WORDKEEPERS

Saturday, June 29, 2019

9 new paintings, or, How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I was in the Adirondacks last week, staying in a lovely little cabin on Lake George with my sister, brother-in-law and brother. We had a great time. And I got some painting done.

To make it easier to transport my materials, I worked on paper instead of my usual wood cradle board panels. I love working on paper, really more than on wood, but I hate framing. So I paint mostly on wood panels which are self-framing and I sell my work on paper at shows matted and unframed.

The nine paintings are acrylic and charcoal with some paper collage on gessoed 140lb watercolor paper. They range in size from 5" x 7" to 6" x 9".

I tape off the watercolor paper, which has been soaked in water and stapled onto homasote board and allowed to dry, so that I have 9 small painting areas. Below is the paper with the paintings after the tape is removed. The top row is up-side-down because it's easier to work on them from the end of the board, so I turn the board when I've finished the ones I can reach.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Four larger paintings, looser style

I recently went to the Glenstone Foundation Museum in Potomac, Maryland. It is a vast and beautiful estate with modern installations and breath-taking grounds. One of my friends who went with me asked me afterward if I'd found anything that influenced me. I wasn't sure at the time and didn't realize how much had stuck with me until I started to paint. It wasn't the art collection as much as the environment and architecture.

These four paintings are on the large size compared to my last post. And they are done in a looser style, more spontaneous, lots of layers. I can't explain the difference in approach in any other way except for my mood, and again, maybe the trip to Glenstone.

Acrylic and charcoal with oil pastel and paper collage, 40" X 40" X 2" wood panel

Acrylic and charcoal, 20" X 20" X 2" wood panel

Acrylic and charcoal, 24" X 24" X 2" wood panel

Acrylic and charcoal with paper collage, 20" X 20" X 2" wood panel

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

16 small paintings shown finished and in stages

These paintings, ranging from 8X8 to 12X12 will go with me to the Rittenhouse Fine Arts show in Philadelphia next weekend. They are all on 2" deep wood panels, with the images going around the edges, acrylic and charcoal with some paper collage.

At the bottom of the post there are pics of the group in the various stages they go through.

I sand and gesso the panels, putting some texture and lines in the wet gesso, then paint them with a thin layer of neutral color. I scrape the paint on so that the texture in the gesso shows up.

Next, smears of paint in various colors, applied with a flat piece of cardboard.

Then, the designs I trace from my photos of machinery, painted in neutral tones. All very thin layers so that the other stuff can come through a little bit.

White and yellow ochre mixed, applied with a roller.

Finding objects, shapes, landscape features in the texture and under-painting, the scenes emerge.

Sunday, March 31, 2019

New paintings from Skip Lawrence workshop

Last week was spent in a painting workshop at Bon Secours retreat center near Baltimore, studying with Skip Lawrence (skiplawrence.com). This is something I've done every spring for the past five years. Always a challenge, always a surprise to see what I end up with.

And, as always, I entered the workshop with the intention of continuing to paint as I always have, and, as always, that changed.

Above is a painting I did in February. I followed the same steps I explained in my post from February 14th, starting with an under-painting of mechanical shapes, like these...

What I like about the finished painting above is the transparency and complicated layers showing through behind the final details. Before the workshop I prepared twelve panels ranging in size from 8X8 to 12X12, all with the hard-edged mechanical theme in limited color. I thought I would methodically paint all of these with the same routine approach as above, but that didn't happen.

Every year Skip encourages me to get away from my default iconography of houses, trees, birds, etc. Or at least to integrate them to become more harmonious with the surface treatment of the painting. He stresses concepts such as making sure your paintings have a dominant element (is mostly - fill in the blank - a color, texture, etc.), that there is something in the composition that serves as a compliment to the main theme, and that there is variation (gradation of color, different treatment of edges), to name just a few of his valuable tenets.

Below are the paintings I did over the five days. Some still have remnants of the under-paintings, others have many layers of paint covering up those designs. They are shown here in roughly the order I painted them. You might see some kind of progression as I worked...you might not. The first six are 12X12, second six 10X10, last six 8X8.

Still sticking to my houses, etc. in a landscape, thinking I needed a "focal point" with the hard-edged, dark forms. The surfaces have interest, and the edges show some variety.

I allow for more freedom with the landscape, letting the under-painting suggest the arrangement, staying away from the dark 'focal point".

Not sure about this one. An experiment. Under-painting still evident behind the wash of black gesso. White charcoal pencil for the trees and highlighted forms.

Again, under-painting can be seen, this time with a black wash, warmed with quinacridone gold. Skip had suggested I do something other than what I would normally be comfortable with (I know, don't end a sentence with a preposition, but the correct form sounds so stuffy). Hence! the bright yellow and red, which was eventually covered over and muted.

At this point Skip had me look at paintings by Catherine Liu, to give me ideas about covering parts of painted surfaces and leaving elements of focus, complimentary to the composition. I need to keep working on this...!