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Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
Iguana and Strangler Fig, Costa Rica, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface.
The Strangler Fig is a parasite. Seeds sprout in moss or decaying matter among the branches of rain forest canopies. Roots gradually extend downward and over time completely surround the host tree, which dies while nourishing the Strangler Fig growing in its place.
March 14th, March 13: Phases 1, 2 and 3 earlier progress in thumbnails below. Today layering thin washes of pale yellow, placing the iguana more into the background. Some of the details of the Strangler Fig growth that are now covered up might be brought back into focus since this is more about the tree than the iguana. Posting the painting on the blog is helpful because it’s viewed differently than while painting or studying it. It’s somehow easier to see areas that still need change when looking at it on-screen.
Chapala Wind
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
Chapala Wind – Lake Chapala, Mexico, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface. Signed on the side so as not to impose on the composition.
Sold but a similar piece can be recreated upon request. Please allow 7 days to paint before shipping.
Sprayed alcohol loosened the paint and I was able to scratch it, at first with my nails and then a pottery tool. Thanks to Karen Xarchos for all the feedback and additional information. We worked together painting murals in Ottawa for a couple of years. Karen has done extensive work in restaurants and homes in the Ottawa area.Thumbnails: phase 1 and 2 in progress.
Decaying Ceiba Leaves
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
Decaying Ceiba Leaves, Lake Cote Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Sold.
On Cloud Nine
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
On Cloud Nine Left: The view from the road to the Giant Redwoods in the John Muir National Forest, western coast CA. Right: A forest fire still smouldering in October 2008, Mariposa Grove, Sequoia National Forest, central California.
Some new photos of the Giant Sequoias have been posted on majestyoftrees.com
Road Trip!
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
This photo was taken just outside of Nashville where we stopped to take photos of the trees draped with vines, naturally occurring topiary, amazing – looking like animals and people turned into forest. Those were cool enough, and the tire skid marks were an extra unexpected find. The photo has been turned into a black and white, then a colored portion from the bottom was superimposed on top of that…my favorite digital trick. Now one last trip for this year, driving to California and the Giant Redwoods – back on the 13th.
Details
Monday, September 29th, 2008
The Fourth of July, past the point of no return. Making one small change affects the whole piece. Rather than post another image of the painting as a whole, because there are already enough pictures of it, here are some details of changes made in the past few days from the lower central portion of the painting. To be continued…
The Fourth of July work in progress
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
The Fourth of July work in progress, 36H x 48W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, custom built stretcher frame, wrapped sides painted.
June 22, 23, Sept 23, 24: Adding mid-tones. The addition of a blue-white haze gel wash lightens areas that need to be rebuilt with brighter colors; in attempts to create contrasts, many areas have become too dark. Paintings always swing back and forth from too light to too dark or too defined to not defined enough, and just like a pendulum eventually come to rest between the two. I hope to bring the painting back toward the energy and explosive colors that it had after only one hour of work. Only the foreground flowers will have some detail; the rest will remain impressionistic in style.
Riders on the Storm
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
I’m very excited to start painting again this week. Before two weeks off travelling from Texas to North Carolina I started organizing my FlickR photostream. Now there are about one thousand new photos to sort through, and the ones I’m most excited about are the set of the 1500 year old Angel Oak in South Carolina (now that’s a tree!) – plus a creepy-cool old steel playground beside a gross, moldy, condemned Family Inns Motel, a real treasure! The tree and playground collections are uploaded in FlickR.
There’s also a short photo editorial of our encounters with many of the electric company truck convoys travelling south from Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, and Kansas to restore electricity to 90,000 homes and businesses along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Gustav. Here are a few of those photos from that set, which we were about to post on CNN’s weather.com when I inadvertently killed my husband’s laptop by plugging a cable in the wrong place. An expensive proposition, and I didn’t even get to send them in. I just found out that fortunately all the travel photos were retrieved, but the laptop is dead. Oops!
Going for the magic every hour
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Magic Hour finished (Gitxsan Totem Pole, Thunderbird Park, Victoria, BC Canada), 60H x 40W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, sturdy home-built stretcher frame, wrapped sides painted, narrow trim frame. Here is an earlier post with information about this totem pole.
Great moments in painting are addictive, when so completely immersed in the work that time becomes non-existent… The Zone! I’ve had a good week with this one, partly because of getting past the habit of trying to control the outcome. Things happen in every painting that are not planned, and the endless choices are part of the fun.
Painting is considered to be a two-dimensional undertaking, but it’s so much more. While lost in the work process, all the dimensions of the subject are explored, including the deeper dimensions of ourselves. While painting we discover our convictions and the means to ask how far we are willing to go to stand up for them.
Work every day is about continually reevaluating decisions, taking responsibility for choices made, being honest about mistakes, shortcomings and limitations of media and self, and digging deep to find compromise between technical and intuitive solutions. It’s about control of all those elements, combined with easing up on trying to control too much. All this and more translates onto a flat surface as we hope to give the illusion of depth…if that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is!
Post-dated Note: When choosing this totem pole that is erected in Thunderbird Park at the RBC Museum in Victoria, I didn’t realize that it’s the same one that Emily Carr painted in 1928. More magic! Here is a link to more information about this totem and the Gitxsan Poles moved from Gitanyow (formerly Kitwankool) B.C.
A word here about artists’ representation of First nations or any other cultural/historic works: subjects are painted with the greatest honor and respect, with purpose to study and draw interest to the importance of appreciating our multi-cultural world and the unique characteristics of each and every culture. This is what artists do. Our differences as cultures are connected across time and place, as there are many common traits and themes expressed through Art everywhere.
Robert Genn and readers of The Painters’ Keys have some very interesting comments all around the board about this topic.
Magic Hour – work in progress
Thursday, July 24th, 2008
Magic Hour, 60H x 40W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, work in progress.
Art history is human history. What we call Art is the expression of individuals finding connection with our humanity; who are we? How do we respond to our surroundings and who are we in relation the things we depend on for survival? Standing in front of the Totems I realized that the answers we sought long, long ago are the same, and the things we love now are the same things people have always loved. As Artists and Art Viewers we’ll never venture far from subjects that speak to the heart.
The originals of all the totem poles erected in Thunderbird Park on the grounds of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, Canada are now protected from the effects of weather inside the museum. The totem portrayed in this painting is a replica of the Gitxsan Pole that was moved in 1958 from Kitwankool, BC. This version of the pole is named Skim-sim and Will-a-daugh, belonging to Chief Wiha (Wee-kha, Ernest Smith), the chief of the Wolf Clan: only the top 3/4 of the totem is portrayed. Due to deterioration caused by weather, the originals of all the totems in Thunderbird Park are now erected inside the museum and are replaced with replicas carved by Mungo Martin, chief carver, Henry, Tony and Richard Hunt (this one 1960).
Symbols/crests: The bird at the crown is a giant woodpecker (wee-get-welku). Legend reads that a female ancestor kept a pet woodpecker, feeding it so much it grew to be a giant monster that ate everything made of wood until it was killed. It sits atop 5 human figures who stand on the head of the Mountain Eagle (Skim-sim), who kidnapped and mated with a woman then devoured their offspring. The eleven small figures are humans fishing through holes in the ice. Under them and not pictured in the painting is Will-a-daugh, also known as “Person With a Large Nose”, holding her child who was conceived from a wood grub.
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