abstract/impressionist
« Previous EntriesNorway Maple: finished, combined posts
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Norway Maple in Madison, Wisconsin, 36 x 48 x 2 inches acrylics and modeling gel on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted, narrow frame, finished April 9th
March 9th: Subtle changes since last post…have been working more on tones in the background, which weren’t planned initially; I had hoped to use only pure colors without the usual layering, but it’s otherwise too hard to look at. Also am connecting a few shapes horizontally, and it’s almost “there”, but 2D Pinecone was started in the meantime to avoid overworking this.
The perfect place for masking fluid
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Flowering Shavingbrush Tree, April 11th above: details of 85 x 45 x 3 inches acrylics on canvas. Still in progress, but the rubberized mask was removed in order to see exactly what stage things are at before continuing. The painting overall still has a few areas to open up; very little work tomorrow should finish it. Shortly after starting the painting I turned it upside down and applied the masking fluid with a toothpick and let it drip. Gravity can be used as a tool!
April 13th, Left: The top third will still leave as much of the primed canvas as possible; a gradation of unfinished space toward more finished at the bottom. I was hoping to leave it as seen here giving an airy illusion, but it does need to develop along with the rest of it…still not as much, but enough to show the main flower better. This means I’ll be once again dripping masking fluid on the piece upside down to preserve the interesting marks that occurred from the 1st application, and also create some new ones with any further work. For previous posts on earliest progress of this painting click here.
Method reflected by purpose
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Left: Hemlocks, Queen Charlotte Island, 1980 - 4 x 4 x 2 inches 
Acrylics on canvas, painted plein air. Right: Birch, 1993 - 6 x 4 Watercolors. I have been trying to return to the same carefree approach I painted with during the earlier years. While some of my first paintings were a little on the sloppy side, the look and feeling of life in the work comes through the first reactive sloppy-looking brushstrokes. Too much refining tones down that energy. It has taken about six years to rid myself of a lot of habits that developed by painting murals, like tidying up too much and mixing colors on the palette as opposed to just throwing the color onto the canvas. Not that mural painting is valued as less than canvas paintings, but they require entirely different methods, and because their intended purpose is slightly different, so is the approach to painting them. Switching back to canvas now, even if the surface is large it’s taken six years to readapt to the process of painting on canvas. All that I think I know can get in the way sometimes. In Your Majesty I’m rediscovering some of the joy that pushed everything forward in the first place. Virginia, you say that this sings and dances…well, that’s exactly how I feel while painting this one.
January 23rd work in progress:
Your Majesty 85 x 45 x 3 inches Acrylics, wrapped canvas. Today more definition was added to the trees beyond and the skyline about a third of the way down. Working on the overall movement in the composition as a whole is a really important thing to establish right from the start and keep in check all the way through until it’s finished. I think it’s more important than anything else. The values are not yet accurate, but they may not need to be completely so when finished either, because I don’t really want to tone down the colors much. Hoping I can imply tones by placing color beside color instead, the way the Impressionists did.
January 21st details: 
The Fourth Of July - moving on
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
The Fourth of July, 36 x 48 x 2 inches, Acrylics on wrapped canvas $2,200.00
The Oxide Gallery in Denton had an open call today for Artists to bring in three paintings that best represented current work, to be judged for upcoming space openings. Even though I didn’t think The Fourth of July was finished, I brought it in because it has the cheerful colors and bold marks that I’d like to start injecting more into future work. Usually there are lots of colors used, but they get layered over each other on the canvas and become muted. The gallery owners informed me that it is finished! OK, great, I’ll take their advice…I’m quite happy to move on to another painting and decide at a later date if this is truly finished.
Especially toward the final stages when so much time and study has been invested, we can be so involved in the work we don’t see it with a fresh perspective the way others do. Other people’s eyes and opinions are so valuable.
Oh, and my apologies to whoever posted a comment that never got published. In my haste to delete 24 spams I was too quick with the click. In that split second I noticed that it was not a spam, but it was too late. I don’t even know which post the was comment was on, so whoever it was, please try again - I appreciate all feedback, negative or positive..it’s always helpful.
The Fourth of July
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
The Fourth of July, Orange Milkweed - preliminary drawing for a larger painting, 22 x 30 inches Oil pastels on watercolor paper, started yesterday. I haven’t used color for a while … terrifying, but just jumped in and started scribbling.
March Winds
Thursday, March 15th, 2007
March Winds 11 x 14 Oil Pastels on paper ~ all Paper Places series are matted and framed with double 3″ white matt and 3″ wide white 22 x 26 frame.
This is my ode to Jackson Pollock via Oil Pastels. Style occurs in response to the subject and the media. When March Winds was finished it reminded me of some of Jackson Pollock’s work, which I never really understood. While I drew March Winds I was kind of thinking of him and the very abstract style of his work.
“… the painting has a life of its own. My mission is to bring forth this life”. (Jackson Pollock)
Post-dated note: Accepted for Grand Prairie Arts Council (GPAC) Open Juried Art Show and Sale September/October, 2007. Grand Prairie Memorial Library 901 Conover Drive, Grand Prairie, Texas.
Pinion at Sunset, reworked
Monday, March 12th, 2007
Pinion at Sunset, the final piece.
Moon Over Cypress
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
Moon Over Cypress - Paper Places series, 14 x 11 Oil Pastels on paper – turned out differently than what I originally envisioned, and unlike most of the other oil pastels done recently it came together quickly and will not be reworked. The paper shows through as stars and reminds me of time lapse photography.
Post dated not: accepted into Studio 2600’s Holday Light and Sparkle Exhibition Nov. 2007-Jan. 2008
Lake Cote, Costa Rica
Sunday, May 21st, 2006
Lake Cote Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica - 14 x 11 Oil Pastels~ framed, available
This drawing demonstrates how each new work calls for unique style or technique. In such cases as this, it is more about the drawing itself that controls the results, and I follow along intuitively reading and responding to what happens on the page.
Texas Paintbrush
Saturday, May 6th, 2006
11 x 14 inches Oil Pastels on paper, framed 22 x 26 inches
Impressionistic style using soft, blended technique with the pastels, portrays the feeling of walking in a dry sandy field on a warm Spring day in northern Texas.
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