Rising

This is a great old building on Galveston's industrial side that's seen better days.
I painted it over several weeks, starting out pretty literally, then set it aside for a
few days at a time until some "aha" moment came to me on what to do next. It
went through a lot of transformations over time each time emerging with less
spelled out and different color shifts. Now that I see it as a photo image, I'm
seeing more I could have done but it's time to move on.

Boston Near The Wharf

Perfect morning last September in Boston. This image doesn't match the painting
or the photo in Photoshop. Here in Blogger, it's very contrasty, coarse and blues
are too saturated and ultramarine-y. The last post really heightened the reds
inaccurately. This happened for a few posts last fall and then seemed to correct
itself. Is anyone else noticing this happening to their images?

Neighbors

I was really taken with the light flooding the tops of these two
buildings and how the red building colored the gray one. They shared
an alley on Galveston's wharf side which has a wealth of old industrial
buildings.

Gateway

I'm deliberately practicing to not define too much because I often
still lapse back to spelling everything out. It helps to have a simple
composition and to start out with amorphous shapes. I'm thinking
of choosing a photo reference and drawing it, doing the observation
part in the drawing—working out the composition, lights/darks, then
painting from the b&w sketch, essentially relying on memory or
even making the painting up from imagination. Paintings of mine
that I'm happiest with are the ones that are blocked in, then finished
without the photo reference.

The Light at the Dead End

The days were cold and gray in early February in Fredericksburg, TX
but the sun came out late one afternoon and I went out to photograph.
I found this dead end just as the sun was setting.
 

LA Park—March

I arrived in Los Angeles the day their rains stopped. The weather was
cool and gray for the most part but when the sun came out, there was
that famous light the California painters loved so much.

From the Shady Side

I wanted to take Michael Workman's workshop to learn structure
and get a better understanding of basics. Workman's message wasn't
one I really wanted to hear: limit everything: palette and subject. But,
of course, it was exactly the message I needed to get. I've been all
over the place trying to figure out who I am as a painter so it's a way
to make painting be real and valuable work. Instead of getting up in
the morning and wondering what I'll paint today, it's a way to focus
and build on what I did yesterday. I still want to push for more
abstraction but there was enough here to like so it felt like a good
place to stop.

Tree Slide

This is a portion of a Michael Workman photo that he provided
photocopies of for an exercise called Paint Along with Mike. His photo
was gorgeous, complex and quite a bit cooler than the photocopies. My
attempt at the complete photo is still in progress but while it dries so I
can torture it more—scrape, sand and paint over it, I took a corner of it
and did a 6 x 8. Kinda wish I'd disobeyed and not painted along but
watched him instead. :-) I'm a weenie.

Quiet Montana Day

I really enjoyed Michael Workman's workshop and was hoping
to become a temporary clone. Ha! Easier said than done! He had
demonstrated adhering canvas or paper to a panel for texture and
irregular edges and I had some unprimed canvas so I prepared a
few canvas panels when I got home. Thought that troweling on 3
coats of gesso would obliterate the canvas texture but no. Preparing
panels had always seemed like busy-work and time taken away
from painting but after 5 days with Workman, it feels an important
part of the process to have your hand and attention focused on creating
the surface right from the start.

The Fredericksburg Artist School has a great roster of artists lined
up for the rest of the year. I recommend it!
http://www.fbgartschool.com/2014_classes.htm

Waiting in the Meadow

A different cropping of the same barn on 18 x 24 stretched linen.
I was trying consciously to vary the cool and warm tones in large
expanses of space, careful to keep transitions close and not get hung
up on all the straight lines. It felt easier to overshoot boundaries with
this one maybe because I laid in the drawing more loosely so the edges
weren't yet defined in my mind. It felt good to paint them in and cover
them up, leaving traces of the previous layer to show through. Painting
in layers feels natural to me, possibly because I don't know the next
right value or color to use, but more, I think, because I like not knowing.
It adds to a feeling of exploration and nice accidental possibilities.

Betsy's Barn

When looking at a scene my immediate response is to try to replicate
it so I've been conscious the past few months of using mark-making
to explore and let a scene build up sort of on its own. The panoramic
scenes are easier now but once there's a dominant subject, I tend to
do a "portrait" of it and forget the marks so with this, I tried to obliterate
boundaries and edges. It still feels awkward but as always . . . it's
about getting "there" even if you don't quite make it.

Nice Little Spread

Another from the Montana album. Getting psyched about an upcoming
workshop taught by Michael Workman at the Fredericksburg Artist school,
Feb 3 - 7. You can see his work here.

Paint/Medium

A little hiatus from fruit . . .

Orange/Cup

I've really enjoyed returning to these simple set-ups.
They don't seem quite as hard as they once did and
also easier now to portray light.

Lemons/Shot Glass

The shot glass has white marbling all through it—
very pretty but impossible (for me) to paint a real
likeness of it. On the last post, I didn't want to say
I was trying to channel my inner Stanley Bielen
because no one else can pack so much emotion into
a small painting of simple objects, but, yup, I was.
But, it seems like not a bad way to start if one is trying
to get free of self-imposed fetters? Thanks so much
to everyone who comments—can't tell you how thrilled
I am when someone takes the time!

Apple/Pear

I've been all over the place style-wise and subject-wise
lately and it feels good to just explore. I've been invited
again to participate in a small works show at the Abend 
Gallery in Denver. They have a great roster of artists so
I'm honored they asked. I hadn't been working small
enough and needed new work so I'm keeping it simple
and paying attention to paint and color. That seems totally
unremarkable but I've been so hung up on learning to
paint form, there hasn't always been room in my head for
the "art" part. I'm feeling confident enough lately to not worry
about getting the objects right, but to try a color or texture
or mark next to another and see if the piece holds together.
But then I started on the 6th one in this series yesterday and
got all hung up on getting it "right" again—easy enough to
scrape and stop, regroup.

Salt 'n' Pear

I wanted to play around with a painting that had more
background than subject matter, just to lay colors next
to each other and see if I could make them resonate.
And, make them work with the subject.

At the Window

I've been all over the map subject-wise lately, aiming to learn how to
not concentrate on painting the "thing" so much as manipulating paint.
I've always been interested in paint handling but maybe now trying
to be more conscious about it, how each stroke of color and value works
with the one next to it. Instead of racing ahead and having a vision of
what the painting should look like, how it should come out, I'm narrowing
my focus to what I'm actually putting down and then responding to what
comes next, essentially allowing it to come out the way it does.

Red Barn 2

Another try at the red barn . . . I go back to the same subject often
to see if I can simplify the way I think about painting it, find a
different approach, use different colors, emphasize different parts
of the composition and, just in general, see if there's been some
evolution. 

Old Barn

Another try at "the" barn. I have a vision of how I should be painting
these scenes but am not there yet. Can't seem yet to break out of my own
boundaries. I did enjoy working on this however: no second-guessing
or making it hard or getting in my own way. One good thing is that while
painting, I was most concerned with color in light and color in shadow.
(Yay me.) (This image, too, on blogger is so contrasty with exaggerated
darks compared to the same image in photoshop. ??? )

Little Silo in the Woods

I really enjoy painting buildings and am trying to be more conscious
of integrating their surroundings instead of painting a "portrait" of them.

When I compare this uploaded image on blogger to the image in
Photoshop, it looks coarser or contrast-ier than the Photoshop image.
Does anyone else notice differences in their uploaded pictures?

Red Barn

I had intended to paint this barn differently—more amorphous
and atmospheric, but I am finding it easier to modify what I see and
and not be so tied to an actual scene.  

Old Brewery

Trying to be more conscious of light and shadow, color and value
and work towards an airier, less solid effect.

March of the Trees 3

Another in the series of distance paintings . . . with each one, I try to start
out thinking about abstract stuff right from the start. Always, at some
point, I realize I've gotten prissy and cautious, take a break and regroup.
I'm finding it helpful to work on the same subject, especially a subject like
this that doesn't nag me to try to be faithful to the scene.

Tree Line - Sold

I have the hardest time making a landscape be green. There are many
iterations of this painting in various greens but after living with them
each for a few days, they seemed overwhelming.

Settling In—Sold

Montana's sky was constantly changing and endlessly fascinating . . .
thought I'd give painting it a try. This reminds me of cooler weather
elsewhere after a week of 102-105 degrees in San Antonio. Pray
for rain!

Field with Cattails - Sold

After the last two distance paintings (actually, there's a third that's
not finished yet), it felt natural to carry on with the mark-making.
This was mostly just about the pleasure of pushing paint around.

March of the Trees 2

More adventures in trying to create space and mark-making.
Every preconception I had about painting landscapes was pretty much
wrong. No matter how much I look at other artists' landscapes, my brain
is slow to comprehend how they achieved a sense of distance, so lots of
trial and error . . .

March of the Trees—Sold

Trying to understand how to depict a deep sense of space . . .

Apple Heart

When I cut into this apple, I was taken with the heart shape but also
by its impish expression.

At the Bottom of the Road

A post at last! I've been painting every day except for a great week in Montana,
but the figures I had been working on weren't working out. Montana's views,  
big skies and constantly changing weather talked me into shifting to landscapes.