"Palm Branch"

($60.00.....6" x 6".......Water Soluble Oils on 2" depth Cradled Board)

There is no quote on this piece, but the word palm is written and then deconstructed by covering up part of the word. The lettering in these type of pieces is intended to create movement and a variation of line. This is an abstract of a palm branch describing its movement and color.

I was careful to use at least three values of green and three values of the tan to give the piece some depth. So this is something that still must be considered even in an abstract piece. The piece was created very much like yesterday's posting by mixing the colors and placing them on the support in varying amounts.

The greens are taking up a greater percentage of space. The dominance of one color in a abstract will calm the somewhat chaotic nature of abstraction. Dominance of any of the design elements always brings more harmony to a piece of artwork. This is very important to remember so that you know exactly what to do in order to calm a piece down when there are too many competing elements. This is an important design principle in all mediums.

It is also important to keep the shapes in mind. I intentionally added more yellow green going from the center down to the right hand corner and connecting with the other yellow green that goes off at the top. And anytime a shape can touch three sides of the design space is a good thing.

Rhythm was created by using the same directional strokes and bringing in a slight diagonal vertically and horizontally. The gestural lettering creates some more rounded lines. And by virtue of the tool itself (palette knife), some edges are sharp and some are blended into the neighboring color.

So abstraction in general is all about design. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Sitting On The Patio"

($200.00......18" x 24".....painted on a 2" depth gessobord)


There is no quote today, but I did inscribe the title of the piece into the wet oil paint. "Sitting on the Patio" is a painting of one of my favorite pots and plants on my patio. The patio is what I call the new "front porch". Not everyone has a front porch anymore, but most people do have a deck or patio where they can share conversation with family and friends. Many happy conversations have happened on my patio as well as many quiet moments of thought and reflection. This piece is larger and was created for an upcoming exhibit at Hill Country Bible Church NW called "Come Together".  Indeed, patios are a great place to come together.

I don't post many oil paintings, but I can assure you that I have been dabbling with oils for some time now and my most successful endeavors seem to be created with the palette knife. This entire piece was done alla prima with a variety of sizes and shapes of palette knives.

The same gestural textures can be seen in the background that I also create in kiln formed glass and mixed media. I used a double palette of warm and cool colors. One of the most useful things I've done is to mix all of my primary and secondary colors with the complement (one by one) and adding white and then more white to achieve a range of grays. Those paint chips have been placed on shipping tags....labeled...and hung on a ring binder to give me a ready reference until I become totally experienced with mixing the range of grays that are in the landscape or any painting really.

My inspiration has come from artists like Sandra Pratt and Rocky Hawkins. They both use a lot of palette knife techniques. You might be inspired by taking a peak at their websites. All of these same techniques can be used with acrylics. It is best to use a retarder with the acrylics to give you a longer window of working time. Open acrylics are another option for painting outdoors with this medium. The advantage, of course, in working with acrylics is that the surface can then be prepared for lettering. Other water media cannot be placed on top of oils. And there you have it. Just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Familiar and Comforting"

($40.00....6" x 6" mounted on a 1/8" depth clayboard panel)


"Familiar and comforting thoughts are found in those things symbolizing truth." This pen and ink drawing of a palm tree in our yard has been a symbol of truth for me. Palm trees symbolize "victory" and that is confirmed in an ordinary dictionary. I am sure that you have symbols in your environment as well. It's a good thing.

I drew this contour drawing of a palm tree in our yard while sitting on the patio having coffee. The odd shapes and angles are interesting to me and even without the shaded color giving it form, the average person can tell what it is. Contour drawing is simply drawing the outline of something with perhaps a few internal shapes. When the color and detail is stripped away, the juxtaposition of angles and shapes can provide a very interesting piece. Try looking at objects or plants in your environment and see what happens when you focus on the outline. Even if it's not totally accurate, it still has a lot of interest.

I drew it the first time with pencil and then, transferred the pencil lines to this piece in the same way you can transfer an image onto an eraser in order to hand cut a stamp. The graphite transfers quite easily on surfaces that have a bit of tack. In this case, it was pouring medium (the black, lime green, and cream color). I then inked over the pencil lines to really give the drawing some definition. It's a great thing to do or something to just think about.


Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Wishing" (sold)

(sold)


"Wishing will not create growth." This seems like such an obvious quote to understand, but I continue to be amazed at the tendency in human nature to assume that I might be the one who is the exception to this rule. Even people with enormous talent must work very hard to master a new skill. There is another quote in this piece by Ted Orland that reads..."It's the intensive practice of tangible skills that prepares you to make finished art." There is no shortcut!

This is a rather vague piece which is the perfect metaphor for this quote. Wishing for something that someone else spent hours and years to accomplish is a vague concept that has very little depth. It is much more prudent to face the reality that it takes 10,000 hours to master a complex skill. Even though that may seem depressing, it is much easier to accept if each of us takes time to enjoy the small successes along the way.....and be patient.

This piece was designed around a photograph, but has more gesso than image. Soft pastels helped to create depth in the areas with gesso plus the uneven coverage and larger drops of gesso enriched the texture. To keep the quote done in spencerian script at the value of a pencil...I used Derivan Graphite in a tube (Sepia) to write with. Black Ink would have been too dark. Just a few more things to think about.

"The Coast"

(unavailable)


"Even in the snow, the palm tree offers up childhood memories of the coast." This photo was taken last year from my upstairs studio. However, as a child this is what I saw at Christmas minus the snow. Whatever your childhood memory is, it's fun to reflect and cherish particular people and places.

White is an interesting color that can be the main attraction in a piece. I have been using it a lot because of its carrying power even on top of a muted background. There is a tendency to only use white in this way when the background is extremely dark so that it will show up well. But if you want a more subtle look, try using it on muted or "grayed down" colors. The contrast is not as strong as it would be on black or other dark colors, but the viewer can then be surprised as they get closer to the piece. Everything in a piece does not need to be distinguished from across the room. It was also nice to use tube acrylic white with the pouring medium with specks of it still suspended in the medium that look like snow flurries.

Another thing to note is the placement of the flourishes in the trees as though they were an extension of the palm branches. My desire for the month of December is to practice different placements and flourishes where they might not be expected just to show that they can be part of a contemporary piece. We don't all need to do flourished birds and use typical settings reminiscent of the 1800's....although there is nothing wrong about doing that. I still enjoy studying and looking at historical references and even doing "stand alone" flourishes with no hint of contemporary techniques, but it is exciting to push it to the limit. Just something to think about.