Welcome, I am Charlie Rees, an older artist with a studio in Saugatuck, Michigan. For many years, I had a studio in the Flat Iron Arts Building in Chicago, painting and working in stained glass.
My work in Chicago was done inside the studio, blessed with tall windows, where I was quite comfortable and relaxed. However, the move to Saugatuck and my work with stained glass has forced me to ask some embarrassing questions for an established artist. Can I see? Do I understand color and light? Do I have the right skills to produce the work that I desire to make? And finally, do these questions require me to learn new tricks and can an old dog learn new tricks?
These questions pushed me outdoors, en plein air. Saugatuck, on Lake Michigan, is a perfect place to draw, paint and do studies of light and color. The town is surrounded by rivers, lakes, woods, dunes, marshes and open fields. It is blessed with an abundance of natural light through all the seasons. I would be a fool not to take advantage of this natural setting.
This is new to me, out of my comfort zone. New environment. New mediums. New techniques. New styles. I am on a journey, short or long, to learn how to see and create compositions of color and light. Mistakes and blunders will be made and hopefully, a few successes will occur.
While on this journey, I am always guided by the quote from Pablo Picasso: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”