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Archive for the ‘Recent Paintings’ Category

California Dreaming

Posted in Influences, Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on January 26, 2014| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- California Dreaming 2014It’s another clear and cold winter day, about 4 degrees outside .  It’s visibly beautiful with the crisp and sparkling snow clinging to the pine boughs.   The contrast between what I see out the window of the studio and what I am seeing in my mind is often hugely different.  This new painting is such an example.

It’s a 36″ by 36″ canvas that I am calling California Dreaming.  It was not done with intention but as I was finishing it I couldn’t shake the feeling that this large piece reminded me of California, at least in some microcosmic way.  The mountains in the rear remind me of the Sierras rising from the Central Valley and even the two smaller hillocks in the foreground felt a small bit like the coastal hills.  When you added in the warmth of the colors, it just felt very California to me.

Having this on the easel then turning my head 90 ° to look out the window is quite the contrast.  Both make me happy but they are worlds apart.  At least, a continent and several temperate zones apart.

The title is, of course, a reference to the famous The Mamas & The Papas song, although my favorite version, out of  the many done of this song, is from Jose Feliciano.  Here’s a really nice instrumental version done by an exceptional guitarist, Michael Chapdelaine.  Enjoy and have a great day, whether you’re warm or just dreaming.

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Is It Snow?

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on January 20, 2014| 5 Comments »

GC Myers-2014

I am still taking in this new painting, an 18″ by 18″ piece on canvas that remains unnamed as I ponder it a  bit more.  It is, at first glimpse, a snow painting.  At least, it was intended to be so.  For me, there is something quite challenging in presenting this surface that translates as pristine but, in fact, is far from it, having multiple layers of color beneath it which show through at points.  The edges show a glow of red oxide and violet, giving it a warmth that belies the coolness of the white blanket.  It’s a departure from the snow of Dale Nichols‘  paintings that I showed here yesterday, which is pure and luminous.

The thing that I have found with using the white of the snow is that it really displays the lines of the forms underneath.  The lines of  landscape in the foreground here, for example, really pop off the surface.  This could be a bad thing if they don’t have an organic sense of rightness,  that vague and elusive quality to which I often refer.  I think this piece has it.

While looking at this painting this morning, I began to ask myself, “What if that isn’t snow?”  This change of perspective gave the piece a very different reading , one that I hadn’t thought of when it was being painted but one that might pass through the mind of some folks.  What if this is some desolate post-apocalyptic landscape, devoid of  vegetation and covered in ash and dust?  The ravaged  landscape of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road immediately came to mind.  The painting suddenly took on a different feel but it still felt warm and even jubilant in a way.  As though the Red Tree,  fatigued at the end of that dark ribbon of road, had finally met the warm gaze of the sun that burned through the hazy sky.  The Red Tree was still standing despite the desolation around it and was rejuvenated, lifted up, by the sun’s energy.

It brought to mind the poem Strange Victory from the late Sara Teasdale, a poem that I have featured here in the past.  It is one of my favorite poems and expresses the contrast that I often try to impart in my work.  I think it fits this reading of this painting very well.

 Strange Victory

To this, to this, after my hope was lost,

To this strange victory;

To find you with the living, not the dead,

To find you glad of me;

To find you wounded even less than I,

Moving as I across the stricken plain;

After the battle to have found your voice

Lifted above the slain.

–Sara Teasdale

Funny how a simple shift in perception  can alter the whole meaning of a piece.  It was originally meant as snow and will probably remain so .  But for the moment I find myself asking:  Is it snow?

 

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Mountains to Climb

Posted in Biographical, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on January 17, 2014| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Mountains to ClimbJanuary is usually a month of probing for me,  a time of looking for a direction in which to move, work-wise.  Sometimes it’s a struggle and sometimes it comes more easily.  I’ve written recently about a feeling of being on a plateau with my work, one that has been my home for quite some time now and one from which I am beginning to feel  anxious to move above.  This plateau feeling has made this January searching more of a struggle than normal, as though I were a rock climber faced with a sheer cliff before me  and can’t quite make out my next move.  I am just standing there looking for an edge in the rock face to find a hold that will me to pull myself up.

Maybe it’s that analogy that brought about this new piece, Mountains to Climb, a 12″ by 12″ canvas.  It features a swirling sky and a more prominent peak  beyond the foothills that have been a fixture in my typical work,  There’s an alluring quality to tall peaks that can’t be denied.  It is both a question and a challenge that stands between you and the horizon: Do you have the will and the ability to climb higher?

It’s a question that still rings in my ears as I stand before my own personal mountain.  I think I have my answer and I am beginning to see a way upward, a first hold to pull myself up.

We shall see…

 

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Outlier’s Heart

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on January 7, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Outlier's HeartI guess the weather that has swept across the middle of the country to settle here has made its way into my work.  I’ve never used snow much as an element in my work.  Oh, there were a few pieces here and there over the years.  They were often simple pieces that were in shades of  blue.  I never really considered using the white of the snow as a critical element.  Maybe because it would create a question of rational plausibility when the Red Tree would appear in these snowy landscape with its blazing foliage, as it most certainly would.

And does here.

The title of this new piece, an 8″ by 24″ canvas, is  Outlier’s Heart, to directly confront this issue of  whether a disparate element would adversely effect the feel of a piece.  For me, it didn’t make a difference and the Red Tree seemed right at home in the scene and in my mind as I took it in.  What bothered me was that I had even worried about plausibility while composing this.  I have always prided myself on not adhering to rules and here I was, suddenly boxing myself in with questions of that I usually  quickly discard.  I think it’s important to stay out of these boxes of conformity and this has been a good reminder.

That aside, I like this work with the use of the snow as the main element.  The contrast between the coolness of the white of the snow and the blues of the sky against the warmth of the Red Tree create a nice tension that makes the piece feel much less cold and forbidding.  I think this is right for this piece because I didn’t see it as being about just merely representing coldness.  I see this as being about the search for beauty.  I don’t think I will explain any more than that at the moment.  I will just let the piece speak for itself  for now.

As it should always….

 

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Last Days of “Alchemy”

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on December 12, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers-- Ahead of the Curve sm

Ahead of the Curve– GC Myers

Just a reminder that this is the last week for my solo exhibit, Alchemy, which is hanging at the Kada Gallery in Erie until Monday, December 16th.

The show has been very well received and is one of which I am very proud, both in the content of the show and in the way it hangs together.  Gallery owner Kathy DeAngelo  has hung the show with her normal  great thought so that each piece shows at its very best in this particular space and in relation to the work around it.   This  care in arranging  the work gives the show the sense of continuity that I see running through the work in the studio which is what I hope others can see in the galleries.

So, if you’re in the Erie area this weekend, stop in at the Kada Gallery and take a stroll through the show.  It may just be the thing to calm those holiday jitters…

GC Myers- Maestro

Maestro — GC Myers

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The Long Way Home

Posted in Influences, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2013| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- The Long Way Home smHome is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.

  ~Charles Dickens

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This is a newer painting that went to the Principle Gallery recently.  It’s a 12″ by 16″ painting on paper that I call The Long Way Home.  Home, as a concept,  plays a large part in my work as it is the destination for the life journey that is the basis for much of what I do.  I don’t necessarily see home as a physical place but rather that interior space where we are comfortable with who and what we are.  For me, our real journey in life is always internal.

Everything leads inward.

We often set out on treks through the external world trying to find a place, a physical location where we  feel accepted and at home.  But it never happens until we find that inner peace and acceptance in that inner realm that is always with us.  Though we may have traveled a million miles, home is always within reach if we only stop and look inward.  And I think that is what this piece is communicating.  The title reflects on the search that always leads back to that internal place we often overlook in our zeal to find that place we call home.

Home is always with us.

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Inner Realm

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on November 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Take refuge in silence. You can be here or there or anywhere. Fixed in silence, established in the inner ‘I’, you can be as you are. The world will never perturb you if you are well founded upon the tranquility within. Gather your thoughts within. Find out the thought centre and discover your Self-equipoise. In storm and turmoil be calm and silent. Watch the events around as a witness. The world is a drama. Be a witness, inturned and introspective.

– Ramana Maharshi

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GC Myers- Inner Realm I often speak of seeking quiet, even absolute silence. I all too often come up short in my search, usually the victim of my own fears and shortcomings which cause me to fill the void around me with sound and chaos.

Silence is pushed aside.

It is only in those times when I allow myself to be pulled completely into my work that I feel the silence slowly creeping back in, stilling the fears and doubts that seem to wail around me like sirens at times.  It is at these moments while painting that I  feel in a small way as though I am like a witness  that the great guru Ramana Maharsi advises us to be in the quote above.

I am calm and silent.  I watch and gather my inner thoughts as I feel myself melding with the colors and forms before me.  It is absolute peace as I go deeper into this inner realm.

That’s as close as I can describe in words the feeling I have when I lose myself to painting.  The painting above, Inner Realm, a 12″ by 12″ canvas, is an example of this feeling.  It is a simple and quiet but harmonious and full.  It feels outside of time, always in the present.  It is not fearful of the future or regretful of the past.  It is just as it is– quiet and placid.

All that I seek.

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Inner Realm is part of Alchemy, my solo show at the Kada Gallery, opening Saturday, November 16th, with a reception from 6-9 PM.

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Behind the Curtain

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on November 12, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- Behind the Curtain sm

Well, my show was delivered  to the Kada Gallery yesterday and owner Kathy DeAngelo, along with her  helping hands, is busy hanging and arranging the work on the gallery walls for  the Saturday evening opening.  There was the usual relief on the ride home, knowing that the greater part of my task in this show was done and the work was safely in place.  I feel very good about this show.  I think the work is strong and  mature in its development and has the consistency that I so desire for my work,  each piece fitting neatly into the overall context of this show.

One of the paintings that I chose for this show is shown above and is titled Behind the Curtain,  a 12″ by 36″ canvas.  This is a very simple, elemental painting in its design, which plays to the strength of this piece.  It is meant to be spare in its tone, a clear evocation of stillness and contemplation that is carried out via blocks of color, strong underlying texture and open space within the composition.

The pale blocks of color which make up the sky create a curtain-like effect here from which I pulled the title.  The chaotic swirls and lines of the underlying gesso surface seem to form a separate  world of motion and energy that is only slightly hidden behind this curtain of sky, as though it were of a different dimension in time and space that is both unattainable yet always within reach.  Perhaps the gears of the universe turning while we stumble along, unaware. of the great power lurking so near .

The sun here is the mysterious part, a green blue sphere that appears more as a lush Earth-like planet than a burning sun.  For me, it makes this piece feel very introspective, like the Red Tree is outside itself here,  looking back on planet Earth.   Regardless if  this is the case, this painting feels quiet and questioning, focused on bigger themes of being.

At least that’s how I see it…

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Ahead of the Curve

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , on November 9, 2013| 4 Comments »

GC Myers-- Ahead of the Curve smThis new painting, titled Ahead of the Curve, is a 20″ by 24″ canvas headed in the next few days out to Erie for inclusion in Alchemy, my solo exhibit opening a week from today at the Kada Gallery.  This was one of those paintings that comes quickly at first then is sat aside for quite a long time before I go back at it.  In some of these pieces, it’s because I just don’t see a way forward in it and don’t want to act before I have some inner direction, some small sense  of destination to follow so that the lifeforce I see in it isn’t squandered.

On others,  I reach a point where I see all sorts of possibilities in moving forward and can’t decide which way to move.  I become paralyzed.  Such was the case with this painting.  I built this from the bottom, as I often do, and had allowed the multi-colored mound of fields to grow.  I loved the color and curve of it and the way the smaller green mound jutted upward into the blank canvas.  I thought it was beautiful at that point, with no trees or sky or sun — just a mound with a forked road against a white surface.

So it sat for a few months and I would look at it every day, one day seeing it juxtaposed against a deep and receding field.  The next time I looked I saw I saw it looking down on mountain tops.  But it was the curve of the mound that spoke to me and directed me.  I wanted to create some depth, to move the viewer past the mound and into the scene itself but not so deep that the mound and the Red Tree that would adorn it would be just looked past.

I began to see a slightly lighter curved field with a road continuing through it, creating a closer  curved horizon. The greenish trees on the curved horizon appeared like the  hands on a clock to me, somehow representing the passage of time and I saw a sun or moon on that horizon so that the tree would be above it, as though it were ahead of the sun’s advance.  The Red Tree here is not reactive, bowing to the circumstances the world puts before it.  No, it is proactive, creating its own stance and its own reaction from the world.    It is indeed ahead of the curve.

I think that’s what this is all about, the idea of being proactive in carrying out and maintaining one’s own vision of their world.  Trusting that the sometimes invisible things that they see can be made visible to others.   That might be the definition of a visionary or a fool.  That’s the thing about being ahead of the curve– you may not be around to see which is true.

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Cornucopia

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on November 4, 2013| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Cornucopia smThe cornucopia or horn of plenty, with profuse amounts of fruits and vegetables spilling from its end, is a pretty well known and well worn symbol of abundance and nourishment, seen often at this time of the year when the traditional harvest has taken place and we near our holiday of Thanksgiving here in the States.  The cornucopia has been around for ages, going back into the classical mythology of the Greeks and Romans , but  has been ingrained in the psyche of our culture and still resonates as a symbol.

Perhaps that is why the image of the cornucopia came to mind when I had finished this new painting,  an 18″ by 36″ canvas that fittingly carries the title Cornucopia.  When I looked at it it seemed that the landscape sat at the end of a spiralling cone that emerged from the sun here and the multicolored fields represented the bounty of the land that you see in a horn of plenty.  The orchard on the lower left could be a group of apples spraying from the horn.  The sky and sea shapes coming down to the saddle shape of the landscape reinforce  this image, forming a horn-like shape.  The Red Tree could be a bunch of grapes or simply the recipient of this abundance, serving itself up in gratitude to the sky.

I think this is a piece about gratitude, recognizing what the world has given you.  We all too often focus on striving for more without seeing the gift  before us that  we have been given in the preciousness of the moment.   Every day has a gift for us.  Whether we recognize it is our own choice.  That’s what I see here in the warmth and generous spirit of this painting.

This painting is also part of Alchemy, my solo show at Erie’s Kada Gallery which opens November 16th.

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