Reflection

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. What have I been doing to make time go so fast? Well, I'm back, didn't die or anything serious like that.


Silverpoint
12 x 12

Another silverpoint for today's offering. First let me thank the lovely Elandria for being such a wonderful model and providing me with some beautiful reference shots to work from. Lanny, you're the best. (Don't tell the other models I said that.) Yes, I work from photos, I'm no purist. I'm also really slow, especially with silverpoint.

I don't really have anything to say about this today. Maybe I could go into the use of photos as reference or talk about my speed or the lack thereof, but I think I'll save those for another day when my thoughts are, well, more thought out. The drawing alone will have to do for today. I'm fresh out of wisdom. Here's a little detail too. Click on it to see what it looks like in actual size.

Good Weather Coming?

Oil on Panel
8.5 x 10.5

Spring is finally here. Flowers are coming up, trees are blooming, I'm getting itchy to go and paint out in the fresh air. My pochade box is all ready to go. Did I mention it's really cold, raining and snow is expected this afternoon and tonight? Well I've got basketball to watch today anyway.

If anybody else finds themselves stuck indoors today I just finished a book that may be of interest, The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber. It's one of those rot your brain fiction books, but it's pretty good. I saw a lot of me in it which is really rather disturbing considering the main character has a tenuous hold on reality. Basically it's about a truly talented artist (that's not the part that reminds me of me) that finds himself cranking out advertising junk when he is approached to take part in a clinical study on creativity. In the process he has a bit of a break with reality and becomes Velasquez where he forges a piece similar to the Rokeby Venus, or did he just imagine it?. It gets into questions of perceived realities and asks some pretty good questions about the art world and art itself. Anyway, I liked it.

River Access

Oil on canvas
18 x 36

This is an older piece that I have never been able to photograph adequately. Well, this is about as good as it's going to get. The problem now is that I think I've improved a bit in the interim, and I really think I could do this better. I like the spot and the overall feel so maybe I that's a good reason to do it again.

A couple things came together in the last few weeks, and I thought they might be of interest. First I was asked to provide an artist's statement by two different places. Personally, I've never cared much for artist's statements simply because I've always felt that if the artist has to explain what he or she is doing it isn't being done very well. Perhaps I'm just a simple soul or just not evolved enough. So what am I trying to do with these things? The answer seems simple enough. I'm trying to take the viewer to a place in time and space where a feeling, emotion or thought will be evoked. To touch the viewer in some way; I always thought that was the object of art. I could be wrong about that. Again, I'm just a simple soul.

The second thing was a post on the Gurney Journey about filling in. link Strangely enough "filling in" refers to just what I am aiming to do, allow the viewer to enter a painting, and wander around and feel something. I had no idea there was an actual term for this. It was pointed out that this can lead to sentimentality. Yeah, I suppose so, but as long as the sentiment is real and not taken to the point of sappiness is that really such a bad thing?

So to come full circle and mention this particular painting, (it's not that bad after all, is it?) I'm hoping you'll want to get in a boat and see what's around the bend. Maybe see what's on the far shore or pick up a fishing pole and try your luck. How'd I do?

Summer's End

Watercolor
22 x 15

I know this isn't exactly what you would call timely considering it's closer to the end of winter, but maybe it's just what we need to shake off the cold. Perhaps I'm ahead of my time or lost in the past or just totally screwed up.

This is the first watercolor I've done in a while so there was potential for disaster. A lot of watercolor depends on "feel" that comes from doing. Is the paper wet enough, dry enough? It's real easy to lose that feel so I was pleasantly surprised at this outcome. It's also a composite of a landscape reference with a model reference. Around here when you see a log like that, you can be pretty sure there will be turtles laying on it catching some sun. Personally, I think this is much better.

Here's a detail of the figure for anyone interested in details. It's about actual size, maybe a touch smaller.

Moonlit Dreams

Silverpoint
7 1/2 x 12

I don't know exactly which way to go with this post, but I do want to put something up today so I think I'll just offer this drawing without comment. There's some good things about it that I like, and as always, there are some things that could be better. You decide which is which today. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

River Bank

First off I'd like to announce the opening of Show Me Handmade. I've added a link over in my other pages section that has all the information of location, store hours and what kind of things they have including some of my work. The grand opening is scheduled for March 7, but they're already open so if you're in the neighborhood drop in. There's a variety of art related stores there in the mall that are or will soon be opening. That takes care of the business for today. On to what you're here for.


Oil on Canvas
18 x 30

I may be sorry I posted this one. It's one of those that I can't quite decide if I like or not. There are some things that aren't too bad, but overall something, like a reason to be looking at it, just seems to be missing. I had thought about putting a figure on the bank either walking into the scene or looking out over the river, but neither of those worked too well. Then I thought about flashing a tree with some bright early fall color, but that stuck out too much. So I muted that tree some and that's where we are now. What do you think, yes or no?

Since I don't quite know what to say regarding this let's talk about something related to this piece. Around here there is an activity practiced by a few called sandbar archeology. Rivers rise and rivers fall. When they go down all kinds of things are revealed. Most of it is junk of course, but some is quite old dating back to Lewis and Clark and beyond. In most cases of archeology if you find something it should really be left in place and reported just in case there is some real historic significance. On the river though if you find it, it's yours simply because there's no telling where it washed down from. In this picture the river is low. That "beach" is usually under a couple feet of water. If you're wondering, I didn't find a thing. You usually don't. That just makes the occasional find that much better.

Vanity

Silverpoint on off white prepared paper
12 x 10

I haven't put up a silverpoint in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing any. There's actually a backlog to get out, so if you like silver keep looking in, they're coming. Come to think of it there's a lot of things to be posted. I'm not really a big fan of talking about my work. In a business where promotion (primarily self promotion) is important that presents a bit of a problem. Something else to work on.

One thing about having all these silverpoints sitting around is that I've had a chance to look at them in a variety of lighting situations. I wasn't feeling too well a couple weeks ago so I got lazy and just laid around in bed. As the sun crossed the sky the difference in lighting really affected the drawings. That's not all that unusual, I've noticed the same thing in oil paintings that have a lot of glazing on them, but this difference was enough to be remarkable. I suppose it was a matter of reflection or glare because the majority of change took place in the darker range of values. As you probably know silverpoint lines aren't terribly dark. I'd say it's comparable to a 2H pencil depending on the ground used. However I find that to be dark enough for most images, and it turns out that in the right lighting conditions that can be pretty dark especially if it's just used as an accent. It's certainly dark enough to make an image pop. At any rate I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by some of the recent pieces. Considering that I usually am not all that satisfied with my work, it makes a fella think. Maybe I'm just mellowing in my old age.

On one of the forums I look in on somebody mentioned that she couldn't see any lines on the drawing I posted, just smooth tones. Well there are lines there, a bunch of them, trust me. Here's a couple details that are roughly life size to show the level of finish. Maybe someone will find them interesting.

Early Morning Tree

Oil on canvas
16 x 12

No mythology, mysticism or any other m-words today, just a picture of a tree. This time its early morning, the sun is just rising and the ground fog is burning off. That's actually one of my favorite times of day, if only it didn't come so early. Well, you can't have everything. I'm not really sure what to say about this painting. It's not earth shattering in composition, color, paint handling or anything else for that matter, but it does do what I wanted it to do. It gives that feeling of the early morning quite when the world is just waking up. At least I think it does. One comment I should make is that, on my screen at least, it's coming out a half step lighter and higher in chroma than in real life. The coloring is really pretty subtle. One of these days I'll figure out the differences between all these picture programs.

Lone Oak

Oil on Canvas
12 x 16

I used to think a tree was just a tree. Then I grew older and possibly wiser, and found that trees were much more. At one time I was real big into bonsai trees. I still am but not to the same extent. There's a distinctly romantic component to bonsai. One tree is supposed to represent all of nature. Ideally it will take you away to a place.

Many bonsai artists also begin to dig into some of the folklore regarding trees. Let's take a brief look at the oak. The oak was considered the cosmic storehouse of wisdom by the ancient Celts due to its growth and expanse, and was honored for its endurance and noble presence. The wearing of oak leaves was a symbol of honor in several cultures such as the Greeks and Romans and is even continued on today in military medals (oak leaf clusters in lieu of duplicate medals). Sometimes the name druid is traced back to the Celtic term for the oak, duir. The usual translation for duir is door though. According to lore the spiritual Celts would "access the ethereal planes of higher thought" (visions and such) by "opening the oak door." Further merit was given the oak as a consequence of it's apparent ability to attract lightning. Personally I'm not so sure I would consider this a plus especially if I were a tree, but then I'm not a druid. The oak is said to represent "all that is true, wholesome, stable and noble." So if you're having a rough day picture the oak and draw into its strength.

Not much about art today I'm afraid, but maybe this was interesting anyway. So what do you think of all this? Does this painting give you any of those feelings? Nobility and strength cutting through the mist maybe. If it doesn't I guess I screwed up or maybe sometimes a tree is just a tree.

If you're interested in the symbolism of trees and other assorted things you might want to drop by www.whatyoursign.com

Sunrise

Oil on Panel
5.5 x 12

Let's get back to some of these little landscapes I mentioned a while back. I've tried to stay away from the pretty, calendar art landscapes in my work, but I find that the last three I've done are just that, two sunsets and now a sunrise. This is the flashiest of the bunch, and as such it almost makes me cringe. Well, if the Hudson River painters could do it, I guess I can too, at least I can try and see how well they are received.

I thought I had more to say about this, but I can't think of what it would be. So there you go, first post of the year.