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Archive for the ‘Technique/History’ Category

An Empty Studio

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged on July 18, 2009| 2 Comments »

Gather the Light Well, I’ve delivered the work for my show that opens this coming Friday, July 24th, at the West End Gallery in Corning.  

It’s always a bit strange those first few days after the studio is emptied of a great deal of work.   The pieces had maintained a presence here for months, filling the space with a sort of life force,  then suddenly, they’re gone.  It always takes a few days for me to recover my equilibrium, to refocus, after I face the empty studio.  I try to find a new destination, try to think of when and where the next step will be taken.

It’s as though, in preparing for a show, I am racing down a road towards a fixed point that looms on the horizon.  As I near the deadline, the focus makes the road  seem narrower and narrower.  That fixed point is all that I can see.  Then, upon delivery, it’s like I have burst through that point of destination and a whole new horizon suddenly opens before me in all directions.  There’s a period of gathering one’s bearings, taking in all the possibilities of this new landscape I’m faced with.

And that’s where I find myself this morning.  Horizons in every direction.  The feeling of potential is wonderful but behind it there is always a nagging fear of making the wrong move, choosing the wrong direction.  It’s a fear of freedom, the same type described by Erich Fromm in his book, Escape From Freedom, from the early 1940’s.  He basically (it’s much more in depth than I’m going to paraphrase) said that while everyone craves total freedom, few are prepared for the self-responsibility that comes with it.  Most feel the need for guidance of some sort.

A point on their horizon. A destination.

So, here I am today.

The painting at the top, Gather the Light, is part of the West End show.  It’s a piece that I very much like for many reasons.  I think there’s a certain dynamism to the color and light that gives it real oomph.  While there is this dynamic feel, it doesn’t betray the quietude and introspective nature of the piece.  I like that tension between these two aspects of the painting.  It creates a layer of interest that is really felt and not seen.

Hopefully, other will feel this as well…

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Wind of History

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on July 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »

9909-234 Wind of History smallThis is a new painting that is titled Wind of History, part of my next solo show at the West End Gallery.  The show, Dispatches, begins next Friday, July 24, with an opening running from 5-7:30 PM.

This is a very striking piece, one that demands immediate attention.  It has a lot of different aspects that all contribute to the overall impact.  It has a very graphic quality in the strong color and the way the multiple  layers below stack together.  There’s also great visual interest in the sky’s texture, which may not show very well in the image here.  The stones below the surface echo the light of the sun (or is it a moon?) in this sky. 

Adding to this is the motion in the trees with the central figure, the Red Tree, astride a hillock.  There is motion in the strata below as well which gives the impression of them being a part of a wave under the ground’s surface.  The Red Tree seems to ride this wave.

There’s a lot about this piece that I like.  For me, the Archaeology-like paintings are more about abstraction that the final painting’s representation.  By that, I mean, when I start a piece like this I have little or no idea where it’s going.  The piece builds from the bottom, in the layers.  As I paint them, there is little thought to what will be above.  It’s, as I said, very abstract at this point, all about color and shape and how each bit relates to the other.  One layer dictates how the next will form.  It’s an interesting time in the painting of the piece.

I think all of the elements in this painting come together very well, creating a unity that I think translates really well.  It has a powerful feel, at least in my eyes.  I hope it comes across to others as well.

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The Technique of Mark Reep

Posted in Favorite Things, Technique/History, tagged on July 10, 2009| 3 Comments »

Mark ReepThis past week or so, on his blog, Dreams In Black and White, artist Mark Reep has documented his progress in finishing the piece shown here, The Nightingale’s Garden.  I highly recommend that anyone interested in the artistic process take a look to witness the effort and dedication required to achieve work of this caliber.

I have been a fan of Mark’s work for many years now and am constantly impressed with the quality and inventiveness of his work.  He has a look and technique that is his own and when I’m looking at his work I really get the feeling that I am looking at  the inner workings of his mind.  There’s an obsessive quality to the work, a sense that you know that work like this can only be produced by someone that is completely immersed and devoted to the vision.  There can be no half-hearted efforts with work this intricately and meticulously detailed.

Beautiful stuff.  

Mark is one of those artists who have been so consistent at such a high level for so many years that  his work is sometimes taken for granted by the people in our own area.  I don’t think they realize what they have in front of them, that these are pieces that will stand out for generations to come.  But many savvy collectors from around the country recognize this in his work and have made his work part of many fine collections.  Deservedly so.

You can see more of the work of Mark Reep by clicking on the link in the list to the right or go his blog by clicking on the  image of his above.

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New Precious

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on July 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

New Precious This is a new painting that will be hanging at the West End Gallery at my next solo exhibit, Dispatches, which opens July 24.  This piece, titled New Precious, is painted in what I have termed an obsessionist style, a term that differentiates it from the style I use in much of my work.

I use the term obsession because it best describes the feeling I have when I’m painting these pieces.  There is a complete immersion in the painting and every stroke changes the piece and dictates the subsequent stroke.  It requires complete focus on the canvas to maintain wholeness throughout.  I really enjoy painting in this way,  enjoy the feeling of connecting so completely to the surface.

This particular piece has a very iconic feel, thus the title, New Precious.  By iconic, I mean the painting has a feeling of being presented as an object rather than a portrayal of a scene.  This is something I have always looked for in my painting.  I feel that this objectification gives the painting a physical presence when hanging on the wall that gives it a sense of weight and gravity.  I think these qualities, these intangibles,  contribute heavily to the first overall impression a piece makes on the viewer, which is the point where their determination of connection to the piece is often made.  This first impression is the gateway into the painting for many viewers.

It’s hard to tell if a piece succeeds in this way and impossible to plan such a result.  But I think it remains important to maintain the goal and  hope that occasionally the mark is met.

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Working Blue

Posted in Painting, Technique/History on June 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Given to the NightI spent some time looking back over  work from the past several years this weekend.  I was just seeing how the work moved from season to season and year to year, examining how the look of the work has changed.  How the technique I use continues to evolve.  How different colors revolve in and out of the parade of work through the years.

Blue is such a color.  I love working with blue and all the different hues within its spectrum.  I like its expressive quality and the sheer beauty of the color.  It’s easy to see why so many people inevitably say that blue is their favorite color when asked.  I see this in peoples’ reactions to work that is predominately blue.

At shows, folks who have followed my work over the years will sometimes ask why I don’t paint more blue pieces.  It’s always hard to explain because it sort of defies logic.  I mean, I love working with the color.  People react very strongly to the blue work.  I have only one blue piece in the studio that came back unsold.  The works in blue always do well.

So, I should be doing more, logically.  But there’s an feeling when working with blue that is hard to explain.  I call it color intoxication.  There’s an impulse when working with a color that has such a strong reactive quality as blue, especially when your face is constantly a foot or so from the surface of the painting, to be drawn deeply into the color.  It’s almost a trancelike state.  When I’m in this state I want to only see more of this color, to the point that it becomes obsessive.  So, despite it’s positive qualities, I have to pull myself back, have to fight the desire to continue deeper into the color.  If I didn’t my work would evolve into a blue drone, abandoning all the other colors that I also love to use.  

Maybe that would be interesting as an artistic statement but I kind of doubt it.  So I fight the pull of the blue and only do one now and then, just to keep the the beast alive…

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Settling Back In

Posted in Technique/History, Video, tagged , , , on June 15, 2009| 2 Comments »

AswirlIt’s Monday morning, back in the studio.  After a show, there’s always a period of settling back into my routine which is something that is really important for me as I’m a real creature of habit.  It takes a couple of days to digest the events of the past few days so these first days are kind of sluggish, just tying up loose ends to little projects and straightening up the studio.  Start focusing on the next goal which is my annual show at the West End Gallery in Corning at the end of July.  

There’s also always a slight melancholy, something I may have mentioned before.  I’ve heard about this from other artists as well.  I think there’s always a letdown after you finish a project, such as a show, that you’ve been so focused on for a period of time.  During the preparation the goal drives you on but suddenly the day arrives and the goal is no longer there.  So you float a bit, tread a little water, until you determine what the next goal will be.  Luckily, I have my next show so I can swing into that with only a slight case of funk.

So today is spent with errands and such but tomorrow I’m back in full swing.  But until then I will enjoy my quiet time and that small bit of melancholy.  Here’s a song in that spirit from Steve Earle (in his heavy phase) with a song written to his friend, Townes Van Zandt,  on his passing.  Enjoy Fort Worth Blues…

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End of the Rainbow

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on June 11, 2009| 2 Comments »

End of the Rainbow Well, it’s the day before the Principle Gallery show that begins tomorrow with an opening that starts at 6:30 and I’m spending the day puttering around in the studio, doing a little painting and getting the studio back in some sort of order as it looks like a twister came through after finishing preparations for a show.  It’s pretty much the same every year.  I try not to get too involved in a painting since I won’t be back at it for a couple of days and I don’t like starting the momentum of a piece then suspending it.  Sometimes just a few short days will change the whole feel I have for a piece in progress, as far as how it’s coming together and where it’s going.

So, I putter.

This is, as I’ve said, my tenth show at the Principle Gallery.  I usually title the show and write a statement that explains the general theme of the main body of work in it.  For this show, we decided to leave the show untitled except to say it was the tenth annual show and I have decided not to write a statement instead letting the work say everything this year.  Besides, after plugging away at this blog, I sometimes feel at a loss for words.

I suppose, looking at the group, that this show could be called Redtree Redux, after the name of my first show there and the first showing of that ubiquitous tree.  There is, by design, an abundance of the Redtree pieces.  I felt that for a show that marked ten years that the overlying theme should be that which has become my signature – the red tree.  

Probably the underlying theme would be that of the journey in the form of the path that runs into and through many of the pieces.  This again is a significant element in my work and seemed fitting to denote a show that represents a milestone of sorts, my tenth show there, on my own journey.   Believe me, fifteen years ago I could have never imagined that my path would wind through forests of red trees to this point.  I couldn’t even see a path back then.  

So this show, for me, is about expressing a certain degree of gratitude to those images that have helped me find a road on which to move ahead as well as to those who have seen something personal in the work that helps them on their own journeys.  

The piece above is titled, fittingly End of the Rainbow.  I think this post says all that has to be said about this piece…

The show starts tomorrow, Friday, June 12th, at the Principle Gallery at 208 King Street in Alexandria, Virginia .

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The Commitment

Posted in Biographical, Technique/History, tagged , , , on May 21, 2009| 2 Comments »

To SanctuaryI’m in the last few weeks before my show in June at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  As I’ve written in earlier posts, this is a time filled with finishing paintings, filling in the final details of pieces.  There’s photography to be done and then matting the pieces on paper and framing them all.  There are frames to be stained and sanded and glass to be cut.  When I see it all written out it seems like an awful lot of work but I’ve been doing this long enough that it seems like second nature, just something that must be done.

The one thing I do notice in these last few weeks is finding myself so immersed in what I have to do that I neglect the outside world even more than I do normally.  I read the newspaper and listen to the news but nothing seems to register, nothing seems to stick.  A few minutes later and I can’t remember much of what I’ve read or heard. Quite honestly, even when I’m reading my mind is focused on my work and, as a result,  my attention is never fully engaged.   This bothered me in the past, making me feel even more apart from the outside world.  Made me feel even less intelligent. Less informed.

I’ve come to accept this as part of who I am and what I do.  I realize now that for my work to succeed on any level, my total involvement and immersion in it is required.  Commitment.

This was somewhat reinforced by a video a friend sent me this past week of Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, talking about the common traits of those who succeed creatively.  He spoke of a commitment to do whatever their chosen field was, to immerse themselves totally, excluding many other aspects of their life in order to practice their craft.  I immediately knew what he was talking about and  felt somewhat reinforced in my commitment to my work.   So I put my head down, push the world aside and get back to it…

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Endless Time

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged on March 11, 2009| 1 Comment »

9908-302-endless-time-webI wanted to talk a little about the piece shown here, Endless Time, which is a 24″ X 30″ canvas.  This is what I consider a performance piece meaning that I have performed several paintings that have a similar palette and composition in different sizes.  

Each piece has its own character and feel, distinguished by differing color intensities and textures.  The colors of each are similar but have their own peculiar colors due to the factors that make my color palette differ from day to day.  Things like humidity and temperature, different gessoes that I use with differing absorption rates and my own lack of consistency in mixing color.

I call these performance pieces because I equate painting them to a musician performing their own composition.  The musician may often change bits of their own compositions, changing thing like tempo or intensity.  Changing the coloration of the notes and how they’re played.  The composition is intact and is identifiable but each individual performance has its own character, its own wealth.

You may notice something quite different in this piece as well.

No tree.  No red tree.  Nothing…

This is really a direct descendent from my earliest work that focused on open spaces and blocks of color, work that was meant to be spare and quiet.  The weight of the piece is carried by the abstract qualities of the landscape and the intensity of the colors.  

With this piece, I have chosen to forego the  kinship that the red tree often fosters with the viewer, acting as a greeter inviting them to enter and feel comfortable within the picture plane.   In Endless Time the viewer is left to their own devices when they enter the picture.  There is no place to hide, no cover.  They are exposed to the weight of the sky and the roll of the landscape.  They are alone with not a sound nor distraction.

It becomes, at this point, a meditation.  One is not merely looking at a landscape.  To go into this painting one must be willing to look inside themselves as well.  

And I think that is where the strength of this piece dwells.  I hope this is evident to some viewers and they feel welcome to enter this quiet space…

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Rules

Posted in Painting, Quote, Technique/History, tagged , on March 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Solitary Crossing

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

     -Henry David Thoreau

I have always had a problem with adhering to rules, in practically all aspects of my life.  It’s as though when a rule is presented, a part of me automatically starts figuring out an exception to the rule, a way to go around it.  In everyday life this not always a desirable trait, often putting one at odds with the law and one’s own conscience. But, as luck would have it, this trait is indispensable in art.

It’s always amazing to me how many artists are tied to their own set of rules and nothing can deter this adherence, even if straying a bit might actually cause their work to really blossom. For instance, I know a painter who can only paint what is before him and will not add or subtract any detail from the scene. He once showed me a painting that was really painted beautifully, rich and bold. Everything worked well and the piece was really eye-catching except for a telephone pole that bisected, in a very intrusive fashion,  the very middle of the canvas. It was a real distraction that threw off the whole weight of the composition

“Why is this pole here?” I asked.

He gave me a quizzical look and explained that it was in the scene as he had photographed it. When I asked if it had any purpose in the painting he said that it didn’t but it was part of the original scene.

There was a certain realization that came from this brief exchange. I realized that there were truly talented artists who would always be shackled by their own rules and that absolute adherence to any arbitrary rule can be the death of creative expression.

Now, I’m sure there will be those who would argue this point and would be able to point out any number of examples that might contradict this statement. So what? They are mere exceptions to this loosely formed rule.

So, kids, the moral of this story : In art, keep the rules around as guidelines, but when you need to paint outside the lines, just do it.

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