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Archive for the ‘Painting’ Category

Dimming of the Day

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Painting, tagged , , , , on October 25, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers-Dimming of the DaySometimes on a Sunday morning I find myself surfing around on YouTube trying to find a song that strikes me just right, something that wants  to be shared  as my Sunday morning music.  Today it started in one spot that had me listening to 60’s music then the blues and prison songs from the 1920’s and 30’s that influenced them then back to other newer versions.  Then I somehow found myself listening to funk and acid jazz— actually, a term I had never heard before so I couldn’t resist at least a short listen.  It wasn’t for me so I moved on and before I knew it I was back at one of my favorites, Richard Thompson.

I chose one of his classics, Dimming of the Day, a song that has been covered many times by a multitude of artists.  Just a beautiful song.  This version is from its original incarnation when he was still recording with his then wife Linda Thompson.

But looking for an image to accompany the post my eyes fell on the painting shown at the top.  Originally titled Fragments, it was back in the studio after a few years making the rounds of the galleries.  It’s one of the pieces that I feel strongly about  but doesn’t find a home quickly.  There have been a few of these through the years and this one always made me wonder what it was about it that kept it from finding that home.  But looking at it while this song played made me realize that it needed a different title, one that perhaps fit it a bit better.  And Dimming of the Day seemed so right for it, both in tone and meaning.  Why not?  So I changed the title this morning and this painting is now  the same as the song.

And it feels complete  to me now.

Here’s the song from Richard and Linda Thompson. The track finishes with a beautiful instrumental track, Dargai.  Enjoy and have a great day.

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Bag of Tools

Posted in Motivation, Neat Stuff, Painting, Poetry, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on October 20, 2015| 5 Comments »

GC Myers- Blocked 2015 smIsn’t it strange how princes and kings,
and clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
and common people, like you and me,
are builders for eternity?

Each is given a list of rules;
a shapeless mass; a bag of tools.
And each must fashion, ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a Stepping-Stone.

–R. L. Sharpe

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I came across the short poem, Bag of Tools, above recently and it caught my eye with its simple yet insightful message.  Looking deeper, into it, I found that it is often quoted and there are even videos of people reciting it, including one with Maggie Smith that was used in an ad for a large bank.

But who was the author , this R. L. Sharpe and when was it written?

There is little info on the poet and I have seen the poem dated 1890 as well as 1809, although I felt the earlier date was just a misinterpretation of the 1890. date.  So after a bit of digging, I came across  one little blurb on a forum that stated about the poet:

He was born in the 1870s and died in the 1950s.
For years he worked with his father, Edwin R. Sharpe,
who owned The Carrollton Free Press and a printing shop in Carrollton, Georgia.
In his later years he traveled a lot, mostly freelancing for magazines
of the ’20s and ’30s.

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the info although I have seen a number of references from books of the early 20th century with attributions from an R’L. Sharpe in Carrolton , GA.  I wonder if he ever realized the possibility that his words would one day become so widespread?  He obviously fashioned a stepping-stone.

The painting at the top is a new piece, 8″ by 8″ on paper, that I call Blocked.  It seems to fit…

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Homecoming

Posted in Early Paintings, Painting, tagged , , on October 13, 2015| 2 Comments »

1999 GC Myers TangoI was recently alerted that three of older pieces, pre-2000 and pre-Red Tree, were available at an antique shop in western Virginia, part of a recently acquired estate.  Looking into this, I found that they were indeed my paintings, including one, Tango (above), that was a favorite of mine from that time.

They were also mistakenly identified as prints, probably due to the numbering on the back that identifies the year and sequence of the painting.  Also, I was  painting on a smooth surface so there wasn’t a lot of evident surface texture.  To the the casual observer they might appear to be prints.  I used to have people ask about that a lot in those days.

As a result of mistaking them for prints they were priced at a very low price, far below what they were worth.  I was torn between the idea of contacting the shop to alert them that these were not prints and my desire to have these pieces back with me as I don’t have much work from this time, almost all of it having found new homes long ago.  Plus, the idea of having Tango return was exciting to me.  It’s one of those pieces that really stand out in my mind from that time and I wanted to see how it had aged over the past 16 years or so.

I decided that we would buy them back without notifying the seller of their mistake.  I don’t know if that was wrong but the shop had failed to do any research and were devaluing the work by their omission.   I looked at this as a way of taking them off the market at the devalued price that they asked.

They arrived last week and it was such a thrill to see them again.  The framing for Tango was in an older style, stained a deep green that I stopped using not too long after this time.  But it was tight and clean and the painting was just as I remembered it, actually a bit sharper and brighter than my memory.  It held up as well as I had hoped it might and that was satisfying.

A pleasant homecoming.  I don’t think I will let this one go again…

 

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Every Picture Tells a Story

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , on October 11, 2015| 4 Comments »

mark_rothkoIt is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted […] There is no such thing as good painting about nothing.

—Mark Rothko

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I have often said, often without much grace, that the subject for a painting is secondary, not really that important so long as the painting says something, expresses feeling and evokes emotion within the viewer.  I think the work of Mark Rothko is a good example of this sentiment. They are simple of blocks of opposing colors set one over the other or, as in the case of the piece above, one alongside another.

Seemingly without subject.

Seemingly about nothing.

But as Rothko states, there is no such thing as a good painting about nothing.  And this is a good painting.  It allows the viewer’s own emotions into its space, lets their own story become the story and subject of this work.  That space is the subject and purpose of this work.

So, every picture does tell a story.  Some dictate the story, forcing the viewer to follow a set storyline through the picture as though they were the plot of a murder-mystery novel.  Others do so like a song or poetry, evoking feeling with a suggestion or a gentle nudge.  The viewer here is complicit in the fulfillment of the art.

For myself, I prefer the latter but have enjoyed works with more obvious subjects.  Perhaps not as deeply felt but enjoyable nonetheless.  I still question where my work falls on this scale.  I am sure it has been both and I know I am much more satisfied when it appears more poetic.  But being able to dictate the nature of the work is often beyond me.  It sometimes appears in the poetic form seemingly on its own, without my direction.

And that is most satisfying.  And elusive.

All this being said is mere pretense for this week’s Sunday Morning Music.  It’s a cover of Rod Stewart‘s classic song, Every Picture Tells a Story, done by the Georgia Satellites back in 1986.  I always liked their version of this song and hope it’ll kick off your Sunday on a high note.  Have a great day!

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October Sky

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on October 3, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- October SkyThis is a new painting that I have been working on recently.  It’s a 24″ by 24″ canvas that has a working title of October Sky.  It has nothing to do with the movie of that title — the one about how Homer Hickam, the son of a West Virginia coal miner. overcame long odds to become a rocket scientist.  I’m not fully sure of the reason for the title except that during the time I was painting  this the sky was gray and rainy.  The title just seemed to emotionally fall to this piece but that might change as I live with it.

And it’s a piece that I like living with right now.

It’s darker tones and clashing, interweaving lines satisfy something in me at this time.  There’s part of me that feels that I need to bring more light into it but  I find myself wondering if that is just a remnant of my past experience with my dark work from the aftermath of 9/11  that was not as well received as my lighter and more brightly colored work of that time.  It was my first experience working on a dark base and it took time for me to develop the style I use now where I create more color and light on the surface, far more than was on those earlier pieces.

So I have become accustomed to working past stages where the darkness is still strong in my work, sometimes when I am deeply drawn tot he darker aspects of the work.

And this is one such piece.  Looking at it now, I think it might be diminished by going too much further into the light.  But that is at just this moment and might change.  This is one of those pieces that require deliberation, time to ponder the painting’s real point of existence and feeling.  Some pieces announce themselves before the last strokes are even considered and others are more ambiguous.

And it is this ambiguity that I think gives this piece its strength.  It doesn’t announce itself as one thing.

And I like that.

I’m going to continue looking at this for a while, just taking it in for what it is in the moment.

 

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Scott Coulter

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Painting, tagged , , , on September 30, 2015| 1 Comment »

Scott Coulter - Ohara

Scott Coulter- Ohara

When I was in Alexandria for my annual Gallery Talk last weekend, I ran into an old friend, the wonderful painter painter Scott Coulter.  I hadn’t seen in many years and had a chance to briefly catch up with him while he manned his booth at  the very busy King Street Art Festival.  Canadian-born Scott Coulter was one of the first painters I connected with when I began my career  when he was still living in this area, the Finger Lakes region of  New York.  He now divides his time between Florida and Minnesota when he’s not traveling around the country to display his work and to capture some of the natural splendor that he paints so well.

Scott Coulter -Upper Elk 48x60

Scott Coulter -Upper Elk 48×60

While we paint with very different styles and processes, I found it very easy to become a big fan of Scott’s atmosphere filled landscapes as well as the way in which he painted them.  Every painting is just him and his brushes with perhaps a photo or two to guide him.  There are no projected images onto his canvasses, no airbrushes to create his beautifully graded colors, no digital assistance of any kind– just him and an unerring ability to build magnificent, and often very large, paintings with a palette that is instantly recognizable to anyone who knows his work.  I remember seeing him paint years ago and being so impressed with how he made the very difficult seem so easy.  He’s master of his art.

He was influential in my desire to paint very large.  I remember one piece he was commissioned to paint that was huge, so much so that the patron provided him with a space, a small but tall  inner courtyard they owned, in which he could paint because it was too tall for any space available to him.  It was something like eleven foot tall and had an incredible visual impact.  I am sure it still brings oohs and aahs in its current home.  Rogue’s Gallery, shown below, is another large piece at 66″ square that I would love to see in person.

In recent years, he began painting railroad cars and physical features such as underpasses with graffiti covering them and it fits into his body of work so well that it seems like it has always there.  Hard not to like this as well.

For more info on Scott’s work check out his website by clicking here and if you’re in the NYC area this weekend, check it out in person at the Gracie Square Art Fair.

No two ways about it– just good work.  Great to see you, Scott.  Look forward to seeing you again!

Scott Coulter - Bob's Boys 18x24

Scott Coulter – Bob’s Boys 18×24

Scott Coulter- Stone Cold Merced 60 x48

Scott Coulter- Stone Cold Merced 60×48

Scott Coulter - Rogues Gallery 66x66

Scott Coulter – Rogues Gallery 66×66

Scott Coulter -BNSF 403775 18x24

Scott Coulter -BNSF 403775 18×24

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Inward/Outward

Posted in Influences, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , on September 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- In the Window- Dream Away smIn my picture of the world there is a vast outer realm and an equally vast inner realm; between these two stands man, facing now one and now the other, and, according to temperament and disposition, taking the one for the absolute truth by denying or sacrificing the other.

~Carl Jung

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I came across this passage from the writings of ground-breaking psychoanalyst Carl Jung recently and it very much summed up what I have been saying for several years about the manner in which I view my work.  I often call  them internal landscapes, which I see as my inner response or alternative to the outer world.  Perhaps, as Jung says, I am accepting my internal view for absolute truth–as I see it–  by sacrificing the reality of the outer realm.

I don’t know.  To me, both worlds exist fully and have equal validity and I split my existence moving between the two.  Actually, my time spent in that internal land make my time in the outer realm more tolerable.  It’s when I struggle to find my way into that inner world that the outer world becomes more difficult to bear

GC Myers- Inthe Window- The Searcher smThis idea of inward and outward perspective made me think of a series called In the Window that I had painted a decade ago of views of my landscapes as seen through windows.  The piece at the top, In the Window: Dream Away,  was the first from this series.  It’s an inversion of Jung’s analogy with my internal Red Tree landscape existing here in the outer realm and the external reality occupying the inner space, the window serving as a real and symbolic portal  between the two worlds, one through which I can move back and forth easily.

I had never really thought of this series in those terms.  Initially, this series was meant as a way to present my landscapes in a different manner.  Like a fine piece of jewelry, the landscapes would act as a precious stone and the window and internal space would act as a setting for that stone.  But it really comes down to a perspective on reality and I think at that point I was just beginning to see that these landscape were as much internal as they seemed external while looking out that window.

Hmm, something to think about on a thankfully rainy day…

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La Rumba D’el Jefe

Posted in Music, Painting, Video, tagged , , , , , , , on September 27, 2015| 5 Comments »

GC Myers- Floating Melody smSunday morning.

It’s been a strange week spent trying to get some chores done around the studio and our home but not actually achieving as much as I had hoped.  Most of my time has been spent thinking about some concepts that I am trying to move forward with in my work.  A lot of this has to do with using different materials in a way that seems organic and not forced– one of the differences between art and craft.

Sometimes I will form an idea that seems like the perfect direction to head but once I extend my thinking through it I find that the result that I imagine is so much less that I had originally foresaw.  I begin to see the idea becoming too crafty and just that thought puts a serious damper on my enthusiasm for the concept.

So I continue to roll things around in my mind, trying to find that elusive edge which I can grab on to and run with.  This is a bigger part of what I do than one might imagine.  It’s never just a matter of physically placing yourself in the studio and mechanically moving materials through a process to produce paintings.  The mental aspect is the hardest part of the process, hard to describe and even harder to master.

It was put best by iconic painter L.S. Lowry when asked what he was doing when he wasn’t painting.  His response: “Thinking about painting.”

So I am here this morning, thinking about painting.  But I am my own master, my own boss, which makes a nice intro to this week’s selection for some Sunday Morning Music.  It’s a song from nuevo flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook and friends called La Rumba D’el Jefe— The Boss’ Rumba.  So, give a listen, maybe move your feet a little bit and have a great Sunday.  Me? I’ll be thinking…

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Thoughts on a Workshop

Posted in Motivation, Painting, tagged , , , , on September 19, 2015| 2 Comments »

2015 YCAC Workshop- The class hard at workThe best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.

— Edward Bulwer- Lytton

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I tried to bear these words from English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton (famous for coining the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword” and the most famous of beginning lines, “it was a dark and stormy night“) in mind when I began instructing a two day workshop on Thursday at the Art Center in Penn Yan.  Having never taken an art course or workshop outside of a disastrous college drawing class thirty-some years ago, I had little reference material on which to base my instruction to the group.  I wanted to show them some of my techniques and have them hopefully incorporate them in their own work or be able to use these techniques as a springboard into something new of their own making.  I just wasn’t sure how to get that across but I knew that just having them leave inspired to want to paint would be my main objective.

After the first day, I wasn’t sure I was cut out for this task at all.

I started with a quick demonstration and then sent the group immediately into the paint with limited direction on where they could  go with it.  I just wanted them to work with the process and get used to seeing the paint move and mix.  But by the end of the day I could see that many of the group were frustrated in trying to master the technique and I was afraid I had put too much in front of them.  Going home that first evening, I realized I was asking them to learn a process in several hours that had taken me thousands of hours to master.  It would be like a musician playing a fairly difficult piece then asking someone who was observing to play it in a few hours.

So on the second day I showed a simplified version of the technique.  The work of the day before, frustrating as it had seemed,  seemed to set the groundwork for making the new work seem easy to handle.  They watched my demo in the morning and they just took off like a rocket after that.

Bonnie B. With her finished painting

Bonnie B. With her finished painting

I was blown away by what happened.  Each member of the group went in their own direction, those with some prior experience seamlessly meshing the technique with their own prior experience and creating pieces that were uniquely their own.  I was amazed at how much solid work was produced in such a short time by this group.  By the end of the day, my frustrations and anxieties were completely lifted and I left feeling that something of value had been transferred to this group, something they could use for to help them find their own path forward.

It was very satisfying.

Many, many thanks to everyone in the workshop.  You were patient, intent, fun and easy to work with.  You made my first venture into teaching a wonderful experience and provided a lot of inspiration that I will carry forward with me.  While I am glad that you may have learned something from me, be assured that I learned as much from you and for that, I can’t express my gratitude enough.  Thank you, Paulina, Jackie, Patti, Suzanne, Frank, Gini, Joy, Bonnie and Grace.  I listed the names from the front of the room to the rear.  Grace was obviously a trouble-maker so she was relegated to the rear table.

Thanks also to Kris Pearson at the YCAC for her dogged perseverance in getting me to head this workshop.  She was determined to have me do this and succeeded despite my initial resistance.  I am glad she did.

Frank B. showing off his distinct style

Frank B. showing off his distinct style

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Next:  TOMORROW, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20–  GALLERY TALK  at the PRINCIPLE GALLERY  in ALEXANDRIA- 1 PM

Come on info a lively talk on art and stuff and you might win this painting!

There Will a Drawing For This Painting at the Gallery Talk on Sunday

There Will a Drawing For This Painting at the Gallery Talk on Sunday

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Past Present Future

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on September 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Past Present FutureI start my first experience as a teacher today with the  two day workshop being held at the Yates County Arts Center in Penn Yan.  I have to admit to being a bit nervous even though I will simply be doing what I have done nearly every day for the past two decades.  It’s just that I normally do it in the privacy of my studio– silently and without a group watching every move.  I hope all the spitting and swearing doesn’t turn the students off too much.

Of course, that’s a joke– I don’t swear that much in the studio.  But in the weeks leading up to this workshop, I have become very self conscious of my actions as I paint, trying to minimize any goofy traits that might come across when I am standing in front of the group.  I think I have the spitting under control.

During this time, as I was prepping for the workshop and finishing a group of new work to take with me for Sunday’s Gallery talk at the Principle Gallery, I noticed that so many of the techniques that I will be showing in the next couple of days still make up the basis for my new work.

Take for example the painting shown at the top, a 12″ by 12″ canvas called Past Present Future.  Outside of several layers of glazing,  it is very much painted in the same manner as much of my work from 17 or 18 years back.  The shapes evolve and layers are added, but the basic technique is very much the same.

I am excited to see how the students at this workshop adapt this technique to their own sensibilities and their own expression.  I will let you know how it goes.

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