Art "Off the Wall"

Our cooperative gallery, Artists Attic, challenged each of us to create an "Off the Wall" painting or sculpture. A work which was a departure from our normal subjects, style, approach, etc. I responded by doing my traditional landscape but in the form of a Triptych. These traditionally were three-paneled  paintings, typically religious. Nowadays they most often substitute for a single large canvas, which can be hard to stabilize and easier to damage in shipping, etc.

This one recalls our trip to California in July which included excursions to Napa and Sonoma valleys: "South of Sonoma", 12x36 Oil/Canvas.

Big Sky Country

Storm Remnants

12x16 oil (study)

Lexington Kentucky is not known as Big Sky Country, that is reserved for Nebraska, Iowa and points west and north. After recent rains, I was passing by an undeveloped commercial property a half-mile wide and was taken by the sunset. At the easel, eliminating the low buildings and adding some rolling Kentucky farmland nearby and the composition was decided upon. I'm now working on a 20x24 of the same scene and hankering for a trip out west to see more and more of this big sky.  

Everyone's Doing It

Yes, everyone around me is painting cows, spurred on by our resident expert in painting cows. I resisted for months, helped by weeks of rain which put a damper on canvases, paints and my inspiration. So here is my entry in the big sweepstakes..."Knee Deep"  I caught these guys by the side of the road in early morning, backlit to give them more appeal. Of course they interrupted their breakfast and were about to come over and see if I had more of it. Not being a farmer, I jumped back into the car and sped off to the next farm for photo-taking. Altogether a great day!

Knee Deep  oil/board 10x12

"Off the Wall"

As a project to do something different, and tired of the snow, I looked through photographs taken last summer in New Jersey at Sandy Hook State Park and decided to do a figurative work conveying the warmth and sun of mid-summer at the “Shore” as they call it.

I worked from a variety of photos, blown up. I stayed with oil on canvas, my traditional media, since the figurative work was enough of a challenge – I normally do unpeopled landscapes or seascapes. Rather than depict a “sea of humanity” as shown in the photos, I choose to have a strong focal point of fewer figures placed near the waters edge. The sand rises 8-10 feet from the water and everyone likes to be near the water. The frequent crowds at this beach insure the sand will be pot-holed with footprints.

I practiced drawing in pencil some individual figures in different poses, then practiced some of these on canvas paper in oil, a cheap and easy surface on which to experiment.

 The 20”x24” size was chosen to be able to include a number of figures as well as my having a frame of that size available. The completed painting: “At the Shore”.  I feel warmer already.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Snow Near Troy Kentucky 8x10 Oil Study

I'm so appreciative of my collectors, friends, fellow artists and family for a wonderful year, personally and artistically. That's not to say I don't struggle with paintings sometimes (OK, too often).  This scene was built from photographs taken in Jessamine county a week ago when we had 3-4" snow, a big deal for Kentucky nowadays.

I was out bright and early when I saw the sun peeking through the clouds. I'd like to say this was painted plein aire, but my car outside thermometer said 19 degrees.   I love paintings where the focal point, brightest brights, is in the distance, which one can invent, but in this case that was exactly the case. Here we are looking east, the clouds indicating most of the snowfall had passed. It's always a privilege to be out in Mother Nature's realm. Happy Holidays!

Deja View

Last spring I came across a wonderful old tobacco barn by the side of the road  and just had to paint it. This 8x10 plein aire piece shows just  how "spring-green" the grasses can be.

Recently, after a weekend of snow, I revisited the site and decided to do a painting from the same viewpoint. Since the temperature was nineteen degrees and windchill near zero, I took photos and returned to a warm studio to paint it. The low winter morning sun was in almost the same direction relative to me as it was in spring. So the barn is backlit in both paintings.

In the meantime (between these two paintings) I did a plein aire of the other side of the barn. Love those barns.

Painting from Photos

Walking along Shawnee Run (valley and creek) in winter after a light snow I thought the baby cedars were cute and snapped a number of pictures. When I came to paint them, I couldn't come up with an interesting composition. So I zeroed in on the upper right corner of the photo and borrowed colors from another artist I admired to relieve the grey-on-grey of the scene.  This hilltop area was apparently farmed well into the twentieth century and, happily, cedars and

oaks are taking over the land.

 

Above Shawnee Run 10x8 Oil