"Soothing Blue"

(unavailable)

"Some days require soothing blue." It seems to be true that some colors have more power to calm and heal than others. I think blue is one of those colors.

In this piece, I got much more intentional about the way I laid down the color and paid much closer attention to the shapes of color. However, to make it much more interesting, I tried to slightly change the color with each stroke. This actually helps to make a solid color image have more depth. It also helps to change the direction of the stroke. 

Division of space is much easier with a landscape. What does help is to select images that include trees with exposed branches. Those branches do help to further divide the space and break up the solid green and fall colors. That's why landscapes at this time of the year have a bit more contrast since some of the trees have already lost their leaves. So it is a very good time to go out and take some good photographs and even take some time to paint outside. 

Again, I want to emphasize the importance of painting with a limited palette. It creates color harmony and also saves you some money. If you are interested in a single primary palette, the three primaries that are basic are Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red Med. and Cad. Yellow Light and a tube of Titanium White. I use these colors but also include Cad. Yellow Med. rather than Cad. Yellow Light and Lemon Yellow. I also like Phtalo Blue and Alizarin Crimson. This gives much more of a range, especially for landscape painting. The Phtalo Blue is extremely helpful in achieving dark greens. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

"A Foundation"

($40.00....6" x 6"....water soluble oils on gessobord)

"A rock in art or in life provides a foundation." Rocks have long been symbolic of stability and strength. They have a spiritual significance and that is often symbolized in the visual arts.

The palette knife is one of the most expressive tools I've had in my hands. After completing approximately (3) weeks of these paintings, I now have my favorites. One palette knife is never enough since there are many sizes and configurations. In this piece, I felt a bit "looser" and freely threw in some gestural marks in various places. Actually, each swipe of the knife feels like a gestural stroke and that pleases me very much. 

Two of the major points in pulling these paintings off is to make sure the dards are dark enough and lights are light enough. The other point is to work with a limited palette. Identify the colors in the reference photo or in plein air by identifying the root color by one of the (12) colors on the color wheel. I still slip up from time to time and call yellow-green....."green gold" (A golden acrylic color). The reason this is important is because the components in some of those color hues rather than the pure color can give you some unexpected results when mixing them.

Simply avoid that by learning how to work with either one set of primaries plus white or set up a double palette which includes a warm and cool  of each primary plus white. You can then "gray down" a color much easier and the entire painting will be more harmonious. It is sometimes hard to realize that all colors come from yellow, blue, and red. It's the percentage of each and the intensity that makes the difference. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Emotional Range"

(unavailable...acrylics with retarder)

"Nature has a range of emotions." In light of the severe weather on the East Coast contrasted with the beauty of a fall landscape, this quote was born. It is an abstract landscape with the deliberate intention of focusing on texture and shapes rather than a realistic interpretation.

It is very exciting to take an ordinary photo and use that as a jumping off point to lay down the shapes and colors in an abstract way. As I have been saying, it is much easier to get out of the comfort zone of trying to paint every leaf on the tree by using a palette knife.  You then have no choice, but to paint the broader shapes and leave out the detail.

I am definitely in a transitional stage with this and trying to accomplish several things at once. My first intention is simply to observe and see the minimal characteristics of a given image and try to translate that into as few shapes as possible. Another word for it could be "visual shorthand". But that is only the first goal.

My second goal is to see which type of media will best accomplish the goal. I have been experimenting with oils, acrylics plus retarder, and open acrylics. Each piece completed adds to my knowledge of these three approaches.

The third goal and one which is suffering a bit until I get the first two resolved is how to include lettering in the piece. I already know that lettering is going to look best with a very abstract and abbreviated image, but I'm not quite there yet. And I do emphasize the "yet" because art is a process. For instance, I had to use a Prismacolor .005 Pen because the paint was still tacky and I could never have pressed down on a pen into this surface at this stage. 

My encouragement is to ask yourself how and what you want to communicate and then chart out a plan to achieve that goal. It does take time and patience, but is well worth the effort. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Inevitable"

($40.00.....6" x 6"....Open Acrylics on Gessobord)

"Change is an inevitable part of life." This may sound like an overstatement of the obvious, but the thing to take away is that we are all moving forward or backward. Nothing stays the same. Comfort zones are not our friend.

This may be another palette knife painting, but it is done with Golden Open Acrylics. The advantage of using this instead of oils is that it is water soluble and other water media can be painted or written over it. It does have a faster drying time than oils, but it still gives a generous time to work wet into wet before it becomes dry to the touch. 

The quote was written with a pencil. It is running vertically up the right hand side and is barely visible. My desire after all my experimentations with oils, acrylics plus retarder, and now open acrylics is to see how they all work. In order to incorporate lettering done with a pen or brush in gouache, I will need to work ahead to allow for drying time. Another issue is the difference in viscosity. Open Acrylics do not have the same texture or body of oils or even regular heavy body acrylics. However, I was informed that I can add a Golden Medium to the Open Acrylics to achieve the texture I want, but it will speed up the drying time. So the next step is to work ahead and also to try a medium mixed into these open acrylics.

My personal preference in choosing landscape compositions is to have a strong foreground interest. So if the "fall" does not come to Texas, I will bring the "fall" in my artwork. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Numerous and Colorful"

($125.00....6" x 6"...Oils on Gessobord....floated on a linen mat in a custom frame)

"Letters are as numerous and colorful as the leaves." The idea of making odd comparisons is one of the hallmarks of my quotes. This one is no different. And I think we can all agree that letters can form a lot of words that are indeed colorful.

The evolution of style in anyone's artwork is ongoing. It seemed quite natural to adhere text pages to my background, partially covered by gesso with some of the lettering peeking through the painting. In a recent posting, I talked about the idea of really thinking through the ideas and techniques that continue to appear in your own artwork. 

For me, there is a continual return to the gestural mark. I love the erratic quality of the line and the palette knife is simply one more tool that will yield a lot of spontaneous movement. That's why I decided not to make the dark background trees, but rather lay the paint down in the colors of those trees, but in a gestural way. The foreground trees, of course, do look like trees with an abstract quality. 

This way of laying down the paint helps integrate the collage elements and the quote scribbled into the foreground. There are many ways to lay down paint. You can use a brush, palette knife, brayer, mono print, etc. My thinking is to try them all and see what best fits your personal vision and style. If you desire to include lettering, it is best to keep the other elements of the piece somewhat abstract because letters are abstract. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Outdoor Cathedral"

(unavailable)

"Trees can form an outdoor cathedral." I have often heard people say that they feel the presence of God even more when they are outdoors. Trees, especially large ones can definitely feel like an outdoor cathedral. It's a comforting thought.

In this piece, the stately evergreens stand in stark contrast to trees that have fully turned. Capturing that with a palette knife in a 6" x 6" space was a challenge. This is a "wet into wet" technique so it is very important to have a good strategy on which color to lay down first. My plan generally begins by thinking of the piece in layers.

Whatever appears to have the most distance from my view is what I lay down first. In addition to that strategy, I also lay down a color that will reappear if I remove some of the paint. In the case of these trees, I laid down the color of the tree trunk so that this color would reappear when I scraped back some of the additional layers. It's all very risky, but well worth the effort.

One other very important factor is realizing that only one stroke can be made before wiping off the palette knife and making another stroke. The wonderful part of this is that palette knives are much easier to clean than brushes.

Last, but definitely not least is the amount of passion brought to this process. It is well worth the effort to take care in choosing what to paint because the passion will help you bring your best effort to the painting of the piece. And if you get off to a bad start, then scrape off the panel and begin again. I guarantee you will learn something with every single piece. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.