Without Crows

Another long break in posting on this blog.  Today is as good as any to update this with my latest work.  Honestly, my painting has been slowed down considerably. The difficulty has many reasons to exist and we will leave it at that.   No sense delving into past.  Press on forward to the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus is what Paul the Apostle says in Philippians.  Good advice.

This work is called "Without Crows".  It is a title that will suite those who understand and know from whence it comes.  It also explains all that needs to be explained about the painting.  The Painting is available for sale.

Tempus Fugit For Real Dude!

I looked at the date of my last entry.  I can hardly believe that it was almost a year ago???  Hello?  The painting "Differences"certainly is not that long in the making.  Maybe it is some mix up in the Time continuum.  Maybe I momentarily jumped back a few months when it came time to post that last group of paintings.  I need to start looking over my shoulder to see who is sneaking up on me so that I don't get abducted by aliens again.

This is another set of recently completed painting that might have been completed more than recently. The first one is actually the sixth one.  "No. 6 A Patched Tree" is the latest in the series of paintings of trees.  When complete I will have nine all the same size on panels.  

 No. 6 A Patched Tree  -  Oil on Panel  -  32"  X  24" 

The next painting also has a tree as its primary subject.  In the books by J.R.R. Tolkin about middle earth, there is a rather significant section in "The Fellowship of the Ring" about the Hobbits adventures with "Old Man Willow" and Tom Bombadil.  Old man Willow had swallowed up Merry and Pippin and the only rescue was from Tom.  The painting has a bit of a whimsical or fantasy feel.  One viewer stated that she thought I was suggesting the look of a Dr. Suess world.  Not a bad observation but it is Old Man Willow that is framed on this canvas.

 

Old Man Willow  -  Oil on Canvas   -  20" X 16"

For quite a different inspiration for a painting, "Mary and Joseph" below has been painted with the same technique that I used for Slow Set.  Painting 1/2" squares one at a time until a painting depicting the Holy Family emerges. 

 

Mary and Joseph  -  Oil on Canvas  -  20" X 16"

It is not uncommon for a painting to start off with an one intention and end up quite different, even something not imagined.  Shapes, color and light fascinate me. It is what I see when I look at a scene.  "Behind and Beyond" took several turns in its development and I almost gave up more than once.  Yet the outcome is  pleasing to me.  

 

Behind and Beyond  -  Oil on Canvas  -  48"  X  36

Going back and painting again to create a paining very much like I have done before has been a challenge.  But I realize this is something I need to cultivate so that popular paintings can be remade, although each time different enough to be an original it their own right.  "Sidestepped" was a painting very much like the one below that was done in deep reds and purple reds with random light spots.  "Blue Steps" was organized the same way with shades and tones of blues. The spots that look to be black are very deep blue. 

Blue Steps  -  Oil on Canvas  -  20" X 16"

When I painted "Stimulus" it was the time when the government of the United States decided that throwing a lot of money out into the masses of people would result in an economic revival.  The painting was in no way a political statement, it was simply something that came out of some emotional turmoil and an unsettled feeling I was experiencing and I believe all of us were feeling to some degree.  "Re-Stimulate" has a completely different story.  Those that know and understand me are aware of its timing and meaning.

Re-Stimulate  -  Oil on Canvas  -  36"  X  12"

I painted "A Red Wood" almost three years ago.  It was a great deal of fun working that painting into a piece of art and it received immediate attention.  When it sold, it was missed and some told me to paint another one.  Yet how can you have another of an original, I thought.  Eventually I got over that silly thought and this painting was finished about 45 days ago in time for Art Walk Longview.  "A Red Wood Too" has enjoyed the same positive reaction.  Now, if that special buyer will please step forward, I might have a change at Three Red Woods. 

 

A Red Wood Too  -  Oil on Canvas  -  28"  X  22"

What happens when I stare at a blank canvas is that I normally will cover it with some under-paint, white or other color. This time I resisted and allowed the painting to happen of its own will.  A simple arrangements of curves ad twirls in yellow and golds without a hint from the title.  Not  to worry, there is no secret, I just have not yet been told if it does have a proper title.

 

Untitled Gold  -  Oil on Canvas  -  16" X 20" 

And finally for this set of nine paintings we close with "Mr. B".  This is both similar and dissimilar to the painting just above. The dissimilarities are much easier to see than the similarities for you, I am sure.  This painting started with a full canvas of yellow with a fair touch of red but not enough to call it orange.  Then, when the under paint was dry, I simply say a part of a room that belonged very much to the bowling ball.  It reminded me of a time long ago when I had an encounter with a bowling ball kind of thing that I called Mr. B for lack of knowing it or his name.  Really though its a careful painting of threes.  three lines to build the corner, three holes so the bowling ball can be held and manipulated as it is either carefully or aggressively heaved down the planks to the pins; and three legs with three supports.  3 -3 -3 might have and be a better title?

 

Mr. B (or 3-3-3)   Oil on Canvas   20" X 16"

Hopefully it will not be another 11 1/2 months before we visit again. This is no way to win and keep friends in the blog-O-sphere.  (Apologies to Shepherd Smith)

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A Real Mix

This posting is a real mix of paintings.  Some have been done for a while waiting for the opportunity to get good photographs of them.  We managed to get photographs of three paintings today.  All complete until otherwise determined to be incomplete.  The first is "Differences", a bright and vivid painting using blues, greens, reds and yellows in a stark contrast of the cool and hot colors.  A large canvas 48" X 30".  The painting was done finished with knives. 

"Differences"

48 X 30   Oil on Canvas 

The second posted here is a paining just for fun.  It started out to be part of a diptych which never managed developed. Considering that it actually had a different future in mind for itself, we let it show us what that was.  To our amazement, it captures the moment that the Gingerbread Man escaped from the circus.  An historical moment indeed.  A lot of fun with color and whimsy.

  The Escape of the Gingerbread Man
48 X 24  Oil on Canvas   

 

The third posting is the fifth in our series on Trees.  We set out to create nine paintings on panels, with each painting representing in some way a tree or trees but in an abstract or non representational style.  This is number five with four to go.  Each painting makes an effort to represent the tree in distinctly different way.  Number five is drawn significantly from fantasy books we have read.  Trees have such significance in literature and the Bible.

The Rainbow Tree
32 X 24  Oil on Panel

We have started work on Tree Painting #6 - a patchwork tree it will be.  

 

Side By Side

Side By Side
48 X 36

Oil On Canvas

As I am still pretty new in my career as an artist, the sale of a painting is an exciting moment.  This is especially true when it is a painting that has significant meaning to me.  Then, I want to know more about who bought it and why they like it.   My painting Goliad sold this past week.  It was sold by P's Gallery and we all were so very excited.   Paula Davis, owner of P's Gallery had my painting "4 Sided Triangles" ready to put up in the space.  That meant I needed to bring another painting to the Gallery.

"Side by Side" was recently finished and dry enough to varnish and hang.  When Paula saw it she put it up in place of Goliad in the the Gallery.  "Side By Side" is the result of my wanting to apply some of the same techniques I had been reading about in my study of Sean Scully.  The simplicity of the design and the layers of colors resulted in a painting that I am very happy with.  My normally compulsion is to cover every bit of the canvas and see no canvas or under-painting colors.  Sometimes that will distract me from what I am actually trying to accomplish.   I managed to keep my mind off that compulsion and accomplish what I wanted.  The painting went through three phases, each with a different group of colors.  Perhaps I was simply looking for the group that pleased me the most and held my eye on the paining.

The Furlough

It seems like a furlough has passed since I last posted a new painting on this blog. But at least there has been some activity out in the studio. Today I post five (5) new paintings with comments on each. These are not presented in the order of completion. They are presented more in the order of however they ended up when I uploaded them.

"Little Boxes"

30" X 30"
Oil on Canvas

"Little Boxes"
The first one is "Little Boxes" I have been doing a lot of reading and studying on one of my favorite contemporary artists, Sean Scully. Scully fascinates for many reasons. One is that he has been so fabulously consistent and focused on his art and what he is producing has a clear sense of humanity and presence. He has not been one to follow the latest popular trend. Instead, he has walked the line into a body of work that is very impressive.

"Little Boxes" is a concept that has formed as a result of my concentration on Scully. Architectural in design, the first layer was painted with a brush and while mostly wet, the second and third layer were applied with painting knives and cloth.  "Little Boxes" can actually be hung anyway one would prefer but I present it here in the orientation I have come to favor.  During the creation process, the canvas was continually turned so that I had the advantage of not having to go "back handed"...at least not too much.

 

"Emerging"
50" X 30"
Oil on Canvas

"Emerging"

Sometimes I have little idea where a concept forming in my mind comes from.  That is not the case with "Emerging".    At the 2010 Great Texas Balloon Race in Longview, Texas, a special feature was a man that inflated a large number of weather balloons (the kind used to send weather instruments high into the stratosphere) with helium.  Watching the process I was captivated by the balloons as they were tied temporarily to anchors during the inflation stage.  Different lengths of leads (strings) caused the balloons to form tall columns into the air.  These balloons were then attached to a bucket seat and when ready, weight was removed to the point that it lifted the chair, man and all into the air where the wind blue it along.  

I did not paint balloons with strings but I the images of a collections of spheres, different colors reaching skyward brought the concept on this canvas. 

 

"Falling Blue"
24" X 32"
Oil on Panel

Nine Trees

#1 "Falling Blue" is the first in a series of oil paintings on panels.  The series will be nine in all each 24" X 32".  This is a project in discipline forcing me to focus and think on a specific subject while treating the subject in anyway that seems to develop.  Each of the series will have some connection to a tree or trees.   

"Falling Blue" is a painting in reds, except for the few remaining blue leaves which must fall some time.  

"Meeting Tree"
24" X 32"
Oil on Panel

#2 "Meeting Tree" is the second painting in the Trees series.  It is painted with knives and very limited pallet.  While I was creating the painting my thought was that it was a signal tree sitting on the top of a ridge.  Somehow that story just did not work with whatever was my initial concept and instead, it comes from images and practices in Africa where specific trees hold immense significance.    When I realized that was the story, I decided that the significance of this tree was the meetings that have occurred and will continue to occur below it.

 

"Living in Water"
24" X 32"
Oil on Panel

#3 "Living in Water" - the full title is "Living Upside Down in Water".  Near where we live is the only natural lake in Texas.  Caddo Lake in ringed and filled with  cypress trees.  Often these trees appear living upside down in water as their root structure spreads out and forms a wide base to hole the massive tree upright.  Even photographs I have taken on calm days can be flipped and a tree will appear to be living upside down in the water. 

 

 "Trees of Life"
32" X 24"
Oil on Panel

#4 Trees of Life started when I made a drawing of a tree. Well, actually it is considered a bush, I think.  The Crepe Myrtle is a flowing bush that grows to heights of 15-20 feet, (maybe more, I'm not a botanist or arborist or even a gardener).   If desired, they can be cultivated and pruned so that the grow into what looks like a tree with multiple trunks and limbs that weave and wave about. 

The drawing I did was of a whole crepe myrtle tree.  I took just a section of the branches for this painting. Before the painting was complete and still in its first layer, someone remarked "Looks like vessels and veins.  That was all it took to find the story of this painting.   

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Two Paintings +Two Mediums = Three Paintings

I finished two paintings today, two paintings I needed to get done for the show this Saturday.  This first one is a remake of Stormy Weather.  The first version I damaged beyond repair and learned a good lesson...never varnish before you absolutely know the paint is dry...or oxidized.

Replacing the painting was important because there are several who are very interested in it.  That, however, makes doing the paining again very difficult for me.  I put it off for a very long time.  I finally painted half of it.  After another long pause, I painted the second half.  I finally finished it about three weeks after that.  It is not that difficult a painting except I was constantly bugged with the thought I could never really recreate it. 

Finally believing that I was not really making a reproduction I was able to add the pieces that make it what it is today and I like it better than version 1.

Stormy Weather 2
56 X 56
Oil on Canvas

The next story actually has more of a story.  The meaning of the painting is below.  This is the process. I first did this piece as a digital painting.  Seeded by a painting I saw hanging in a restaurant in Goliad, Texas the concept took some time to develop and I'm glad I worked it out in digital medium first.  Once the digital was done, I knew I had to put it on a support in oil.  The first one is the digital and size is what ever up to 60" wide if produced as a giclee print.  Both are designed as a triptych.  The oil on panels is 72" x 36".  This painting pays special homage to the 342 Texians who were massacred by the Mexican Army on March 27, 1836.

Goliad

Digital Painting

Goliad

72" x 36" - Triptych
Oil on Panels

The first declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas was signed in Goliad on Dec. 20, 1835.

But March is the most significant month for those who live in Texas in respect to historical dates and events. March 2 is Independence Day when the Texians declared themselves Independent from Mexico. Mexico responded by sending their army commanded by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. On March 6, the Mexican Army moved against the Texians in Mission San Antonio de Valero, more commonly known as the Alamo. Santa Anna killed as many as 250 men that day. Only two Texians survived the battle.

From other battles over the next days Texians were captured. 342 who surrendered when promised safe passage back to their homes were being held in the Presidio La Bahía in Goliad, Texas. As they waited their release, Santa Anna sent orders to execute all the prisoners. The officer who negotiated their surrender and gave them the promise of freedom, would not have any part in this treacherous order. General Urrea, left Goliad with Colonel Jose Nicolas de la Portilla in command and made a written plea for clemency to Santa Anna. 

Early on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, Portilla had the 342 Texians marched out in three columns on the Bexar Road, San Patricio Road, and the Victoria Road. Mexican soldiers in two ranks on one side of the captives then fired on the Texians at point-blank range only a few hundred yards from the fort. The wounded and dying were then clubbed and stabbed. 

The battle cry "Remember the Alamo" which has been made famous by movies, television and historical books had with it the battle cry "Remember Goliad.  The next month Santa Anna met Sam Houston's meager forces at San Jacinto.  The Texians defeated the Mexican Army and captured Santa Anna forcing surrender and capitulations.   The Mexican army and Santa Anna were not treated in the manner their enemy had treated them at the Alamo and Goliad. 

More Than One Way to Do Things Over

It has been a long while since I last posted anything on this blog.  With all the various sites I try to get my art on, this one seems to be the most neglected.  It should not be so.  This is the only site that I comment extensively on about my art.

So I will say that it is time to do a little bit of catching up.

Another Turn

48" x 33"

Oil on Canvas

Another Turn is another painting that has its idea from a painting by John Karl Claes.  Claes' painting called "Main Canal Turn" and considerably larger.  The compsition was copied but the colors used are significantly different.  From the moment I first saw the painting by Claes, I was captivated by the dominant canal and the sky.  My effort included a very different sky.   

 

 3 X Over
(Three Times Over)
48" x 24"

Acrylic on Canvas

3 X Over is made with acrylic paints.  I do not paint with acrylic because I do not like the way it works compared to oils.  I'm frequently told by other artists that use acrylic paints exclusively that it is the only way to go.  Why? I ask.  Because they dry so much faster.  Exactly why I do not like them.  I'm not a slow painter but I'm not a fast one either.  So much of my paintings are created during the process of making them.  I need the time to work with the paintings for some time.  Acrylic will dry on my pallet before I've even finished with a color requiring me to remix the color several time.  Just not suited for me.

When I decided to do a painting using acrylic paints I was faced with the challenge of limiting the number of paints I would buy since it was an experiment for me and not and investment in materials.  The concept was first a vertical bar graph.  It did not end up that way as it turned into more of an abstract city skyline.  I painted this three times building upon each layer.

Maybe I'll try to do another painting in acrylic sometime but not sure how soon. 

Elephants Are Gray

Elephants Are Gray - Oil on Canvas
30" X 30"

I have loved the elephant since I was a child. It is no surprise that the subject brought itself to the top of the list eventually. This has been through a long process of changes and modifications and the result is something that pleases me very much. It is a very personal painting in tribute to the elephants around the world that suffer and struggle to live. Some in captivity and some in the wild but all having to deal with humans that do not understand life and family as well as an elephant family does.

So this is perhaps the first verse of my song to the elephant who is the true King of the Beasts.


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Four New Paintings

I'm a bit behind in posting painting here. And, since I post the newest each time, I have posted these in the order that I finished them. And so I will comment accordingly.

A Slow Set came from an idea for a technique. Create a painting by painting small squares in a rather random pattern. I controlled only the where the value of the colors went (other than starting with the orb at the very beginning). The squares are 1/2". Similar to the pointillist technique but with more restriction to the boundaries of each "point" or square.

The painting took more than 24 hours of actual time at the canvas. the paint is applied very thickly providing a significant amount of texture to the painting.

A Slow Set - 9/2009
30" X 30"
Oil on Canvas

Behind Again - a painting I took from an original by John Karl Claes. I love and am facinated by the colour combination Claes puts into his paintings. Especially the ones where the sky dominates the space. This is in no way a copy of Claes' painting titled "Behind" it is an interpretation of the concept.

Behind Again - 8/2009
30" X 30"
Oil on Canvas

Down Front - someone must always take that spot. Sometimes it is you and other times it is me but someone is always down front leading the way, standing out, catching the light that the others avoid or shy from.

This two panel painting is very simple. An arrangement of trees that seem to be without direction or purpose except for the one Down Front. Please forgive me for expressing the stories in my mind but this is the message the painting gave to me once it was done. It was not complete until the final tree was put in place down front.

Down Front - 8/2009
36" X 29" in two panels
Oil on Panel

"Leaving Yonder" - is a painting of unusual dimension. I wanted a wide panorama for the subject. The painting is for the melancholy, the lonely, those separated from their family and other loved ones. The viewer must decide whether they are approaching a new shore after leaving their homeland for a new life in a land and country they have never been to before? Many have experienced this feeling but not so many anymore do so on board a ship. Or, is the viewer leaving their homeland and heading out to the open ocean for a voyage to a new life. Either way, they left their home over yonder.
Leaving Yonder - 9/2009
48" X 7.5"
Oil on Panel

Invasion and Chocolate's Fault

Invasion started to be one painting and ended another. I know it sounds "spooky" but once I started painting this piece, I could not stop even though I wanted to. I was compelled by the concept to continue until the panel was covered with paint. That is the way it works sometimes for me, a painting that has formed in my head forces it self out once I give it the chance by picking up a brush. It's like an invasion.

Invasion - 8/2009
31" X 30"
Oil on Panel

Unlike Invasion, Chocolate's Fault was planned out and came out pretty much the way I had pre-conceived the painting. The working title "It's Chocolate's Fault" was shortened for sake of better handling. The painting does not have a deep hidden meaning but is a lighthearted experience with a delectable nectar that we all love. We all run to and we all are chagrined when we imbibe too much. Blame it on chocolate, it always at fault and we love it.

Chocolate's Fault - 7/2009
48" X 36"
Oil on Canvas

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Looking Beyond and Spiderman's Kiss

Two new paintings.

"Trouble" - I do not have much of a story on this painting. Initially it was a study in warm to hot colors. It evolved and changed as it progressed and ended with shades of some cool colors. Even now, a possibility exists that it will be modified.

"Spiderman's Kiss" 7/2009
34" X 48"
Oil on Canvas

"Looking Beyond" - is another reinterpretation of a painting by John Karl Claes. Claes' painting is of a scene from a river valley in California. "Looking Beyond" has three sections with different dominate colors. "Looking Beyond" 5/2009
24" X 24"
Oil on Panel

Above

It's Above.
What is Above?
The title of the painting.

Why is it called Above?
Because that is what it is.

You are either looking at what is above or looking at whatever from above.

The painting is simple but the effect is powerful. Like the saying, half full or half empty, we are either above our circumstances or below them looking at what is above. What is above is hope, if it can be reached. What is above is where we are over the struggle of what we are above.

Look at it either way.

Above - 6/2009
30" X 30"
Oil on Canvas

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Fish Eyes and Owl Eyes

I'm posting two new paintings and they have a connection with one another - it is in the eyes.

The first painting "Fish Eyes View" will be entered in an on-line show with www.EBSQ.net. The show is an annual "Ripped Off" show where two artists agree to select one of the others pieces of art and create a new interpretation of it. The artist I am paired with, Nikki Soppelsa has selected my painting "Overload" and has created a collage of it. Collage art is something she does a lot of and does it very well. I have selected two watercolor paintings, each of a fish. A perch and a rainbow trout which I've combined the two into one painting and added a few things. The eyes of the original pieces were so captivating I've included them here is a surreal way. It was a challenge to get the eyes to a point of satisfaction for me.

Fish Eyes View - 2009

31 1/2" X 13 1/2"

Nikki Soppelsa's original fish in watercolor. "Rainbow" & "Fish Fry"

The painting below is titled, for the time being, "Owl". I started by painting a pair of eyes seeing how I might do it for the painting above. The painting then developed its own life and this is the result.

Owl - 2009
20" X 16"

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Alley Art at AlleyFest

We spent the weekend tending our booth at Alley Art, a part of AlleyFest - and annual celebration of the arts in East Texas. It was a positive experience even though we did not make more than one sale. I did sell the painting posted here - a painting I did on Sunday.

I decided to try my hand at acrylic paint since it would dry quickly and be less messy than oils. I actually completed three paintings but I will have to post the other two once I get a good photo of each of them.

This painting is more representational than abstract although it still has a great amount of my interpretation in it.

Flower Power - 2009
Acrylic on Canvas Sheet
16"X20"

These two untitled pieces are really exercises. I painted them on Saturday while at Alley Art. I like them now but wonder what I'll think of them in a few days or even weeks.

Untitled works - 2009
Acrylic on Canvas Sheet
Each 16 X 20

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Media Interview

This recent interview is posted on 1st Angle & Friends - a British based site for Artists of all kinds of art.