Friday, April 30, 2010

Leave those lights off!

I tried something new here. I started this painting in the evening using the less than optimal artificial studio light. I can see contrasts better in this low light, but I can't see the color as well..........its kinda like seeing a black and white while painting with color. It causes me to key up the color higher so I can see it in the dark. (am I making any sense???)

Anyways, this is a result....a simple hotdog that just comes screaming off the board with color and dimension. I call it "One on a Bun". So lets eat!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I Scream.........We ALL Scream (I hope)

How fun is this? I've been looking for a new subject and something clicked banana split into mind. I don't know if it was a TV show or just the fact that I really wanted some ice cream, but it seemed "different". So I had an expendable board here in the studio, and away I went. I really built up the paint thickness to the point where I can almost taste the sweetness, just looking at it.
Another thing that pleases me with this piece which I call "Banana Split" is that I'm starting to develop a "style" and a wham factor that makes you want to reach out and touch the piece. Wonder whats on the menu for tomorrow? j

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I miss my wife


I wanted to post my most recent piece here today, but I left my camera at a neighbors up the street. So anyways...........I like sunflowers, and sunshine. When I set out to paint this 14" x 18" last week, I wanted nice happy yellows and blues. I call it "Happiness". And it did make me happy for a bit.........
I need something new to work on, and all the doors seem closed. And as I wander around in the dark, off to the left something finds me. If I can remember to bring my camera home.......tomorrow we'll all have Ice Cream!!.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Searching...........




I did some sketches of Tea pots, as I am starting to like the way some of my flower pots are translating in my paintings. I thought maybe keep the pots and make them the subject. So I tried a couple little 8" x 10"s and I got this happy little painting called "A Light Breakfast".
The evening one I called "Elegance" as it has a porcelain look to it. Don't know if they will translate into larger works, but they were fun.

J

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Where do I start (again)

This is the last bigger piece I finished before a 10 day "real work" hiatus. It's pretty hard for me to get back in the studio and resume production after a layoff..........which is funny because when I am away and can't paint I have all these wonderful ideas of what I will do when I get home. Its hard to get the "positive" energy flowing. Sometimes a total change in subject will do it, but I really have to push myself into the studio and in front of the easel.
Well before the day is over I will run out of "one more things" to do and will get out the paint. Again I feel I should be saying more than I am with my work. later

Monday, April 12, 2010

Did Van Gogh know?

Sometimes I look at my finished work and think, "Boy this is pretty good". And I've looked a whole web page of my work and gone "wow". Then you look another day.............and "I don't know..."
So I wonder, when Van Gogh painted his masterpieces, did he finish one and say "that's a masterpiece" ?? Did he know?
Who tells the artist......."That's a masterpiece", or even "That's pretty good" And would we listen, even if they did.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

We're having leftovers

Did this little 8 x 10 with some paint I had left over on my palette after I was finished working on a larger piece. Paint is so expensive here, I just hate to waste it. It seems to be receiving response from the people who see it. Why? I don't really know. For some reason this piece of art has a more universal communication. ?
j

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Funny how it happens

Needed a break from flowers today, so I decided to try this little landscape. I always see scenes which I photograph and think what marvelous paintings they would make. Then I get back to the studio, and labor to the point of paralysis, on how to make a painting that will have the ability to move people the way the original scene inspired me. No picture is perfect.......no scene is perfect. These defects will show in the painting more so than in the actual scene. This is what causes me to struggle with landscapes. My confidence in my ability to "bend" reality into a good solid painting. I can say I'm pleasantly surprised how this little landscape sort of popped up out of nowhere.
I look at how my ability to paint has improved over the years, and how far I've come. Step by frustrating step. I guess my paintings are like this blog.............You always wish you knew if anyone was out there listening, it would make communicating so much more fun.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Another view point

Sometimes I feel like I'm painting the same thing over and over. Sometimes I feel I should really have "something to say" above and beyond "color". This happens when sales are slow and my inventory starts to pile up, and I think, "Why should I paint more flowers when I have a whole stack of them filling my studio already?"
When this happens, I like to look at the work of some of the Expressionist painters I really admire, for both the courage to try new subjects, and just plain inspiration. I really have trouble painting a painting that I don't think people will "get" or one I don't think someone would buy. I constantly worry about wasting paint or canvases on work I want to do, instead .....I paint something that will sell. I remember seeing a film on Picasso, and he had stacks and stacks of blank canvases in his studio. He would start a work and if it didn't pan out, he would just set it aside, pick up a new canvas and start again. How wonderful would that be. I just about cry when I have to order $100.00 worth of paint, and I very seldom do a large piece of work because of the expense of the canvas, and the possibility that the piece will sit in my studio for the rest of my/its life.
This painting I have here is called "Viewpointe". Its only on a 14 x 18 board. How wonderful, and what magnitude, and majesty it might have attained on a 48 x 60 canvas. Where's my blue paint?