abstract
« Previous EntriesStars and Fireflies
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Home from Singapore for a few days, and having to go north to pack up the Dancing With Trees exhibition, I drove up to Ontario first so I could see my sons in Canada before Christmas. At night in the fields and trees from Tennessee to Michegan there are stars and fireflies in the trees - so magical! Until I can express it in paint (and I must!), here is a quick photoshop impression.
One in a million
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Artwork: Waiting For The Sun by Virginia Wieringa, 24 x 36 inches acrylics on canvas
Fortune? sure, of course. Fame? mmeh! I could manage happily without. The pop group Pearl Jam has a recent song with a beautiful title, ”Just Breathe” with a couple of lines that state, “I’m a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love”. While I’m not a man, I feel likewise as fortunate.
However, an extra hand is now required because I just met an artist-pen-pal whom I never expected to meet, and she’s as intelligent and enthusiastic in person as she has been online for the past four years. Virginia is adventurous and open-minded, yet soundly rooted in her spiritual faith - and therefore so is her art . I especially enjoyed the little 4 x 6″ sketchbook that she shared with me, where a number of ideas for paintings originate as she draws in it during church sermons. I think it’s really funny that she doesn’t listen in church….but she does hear, and she doesn’t preach, she works… and her work speaks volumes. I’ve mentioned Virginia in previous posts – she’s been so supportive, even promoting my work on her own website. Thanks “VA”!
Sounds of Silence
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Sounds of Silence, 36 x 24 x 2 inches acrylics on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted - finished today. After a second application of mask medium only on the snowflakes this time, some unbleached titanium and yellow ochre brought color back to the trunks. Snowflake mask was then removed. Still deciding on a price for this, and Dawn at Bell Rock also.
Oct 13th, above: Phase 01 and 02
Oct 14th, Phase 03 and 04: Mask medium removal, then highlighting snowflakes.
P.S. View Virginia Wieringa’s coincidental blog entry: a relevant poem by Thomas Merton, and an icon painting entitled Holy Silence.
Grackles
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Grackles 11 x 10 inches dry pastel and graphite on paper, tidied up with some digital work
The Dallas area is notorious for its Grackles. In some areas they gather in flocks by the thousands - I’m not exaggerating - especially notable during evening just before sunset; bird parties I call them, lined along telephone poles and wires, sitting perfect wingspans apart from each other, and packed full in the trees. Photos can’t capture it all, because the experience also includes their loud calls. They are fantastic to see and hear.. I love it, but they’re a nusance in public places like near restaurants and malls. Park your black car under a tree if you don’t mind driving away with a fairly white one when you leave.
Paint Arson
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Paint Arson, 11 x 11 x 3 inches acrylics on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted: finished, and phases 1 and 2. Most of the Magic Square series are signed on the side, so the signature is superimposed.
Buying a new jar of Cadmium Red medium hue was just the thing to reboot, then re-route some old habits I was falling back into, like over-working paintings. Here I began with a lush Redwood forest in mind, thinking I could safely stir up some inspiration with the hot scarlet under my usual cool green palette… I did not intend to start a fire!
A new color invigorates the work process like nothing else can, and adds renewed life to your results as well. Incorporated as a base, straight out of the tube or mixed with your usual palette, a new color changes everything. Here now, as the painting is seen in the second thumbnail, there’s nothing I can do except follow it and see where it leads. The strength and intensity of this color as a base is dictating a whole other unintended but interesting direction, and it’s in charge for a while. I hope I can manage it.
Painting, whatever the subject may be, is a journey through all kinds of unanticipated thoughts and associations; some are short and sweet, ending within 1 - 6 hours and not much more than a visual, but some are packed full of adventure that isn’t even realized until surfacing from a few hours of work.
The forest fires were still-smoldering when we walked through the Californian Redwood and Sequoia forests last November, and my memory lapses into romanticized imagery of smoky rays of light in the sunset. It’s perplexing that the effects of forest devastation could be so pretty when the fact is that just the week before, a raging fire was the cause of all that beauty, and not just the smoky sunset, but fire enables the entire forest to flourish. As I’m painting this I’m thinking about all kinds of how fire is a naturally occurring event like rain and snow, and is an essential part of forest cycles…and of how fire is destructive but supports renewal and re-creation as well.
Fire opens pine cones to disperse their seeds, controls pests and disease. By burning weeds and weaker trees that rob sunlight and nutrients from healthier trees and plants, it also clears the way for new seeds to sprout. Ash aerates, and contains properties that determine the quality of soil and what is able to grow there. Realizing that certain trees only regenerate with the aid of fire, like the giant Sequoia cones only release seeds through fire, today’s standard fire management practice is to allow naturally occurring forest fires to burn, still with a mind to sensibly control it.
So what element does it take to open a painter’s eyes to new possibilities? A jar of Cadmium Red medium hue!
Myrtle At The Zoo
Monday, March 9th, 2009
Myrtle At The Zoo - Crepe Myrtle branches and seedpods before pruning, February at the Fort Worth Zoo, Texas. 11 x 11 x 3 inches acrylics on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted. Top: finished, center: bottom side detail, two thumbnails below: phases 1 and 2 in progress. The signature on most of these ‘magic squares’ is on the side so it is digitally added here - see how much a signature can intrude on the front of the work?
Many of the issues were worked through on the previous larger version, and I’m pleased with this boxy little painting…still not completely satisfied that I’m finished with this subject because it’s so complex, it’s like a puzzle that’s nagging at me to figure out, so will probably attempt this same painting at least one more time.
Ceiba Leaves
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
Decaying Ceiba Leaves, Lake Cote Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica, 11 x 11 x 3 inches acrylics on canvas.
Jone’s Falls
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Jone’s Falls, near Thousand Islands, Southern Ontario 11 x 11 x 3 inches acrylics on canvas, finished. April 11, finished: I scratched some barely noticable lines here and there, and they break up the space into sections now, if you compare the 3rd thumbnail and the finished piece. This is exactly why paintings need to sit off to the side for a while. With new eyes a few weeks or months later the finishing touches will suddenly be obvious, or there will at least be renewed confidence about what else to try that might work..
Left, February 28: mapping out composition by washing off damp paint with a wet cloth. Central and right, March 1: experimenting with limited palette, work in progress.
St. Catherine’s Sunset
Friday, February 27th, 2009
St. Catherine’s Sunset Ontario, Canada just north of Niagara Falls, 11 x 11 x 3 inches acrylics on canvas, sides painted. The signature is on the side, so one has been superimposed here on the front.
There is no one method for starting a painting. When faced with a blank white surface, often our mind can go blank too. When that happens I use a base color that inspires energy… Hansa Yellow Deep painted on the entire surface then dripped water and paint down the wet surface. Drawing with a wide raggedy old brush, I used the fraying bristles to advantage.
This painting is dedicated to my Mom, born in St. Catherine’s, whose birthday was two days ago.
Reflections
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
Reflections, winter in Coppell, TX, 11 x 11 x 3 inches, acrylics on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted. Most of the Magic Square series paintings are signed on the side, so the images on the blog show a superimposed signature.
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