Monday Morning

Oil on Panel
24 x 11

This is a painting about light. If you've been paying attention and have a really good memory you may remember this window from a watercolor of an old church posted a year or so ago. That was a foggy winter day, this is a bright, sunny day making for a completely different feeling. Light changes everything, and light is really what painting is all about, at least the way I paint. There's a saying that light defines color and texture and shadow defines form. Look at the wood textures in this piece. In the light the textures are much more defined and important. In the shadows the texture is more limited to the flaking paint. The shadows define the clapboards and the shape of the window in general. And look at the difference in color. The shadows are a warm almost uniform gray while the light is a mixture of light ochres and siennas. The color of the light is of the utmost importance in feel. This is a relatively warm light which would indicate a late spring or summer day, probably in the mid to late morning. If it were warmer it would make you feel like it was earlier morning, not long after sunup. The angle and length of the shadows would be an important indicator too. If it were a cooler light, it would be more likely to feel like a winter day. So if you look really closely and pay attention, it is entirely possible to tell an entire story with nothing but light. At the very least you can use it to define a mood in whatever you're trying to do.

If this is interesting to you, might I suggest you look at Giovanni Bellini's St Francis in Ecstasy in the Frick collection. He was one of the earlier users of light to unify a painting. In that one he uses a greenish light which really enhances the feeling of something out the ordinary going on. There's some real interesting compositional things going on too. One of my favorite all time paintings. Maybe it deserves a post all its own.

Flute Player

Silverpoint on prepared off white paper
12 x 9ish

You don't get many do overs in life, but that doesn't really apply to drawing. If it isn't right, throw it out and do it again until it is. This is a do over. I originally did it about a year ago when I was experimenting with copper instead of silver. I found out that it works, but I much prefer silver. Copper is harder and therefore leaves a lighter line so you really don't have much of a value range to work with. I couldn't tell that annealing helped in that area either. You might expect a different color line too, but that difference is so slight that you really have to look hard so that's not a factor. Plus there is the question of how it will oxidize. How would it look when used with silver? That's not something I can control, and I really won't know for several months if not years so that's a risk I'm not really willing to take. Anyway, what I wound up with was a rather faint image that was basically all right, but nothing to write home about. Since I liked the image and the model I thought it was worth taking another shot at it. This obviously, is the result.

Arches I and II

Oil on panel
22 x 11

Originally I thought this would make a really nice watercolor or gouache. Boy, was I wrong. Actually it probably would have if I hadn't screwed it up horribly. I once had a teacher that said watercolors were either really easy or absolutely impossible. Apparently this was one of the impossible ones, especially since I hadn't done one in a while. So rather than attempt the impossible I switched over to oil. I'm glad I didn't give up on the piece entirely. I really liked the pose. The arch of the back accentuated by the hair hanging down, and the arched doorway. And let's not forget the arched niche in the back wall. But once it was finished it looked a bit lonely. So it became one of a pair.


Oil on Panel
22 x 11

To do a set you want to have them be similar without being too similar. Same background, yes. Same, or at least similar dress, yes. Same model would have been nice, but she's moved on so I needed somebody else. Just as I was about to find a replacement model I stumbled across an older photo I had laying around waiting to be used. Could this work? I think so with a few alterations anyway. So what do you think, does it work as a companion piece? It's got some nice arches and arcs to it. The model is similar, although I think I could have made her just a bit taller. All in all, I rather like the way they came out.

Gallery Announcement

I am pleased to announce that I have been accepted into the Argonne Gallery. It's a brand new gallery here in the St Louis area, Kirkwood to be exact. The official public grand opening is August 9, but it's already open for business so if you're in the area please drop in.

Argonne Gallery
101A West Argonne Dr
Kirkwood, MO 63122
That's right across the street from the Kirkwood Train Station.

I've got three pieces there right now, two silverpoint drawings and a small oil.

River Icing

Oil on Canvas
19 x 36

Summer is most definitely here. It's hot and humid and nothing like the day I took the photo references for this painting. That day was about 10 degrees with a gentle wind wafting down the river from the north at about 100 miles an hour. It was freaking cold. Therefore this was not done on site from life. I guess I'm just not that dedicated. I did leave a nice warm house to walk along a frozen river though so I should get some points.

Longing

Silverpoint

I meant to post this months ago, but never got around to it for some reason, laziness maybe. I'm not really sold on the "Longing" title so if anybody has a better idea I'm open to it. This has always struck me as more of a drapery study with an incidental figure than a true figure drawing. I used to hate drawing drapery like this, but somewhere along the line I got to like it. I suppose it has something to do with the more you do, the easier it gets. By the way, the full size image is about the actual size of the drawing.

Bottom Land

7.25 x 18
Oil on Canvas

There's a lot of good farm land around here, good bottom land in the river valleys. This particular spot is probably under water right now with all the rain we've been having. Hopefully it will dry out before the planting season is over. It's already late.
A few years back a rails to trails project created the Katy Trail, a hiking/biking trail that goes most of the way across the state. This painting is from there. For the most part, if not entirely, it follows the Missouri River. So as you go along you have the river on one side and some pretty impressive river bluffs on the other. You can't see the river in this, but it's just on the other side of the trees. You also go through some of the river towns, many of which have wineries where you can catch your breath.
This is a very simple painting, just a few horizontal bands in effect. Hopefully it gives you a feeling of peace and stability, that's where I was going this time. Personally I like to keep things simple and create a space where one can stop and get away from the daily problems for a moment. Farm land is good for that. Maybe it's the Antaeus factor at work.

Sunflower Field

Oil on Canvas
15 x 36

As much as I love to draw let's break the string of drawings. This one was finished up not too long ago. It's a scene I wandered across last summer at a local wildlife reserve. I've been going to this place for as long as I can remember, at all times of the year, but I don't remember ever seeing fields of sunflowers like this. They always planted smallish fields of corn and other things that were mainly used as feed plots for the deer, geese and other assorted critters, but this was totally unexpected. Judging by the number of people that slowed down or stopped completely when they saw this field I wasn't the only one surprised.

White Lace Mask

silverpoint on bluish gray prepared paper heightened with gouache
8 x 6

A little while back I started an allegory of painting piece. ( I really need to get back into that seriously again.) Part of that allegory involves a masked woman, a subject that I found fascinating as it turns out. I'm not really sure why this is, but it seems to be a fairly widespread fascination. I suppose it has something to do with mystery, or hiding yourself and becoming someone else for a while. I'll leave you to ponder that yourself. This is one of the drawings from what is turning out to be a series of masked and veiled women. I liked the soft, lacy look of this mask. It made the perfect subject for silverpoint.

This mask in particular was made by the model who just happens to run eyefeather.com . So if you are ever in need of a mask you might want to take a look at her site. She's got all kinds of masks for all kinds of occasions.

Morning

silverpoint heightened with gouache on bluish gray prepared paper
9 x 6

Another little silverpoint drawing. So the question is does the world really need another picture of a woman looking out a window? I thought one more probably wouldn't hurt.