A peek at something I’ve been working on a for a while. This is the next in the Echoes series. It’s a little different than a straight landscape, but I like it a lot. Once this layer dries I’ll be able to go in and tweak a few details here and there, and clean up some areas, but overall I like the direction this is heading.
work in progress : Oil on board. 16″x20″
I started this painting a week or two ago. I’ve jumped up to a larger size: 16″x20″ and I like the flexibility it allows in painting greater detail if I want. It also takes more time – I think I’ve spent 3-4 sessions of 3-5 hours each on this painting.
The source material is from my last NH trip, and I was really trying to capture that oppressive summer day. There may be a few details that need tweaking as I move forward but I think it is 99% finished.
An Old House : Oil on board, 16″x 20″ 2013
A pair of small drawings from my sketchbook. I usually do a value/composition drawing before I start a painting. First is the house across the street in the glow of a streetlamp. Second is a prep drawing for my last painting.
House in Streetlight : Pencil 3″x4″ 2013
Farm Drawing : Pencil. 3″x4″ 2013
I haven’t been able to beat the heatwave we’ve been in for the past couple of weeks. Its tough painting when it’s 95 degrees. I paint in rubber gloves, and after about twenty minutes the sweat is trickling from the gloves down my arms. Nice, huh?
Despite the oppressive temperatures I did eek out this painting. I spent a lot of time mixing the base colors for the greens, the greys, and the blues ahead of time. I think that definitely clarified a lot of the forms.
It’s one of the small size paintings at 9″x12″ but it feels much more finished than a sketch. I may come back and revisit this idea on a larger scale. Hopefully the heat will have broken by Friday when I get some free time again.
Road and Farm : 9″x12″ Oil on board. 2013
Just finished up Somerville Open Studios and an outstanding weekend! I had about 200 people come through my space. I sold five pieces: two “When These Are Gone” watercolors, one of the “Echoes” oil paintings, and two figure drawings! I gave away dozens of my postcards and business cards. It was a significantly better event than last year.
Probably most important thing I took away from the weekend: incredible perspective on my work. Repeatedly trying to explain my process or ideas in 30 seconds or less really helps crystallize them for me. It’s also interesting to see what types of work people respond to. I put one idea into a piece and that is what makes it interesting for me, but viewers bring their own attachments and responses and will get something completely different from it.
I’ve got a lot of notes to make while the weekend is still fresh in my mind, and then a lot of work to make in the coming months.
When I am Gone (number 17)
Here is the most recent iteration of the Barn. I added on the canoe, some details along the windows on the red side, cleaned up the tree and bushes on the right, fixed the sky a bit, and added some depth to the trees on the right. I hope this is the final version Time will tell.
I’m still using my dad’s barn as inspiration for some paintings, but I’ve moved outside this time. I took some photos when I was visiting before Christmas. The low winter sun caught the barn just as we were returning from a walk. I keep thinking it’s finished, but I still want to go into the painting and fix things. The left side of the painting feels a little empty, but I didn’t want to paint in the teal Subaru thats parked there in real life. (and yes, the barn actually is red on two sides, raw barnboard on the others)
Untitled 18″x14″ Oil on board. 2013.
Also, this weekend I did a little experiment with drawing/painting. I used another photo from New Hampshire for reference. The medium is oil thinned out with a ton of turpentine so as to give it a real washy, watercolory feel. Good lord you need some real ventilation when working with that stuff! I’m overall happy with the result, but completely not sure what its about or where it’s going. It feels a little like the ink drawings I did in Fables, so maybe it will lead back in that direction soon enough.
Stream Painting : Oil on gessoed paper. 18″x24″ 2013
The old barn at my dad’s house – where I grew up – has always been a place of mystery and exploration for me. There is something very evocative of the geometry of the beams, the varying levels of height, the walls perforated by shafts of sunlight, which bounce around and illuminate.
I’ve been working on this imagery for a little while, and while I’m not sure if these paintings are exactly what I’m looking for I plan on spending more time with the subject matter.
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