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.

Aproaching Storm

This is another painting that had a John Karl Claes painting as its genesis for an idea. The painting by Claes is a wonderful landscape with a straight canal dividing the painting. "Split" is the title of the original idea.

I gave it quite a different treatment. So much so that when one person saw this they thought they were looking up at a tall building on fire. Who knows...but that is something I really enjoy when someone sees something totally different that what I actually painted. The colors of course are different as I worked with mostly all warm colours.

Approaching Storm - 2009
Oil on Canvas
20" X 16"

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Nowhere Known

Using a painting from another artist can be challenging. When I do it I do not try to replicate the original. I paint my interpretation which generally changes most of the painting. This painting is after a 2003 painting by John Karl Claes called River Valley Spring - it is an 8 X 10 oil on panel. I used a 25 X 14 POUS (Panel Of Unusual Size).

Nowhere Known - 2009

25 X 14
Oil On Canvas

This is called "Nowhere Known" because I don't know where the sot is. I was asked, "Where was that painted" and I said, "Know where I know". So I gave it a title to answer all the times that question is or might be asked.

Only One

Sometimes a painting intends to be one thing and becomes something else. That is the case with this painting. "Only One" became a much better painting because as a result of changing the idea.

Only One...there is only one, none other exists to accomplish the greatest mystery of life.

Only One - 2009
Oil on Canvas
24" X 36"

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