Scott Gellatly

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Wednesday, May 2, 2018

2018 Plein Air Workshops

I'm pleased to be teaching two plein air workshops later this year. Below are the dates, locations and links.

Dakota Art - Mt. Vernon, WA, August 24th - 26th

This three day plein air workshops explores the varied landscape of the Skagit Valley, from sweeping agricultural fields to intimate waterways.



Info/Registration

Artisan Santa Fe Art Expo - Santa Fe, NM, September 28th, 9am - 12pm

Fundamentals of Plein Air - This three-hour on-site workshop focuses on site selection, developing a strong composition and color harmony, as well as the “practical” concerns when working in oil out in the field. I will discuss my approach to plein air painting, color palette and demonstrate my approach to starting a painting. The rest of the session will have students painting directly from nature, with individual instruction. 

The American Southwest is truly one of my favorite places to paint. This class is part of the Art Expo, which is a wonderful event.



Info/Registration

Sunday, December 31, 2017

2018 New Year's Studio Sale

Happy New Year!

To make room for new work, I'm hosting an online studio sale of past plein air and studio work. Please see images and prices below. If interested in making a purchase or seeing more, please email me at scottgellatly@hotmail.com. All paintings below are oil on panel.


 Northwest Sound, 12" x 16". $175, unframed. SOLD

 Oregon Sky, 6" x 6", $100 framed SOLD

Rippled Light, 12" x 16", $225 framed SOLD

 Ross Island, 12" x 12", $200, framed.

 Along Hood River, 12" x 12", $200, framed. SOLD

 Breaking Light, 24" x 36", $800, framed. SOLD

 River's Haze, 9" x 15", $200, framed.  SOLD

 Sunset on Slough, 6" x 6", $100, framed. SOLD

 Willamette Sky, 12" x 12", $200, framed. SOLD

Windswept, 12" x 12", $200, framed. SOLD

 Sunrise on Main, 14" x 11", $175 unframed. SOLD

 Oregon Coast, 8" x 10", $125 unframed. SOLD

 Riverwide, 11" x 14", $200 framed.

 Rocks at Point Lobos, 8" x 10", $150 framed.

Sunlight through Trees, 6" x 6", $100 framed SOLD

Red Refuge, 9" x 12", $200 framed

 Snow Scene, 6" x 6" $100 framed

 Point Lobos Coastline, 12" x 16" $200 unframed

 Autumn Splendor, 12" x 16" $200 unframed SOLD

Catalina Arroyo, 8" x 10" $200 framed

Palo Verde, 8" x 10" $200 framed SOLD

Sunday, September 17, 2017

“Birches for Andrea” – dedicated to Andrea Harris and in support of Andrea’s Hope Foundation.

Birches for Andrea
24" x 12", oil on panel
Earlier this year, my friend and colleague Andrea Harris passed away from ovarian cancer. For almost ten years, Andrea worked as the Chicago-based Artist-Representative for Gamblin Artists Colors. Andrea’s positive attitude, creative spirit and early morning workout regimen were constant sources of inspiration to the rest of our team.

I first met Andrea in early 2007, as I was ramping up the Artist-Rep Program. I visited her Chicago studio, we spoke for an hour or so, I told her about the program we were starting, and hired her on the spot. Andrea was working on a series of abstracted birch trees at the time, a subject that she would revisit often in her work. Even though she would eventually pursue various subjects throughout her painting, the birch trees always resonated most with me. It is for this reason that I chose to paint a family of birch trees to honor Andrea.

This painting is available for sale, by auction, with 100% of the proceeds going to Andrea’s Hope Foundation, which will enable women with ovarian cancer and their families to benefit from the same kind of compassionate care and support that Andrea and her family received.

I'm starting the auction at $300. The auction will end at the end of September. Please put your name and bid in the comments below. 

Please visit the website dedicated to Andrea's Hope Foundation.  

Thank you for the support. 

Sincerely,
Scott

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Feature in The Artist's Magazine

It's a real honor to have my work featured in the April 2017 issue of the nationally-distributed Artist's Magazine. The article, written by John A. Parks, gives insights into the inspiration behind my work and artistic process - from creating works on site to developing larger works in the studio. Here's a quick preview...


The April 2017 issue can be purchased online at the North Light shop. 

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Monotype Party for Oregon Society of Artists

I’m thrilled to be participating in this unique art event to support Oregon Society of Artists here in Portland. You are invited to attend the reception at OSA this Saturday evening, Dec. 3rd, from 6 – 8pm. I am one of over thirty Portland-area artists who will be making original prints during the day to be sold that evening to support this valued Arts Organization. 


A Unique Fund Raiser for Oregon Society of Artists
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016

Since 1926 the Oregon Society of Artists has been promoting the in Oregon by providing exhibit opportunities, educational programing, and art related projects in our Portland community.  

Read more about OSA here. 

Our first annual OSA Monotype Party- Fund Raiser was conceived as a fund raiser that continues to build and strengthen the organization’s tradition as a center for Oregon’s artistic community.  Thirty Portland-area artists will be creating unique Monotypes at OSA throughout the day, culminating in an exhibition and fund-raiser that evening from 6 – 8pm.

What is a Monotype?
Scott Gellatly, Chasing Sunset, monotype on paper

Monotypes are a natural extension from painting to printmaking – it is the most painterly method among of printmaking and is often called “the painterly print.”

Saturday, Dec 3, Schedule of Events: 
7 am – 5pm: Watch artists create Monotypes in the OSA Studio. Open to the public. (No sales prior to 6pm).
6pm - 8pm: Reception and Fund Raiser. Purchased prints go home with buyers. Friends, family, collectors, everyone is welcome!

Oregon Society of Artists
2185 SW Park Place
Portland, Oregon 97205



Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Color + The Artist’s Palette

As artists, we are always working within the confines of our materials.

For 600 years, oil colors have been the preeminent medium of visual expression. And within this time, the world has become increasingly more colorful. We see this, not only in painting, but in the cars we drive and the clothes we wear. As painters living and working today, we have more color choices to us now compared to painters who came before us – a fact that is equally intimidating as it is inspiring. How can we express a unique color voice to make color our own?

This blog explores the evolution of painters’ most important tool: COLOR. What aspects of colors do painters consider when selecting a palette to express their artistic vision?

Artistic Intention
My own intentions as a landscape painter working in the Pacific Northwest revolves around creating paintings which are informed by the area's terrain, vegetation, water and sky. However, what I've always been drawn to, visually, is to capture sensations of light and atmosphere - those fleeting conditions in between downpours and sun, evening and twilight. In more recent work, my characteristic softness of edge and ethereal transitions have given way to a greater bravado of brushwork and more visible "hand" in the mark-making.

Northwest Waters, 2011

 Wetland in Spring, 2015

Evolving Color
One of the fascinating perspectives of looking at the history and development of oil painting over the centuries, is to look at it through the lens of how pigment technology evolved from classical era, through the Industrial Revolution and through the 20th century. As artists, we are always working within the confines of our materials.

As artists have incorporated new pigments into their work, their access to color-mixing within Color Space has increased as well. This has drastically expanded color possibilities in painting. Both in pigment chemistry and in our use of color, we are no longer limited to the colorants and effects from nature – we can push beyond this to explore color mixtures of higher chroma for more expressive possibilities. 

Classical Palette
Earth colors make up the heart of painters’ palettes during the Classical Era of pigment history. This group of pigments, which has its origins in cave painting and antiquity, was central to the oil painter’s palette from the Renaissance through the Classical Era of oil painting. This limited range of muted earth colors exists close to the “neutral core” of Color Space. Limited to this range of the color spectrum, painters depicted form by drawing large contrasts between the darkest darks and the lightest lights, creating the chiaroscuro (literally, “light/dark”) effect so characteristic of classical paintings.

Impressionist Palette
The advancements of the Industrial Revolution of the mid-nineteenth century widened the spectrum of both color and possibilities for artists. A new range of pigments were made by fusing inorganic materials, such as cadmium, cobalt, and chromium, together at very high heat. Not only did these colors brighten the urban centers of the Iron Age, but they widened painters’ access to color compared to the palettes of the Classical Era. For the first time in history, painters of this period had the pigments available to capture all of the colors of the natural world, expressed in the Impressionists’ interest in pure color. The denser, tubed oil colors made from brighter and opaque pigments lent themselves to the direct painting techniques so characteristic of the Impressionists.

20th Century Palette
The end of the 1800’s gave birth to the field of organic chemistry with applications in the pharmaceutical, dye, and printing industries. Modern organic pigments are characterized by their greater transparency and their capacity to produce intense tints and mixtures.
The biggest difference in the characteristics between mineral inorganic and modern organic colors–and arguably of most interest to painters–is how these two groups of pigments behave differently in color mixing. Below are two different reds, the mineral Cadmium Red Medium and modern Napthol Red, each mixed with Titanium Zinc White.


As shown above, the mineral Cadmium Red Medium “greys down” and loses its intensity as it is mixed with white, compared to the modern Napthol Red, which retains its intensity in its tint. Once again, pigment technology expanded painters’ access to Color Space and made it possible for artists of the 20th Century to create paintings of high chroma.

Personalized Color Palette
Through my work at Gamblin I’ve gotten to know the unique characteristics of artists’ pigments. Over the years, I’ve used this insight to build a color palette that perfectly supports my color-mixing intentions – to create paintings with a naturalistic color scheme, but to have the capacity for bursts of more intense color. 

 Nickel Titanate Yellow, Indian Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Alizarin Permanent, Ultramarine Blue, Manganese Blue Hue.

My personalized color palette (shown here) is built off the concept of a split primary palette (warm and cool for each primary color). Instead of including a warm red, however, I use Cadmium Orange. This palette not only balances warm and cool pigments, but mineral and modern, opaque and transparent characteristics as well.

There a number of ways that we develop a personal, unique voice and painters – technique, chosen subject matter, and mark-making to name a few. Developing our own unique color voice with a palette that balances theory and our own aesthetics is a valuable way to make painting our own.

 Buena Vista, 2015