area 25% of the final size. Late Summer, the Pond originated as such a maquette. Even at 1/4 size it was difficult to take on location, but I carried it, two easels, and all my other equipment every day through weeds up and down the embankment of my neighbor’s pond. It would have been ideal to leave it set up but cows came to the pond to drink and after one near disaster I lugged everything away each evening.

"Morning on the Pond", 60x120"

The shape of this canvas was a challenge. It is twice as wide as it is high, and ordinarily I prefer a canvas closer to a square. It’s particularly difficult to compose a painting with a strong horizontal element – in this case the waterline – on a very wide canvas since the horizon line exaggerates the extreme horizontality of the canvas.

After painting a large part of this maquette on location, I worked from it and photographs to create the full-scale work, adjusting the composition based on difficulties I had encountered creating the maquette.

"End of Summer, the Pond", 30x60"

It took a number of months of small adjustments and rethinking parts of the canvas to finally feel satisfied with End of Summer, the Pond. Compare the print of the larger work and see how I subtly shifted the composition and other elements, solving compositional problems somewhat differently in each painting.

– Marcia Burtt

“Fog, Sun, and Tides”, quintych, 2011, 2 48×78 in., 3 78×48 in., commissioned by Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

"Fog, Sun, and Tides" in progress, 48x78 in.

ready to be painted on, 2 48x78 in., 3 78x48 in.

quarter scale study in progress

studies in progress

"Fog, Sun and Tides", study, installation view

Marcia Burtt: Santa Barbara County
softcover, 10×8 in., 40 pages. available Marcia Burtt Gallery, 517 Laguna St., Santa Barbara, CA

or to order online click here

1111201

Fog, Sun and Tides

acrylic
quintych, two panels 48″x78″, three panels 78″x48″

collection of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital

1111004

Fog, Sun, and Tide (quintych)

acrylic
24 x 200

1111003

Between Squalls

acrylic
16 x 12 inches

1111002

Low Tide after Rain

acrylic
24 x 18 inches

1111001

Weather Coming

acrylic
10 x 20 inches