The Artist's Road Painting the World's Beautiful Places

Voices of Experience

Christine Code

Writing Poetry     30 x 30"     Oil

   The paintings of self-taught artist Christine Code evoke the mystery and drama of the landscape in the "Land of the Living  Skies", as rural Saskatchewan is known. The atmospheric moodiness of her canvases reflects time spent on location, even in the cold Canadian winter, returning to the studio with sketches to inform her larger works. Code recognizes the necessity of painting from life and writes that, ". . . outdoors is the source for all the information you need as a landscape painter." Her work has been featured in both national and international exhibitions and has won multiple awards from the Plein Air Salon, Modern Impressionist Salon, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Oil Painters of America and the Federation of Canadian Artists. She shared with us her influences and inspirations, beginning with her earliest art mentor.

   I had the most wonderful high school art teacher. I clearly remember her one-liners, like “draw what you see, not what you think you see.” There was a key moment in art class—I was struggling with the nose on a portrait and my art teacher came up behind me, watched me fumble around for awhile, then suddenly snatched the brush out of my
hand and with ONE elegant brushstroke accomplished what I had been trying to do all along. That absolutely fascinated me. She was able to simplify something as complex as the human nose into one perfect brushstroke. I was bit by the painting bug in that moment. That same year, my father made me an easel and I received oil paints and brushes for Christmas. All I wanted to do was paint from that moment on.

   I paint about four to six days per week—one of those days is a plein air day. I was strictly a studio painter for several years and only started a plein air practice in the last few years of my career. It took me a long time to realize the utility of painting from life and that outdoors is the source for all the information you need as a landscape painter. Once I began a frequent practice of studying outdoors, I realized how deceptive photographs are:  the light is over-exposed; the  shadows are darkened and void of information; the values are in high contrast. It immediately became apparent that I had been missing this key element to my work—plein air study. I am now committed to paint outdoors at least once
a week. It's easy to come up with excuses to stay in the comfy studio and avoid the bugs, wind, sunburn and cold. I have a dedicated set of brushes and paints always packed and ready to go for plein air. I keep my bag and easel by the door so I can grab it and go. No excuses. In Saskatchewan's harsh winters, where its often -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), I paint the poetic winter landscape in my vehicle with the heat on. In the studio, I now work from a combination of a few different photos, relevant plein air studies, imagination, memory and experience.

Chasing the Rain     32 x 40"     Oil

   I live in a small town surrounded by prairie farmland and I'm only a ten-minute drive from the river hills. I love it here. This landscape provides endless inspiration across all four seasons. I was once asked if I ever get tired of painting the prairie landscape and I replied, “The prairie landscape is what I know. I know this land, these hills, and these skies.” There is so much more to learn and a myriad of ways to express it with paint. I will have barely scratched the surface in my lifetime.

   Christine told us about her processes, both in working en plein air and in the studio and gave us some details of the materials she most uses.

   I enjoy creating a certain moodiness, atmosphere and mystery in my landscapes. I achieve this by softening edges and being sensitive to the value shifts throughout the painting. I want the viewer to feel something when they look at my work. My process varies from painting to painting depending on size and whether it's a plein air or studio painting.

North of the Tracks, Morning     9 x 10"     Oil     Plein Air

   For plein air, I typically use a view finder and nail down my composition in a thumbnail sketch with a Sharpie. I might try a few different compositions to see which I like best. Then, I will sketch the composition onto my panel with thinned down paint. Working quickly, I scrub in my darks and the local color of the big shapes with a natural bristle filbert. Lastly, I will switch to synthetic flats to refine, smooth out brushstrokes, shift things into place and add any details. Sometimes I use a painting knife to soften edges or to apply paint thickly in my focal area.

Illuminate     48 x 48"     Oil

   Since I incorporated plein air into my practice, I've sought to replicate that same plein air spontaneity in my studio work by employing virtually the same method. I don't do a lot of planning. I enjoy letting the painting guide me, applying the paint thickly and loosely, and deciding which effects to keep and what to discard on the fly. I get the best atmospheric effects this way. It's all very instinctive.

   For smaller studio paintings (up to 24”), I attempt to finish them in one day, alla prima. Sometimes it takes a second session. For larger studio paintings (24” and up), it can take anywhere from two to four sessions, usually with one week of drying time between layers. I use linseed oil as my medium for subsequent layers.

Expecting a Different Ending     24 x 36"     Oil

Crimson Dusk     24 x 40"     Oil

   I use Winsor & Newton water-mixable oils and odorless mineral spirits for cleaning brushes. I don't usually use much medium for the actual painting. I prefer loading my brush with pure paint. After every painting, I scrape my palette down and save that muddy gray mix. I start my palette with this pile and use it to desaturate my colours and keep things tonal.

   My typical palette is the muddy gray from the previous painting, Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Light, Sap Green, and Burnt Sienna. Sometimes I will incorporate other pigments if a specific painting calls for it.

In the Field     20 x 20"     Oil     Plein Air

   For plein air, it's nice to have a tube of Yellow Ochre because I'm surrounded by farmland and I like to paint the occasional hay bale. During my first ten years of painting, I limited myself to the primary colours. As a result, I became fairly efficient at colour mixing and it's now largely intuitive. When I paint plein air, I mix up a color that I'm aiming to match in the landscape, scoop some up on my palette knife and hold it out in front of the object to squint and compare. It is such a rush to nail that colour down exactly in value and temperature on the first try.

   I use Ampersand panels for plein air painting and stretched cotton canvas for larger studio works.

Fairest Skies of All     36 x 60"     Oil

   Code included this step-by-step demonstration of her painting, "Winter Bloom".

Step 1 - Laying in my darks with a natural bristle filbert
(or a hardware store brush when it's a larger painting)

Step 2 - Adding colour to the sky
Warm towards the light and progressively cooler and
more out of focus away from the light

Step 3 - Adding in snow incorporating some sky colors into the land for harmony
and then switching to a synthetic flat to lay in my lightest lights,
further refining/smoothing out the sky.

Winter Bloom     30 x 30"     Oil

Final stage - Further refinement. slowing down towards the end and
taking lots of steps back, looking for value corrections,
softening edges and adding detail.

   We asked Christine to include an example of one of her Nocturne paintings.

Midnight Ballet     24 x 24"     Oil

   I love painting nocturnes in the studio and plein air! I have a handy Strada light that clips to my easel for painting outdoors in the dark. It's rechargeable and has several settings. I highly recommend it.

   And, any advice to give students?

   Practice, practice, practice and study. Paint almost everyday and put hundreds of smaller paintings behind you. For studying, painting from life or painting plein air is a must. If I could go back twenty years and give myself one piece of advice, it would be to get outdoors and paint. Now, I often find myself painting in my mind when I'm not in front of
the easel. I'll be sitting in the parking lot waiting for my daughter to come out of school and will stare at a group of trees to decipher values and colour. It is almost obsessive, but you have to be extremely passionate to be successful at anything.

The Grand Scheme of Things     48 x 36"     Oil

To see more of Christine Code's work,

go to:  Christine Code Fine Art

All artwork copyright Christine Code