Monday, December 29, 2014

8 paintings with a tree theme


Eight 5"X 8" mixed media paintings with tree themes. They were done with two shows in mind that are coming up. One at Berkeley Arts Center in Martinsburg, WV that will have pieces featuring wood and another at the Ice House Gallery in Berkeley Springs, WV with the title "Plan B". 








Sunday, December 28, 2014

4 paintings 12.28.14

These paintings are 8"X 12". They are done with acrylic, charcoal, pastel, added paper, ink and graphite on gessoed watercolor paper. 

Each painting started with an image of a horse, but this is the only one in which the horse is still somewhat visible.
This one was started the other way round. I ended up turning it 180 degrees to finish. The brown Yupo paper collaged piece is where the horse originally was, standing on a high horizon. Sometimes I want to get away from anything representational and just create a composition with shape, line, texture, layers.
This one was started as a horizontal, with a large white horse silhouette. The only thing remaining of the horse is its ears and the arch of its neck just above the yellow circle, top right. I just couldn't get comfortable with the horizontal format and needed to return to vertical.
If you look very closely, you can see the white horse in the center top third. Its back is in line with the horizon created by the trees. It had appeared as though it was standing in water, with a reflection under it. But it's not important! The painting ended up being about something else.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Two new paintings, exploring a slightly larger format




I worked on these at the same time, side by side. They each measure 12"X 18". I'm getting more comfortable with a larger painting surface. These are done on 140 lb watercolor paper with acrylic, charcoal, pastel, and added collage of Yupo and Thai banana papers.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Exploring the same barn shape in 8 paintings


Each of these paintings is 5"X 8", playing with the same simple little barn shape in each one.
They are done with acrylic and charcoal, some conte crayon.