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Posts Tagged ‘Asheville’

One Destiny

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on November 10, 2008| Leave a Comment »

One Destiny This is a piece titled One Destiny which is a new painting that is 8″ wide x 24″ high and is on canvas.  It is part of my show, Now…, which opens November 22 at the Haen Gallery in downtown Asheville, NC.

The use of intertwined trees growing together into what seems a single crown of leaves is a recurring icon in my work.  The way trees sometimes grow and adapt to one another has always intrigued me.  There is a grace and natural rightness in the way they move upward, almost a dance.  The symbolism of the two trees coming together as a marriage or partnership of sorts is also unavoidable.

For me this piece comes back to the natural grace of the tree form.  This is something I’m searching for in each piece.  To me, this is more important than the reality of the representation because if it’s there the painting makes sense, even though though some details may seem illogical when you take the time to consider them.  I think this piece is a prime example of this.  The fact that there is a strange red tree (or trees) perilously perched on this strange little peak should seem odd and out of place in most cases but for me, and in my mind, the flow and rightness of the elements makes me see the scene as perfectly logical and natural.  

I don’t know if this fully explains what I mean.  I do know that One Destiny  meets my criteria for this definition and translates beyond logic.

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Now…

Posted in Technique/History, tagged , on November 7, 2008| Leave a Comment »

A New Day's A-Comin'I have mentioned earlier in the week that I have an upcoming show in Asheville, NC at the Haen Gallery, opening on Saturday, November 22.  It is always a rush here in the studio as the day nears when I head out to deliver the work for the show.  I am finally done with the painting, save for a stroke here and a touch there, and it’s always interesting to step back and see how the whole body of work comes together, to see if there is a common thread that runs through the work.  It’s at this point that I start to put a statement together, a short essay that tries to capture the feel of the work, at least to me.  Usually in these statements I stay away from talking about technique and art history-type material, particularly artspeak, which I don’t think serves any purpose for anyone.  Instead I try to set the tone for the show.  This show is titled Now… and this is what I’ve come up as statement thus far:

Now…

Now is a powerful time.

 Now is a time for action, to move ahead with all intent.

We cannot stop on our chosen path now and peer back into the mist behind and try to retrace our steps– the past tells us only how we came to this point.  Now.

Nor can we pause on our way and look to some far and distant point ahead of us.  That lies too far in the future and is nothing without our action.  Now.

We have charted our course and we must focus on the path immediately before us, to make each step with all determination because now is a time for action.

This is what I see in much of this work, moments caught just as a decision is made to proceed ahead.  I see a lot of determination in this work, perhaps shaped by the time in which most of this work was created, a time of renewed political spirit among many who have decided that this was indeed a time for action, a time to stand up and be heard.

The time is now.

 

This is a first draft so maybe there will be changes but if anyone out there has any feelings on this, drop me a line.  As always, I appreciate the feedback.

 

 

 

 

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Carried By a New Wind

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on November 6, 2008| 2 Comments »

November 5, 2008

  This is a piece that I finished yesterday, while the events of November 4th settled in a bit.  It’s an 18″ high by 36″ wide canvas and has a really neat quality that I can’t quite put my finger on.  There’s a real dynamism that I think comes from the motion in the tree’s leaves along with the roll and rise of the ground behind it.  Gives it a sense of urgency.

As with much of my work, I think the underlying texture really pushes the piece forward and creates the feeling of a harmony above chaos that I want.  I think it has a real rhythm and strength.  A life of its own, which is how I determine how well I’ve done my job.

I’m still mulling a title here but the title of this post seems to fit both this piece and the time which I like a lot.  When I look at my work I am often reminded of the time in which it was created, a feeling that goes beyond the scene in the painting.  I can only hope that that feeling translates to others as well.

This piece will also be heading to Asheville, NC  for my November 22 opening at the Haen Gallery.

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Foundation: Update

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , on November 3, 2008| 1 Comment »

 

 

    A while back I had a post titled “Foundation” (October 13, 2008) that showed a prepared canvas and briefly explained how I prepared the surface for painting.  I promised to show the piece when it was finished and here it is:

 

 

 

This is a 24″ high by 48″ wide canvas.  You can see the texture I talked about earlier in the sky, even on this small image.  This piece doesn’t have a title yet.  Sometimes it takes a while to arrive at a title and other times it pops out.  This is a pretty large painting and I’m holding off on naming it as I think it deserves something special, something fitting the time in which it was created.

I have a method for naming work that requires that I pretend that the work is not mine and I’ve stumbled across the painting at garage sale, maybe fifty years in the future.  I look quickly at it and try to assess it and determine if it has something of value in it, something that separates it and gives it some type of life of its own.  Then I try to grab a first impression of what feeling it conveys and go from there with a title.  It sounds kind of goofy but I find it works for me.

This piece (with a title!) will be at the Haen Gallery show in Asheville.

Quick Update:  I am leaning toward a title –  ” Toward Possibility”.  I’ll live with this piece for a few weeks in the studio and make a final determination.  If anyone has any feelings on this, let me know.  I think this is a really dynamic piece and deserves a fitting name.

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Coming to Asheville- II

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on November 3, 2008| Leave a Comment »

This painting is “Archaeology: Man’s Footprint”  and is part of my upcoming show at the Haen Gallery in Asheville,NC.  It is a 24″ X 30″ canvas done primarily with acrylic paints. 

I always consider paintings like this , that have a strong central figure, as iconic pieces.  By that I mean, though the red tree can simply be a tree and nothing more, in the context of the painting it becomes a symbol with possible meanings beyond the obvious.

This piece has a very striking appearance, probably more than one can ascertain from the photo shown here, that is really heightened by the mottled texture in the sky. The finger-like layers of exposed earth and stone have a real rhythm, something I’ve talked about a bit in earlier posts.  All in all, I think this is a very strong piece.

Now, when I say that this is a very strong piece I mean that is how I see the piece.  It does not mean that anyone else will see it that way.  There are often paintings that I feel strongly about that take the longest time to find new homes.  It may be, in some pieces, that my eye is a bit biased because I am remembering the process of creating the work instead of focusing on the picture itself.  Cheri has a painting hanging in our home that is a favorite of mine but could never find a new home at any gallery in which it hung.  When I look at it, I see the struggle of taking a piece that was about to be discarded, early in the process,  as a failure and sticking with it for a long time to make it ultimately work.  I have a great sense of satisfaction when I look at that piece.

The show is titled “Now…” and opens November 22, 2008.

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Coming to Asheville

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on November 2, 2008| 2 Comments »

 

I am currently working (when I can pull myself from the presidential race) on my next show which is a solo exhibition of new work titled “Now…” which opens November 22, 2008 at the Haen Gallery in downtown Asheville, NC.  The Haen is a beautiful gallery space  that has expanded in the past year, nearly doubling its size.  It’s always exciting to see the work hanging in the Haen as it really shows off the work well.

The piece above is titled “HeartLand” and is 16″ wide by 18″ high.  It is a mixed media piece done with primarily acrylics and acrylic inks on paper.  The style and simplicity in this piece really appeals to me.  Much of the feeling is carried by the color and texture in the sky as well as the contrast at the horizon between the light in the sky and the dark of the ground.

To me, there is a great sense of security in this painting, a safe haven from the turbulence of the outside world.  It’s a theme that seems to come up often in my work.

This is just one of the new pieces for this show.  I’ve started posted new work on my website for those interested and for those of you in the Asheville area, please stop in and see the show and if possible, come to the opening on the 22nd and say hello.

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