dandelions no.2

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One man's art is another man's weeds.

I'll be traveling this week to be with family and I hope to get some paintings in but we'll see how it goes.

lemons no.3 5x7 in.

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egg no.3 5x5 in.

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red vine 7x2 in.

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jelly bellies 5x5 in.

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vase and bowl 8x6 in.

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I pulled a tube of Ivory Black out of my "not often used" box of paints today. It's a "color" I don't use very often. However, for this painting I wanted to get a monochromatic look so black seemed to be the right choice. I also added a touch of red and yellow to the mixture which gives it a subtle off-white look.

watermelon no.2 6x6 in.

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As an artist sometimes you've got to do a little editing on the fly. Sometimes it comes in the form of leaving something out. Other times it comes in the form of adding something that isn't there in the subject. Today it was the latter. I intended to paint this seedless watermelon without the seeds but when it was finished it didn't feel complete. A few seeds later... voila, complete!

blue sky no.6

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Here's a good one from John Carlson, a great landscape painter:
The sky is the key to the landscape. Its majesty permeates outdoor nature. It is the dictator of conditions and of moods--not alone the moods of nature, but our own as well. I know that there are men who never see the sky at all. A certain man of our hills at Woodstock once said: "You know, before you artists got here, I never used to see the sky."

hill country 5x7 in.

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abandoned farm 5x7 in.

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One of the things I think about toward the end of a painting or a sketch is when I should stop. Finishing can be a little tricky sometimes. I want to "finish" the painting but at the same time I don't want to over work it. Over working it amounts to me meddling with the painting until I've taken the life out of it. The variety and freshness of the painting are lost. The ideal painting in my mind is one that is complete in it's statement with a degree of variety and immediacy in the brush strokes. Sometimes I feel I get this right other times... well I don't.

This morning I came across a quote by Robert Henri where he compares two great artists and their view of "finish" in a painting. He said, "The demand we so often hear for finish is not for finish, but is for the expected. Judging a Manet from the point of view of Bouguereau the Manet has not been finished. Judging a Bouguereau from the point of view of Manet the Bouguereau has not been begun."

Comparing these two great artists you can see how both artists define "finish" from different ends of the spectrum. William Bouguereau's take on finish was a highly detailed almost photographic appearance while Édouard Manet's take was simple shapes, colors and values.

garlic no.4 5x5 in.

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sketch of a young girl

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Although it's been awhile since I've posted a portrait I really do enjoy painting people. For me it takes more focus to paint people because the facial features are a real challenge. I plan to do more of these sketches in the future.

sunflowers 5x7 in.

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pear no.7 7x5 in.

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If you've been following my work within the last year or so then this painting will be familiar to you. I haven't painted this before exactly as it is here but the lighting in this piece is the same as in many of my paintings. It is overcast daylight coming into the studio through a medium size window. There is one corner in my studio that produces the best light and I find myself sitting in that corner often. Sitting and painting that is.

tree top no.2

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