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Archive for the ‘Painting’ Category

Differing Technique

Posted in Early Paintings, Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged on January 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The New Day BreaksAnother year, another first painting of that year…

This is tentatively titled  The Coming Light  and is a continuation of the Red Roof series from several years ago that I mentioned in an earlier post.  It’s a 16″ by 20″ canvas and  is painted in a more traditional, additive way than my typical work.  By that, I mean that the paint is continually added to build up the surface.  Typically, my work consists of adding layers of paint then removing much of it until I reach a level of coverage that suits my eye.  Kind of like carving away the paint to reveal what is hidden in it.

Forest Floor-early experimentThe piece to the right is an early experiment in my normal technique and a good example of what I’m trying to describe.  The paper was originally covered with a layer of dark blue-violet paint.  I then went back in and began to lift the paint to create layers of differing coverage to reveal the forest floor and tree trunks.  This became the basis for the technique that  is used in the bulk of my work.

When I do paint in a different fashion, such as in The Coming Light above, the important thing for me is to maintain my style throughout the work.  I want someone who has only seen my typical work to immediately recognize this as mine and to feel the same emotions that I hope are raised.  This continuum is vital and I think this piece achieves the desired goal well.  

I’m working on a larger piece in this manner that I will show in the next week or so.  Stay tuned…

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Sense of Rightness

Posted in Painting, Technique/History on January 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Glory RunI do a few paintings every year that have a boat riding the waves.  They’re simple compositions and are done mainly for my own self-satisfaction.  I really like working on simple constructs such as this because it’s such a wonderful challenge to create emotion and depth with only a few elements.  It forces one to focus on the more subtle aspects of the painting– the quality and depth of color, the delicate interaction of the compositional elements, the way the underlying texture creates tension and motion above, etc.

There are a lot of aspects that I consider when working on  a piece such as this but in many cases this evaluation of them takes but a glance, trying to get a sense of the rightness of each piece.  This something I’ve mentioned before and is something I struggle to explain.  It’s being able to look at something and weigh all the elements that comprise it and determine if they make sense in the eye and mind.  Is there balance, does one element overwhelm everything?  Does one line move organically into another?  Is there a sense of harmony in the colors and do they translate as natural to the eye?

This sense of rightness is especially important in a piece such as this, Glory Run, because so little must say so much and any flaw in the logic of the piece makes it fall apart.  But if all maintains this rightness the impact of the piece increases greatly.

I wish I could explain a bit better but I’ll just let the work do the talking for now…

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Exiles: Blue Guitar

Posted in Early Paintings, Influences, Painting, tagged , , , on December 30, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Blue GuitarI wanted to show yet another of the paintings from the Exiles series, a piece titled Exiles: Blue Guitar.  This was larger than the other paintings in the series and was the most intricate in design.  It was the only piece to show a full body, more or less.  The crimson sheets beneath the figure are certainly not typical of my work.  Even the blue guitar was an anomaly.  I think these things, in themselves, make this a distinctive painting and one that is perhaps the one piece I most regret letting go.

I remember painting this piece back in ’96 with great clarity.  The face was based on a portrait of the composer Sibelius  taken by the great photographer Karsh.  I had seen the photo at an exhibit of Karsh portraits at the MFA in Boston (where there is, coincidentally, an exhibit celebrating Karsh currently on display ) and was immediately taken with the face.  The face expressed bliss, but not joy.  A painful bliss, perhaps an ecstasy tempered by the knowledge that the world is an imperfect one and that this moment of grace is a fleeting one, soon to be gone.Sibelius by Karsh  It was exactly the expression I saw for my guitarist and one that I wanted the whole piece to convey.

This was the centerpiece of my first exhibit and remains vividly in my memory.  I hope that whoever possesses this piece appreciates all that it represents and gives this sad, blissful guitarist a bit of attention now and then.

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Setting a Course

Posted in Influences, Painting, Technique/History, tagged on December 29, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Waiting on the SunThis is the part of my year where I step back and take a good look at the past year, how my work developed over the year and what I felt really came across and expressed what I wanted in the paintings that I executed.  It’s also the time when I start to set my course for the upcoming year.  I start to think about possible tweaks in my work.  I try to decide what aspects of my work were exposed this past year and how I can increase the strengths and minimize the weaknesses that emerged.

I think about possible new projects.  For instance, I want to do a large detailed canvas, something much larger than I normally paint, that I will work on for the better part of the year and will document its progress on this blog.  I think there will a continuation of the Archaeology series, on a smaller basis than this past year.  I also look at work from past years to see points where my work has changed and try to determine if it might be interesting to revisit that earlier style armed with a more evolved vision and technique.Dark Gives Way

The pieces shown here are a good example of a style that I may well examine once more.  They are painted in a different way than I typically paint and, as a result, have a different look.  I only did them for a short while but I always find my eye being attracted to them whenever I look back at past work.  I see that style now and see things that would be exciting to revisit  with some new ideas.

So in the next few days I will continue to look back on the path I’ve traveled and maybe go back for a short while and find inspiration and a spark that will ignite into a new fire for the new year.Just Passing Through

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Conviction

Posted in Biographical, Influences, Painting on December 15, 2008| 2 Comments »

With All ConvictionMore advice for young painters:

Be bold.  Have conviction.

I have taken one art class in my life, a basic drawing course at a time when I thought I wanted to be an architect and was trying to figure out how to put together a portfolio to show for admission.  The class was a disaster.  It was an evening course and the instructor did not want to be there, often ending class early so he could hit his favorite watering hole.  He barely instructed, barely mumbled anything worth hearing.  I was really put off by the whole thing and it was 14 or 15 years before I really came back to art and stuck with it.

But there is one moment of redemption from that class.  It was a bit of advice he offered.  

Use bold lines.  He wanted to see confidence in the lines, even if they weren’t absolutely perfect

To this day, that advice rings in my head.  When I look at other artists’ work that is the first thing I notice.  How much did this person care about this piece and what they were trying to say with it?  I would rather see something done by a lesser talent with great conviction in what they’re trying to express than a more talented individual trying to convey something in which they have no interest.

To put it musically, I’d rather see a garage band thrash out three chords and mean it.  

So however you choose to express yourself, have conviction.  Mean it.

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Outlaws

Posted in At the Movies, Favorite Things, Influences, Painting, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »

The FearA few days back I talked briefly about a series of pieces from 2006 called Outlaws, small and dark figurative paintings of individuals sometimes looking out windows, sometimes holding handguns.  They were a departure and some followers of my work were a bit put off.  Some were fearful of the figures, seeing them as menacing.  Most saw the fear in these characters, their past haunting them.

There was an observation I made concerning people’s reactions.  Those who were disturbed by the images saw the central figure as an intruder peering in through the window.  Those who were more empathetic with these figures saw them looking out the window.  They saw that these characters were the fearful ones.

These pieces were inspired by some silent films I was watching at the time.  These films from around 1918-1927 were made in the aftermath of the first World War, a time when expressionism emerged.  Many of these films were dark and gritty, filled with raw emotion and violence.  When two figures fought, it was not the clean, one-punch knockouts of later films.  They grappled, clawing at one another in a horrible realism.  One that stands out is  Sunrise  from the great F.W. Murnau, probably best known for his vampire classic,  Nosferatu.  It is the story of a married farmer seduced by a city woman who conspires to kill his wife and go to the city.  It’s a great story that is dark and full of wonderful imagery.  There is a train ride into the city that is a great piece of film.  Though most people think that Wings won the first Oscar for best picure, Sunrise won the award that year as Most Unique and Artistic Production, a short lived award that basically  split the Best Movie award into two parts.  It was great then and is still quite moving.Confession

Also, around that time I saw a group of Goya’s small pieces at the Frick in NYC.  They were done by covering  ivory palates with carbon and dripping water on to the surface then manipulating the puddle until an image emerges.  I was taken by them, mainly because I fully understood the technique.  It was how I had taught myself to paint.  I saw it as an opportunity to express the faces and figures that have inhabited my mind for decades.

I only do a few of these a year now and the handful I have in the studio are what I consider personal treasures that still provoke thought from me, time and time again.Night and the City

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Elvis in the Wilderness

Posted in Painting, Technique/History, tagged , , on December 8, 2008| 2 Comments »

Elvis in the WildernessThis is a small oddity titled Elvis in the Wilderness from a series that I called Outlaws, first shown in 2006 and a series I will address more in future posts.  They were all fairly small pieces, usually 4 to 6″ square and were all much darker in nature and in appearance than my normal work.  They were, however, an extension of the faces that I would draw in my high school years so for me they were not a drastic change.  They were all part of me.  For many longtime viewers they were a sharp turn away from the style and light of my representative work.  Many approached me at the show at the Principle Gallery that year asking if this was a new direction and would it mark the end of the landscapes.  I explained that this was just another aspect of one person, that while I do show myself through my work I am only showing small facets of my whole at any given time.  Snapshots, if you will.

My paintings often represent who I am at any given point in time but sometimes they are more aspiration than reality.  I long for calmness and peace, in the world and in myself.  I desire a strong and brave outlook, to have the wisdom of the ages.  I want to shed my fears aside and live boldly.  Unfortunately, these wishes sometimes remain just that– wishes.

But so long as these aspirations remain, there is hope for more light  and less darkness.  Like Elvis in the Wilderness, sometimes one struggles to find a way to the light.

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Thanksgiving Appeal

Posted in Painting, Video, tagged , , , on November 26, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Seeking Imperfection 2001

Well, it’s Thanksgiving eve and I doubt I will be able to post tomorrow so I thought I’d put up a couple of things.  This is a piece from 2001 called Seeking Imperfection which was the title piece for my show that year at the Principle Gallery.  The solitary, windblown figure is only used a few times a year in my work and remains a favorite theme for me.  He is the seeker, the existential traveler, and he represents a lot of things to me.

I choose this piece to show because it kind of brings to mind the feelings raised when I think of Thanksgiving, beyond the pleasant ones of family and feast.  There is empathy for those whose lives are a struggle and there is remorse for not having done more to help others in need.  There’s regret for feeling sorry for myself at any point when it’s obvious that there are so many who suffer much more than I ever have.  But there is the hope that we can do more in the future and that some, maybe many, will be raised up from their suffering.

Below is a video of Steve Earle’s version of Tecumseh Valley, written by the late Townes Van Zandt.  It’s a sad, heart-breaking song but maybe it will serve as a reminder that on this day of thanks we need to truly appreciate the lives and blessings we have and should not forget or forsake those who have not been so fortunate.  With that in mind, give a listen then don’t forget to extend a hand.  Donate cash, food, clothes, or your time.  Just don’t turn a blind eye…

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Thoughts on a Show

Posted in Painting, tagged , , , , on November 18, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Visible HopeThe show for the Haen Gallery is complete and now I begin to think of what I might say at the gallery about what I do, about the process and about the work in general.  It has become much more difficult to do so as the years have passed.  When I first began to do this it was easy.  I was still in contact with the public in my regular job and everything about creating my work was still forming and being thought out, still fresh in my brain.  But as time passed and my way of working became ingrained, less thought out and more instinctual,  words to express what I do and I feel about it became increasingly hard to find.  When I’m alone in the studio there is no need for words.  It’s all instinct and intuition.  Quite honestly, I usually don’t even begin to try to read anything into a painting until it is done.

But I do want to be able to talk about the work because I think it is primarily about communication, about expressing an emotion to the world.  Reaching out. 

So I try to come up with words that describe this.  But ideally, the words are moot and the work speaks for itself and people make their own connections to the paintings and see something in them that is more than I could have ever intended.  Their own hopes and dreams and lives.  To me, this is miraculous and perhaps the best part of what I do as an artist.

So I will be prepared to say a few words but hopefully the work will do all the talking.

And All Is Revealed

The show is title Now… and will be opening at the Haen Gallery in downtown Asheville, NC on November 22.  The show opens with a brief gallery talk at 5 PM and runs until 8:30 PM. 

 


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A Time to Return

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on November 17, 2008| Leave a Comment »

A Time to Return

Well, I am done with the show, except for packing them for delivery.  Always a little bittersweet, as I’ve noted before.  As I wrap the work I get to take a last look at each one, for many probably the last time I really get to look at them.  I think I’ve said this before in this blog that when you first start showing your work you want everything to sell just as a matter of validation.  But as times passes, you begin to secretly wish that certain pieces don’t sell, that they return to the studio at some point to stay.  There are different reasons.  Some are reminders of hard work and effort put into making something from nothing or recovering a piece from a mistake such as spilled paint.  Some have some meaning in the subject.  Some are the products of a moment of grace, when everything is in sync and the painting literally falls from the brush and there is a natural flow and harmony in the work.  It sings.  

There are more reasons to want to hold on to the work but in the end, you let them go, let them find new homes and different eyes to see different things in them.  Sometimes things I never dreamed.  And that is the payoff, knowing that perhaps someone will find something in the work, even in the smallest sense, that will affect them and let them see something in a new way.  Knowing that makes letting go much easier.

The piece above is titled A Time to Return and is a 6″ by 12″ canvas.   To me, this piece is a prodigal son kind of piece, about the return to ones place of birth, ones home.  Maybe it’s fitting that this piece is heading to Asheville where Thomas Wolfe wrote of just such things.

Anyway, the show is titled Now… and will be hanging in the lovely Haen Gallery in Asheville, NC, opening Saturday, November 22.  Hope to see you there.

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