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Posts Tagged ‘Recent Paintings’

Advocate

Posted in Opinion, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on June 7, 2010| 4 Comments »

  Concerning this blog, a gallery owner once said to me, “You sure have a lot of opinions.”  I think they were concerned with the possibility of me  alienating one or more of their clients with my personal opinions.

“Everyone has opinions,” I replied. “They just don’t always express them.”

That short exchange may well be the basis for this painting, Advocate.  A 24″ by 36″ work on canvas, this is a new piece showing at the Facets show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA, which opens Friday, June 11th. 

 When I look at this piece I see the red tree as the advocate, standing up for an opinion that may represent that of the red roofed houses.  It’s as though there is an interchange happening between the tree and the light breaking through the fingers of the sky, the tree arguing for the light to shed aside the darkness and shine on the scattering of homes below.

Actually, while I do have as many opinions as anyone and  sometimes have an inability to keep them to myself when asked, I try to steer away from treading too much in this blog  on subjects that do not pertain to my work in some way.  Unfortunately, my work is a product of my emotions and my emotions are often stirred by things going on in this world.  So occasionally opinion on things that may not seem to have anything directly to do with the making of art creeps in. 

 This always leaves me a little uneasy.  Like the title of my show, I am a prism comprised, as we all are, of many and varied facets.  I show many of these aspects in my work and in this blog and I sometimes fear I am showing too much,  that once the viewer has gained enough familiarity with the work and me,  the mystery of the work will be gone.  So, I try to keep some of these facets out of the light of my visible prism.  Actually, I almost started listing these here as examples, which would kind of defeat the whole purpose of not showing them in the first place.

But the red tree of this painting is not afraid to show themself fully as it is, visible from every aspect.  It is vulnerably in the open yet it appears strong and definite in conviction, willing to face down anything that crosses its path.  It is a fully lit prism.

Maybe this is a case where a painting represents aspiration rather than reality…

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Best Case Scenario

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged on May 28, 2010| 2 Comments »

I’ve been hearing the term worst case scenario  an awful lot lately, certainly in conjunction with the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  We always profess to be prepared and at the ready should the worse happen.  But like so many things, this show of confidence is usually unjustified.  We rarely are able to visualize the worse that could happen in any situation, unable to calculate all the details and factors that might send us careening in directions we never envisioned. 

With this in mind, when I looked  at this painting the first thing that jumped to mind was something quite the opposite.  

It is full of possibility and an idealized optimism.  There is no trace of darkness or hardship on the path in this landscape.  The horizon promises a bright future and seems close and reachable as the red tree urges you to come further along the path.  And even when the path might dip below the next small hiil and the horizon leaves your sight, it is still all light with clear skies above.  No need to fret.

It’s a Best Case Scenario. 

From the moment this painting, which is a 4″ wide by 14″ tall image on paper, began to take shape, it possessed this very positive feel.  Much of my work has an optimistic lean but it usually has a hint of darkness, a reminder of the malevolence that persists in our world.  Maybe this painting’s unfiltered positivism was created out of my own need for refuge and hope after being buffeted by recent news from around the world.   Perhaps its purpose was to remind me that there are best case scenarios out there to counter all the worst cases.  That there are positive goals to which we can aspire.  That there is light.

 If so, it does it job well for me.

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In the Freeflow

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on May 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been featuring a number of new paintings lately that will be showing at my upcoming exhibit, Facets, at the Principle Gallery.  In this show, there is a wide variety of the motifs that I’ve used over the years and today’s piece is an example of a subject that I’ve revisited many times. 

The simple shape and grace of the blowing tree give it such a symbolic sense and power that it always draws me back, often when I have no intention of revisiting it.  This painting, In the Freeflow, is a 12″ by 17″ image on paper and is a great example of why this tree stays with me. 

The tree takes a very bold stance in the picture plane, dominating the foreground on its mound, giving no evidence of its locale or environment.   The whole narrative of the piece is told in its lines and movement and their relationship with the color and texture of the sky behind and even in the spew lines at the top of the image where the paint breaks free in rivulets going outward.

To me, this piece is about calling on one’s inner grace and strength to survive and ultimately overcome the forces that place seemingly endless obstacles before you.  In the bends of the tree,  I see  the adaptive qualities that allow us to change and grow in different ways so that we might endure our travails.  In the red flowing leaves, I see the unquenchable spirit of those who persevere, bending to the winds that push them in many directions but always rooted in knowing who they are.  And in the bit of yellow in the sky at what seems to be the horizon, I see the hope and potential of a future worth the effort of this act of endurance.

Or maybe it’s just a little tree in the wind.  Sometimes, as they say, a cigar is just a cigar…

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Kathedra

Posted in Opinion, Recent Paintings, tagged on May 14, 2010| 3 Comments »

The Latin word for chair is cathedra, coming from the Greek kathedra,which gave us the word cathedral.  Without saying any more, that is the basis for this painting’s title, Kathedra.

This is a painting I finished several weeks ago which has been leaning against the stones of my studio’s  fireplace since then.  It is a 24″ by 24″ canvas and it catches my eye on a regular basis.  Perhaps it is the fragmented look of the sky with what some people call a stained-glass look. 

While I understand people seeing it as looking like stained-glass,  I see the lines in the sky as being fractures or seams in the fabric of time and memory.  It’s a difficult thing to explain, as are many things that live deep within us, things that make up our inherent system of belief and understanding.  Things we instinctively know or believe even though we may not know why or how this  even came to be.  I’m not talking about religious belief so much as I’m talking about how the unseen forces and energies of the natural world really operate around us,  just beyond our perception.   

Maybe it is the physics of belief.

That being said, perhaps that is what this represents for me.  The seat of belief before a mysterious world that we barely know and can’t even begin to understand.  Kathedra…

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Light Work

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged on May 9, 2010| 1 Comment »

This is a piece that I finished in the last few days.  It’s a real throwback to my first forays into painting, done in a very watercolor way on untreated paper.  It’s 13″ by 23″ and is very transparent.  I’ve tried to maintain a certain complexity of color and strength of line yet the colors are lightly saturated, almost delicate.  I’m not sure how well this will translate on a computer screen. 

I’ve started doing a handful of paintings in this manner in order to focus on subtlety of the color and to allow the forms of the landscape and sky to carry the weight of meaning in the the piece.  It’s a tricky proposition to pull back from deep colors and texture yet still maintain strong edges.  I find that this type of painting works best with simplified forms that seemingly act as abstractions, giving the work an almost organic feel, if that’s the right word.  This feel plays well with the red tree which maintains its role as the focal point and inviting presence in the piece.

I like this work .  While it has a slightly different  appearance based on technique, it fits easily into my body of work.  There is an ethereal feel, something I strive for in much of my work,  that is enhanced by the transparency of the paint. 

Okay.  Back to the paints…

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Solace of Labor

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , on April 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This is a small piece that I’m delivering today to the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  Painted on ragboard, the image is a little over 5″ square and is titled Solace of Labor.

I really like this piece a lot, on a very personal level.  i suppose all my work is somewhat personal but, in this piece, I really feel as though I am the red tree here and the fields before it represent the work I’ve done.  The color of the piece has a calming, quiet effect and gives me the feel of the solace of the title.  It is a feeling much like that which I get when I collectively look back at the work, one of quiet pride of a task completed to my own satisfaction, knowing I had done my best and could do no more.

It also has a feel that takes me back to the very first work that I showed publicly many years back yet it still feels like today.  I feel the continuity of self through that time in this piece.  I guess what I mean by that,  is that even though the work has evolved over the years there is a line of continuity that runs through it and in this piece I can see it come full circle.

I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone but me.  I guess it doesn’t matter.  As I’ve said before, if I could say or write what I’m trying to say with my paintings, I wouldn’t need to paint.

But until I can write what I want to get across, I will paint.  Tomorrow.  Back in the studio after a couple of days on the road. 

I can’t wait…

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Between Worlds

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on April 6, 2010| 3 Comments »

I call this recently finished piece Between Worlds.  It’s a 12″ by 24″ canvas and contains several of the elements I often use in my work.  The omnipresent red tree.  The simple red roofed house without window or door.  The patterned patchwork of the fields.  The curling path leading into the landscape.

I like the feel of this piece.  I find a great calmness and comfort in the colors of the sky even though it appears to be composed of chaos in the form of the short, choppy strokes used.  The fields below have a greater formality and order, a different sort of calmness than the sky above.  This is what brought the title to mind.

I see the orderliness of the fields and the the chaos of the sky as one might view the two side of the brain.  The sky is the creative side; the fields the logical, more rational side.  The sky is intuitive, emotional.  The fields are based in empiricism, fact.  The house denotes  the security of residing in this orderly landscape, of living in a world of fact and logic.

The tree, however, lives in both worlds.  It is rooted in the earth, the soil of logic yet grows toward the free-moving sky.  Unlike the straight and stoic lines of the house, the tree is organic and reactive as it grows, always adjusting to support itself and growing towards that which nurtures.

It is between worlds.

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The Wind of Change

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on March 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction.

——–Anonymous

I’ve finished a couple of paintings over the last few days, pieces that I will show here in the next week or so.  This is a 12″ by 36″ canvas and is sort of a revisiting of a theme and a visual motif in the way the sky is painted.  I wanted a sense of motion and flow in the sky.  Controlled, directed chaos.  Like the wind itself.

I love painting the skies in this type of painting.  It’s thousands of paint strokes, layer after layer, built up.  There’s a real meditative quality in this manner of work, where I can lock into the surface and not feel as though there’s a task before me.  Time drops away and all I see is the next stroke to be painted.  It’s a strong and interesting feeling that really connects me with the work.

I sometimes worry that I see more in this work because I’m looking at it with the memory of this feeling achieved while painting.  The outside viewer doesn’t have this memory and can only judge it on their own experience and reaction to what is before them.  When I’m evaluating my paintings, I try to look at the work with a detached eye, putting aside personal memory and influence, but it’s hard to do so completely.  Those memories are strong.  I can only hope that the viewer gets a sense of the feeling from their own eye, that it somehow comes through and reveals itself to them in the brushstrokes and surface of the painting.

Often it does.  Sometimes it doesn’t.

That’s painting…

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Through the Labyrinth

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on March 23, 2010| 6 Comments »

This is a painting that I’ve been working on for the past several days that I’m calling Through the Labyrinth for the time being.  This piece, a 24″ by 24″ canvas, is part of what may be a new series for this year.

I see this series progressing as a group featuring the look of my typical landscape with a patchwork of fields consisting of blocks of saturated color and random geometric patterns.  I really want to maintain  a rhythm in these fields and make them feel natural and easily translatable to the eye.

By that, I mean I want to take something that when looked at from a purely analytical stance may not be totally natural or rational and make it appear to be so within the framework of the painting.  There’s an example of this in this painting, one that I have used in the past.  If you look at the sun, you recognize it as the sun.  But when you stop and think about it, this sun defies logic.  It is darker than the light emanating from it.

This was initially done without forethought and didn’t even occur to me until a couple of other painters pointed it out.  It always translated naturally in my head as the sun, the light source, despite its comparative darkness.

This is the type of visual translation I want to continue with this next possible series. At this point, it’s still only a possibility.  I’ve worked on a couple and have another one, a large piece, taking shape in my mind.  It’s all a matter of maintaining a natural, organic flow through the piece that creates an environment where the viewer is made comfortable and secure, allowing them to accept it as a credible reality.  This sense of trust allows the piece to take on a real sense of place.

We’ll see how this goes.  This piece is a good step forward.

At least, I think so…

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In Need of a Name

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged on March 16, 2010| 8 Comments »

This is a new painting, a 16″ by 2o” canvas.  It has a darker feeling than a lot of the recent work and has a much more ominous tone.  I think a lot of that comes from the chaotic nature of the sky and the darkness that rises up from between the field rows.

What’s this painting about?  I don’t know actually.  Like most of the work I do, there’s not a lot of predetermination in the way I paint so sometimes my paintings probably reflect my mood or state of mind from the particular time frame in which a piece is painted.  I guess I was a bit more worried than usual when I was painting this.

Or maybe this piece just worried me a little.  The chicken and the egg thing.

I often wonder if a piece reflects how I’m feeling at the moment of painting or has more effect on me after it’s done.  Maybe they’re the same thing and it’s just a matter of recognition.

I don’t really know.  I just paint.

This painting is still untitled.  I’m still trying to gauge what I see and feel in it so a title is still sort of nebulous for me.  If you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them.  I may have another contest like the one I held last year to name a painting so use this as a warm-up, okay?

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