"Underbrush"

($60.00.....6" x 6"......Mixed Media on a 2" Depth Cradled Board)

This piece may or may not have a quote. It is acrylic paint so I could take that option tomorrow.....but probably not. Sometimes words are not needed. After taking a walk this morning and noticing a lot of underbrush around the fence line, I decided to come back to the studio and do a small abstract. Unbeknown to my conscious mind, the piece which was created very intuitively, ended up looking like the tangled "stuff" that was very impassable....just a different color. The solid yellow green that has no texture is a direct contrast to the underbrush. In case you want to go deeper in your thinking, this piece also represents the way our thoughts get tangled until we walk into a clearing where there is nothing to obstruct our path. Just chalk this soliloquy up to the meanderings of my mind today.

I began this piece by brushing on some gel matte medium over a 6" x 6" cradled gessobord, followed by the laying down of silver leaf. After I brayered over the leaf and dried it with a hair dryer, I mixed up my paint. Because it is acrylic I liberally added some retarder to the paint with a palette knife to have an open window of time before the paint dried.

After doing my first pass with all three colors of paint, I decided to start over, so swiped through the entire arrangement, knowing I wanted the yellow green to touch four sides of the design space to create a cruciform format. So I laid down the dark green first, follow by the yellow green and white. (only one pass of the knife with that untextured color.)    I then started laying in some line work with a bamboo pen to reveal the silver...swiping it out a few times before I was satisfied.

What is interesting is that I changed the orientation of the piece which revealed what looked like an open wire fence and the brush behind. It proves that we often end up with a piece that directly reflects what we are grappling with internally. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Essential Ingredients" (final)

($420.00.....cropped portion of ...18" x 24".......Mixed Media on Canvas with a 2"00 depth)

"Essential ingredients create growth." The key word in this quote is "essential". There are essential steps or ingredients that must be present to have growth. This was a piece created for the 30th Anniversary of Capital City Scribes. This organization has definitely been an essential ingredient for my growth in the lettering arts.

I don't often create a piece with quite this much texture, but this particular design element was my passion for this piece. What you saw in the previous posting was burlap fabric primed with gesso. It's hard to capture the richness of the texture in a photo or the richness of the color. My inspiration was a picture of an interior room with a view of the forest outside. The colors in the piece represent most of the color notes in the photograph.

One of the problems of creating a piece with horizontal (or vertical) bands is the straight and hard edges. For that reason, I took the bands of color that have "splotches" of paint outside and sanded between layers and ended up slinging paint onto these strips and adding water to some of the edges to give some vertical and erratic lines with some diffused edges. The dark green in the burlap carried over into this slinging process also creates an "echo" of that color.

Even though I like vertical and horizontal bands, I am now ready to do a piece where the fabric is placed very randomly and without a precise shape or pattern. By the time I finished this piece, I was feeling a bit confined. Never the less, I am glad I followed my vision because it will definitely inform the next piece I create with fabric collage on canvas.

The last element added was the kiln formed glass elements in the openings of the burlap. It does add a lot of reflective quality to the piece and I am glad I tried it, but today, my inner creative voice is screaming for asymmetrical. And so shall it be.....in the very next piece. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Essential Ingredients" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

This is the beginning of a highly textured piece. Today's draft is only one part of a horizontal band of fibers adhered to canvas. The entire piece is created with bands of texture and color. The white you see today ends up becoming a very dark green with the bright green showing through.

The particular fiber you see today is a very loose weave of burlap with some of the threads removed and coated with gesso on both sides. A format of horizontal bands is an excellent way to showcase color and texture. It is best, of course, to have the bands in different widths and different textures and colors. This automatically opens the door to alternating the bands.

In addition to three different bands of this particular fiber, I am also including duck cloth which has also been coated with gesso on both sides. It is risky to add fiber to a canvas without it first being washed and dried or coated with gesso first. Adhering it before taking these steps can leave some puckering. This is unlikely to happen on a cradled board, but I have not tried that, but other artists have with success.

Basically, anything can be gessoed and adhered to a support to create texture. It is probably a good idea to keep the main thing, the main thing rather than adhering anything and everything in a haphazard fashion. Another option is to adhere fibers on select areas of the canvas to create some texture with a majority of the design space left free of too much detail. It's all a process. Look at rugs and quilt designs for inspiration images.

Going in this direction clearly places the artist in the "colorist" camp which can be a great place to land since color is the most emotional of the design elements. I believe texture is a close second. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Surface Texture"

(unavailable.....4" x 6".......on 300 lb. HP......mounted on masonite)

"Texture reveals depth and complexity." It is so true that texture is appealing on so many levels. Otherwise, why would people pay good money to buy antique items with layers and layers of texture?

The funny story I have about texture has to do with the person who stained the concrete floor in my studio. He was very concerned about the "splotchy" surface created by oil stains and paint that had spilled. He was quite relieved that I thought he was doing a great job and that I was totally unconcerned about splotches. My reply was this..."Artists spend hours and many layers to achieve this look so please carry on!"

If you want the perfect segue into abstraction, start collecting your images of all kinds of surface textures. They provide the perfect jumping off point for a piece of art. In the case of today's posting, the image was some kind of industrial looking table with this hole that was probably used for a hose or something. That hole in the metal became the focal point for this small experimental work.  This is probably my most satisfactory way of creating abstraction. Texture is definitely a core part of my voice. If you feel the same way, this is a great exercise.

I began by painting two coats of heavy body black acrylic paint on a piece of 300 lb. HP. After drying these layers thoroughly, I mixed up a gray from Ultramarine Bl. and Burnt Sienna plus White. This mixture of gray is great because you can warm it up or cool it down quite easily. Sponge brushes were used for all of the paint application. After applying this coat of gray, I scribbled lettering and other erratic marks into the paint. Dried with a hair dryer.  Spraying alcohol and removing paint erratically with a brayer created the texture.  You might also use a paper towel to remove larger amounts of paint. The idea is to make it look convincing by abrading the surface as erratically as possible. The other two layers were applied and abraded the same way. They were Burnt Sienna and White Fluid Acrylics.

More marks can also be carved into the surface after the alcohol and brayering is done and before it's dry. As you can see, this technique creates a highly textured surface. It is well worth an experimental piece of your own. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Creative Spirit"

(unavailable.....4" x 6".....on 300 lb. HP......mounted on masonite)

The windows of time open for the creative spirit." So many times there is a misconception that creativity is only for artists. Actually, anyone can be creative in any endeavor, especially if there is a willingness to embrace the unknown.

This is a totally experimental piece created with heavy body acrylics. Yellow Titanate was applied first with a palette knife, followed quickly by Burnt Sienna and Cobalt Turquoise plus Titan Buff. Most of the "smudgy" effect was created by moving the paint around with my fingers (wearing gloves)and making some gestural marks.

The sgraffito effect was very much in play. The erratic lines and lettering were scratched into the wet paint with the corner of a credit card and a Speedball C5 nib. At this point there were a lot of stark edges so I brayered over most of the piece while spraying alcohol. That technique will soften some edges and tone down any areas that are too bright.

My goal was to play around with low intensity color and pops of more intense color. It was fun and gave me a feel for the type of abstract work I am leaning towards. Shapes and edges were still a priority as they should be whether it's abstract or realistic work. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Color Poetry"

(unavailable.....4" x 6"....Color Block on Masonite)

"Color has its own poetry." It also has the power to create a mood better than any other design element. It's a vast subject and the more I know...the more I realize how much more I need to learn.

That's why "color blocking" has an endless fascination for me. It's quite like adhering paint chips on a board. The piece you see today is comprised of remnants from a "color block" piece I did a week or so ago. The idea was to use very neutral colors with one bright color being the star of the show. I had two rules going into the process. One rule was to have the bright green form a shape from top to bottom. The other rule was to have a variety of different sized blocks.

By including several pieces with erratic lines and a circular blob of color on one block, I was able to offset all of the straight lines created by the blocks. The straight lines can also be countered by arranging colors side by side that are close in value. This type of work is also a good study in edges. It is absolutely necessary to have edges and erratic lines in some of the blocks to contrast with the hard edges created by the perimeter of the blocks.

For those who have created mono printed rice papers, there is yet another wonderful option. By covering some or all of the blocks with rice papers, the texture and line work of the print will create a very dynamic piece. And that's my plan for tomorrow's posting. I will create a another 4" x 6" using rice papers instead of heavy body acrylics. In fact, my postings this week will be a series of 4" x 6" blocks created with different materials.

It's all very exciting and I would encourage you to jump on in. The water's warm!! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Gracias" (final)

($180.00......6" x 12".....color block......mounted on a 2" depth cradled board)

"Gracias is the fertile soil of gratitude." Along with the title, many changes have taken place and here is the final. This piece will be in an exhibition sponsored by Capital City Scribes this coming October.

This piece shows the drama created by implementing a hugh contrast of size. Contrasts are so important and the drama created will vary depending on the amount of contrast. If there is a slight contrast of size, that will certainly give the piece some energy, but a large contrast will deliver the drama in spades.

My main contrast in this piece was size, but the same principle holds true for a hugh contrast of line and its direction, color, value, and texture. There is also a hugh contrast of light and dark (1 and 10 on the gray scale and values in between). Another contrast of color that I used was the contrast of extension. This contrast has to do with the percentage of space a color occupies. In this piece, the dark green juxtaposed with the desert bronze color is almost equal with the darker values, but taking a slight edge. If one of these colors had some real dominance, there would have been less drama and more unity.

You can also see that the principle of repetition (echoes) is one of the power drivers of color block pieces. The same holds true in mosaics. Repetition creates rhythm and pattern in a piece.

One other thing to note is the "cowhide" type of spots on a few of the pieces which helps to break up some of the straight lines. The gestural writing in the paint does the same thing.

It's really all about design which can take a piece in any number of directions. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Gracias" (draft 3)

(draft 3)

Tomorrow I will hopefully be posting the final. The name will also be changed to "Gracias". You can see that several things have been removed and several pieces have been added.

Every decision that an artist makes when creating a piece changes the direction of that piece. My decision to have a hugh contrast of size in the color blocks greatly influenced the direction it would take. All of the pieces you see today are already adhered to the board out of pure necessity. It is very difficult to keep them all in their places while trying to cut and decide where a new piece will go.

This is similar to creating a mosaic, but has an altogether different texture. This is my fifth color block piece and they really do look like metal when sprayed several times with spray acrylic coating. This one is particular nice because of the Duochrome Desert Bronze....a Daniel Smith Acrylic. It is impossible to see the shimmer on the computer screen, but it is a stunning color in the original.

Another important tool to have on hand is a see through grid ruler. They are available at most office supply or craft stores. It would be painstakingly slow to line these blocks up and keep them straight without this ruler. They are also good for ruling up your lines for lettering.

Tomorrow you will see the smaller color blocks forming a shape from top to bottom. There will also be a fairly good size block of the bright green. By limiting the colors down to about (5)...I am able to create a lot of echoes (or repeats) and that unifies the piece. There will also be one color dominating....desert bronze. So as I finalize the piece, I will be making sure that color takes up more of the design space. (And I might change my mind and make the green dominate.) And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Gracias" (draft 2)

(draft 2)

Last evening I decided on a finished size of 6" x 12" in a vertical format. A few blocks have been completed and laid on the support. Nothing will be adhered until everything has been decided.

What I decided this morning was to have a larger contrast of size, so I will be cropping some of the pieces you see, making new ones, and including a variety of small sizes mixed in with the larger ones.

Contrast of size adds a lot of drama to a composition and brings the viewer in to a particular area, especially if the contrast is quite significant. So my plan is to have some smaller blocks that are less than an inch in size to create a focal point and a lot more repetition of all of the colors. This does take more time, but is well worth the effort.

It is always a good idea to notice the size of shapes in other artists' artwork. By analyzing and comparing how you respond to contrast of size, you will fully comprehend the power of this important contrast. When everything is too much the same size, the piece may be unified, but lack energy. In fact, contrast is the number one most important design principle....especially in a day and age when we are all bombarded by visuals.

So it might be a good idea to analyze as much artwork as possible to take note of all of the contrasts you see. Be looking for contrast of line (including edges and direction), color, texture, shapes (size), and values.

Analyzing a particular piece of artwork is more valuable than simply reading about design and trying to include the principles in your work. If you can see it in a finished piece of art, it will make a lot more sense and be more easily understood. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Lavender Blues" (final)

($200.00.....11" x 14".....Gesso Work on 140 lb. HP........Presented on a 2" Depth Cradled Board)


"Improvisational art has a syncopated rhythm." By the erratic placement of color shapes and a close division of space between the positive and the negative...syncopated rhythm occurs.

Drama can be created in a piece by allowing the positive and negative to occupy almost equal amounts of space. it also helps if those two space divisions are odd shapes with some of them appearing in a back and forth fashion. For instance, the light colored windows in the dark area and the dark windows in the light area add to the drama and rhythm of the piece.

In making the final decisions about this piece, I tried to preserve textures that were pleasing and made sure that a portion of all the previous layers remained in tact. Other decisions had to do with the treatment of the edges. I didn't want all of the edges to be solid and severe so I broke up some of those by "inching" my brayer into those shapes a bit and creating a transitional value between the extreme dark and extreme light edges.

I also used a break off knife to scratch into the dark shapes and some of the light shapes to reveal the color underneath. In the dark area, the underneath color was mostly white so I painted on a glaze of Quinacridone Burnt Sienna (fluid acrylic) to tie in with the brighter burnt sienna in the center portion of the piece.

You can also see a tinge of lavendar and burnt sienna in the white gesso areas as a result of spraying alcohol and brayering over the surface. The brayer automatically picks up some of those colors and carries them to the white.

My lettering is a mixture of italic and spencerian script written with a Mitchell #6 nib. Of course, the surface had to be prepared for lettering. It is quite impossible to write with pen and ink over this surface unless it is prepared with (2) parts water + (1) part gel matte medium. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Lavender Blues" (draft 2)

(image 1)

(image 2)

One thing that every artist learns over time is that layering creates depth. And so, today there are two more layers and more definition of shapes.

Windows (or rectangular openings) have long been a favorite shape in mixed media work. Artists like Katherine Chang Liu, Peggy Brown, Carole Pickle, etc. have all used windows in their work. They are an effective way of revealing previous layers and perhaps showcasing a particular image.

In the first image today, you can see that I used Dioxazine Purple (slightly dilute Heavy Body Acrylic) to create some rather dramatic dark shapes on either side of the central portion which will become the main focal point.

I began my decision making by using some cropping "L's" and a light charcoal pencil to mark off the rectangles. They are all different sizes and include portions of the original layers. Also, in image one, you can see that I defined the rectangles by using some white gesso. All of these newly painted areas were then texturized by spraying alcohol and removing (or deconstructing) portions of the paint with a brayer. I also allowed the brayer to enter into the rectangles a bit to create a more interesting edge and a transition value.

This particular purple can be very cold looking so I warmed the entire piece up a bit by adding Quinacridone Burnt Sienna (Fluid Acrylic) with a brayer. You can see how it shows up as a highlight in the dark purple areas and creates a lot of drama in the center area. Again, I was careful not to cover up all of the white areas and the purple areas in the rectangles were also left untouched except for the edges.

Today, I will be cropping the piece....adding more white gesso....adding some gestural lines...etc. From my commentary, it may sound like all of this was planned to the smallest detail. But I can assure you that I am only describing what I did after the fact. It was all intuitive while I was working. That's the nature of "jazz painting". And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Lavender Blues" (draft 1)

(image 1)

(Image 2)

This is the beginning of another piece so I do not have a quote yet. The technique involved consists of heavy body acrylic, white gesso, a brayer, and rubbing alcohol. This could be called "jazz painting" since the piece is being made up as I go along.

 For many years, "jazz writing" was a popular thing to do.....still is. It involves writing in a polyrhythmic fashion by exploring different spacing options and different sizes and weight of the letter thrown into the mix. Including in that type of writing now is a popular term called gestural writing. And it looks easy, but it really cannot be done well without an established foundation in italic or other script hands. So what I have begun in today's posting is my version of "jazz painting".

There are not many rules, but I have established a few just so I have a particular direction to the piece. The first principal of design I am adhering to is to create shapes. In the first image, I actually delivered paint to the surface (140 lb. HP) with a brayer. The color is Dioxazine Purple (Golden). I also sprayed alcohol into it so by the time I got through, there were darker and lighter areas of this color covering most of the quarter sheet of paper.   I also made some gestural marks into the paint with the corner of my credit card while it was still wet.  This dried overnight.

This morning, I added white gesso (full strength) to the areas you see in (image 1). The gesso was delivered to the paper with a credit card and then dried thoroughly with a hair dryer. And this leads me to my second rule which is to leave a portion of the previous layer in tact. Hence, you see a good portion of the original paper still showing.

The next step was to spray the white gesso areas with alcohol to break up the surface and create more texture by lifting the paint erratically with a lot of brayering. More alcohol and more brayering followed until I was satisfied with the texture. And I deliberatedly left a small portion of the white gesso untouched while rolling the brayer over a portion of the original dark purple area.

So in the final analysis, it is all about what to reveal or conceal. And that, to me, is the essence of "jazz painting" and is quite fun to do. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"New Leaf" (final)

($50.00......6" x 6".....mixed media on 140 lb HP....mounted on a flat panel gessobord)

"A new leaf is a fresh start." Most of us have made declarations about turning over a new leaf. It is a fresh start if the goal is reached. It's a known fact that it takes 21 days to break an old habit. It has worked for me, but not in every situation. So this piece is about associating a fresh start with breaking an old habit.

Color wise I like this piece a lot, but it is very risky to include stamped designs of very particular images in a piece of fine art. Even though this is a hand cut stamp based on a real leaf, it can become a bit cliched. Actually, it is much better to paint an actual image that requires skill level than become too "cute" with these kind of devices.

When dealing with techniques that deal with texture, I prefer to stick with geometric forms which have a long history in the arts because all images (painted, stamped, or drawn) are made up of shapes. And the more an artist goes towards the pure geometry of a shape, the more abstract it becomes.

Pure color blocks with no texture, however, can become quite sterile and boring. So one of my purposes right now is to fine the happy place where I feel totally satisfied with my divisions of space and the shapes formed within shapes that are indicative of this type of work.

So instead of beating up myself too badly about using such a purely decorative device as a leaf stamped on and into the paint, I simply consider it something I will probably not do again. And there is the other reason for blogging and working on my work every day.

It is a disconnect in learning how to do art, if the creative process is interrupted for too long a period of time. It makes much more sense to do a daily analysis of your work and identify the weak and strong points so as to redirect the course of the work. It has and always will be about process. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this work.

"New Leaf" (Part 1 of 2)

(Part 1 of 2)

The quote will come tomorrow, but what you are viewing today is a few pieces of watercolor paper with texture created with heavy body acrylics, a palette knife, commercial texture stamps, a handmade leaf stamp, and the sharp corner of an old credit card. What I will be posting tomorrow will be a finished 6" x 6". I obviously have way too many pieces, but the idea is to have a multitude of options. 

The piece I completed yesterday ("The Coast") is now being displayed at Solas Gallery in Salado. There is a range of my work being displayed there with Photographic Portraiture, since it is a Photography Gallery. What the owners of the gallery and I have discovered is that abstract work with very realistic photography is a wonderful mix.

Today I want to share a few things I've learned about the "color block" pieces I've been creating. One of the primary decisions that will help to feature the blocks with more detail or strong color is to surround those particular ones with neutral colors or blocks with minimal detail. For instance, "The Coast" had a featured block that was actually a small painting that could have stood on its own. What I did was surround that particular block with colors and texture that complemented the featured block but did not compete with the fact that it was the feature.

Since many of you have experimented with pouring medium, you would not want to place blocks of pouring medium together that all had swirling color. Some of those blocks might need to be solid colors that complement the one or two blocks that had several colors.

Another example would be the large piece I created for "The Psalms". All of the old text pages, and rice paper, as well as the hand lettering of the first verse of Psalm 91 were all placed within the gray/black or neutral blocks. The yellow/green and blue/green blocks had no text...no rice paper...and minimal texture.

So it is these kind of decisions that will help to create a successful "color block"....should you want to give it a try. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Coast" (final)

(unavailable......6" x 24"......acrylics.....mounted on a 2" cradled gessobord)

"Childhood memories take me back to the color, sounds, and smell of the coast." Yes, I did change the title since yesterday. And that's how it goes with the creative process. It's like playing musical chairs until everybody is in the right chair.

This is a very unusual size, but I quite like it. (6" x 24") Since yesterday, I completely finished the piece and totally enjoyed the process of bringing texture to all of these color blocks. The section I posted yesterday is like a painting within a painting. You can see how the jagged line of the coastal rocks represented by the brown in that one section creates a totally contrasting shape from all of the the straight edges.

Of course, there are lots of contrasting lines within each block, but that one section pulls it all together. So in essence what I have done is actually fragmented the image of the first block by enlarging parts of the seascape to show more detail. For instance, the white and blue blocks represent the sky while the brown areas represent the "jetties" and detail that is not present in the abstract seascape.

In one of the blocks, I added a third layer of paint after the first two layers were dried and then brayered that color and sprayed alcohol alternately until the desired texture was achieved. You can see that block positioned directly above the burnt sienna color. The third color I added to that block was white, but you can see that as the alcohol broke up the paint underneath, that the white turned gray and created a very weathered look.

It is also helpful to have a variety of your favorite cradled clayboards on hand so you can go ahead and mount the piece. This morning, I have painted the sides of the clayboard white which gives a very fresh look and complements the coastal mood. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Coast" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

There is no quote for this piece yet, but there will be after all of the other color blocks are added and arranged into a larger piece. Hang on for the ride!

Technique is defined in the dictionary as a manner of artistic execution in music, painting, etc. And yet it is so much more. It is even more than simply practicing a skill, because any skill practiced wrong will not yield the desired result.

For me, piano and art have come together in my journey. There are so many similarities. For instance, the speed at which the piano keys are struck has everything to do with the beauty as well as the loudness and softness of the tone. The same is true in palette knife painting. It's the lightness of the touch as the knife skims over another layer of wet paint that determines the quality of the edge or the revealed color underneath.

So it is instructive to practice on a scrap bit of paper or canvas and watch what happens when you press down harder while applying wet paint on top of wet paint and then compare that to doing the same thing with the lightest touch you can manage. It is the degree of attention to the touch that makes a hugh difference in both art and music.

Those lettering friends of mine will know this to be absolutely true in hand lettering as well. The graduated stroke with a pointed pen can be one of the most exasperating things to learn, but oh how lovely it is when it is done well. So part of our studio time must be spent on perfecting some of these skills by isolating them one by one. When learning a new hand, it is better to begin with pencil so you can isolate and perfect the form of the letter. Trying to add in the press/release technique and loading a pen, maintaining a consistent pen angle will drive you insane if you're not familiar with the form of the letter first.

And the same is true for the palette knife. It's all about which color is laid down first, the touch involved with the next layer, and how much paint to apply as well as the viscosity of the paint. And then trying this over and over again....every day. It is also helpful to remind ourselves that visual art means to observe with the eyes what is happening as the work is done. And then analyzing how others have accomplished similar techniques.

All that I have said today is precisely why I blog every single day. It's the act of doing it everyday before distractions pop up that speeds up the progress. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Old Shack" (final)

(final)

(unavailable at this time.....finished size is 8" x 16")

"Collections of memories often reside in places like an old shack." I am not quite sure where we lived when I was around age six or seven, but I do know that there was an old shack out back that seemed like the perfect place to set up my table and chairs, along with dishes, and serve mud pies to my dolls and stuffed animals. You probably have a similar story of an old shack with tools or other paraphernalia that captured your imagination.

So forget everything I said yesterday about setting this piece aside for awhile. I kept looking at it last evening and this morning I knew that it would be better to change up the sizes of the color blocks a bit by making another cut or two and then create a larger color block on the right hand side by having the low intensity red color touch three sides of the design space. That is also true of the blue areas and by cutting a bit off of one of the other blocks, I now have some alternation going on.

I also came up with a quote that happened to fit perfectly at the top of the small painting of the shack. However, this surface (because of the heavy acrylic) was a bit "bumpy" to write on so I did not spray it this morning and if I feel the need tomorrow, I will rewrite the quote by washing it off and doing it again. (The brown lettering was written with WN VanDyke Brown.)

It's all about leaving open as many options as possible. And that's why I did adhere the pieces to a 300 lb. HP paper rather than a clayboard....just in case I have the urge to crop it up and do something else. Whatever is decided will be what the piece is telling me to do, but this morning I am satisfied with the outcome and it will probably be mounted to a clayboard on down the line. I could also opt to place it in a frame. Once again, it's all about options. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Old Shack" (draft 2)

(draft 2)

Today is the birth of a very different kind of color block piece. All of the colors were mixed on a limited palette which gives a completely different flavor to the presentation. The jury is still out on this one.

The final size of this piece is an 8" x 16". I have painted the support a medium gray color mixed from the same colors in the piece. So that means there will not be any black in the piece, but several areas of a dark brown.

This one may grow on me, but I will not be adhering it to the support until I know for sure that it's a keeper. What I've decided to do today is adhere all of the pieces to a 300 lb HP section cut to the size of the board. That allows me to study it for a while before committing. I might even tape the pieces down first so that I can keep my options open about changing any color blocks or simply moving them around. And that is the way it goes with all experimental works. To not try different designs and techniques is to stay the same and that is simply not an option for me.

I have gone on and on about the benefits of color blocking and here are some more. If any of you are like me and like a variety of techniques such as simple printmaking, sgraffito, collage, palette knife painting, sanding, etc.....then you would like doing this because all of these looks can be incorporated in the blocks. And the variety of space division possibilities is infinite.

So what I will likely do today is suspend this piece for a few days or forever and move on to a new piece while I let this one simmer on the back burner. And there your have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Old Shack" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

As always, one idea leads to another and then another...etc. I love the color blocking using heavy body acrylics with a palette knife, but if you remember, I also have done quite a few palette knife paintings in oils. So what you see today is the beginning of another color block piece...with a twist.

Before beginning today's painting, I hunted down my small glass palette and large cake pan with a cover. Instead of using heavy body acrylics straight from the tube, I set up a double palette of a warm and cool of each primary and a lot of white. So the colors in this piece will be much less intense and have subtle transitions of color throughout.

If my instincts are correct, I believe this will be far more interesting than the painting by itself. Only time will tell since I haven't tried this before. I haven't even decided on the final size.

What I have been wanting to do is go more abstract landscapes by eliminating all of the minute details that appear in most landscapes. This type of painting yields a more "poetic" feel to the piece, especially when "graying" down the colors. Already, I have determined to have a lot of whitish/ gray colors throughout the piece and keep the whole thing fairly neutral.

The highlight of the completed work will remain the red/orange of the shack. I hesitate to say that I may never leave color blocking since my mind is in a whirl with all of the possibilities. Every time I make strong declarations, I live to eat my words. But for now, it has captured my heart. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Bravo" (Final)

(unavailable.....8" x 8" .....mixed media....mounted on a 2" depth clayboard)


"Bravo is a word for verbal applause!" It's a magnificent word and describes a job well done with only five letters. Everyone likes to hear it and this piece is actually created for someone who truly deserves it!

A lot has taken place in this piece since yesterday. One of the most obvious things is the value change, and a slight reconfiguration of several pieces. I cut one section into three pieces to add more color and create a large block of color that touches all four sides. The grays were also changed to have a predominance of white and the dark grays went to black. There is also a sliver of black amidst the colors which I really like.

In all three black sections, I added some form of lettering. It was light gray when I wrote it, but when placed into the piece it was still a bit stark. The problem was resolved by spraying the lettering with spray acrylic coating...drying with a hair dryer...and then brushing on (sparingly) some black charcoal powder. (Just a side note about a surface freshly sprayed with acrylic coating...pastels or charcoal powder stick to them much better.)

All in all, I like the piece, especially incorporating a more methodical strategy which speeded up the process. So there you have it...just a few more things to think about.