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Archive for May, 2015

À La Mer

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- À La Mer smIt was a good trip down to Alexandria yesterday.  I was there to deliver the the work for my show, Native Voice, which opens this coming Friday, June 5, at the Principle Gallery there on historic King Street.

It’s always a good feeling to get the work safely into the gallery for any show.  There’s a sense of relief  in this step in the process of letting the work move on to their new lives but there is also a bit of excitement in seeing the work in the gallery environment, to have the staff get their first look and to see how the work itself looks within the space.

For the entire time I have shown with the Principle Gallery, in my 19th year now, the walls of the main gallery space were painted in a burnt orange color, one that really highlighted and complemented the color of my work and may have even, in some small way, influenced the direction of my work’s color palette over the years. But a freshening makeover of the space this past year brought a new wall color, a slightly warm shade of white.

At my first look at it in September, I was fearing that the color would be too cool, too stark.  But seeing it again yesterday, alleviated those concerns and it seems to have gained warmth and I am excited to that the new work, mostly deeply colored with a number of larger pieces, will definitely pop on the new walls.  In fact, the wall color is not to far removed from the wall color of the Fenimore Art Museum gallery where my work hung in 2012 and I was very pleased with how that worked out.

One of those pieces is the one shown at the top, a 24″ by 24″ painting on linen that I call À La Mer which translates from the French as To the Sea.  I like the mix of motion and stillness in this piece with its sky that could almost be an extension of the sea’s movement with ripples of color running through it.  There’s just something tranquil in the way the eye moves toward the sea in this piece, a feeling that very much reminds me of the tone of the old French song La Mer (The Sea) which is better known here in the US by the wonderful version in English from Bobby Darin, Beyond the Sea.

So, of course, for this Sunday’s musical selection I have chosen a version of La Mer, this one by French Canadian singer Chantal Chamberland.  I hope you’ll enjoy it and take that feeling into the rest of your day.  Have a great Sunday!

 

 

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Clair de Lune

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 29, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Clair de Lune smI was going to take a day off from the blog.  After all, it’s the final day in the studio for the work in my solo show, Native Voice,  that will be heading down to the Principle Gallery in Alexandria tomorrow.  This is always both a day filled with stress and great relief.  There is still much to do on this day but in what seems like an instant it is suddenly done and I let out a great sigh of satisfaction in that the task has been completed, which is always easier when I feel good about the work that I am doing and that is the case with this show.

So the idea of taking the day off on this busy day was appealing.  But I wanted to really show this piece, a 24″ by 30″ canvas that I call Clair de Lune after the famous DeBussy piece.  I was searching for a title for this painting and was stuck, wanting to steer it away from references to the blue hues in it, when this song came up on the Pandora station to which I was listening.  It was a version by pianist Michael Dulin.  As the music played , I could almost see it meshing with the colors of this painting, the calming tones of the music resting easily in the blues and greens of it.

It just felt right. It fit.  So give a listen and take a look.  Maybe you’ll see what I saw.  Now it’s back to work for me– much to do before I travel tomorrow.

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The Animating Presence

Posted in Biographical, Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , on May 28, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- The Anmating Presence smSometimes I am a little hesitant in showing certain paintings here on the blog.  Sometimes their photographed images just don’t fully convey the impact or depth of the work.

Take the painting shown above for an example.  Titled The Animating Presence, it produces a strong  initial impact with its large size– 20″ by 60″ on canvas— and its deep colors and textures.  The photo captures the colors (although not the depth within the colors) and a mere fraction of the texture but the  power in its size is lost on the smaller screen.  It is still a strong image but most people would be surprised at how truly different the actual painting comes across in person.

I showed this painting here a few months back in an early stage, shown now at the bottom.  The landscape was laid out in the red oxide paint I use for my underpainting and the sky with its first several layers of color, the emotional atmosphere of the piece beginning to take shape.  Many, many more layers produced the sky as it now looks above.  There are layers that are almost completely obscured, perhaps with only a tiny glimmer of it coming through here and there.  Looking at it, you may not be aware of it but its presence is vital to me, giving the whole thing the depth and life force that I seek in it.

And maybe that last sentence is a good way of explaining the title, The Animating Presence.  The more I worked on this piece, the more I began to feel as though the Red Tree was in some sort of communion with a greater power in this painting, represented by the light breaking over the horizon.

This is always a hard thing to explain for me.  As I have explained in the past, I was not brought up with religion of any sort.  I was never indoctrinated in any sort of system of faith, never led to have either belief or disbelief.  I was just here, neither a believer or an atheist.  But looking at the world I had a sense that there was something more, some unseen source of power that sparked all life and consciousness.  It wasn’t a benevolent god sitting on a throne in some heaven pulling the strings on human events and listening to our prayers.  No, it was more a matter of physics and light and energy, an unseen force that permeated everything– an animating presence.

Now, a couple of hundred words can’t really sum up the whole of  what I am describing or even what I see in this painting.  But it is this struggle to come to terms with this idea of that presence that I see in this painting.  That like those unseen layers of paint in the sky which give depth to the painting, one’s life is given meaning by an unseen force that we may never fully know or understand.

You can see this painting at the Principle Gallery at my Native Voice show,

2015-gc-myers-wip animating presence

 

 

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Quote of the Week/ To Dare

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on May 27, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers Time to Reflect smIt is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has oneself prevented from becoming realities.  A possibility is a hint from God.  One must follow it.  In every man there is latent the highest possibility, one must follow it.  If God does not wish it then let him prevent it, but one must not hinder oneself.  Trusting to God I have dared, but I was not successful; in that is to be found peace, calm and confidence in God.  I have not dared: that is a woeful thought, a torment in eternity.

–Søren Kierkegaard

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There is nothing I can add, except to point out that the image at the top is another new painting, a smaller 9″ by 12″ canvas called Time to Reflect, that is part of my Native Voice exhibit which opens on June 5 at the Principle Gallery.

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Eureka

Posted in Influences, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on May 26, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- EurekaI am in the final days of prep work for my upcoming show, Native Voice, at the Principle Gallery, which opens next Friday, June 5.  This will be my 16th show at the Alexandria gallery so my routine in finishing up in these few last days is pretty set.  Even so, it’s a hectic rush to get everything done.  For instance, even as I am framing I am still finishing up my final photography of the work.

For instance, just this morning I shot the 24″ by 30″ painting on canvas shown at the top.  I had photographed it before but the lighting  coupled with the blue tones made it a less than desirable photo, not really representative of the actual painting. But this one seems to hit the mark, capturing the blues in their actuality.

I call this painting Eureka.  The word is from the Greek, meaning “I have found it ” and was most famously attributed to Archimedes who upon sitting in a hot bath noticed that his body displaced an equal volume of water which meant that the volume of irregular objects could then be accurately measured.  That was not an easy thing to do around 250 BC.

But over the years, the word eureka has come to signify any great moment of discovery.  California uses it as their state motto after its use in the gold strikes of the mid 19th century.

In this painting, the bursting light which forms a corona around the Red Tree signifies a moment of  great recognition of some heretofore hidden truth, a discovery that forever alters one’s perspective of the world and their place in it.  It was not painted with this intent but the fact that the light is bursting from out of the blue of the sky is no small coincidence.  That is how these eureka moments normally reveal themselves– unannounced with little forewarning.

I’ve been fortunate to have one or two of these moments.  Well, one for sure.  And in that instance, I certainly felt like I was suddenly standing ablaze in the darkness that had surrounded me.  This piece really captures that instance for me.

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Memorial Day/ Ben McCulloch

Posted in Music, Opinion, tagged , , , , , , on May 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Civil War Soldier DageurrotypeMemorial Day weekend.  I’m no historical anthropologist so I can’t be completely certain when I say that I don’t believe there is any one group of people on this planet who have not been touched by war in some significant way. The history of this world has been written in the bloody ink of war.

A few years back, when I began doing genealogy for the families of my wife and myself, I was surprised at the many, many generations in each line who had taken part in the wars of their times, putting their lives aside to give so much of themselves– in some cases, their very lives– for causes that often might have been mere abstractions to them.

Part of me is proud that these people have answered the call to be a small part in something bigger.  But another part of me is simply sad to think that they were called on to give so much in  order to satisfy or deny the baser motives of those in power.  War has usually been about greed and acquisition, nationalistic pride or ethnic and religious hatred– in each instance proposed with the greatest conviction and certainty by the leaders of each side of the cause.

And on Memorial Day, we remember the people who actually fulfilled the pleas of these leaders, be they right or wrong.  These citizens did what they were asked and what they felt was necessary in their time and place.  And I have nothing but respect for that.

For today’s image, I chose the daguerreotype of the Civil War soldier at the top because there was something in him that seemed to show the sacrifice of war.  Maybe it’s the steely stare of his eyes.  Or maybe it was his belt that is cinched in to what looks to be a ridiculously tiny diameter, showing how emaciated he appears to be.  I’m not exactly sure but there is something in him that seems contemporary, less dated.

And for today’s Sunday musical selection, I have chosen the song Ben McCulloch from Steve Earle.  It tells the story of two brothers who enlist in the Confederate Army in the Civil War and discover the hard realities of war as they serve under General McCulloch, who was a real person who died in battle in 1862.  The chorus probably echos the sentiments of many soldiers through time for their commanding officers as they face overwhelming odds.

So have a great Sunday and a Memorial Day filled with some appreciation of what the day really encompasses.

 

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Concordia

Posted in Painting, Personal Mythology, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on May 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers-Concordia smThe title of this new painting, 36″ by 36″ on canvas. is Concordia, which is a Latin word for harmony as well as the name of the Roman goddess of harmony.  It translates literally as with one heart which I felt was really appropriate for this piece based on the role that the Red Tree has played in my career.

The beginning of the Red Tree is often asked about at the gallery talks I give and I usually just describe the chronology of its emergence in my work, how it was little more than a compositional element in the beginning, something that brought a central focus to the painting.  But describing what the Red Tree has evolved into for myself over the years in terms of its meaning is sometimes difficult to explain in the moment at these talks.

Yes, it is still a mere element that brings the eye to the center around which everything else in the painting more or less revolves.  In that respect, it is the sun in its own solar system.  But over time I have come to recognize that the Red Tree is the exposed heart of my work, the emotional center that speaks out to the world in a way I never could as myself.

It is a heart that seeks harmony in its existence, to be at one with the world.

With one heart.

Concordia.

________

This painting will be part of my solo show Native Voice which opens two weeks from today, June 5,  at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria. VA.

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Quote of the Week: James Thurber

Posted in Opinion, Quote, tagged , , on May 21, 2015| 2 Comments »

He knows all about art, but he doesn’t know what he likes.

–James Thurber

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James Thurber Cartoon Art CriticThis may not technically qualify as a quote but who cares?  The message in this cartoon from the great James Thurber is so simply put and true and that’s what I am looking for in a good quote.

 And art.

That’s what I like.

In the past I’ve talked about how many people are intimidated by the idea of art, feeling that they don’t know anything about art.  This leaves them not trusting their own eyes and their own reactions to any given piece of art.

And that is a pity because art is mainly about the reaction to it.  Art is a reactive agent, reaching out and stirring something in the viewer.  All of the knowledge in the world about a piece of art cannot make you like that piece of work if it doesn’t first strike that chord that raises some sort of emotional response within you.

And I think most of us know within a few moments whether a work of art speaks to us or leaves us cold.  The trick comes in recognizing this realization and feeling okay with it.

I’ll admit that there are many celebrated works of art out there that do absolutely nothing for me.  They may have historical importance or elements of beauty or great craftsmanship in them but they simply don’t raise any emotional response within me.

I might be able to appreciate them but the bottom line is that I don’t like them, plain and simple.  That doesn’t mean I’m right or wrong.  It just means I know what I like.

And I accept that criteria from anybody, even with my own work.  While it would be nice to think that it speaks to everyone, I know this is an impossibility.  I’ve had people tell me that they didn’t like my work– in polite and respectful terms, thankfully– and I’m okay with that.

They know what they like.  And that’s good enough for me.

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Odyssey

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on May 20, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- Odysssey smI am in the last stages of preparation for my solo show at the Principle Gallery that I will be delivering at the end of next week.  As I’ve documented here many times in the past, it’s a very hectic time as I put the finishing touches on the last few paintings as I simultaneously begin the process of making the work show-ready.  That entails photographing and varnishing paintings, staining frames, cutting mats and glass then putting it all together so that each piece shows itself at its best.

It is a sometimes daunting task, one that has a much different tempo and thought process than the actual act of painting.  With painting there is an almost meandering journey taking place as the mind drifts during the act, sometimes sharply focusing and sometimes going blank as intuition takes over.  There are pauses and rests along the way as the painting takes shape.

But preparing the work to leave the studio is straightforward and far less cerebral.  Just put your head down and power through the task in front of you then on to the next and the next.  Drone work.

But one of the gifts in doing this is being able to handle and spend time with each painting once more, to stop for a few moments and really look deeply at each for what might be a last time.  There’s something very fulfilling in this part of process as each piece takes on a sense of completeness and acquires its own voice, becomes an entity beyond me.

That’s definitely the sense I got when I was photographing the painting above yesterday.  It’s a 16″ by 40″ canvas that didn’t have a name but looking at it closely yesterday it reminded me of a long and arduous journey, one that winds through mountains and across seas in search of home.  And there on a prominent peak was the Red Tree, looking patiently out to sea like Penelope scanning the horizon for the return of Odysseus. In an instant that was the voice of that painting for me.

I call this piece Odyssey.

And now, like Homer’s travelers, I must return to my own odyssey.  There is must to do before I rest…

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“Native Voice” Preview

Posted in Motivation, Neat Stuff, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on May 19, 2015| 4 Comments »

American Art Collector GCM Article May 2015 sIn the new June issue of American Art Collector, there’s a nice preview of my upcoming solo show, Native Voice, which is opening June 5 at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

It’s a brief overview of the show and my career as well as the significance of the show’s title to me.  Most pleasing to me is the fact that the three paintings they chose to display in the article show themselves very well , giving what I think is a good indicator of the look and feel of this show.

Another pleasing aspect is a short paragraph, written by a couple from the Bay Area of California who collect my paintings, which describes their views on the work. As an artist, it’s always interesting to get a view of how people honestly react to what you’re doing.  And for myself, it’s great to  get  affirmation that the belief I have in the reality of the internal world I am trying to express in my work has translated successfully and is coming across as a similar reality to others.  That’s very heartening and inspiring to me in the studio.

That being said, it’s time I get back to work.  There’s still much work to be done before the show is complete.

 

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