"The Dining Room Wall Test"

Since I have been doing some paintings lately that are a bit larger than usual….for me. We have been giving them a test run on our dining room wall. Anything seems to look OK there….to me, but it is interesting how some paintings kind of grow on you….by that I mean my wife, Marilyn. Marilyn has become a pretty good critic, and help to me over the years, so she would not like to have just anything stuck on her dining room wall. I’m sure many artists do this, but I have never rotated paintings on my home walls that were going to galleries eventually.

The painting above, “Le jardin de Le Village” 24x30 oil on linen, and the painting below are good examples of what I mean. When I first finished the garden painting, I felt she was luke warm in her enthusiasm for the piece. We put it up to try it for a while, and after she lived with it for a time, I sensed that she was a little disappointed when I told her it was going to The Travis gallery. I think it is a nice way to get a feeling of how someone else might co-exist with your work. We had the “Walking the Ladies” below on the wall since January….that was long enough, so it went to the RSHanna Gallery, and hopefully will end up on someone else‘s wall eventually….maybe the dining room! If Marilyn got so attached to a painting that she wanted it, or could not part with it, I certainly would not take it away. She likes selling paintings as much as I do….thankfully! I do not do this with all of the smaller pieces that I paint. I actually do not have a large body of my own work in our home…..the studio is another story of course! The dining room spot is being occupied by “The Basket Weaver”(bottom photo) temporarily.

This is obviously not something that one necessarily needs to do, but I find it interesting, and it is a good little test. The one aspect of this test that was not mentioned is, what if you grow to hate the painting. Well then, at least there would be no problem parting with it. Thanks for listening to more of my ramblings.

Since January, it's been "Walking the Ladies"

"The Basket Weaver"

Temporarily occupies the spot

"The Apalachicola, Florida Maritime Exhibition" April 7th-29th

"Early Morning" 9x15 oil on linen will be one of my four paintings to be exhibited in the Exhibition in Apalachicola in April. There will be a reception on their second Saturday maritime celebration, April 14, from 6 to 8 pm.

"Mates" 12x16 oil on linen is another one the pieces that I have going into the exhibit. All paintings from all the participating artists (who are all ASMA members, American Society of Marine Artists) will be for sale at the Center for History, Culture and Art Center.

Both of these paintings are subject from the area around Apalachicola Florida.

"From Field Sketch to Studio Painting"

"The Oyster Boats"

This studio painting (above) is a result of painting a small piece (below), “Oyster boats” 6x9 oil, on location and taking information and reference to the studio to develop a larger work, “The Oyster Boats”, 15x30. The small sketch below was obviously painted at a different time of day and light, but it is the same location. There are things about studio paintings that are not achievable in Plein air because of the time restraint, but again, I try to treat them as similar as possible……my method does not change from field sketch to studio. I touched on this in a previous blog, “Plein air, Style or Process”. Plein air is not a style of painting, but the act of painting outdoors in open air.

"San Blas"

"San Blas" is a studio effort that evolved from the little Plein Air sketch below. I painted the study (6x9, oil on linen) last year at the Forgotten Coast paint out in Apalachicola, Florida. The studio painting is 12x24, oil on linen. It is very similar in feeling.......particularly the light. The energy and spontaneous brushwork in the sketches are often, for me, difficult to duplicate......so I don't necessarily try to do that. If it happens, then that's great, but each painting is a different painting, and the studies on location help me use the reference properly, and not just copy photo imagery. I try to pretend, or treat the studio paintings the same way, if possible, that I do the field sketches. The most important thing about painting on location or from life, for me, is the knowledge the camera cannot see what the eye can see. The camera will give you excellent information about structural details and such. The Plein air or life sketches give you a sense of place, accurate shadow value......things that have a tendency to get inky or dark in the photo reference......may it is just my poor photography!

Thanks of listening to may ramblings.

"A Proud Man"

I found this old painting in storage recently. It was not the first oil I painted after switching from watercolor, and other mixed media that I was using at the time for illustration assignments, but it was early....like 1983 or 84 ish. I did my first painting in oil in 83'. This is not a great painting, but I think looking at it again after all this time, there are some aspects of it that I still like. I can't remember the exact assignment...it could have been a study for a element in a montage of images. I did a series of famous American Indian chiefs for an outfit in Cheyenne, Wyoming back in the eighties. It could have been part of that. To much water under the bridge....to many back to back assignments during those years that all ran together.

Anyway, thought it might be interesting to look back at some of the old stuff every now and then. Some of it will never see the light of day. I kind of like this one....something about the skeptical, or proud expression on the man`s face.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

“Lula-Belle and the Preacher Fisherman”(Reasons for painting a narrative type painting)

I was recently asked the question, what is the painting “Lula-Belle and the Preacher Fisherman” about, and why did you want to paint this painting. My answer was that it first and foremost is about the relationship of the man and man’s best friend the dog (Lula-Belle). The obvious unconditional devotion this little dog has for her master was a pretty irresistible subject. There is a story here….I do not know the entire real story, but one can imagine a story of some kind in a narrative painting of this type. I guess the story depends on your point of view, or attitude, and sentiment towards this subject.

The painting is additionally, and possibly even more important, about the light……..as most paintings are. Interesting dramatic sunlight in this case, that created patterns, and changes of temperature, was the catalyst for making me want to paint what might seem like an ordinary uninteresting subject. If the light is good, it can be something interesting and have possibilities to the artist.

The other thing about this particular painting that was fun, and I believe necessary for a successful outcome, was the opportunity afforded me for applying interesting textural paint applications. The background building and scattered objects, as well as the figures, have a wealth of textural variety that was not only challenging, but much fun for me! Of course, I am a sucker for old beat up buildings and weathered surfaces, so there you go.

One can ponder and over analyze this kind of stuff. I am usually not one to do that unless asked. I think it is OK to do this after the fact, but one should react to the subject without these types of overt considerations. They should be subconscious decisions. I try not to consciously be to aware of reasons for doing things……better to just react honestly to the subject. This was basically my answer to this question, and certainly does not necessarily reflect a universal opinion about this type of discussion. Someone else might have a totally different reason, or motivation for spending time doing something that ultimately should be most important to the artist. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

"The Silk Shawl" 14x11 oil on linen, just off the easel!

I donated a little 9x6 painting similar to this one,"The Red Hat",to the Portrait Society of America for their fundraiser/incognito event. I always intended to do a larger version of that painting, but it sort of evolved into this. There are things about this one I like better, and some things about the original that I also still like. This is only 14x11, but I get a better sense of scale than I did with the 9x6 study.

"A Sideward Glance" 16x12 head study

I posted this painting despite the fact that it is a wiped out painting. I was not totally happy with some of the shapes, and as a result of missing the subtle sizes, I did not get the likeness that is usually the result of accurate shapes. I tried fixing and reworking and got frustrated......so I wiped it out. I did take this shot when I thought I was finished. After studying it again, I just might have been a little premature in my decision. I`m sharing this mainly for the young artist out there who want to be as good as they are going to be....right now! I do not think that it works that way. One never masters this thing called painting. It is an ongoing struggle. I heard a line in a song the other day that I shared with my students recently that I particularly like. "I am not as good as I intend to be, but I'm a lot better than I used to be." Can't remember the song or the singer.....Sorry.