Tag Archives: candy

Surface #1

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I’ve been steadily plugging along at the large scale paintings.  Somerville Open Studios is about a month away and I want to have a cohesive body of work showing.

The first of the big candy paintings is done.  I’m happy with the piece and learned a lot in the process.  Just like the cans, everything gets a little more challenging when it is scaled up.  I’ve been using more glazing techniques and multiple layers to get the reflective and color qualities that I want.

Surface no 1 : Oil on board. 18″x24″ 2017

 

Winter Break

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My winter vacation was a great time to get things done.  For about 9 days I had free rein to paint, organize, cook, clean, think, read, and learn, and play a lot of Boggle with Tim.  There were also trips to Harvard Art Museums, perusing Instagram and Youtube for knowledge/inspiration.  And pie.

Here’s a run-down of the art stuff:
gold-candy

Untitled (Surface Study) : Oil on wood. 8″x10″ 2016

1) Revisited the gold candy with the dark background.  The candy paintings have been on a white background, giving them a bright, almost clinical appearance.  I wondered if using a black background might change the feel.  It did, and I don’t immediately love with the look.  After looking at the painting for a couple weeks I pushed the background darker.  I also lightened up and solidified some of the highlights and added a glaze of Indian Yellow over the transparent foil ends.  All steps in the right direction. (sorry for the truly shitty photographs – a new camera needs to be in the future)

diet-coke-black

Untitled (Dreams Study) : Oil on wood. 8″x10″ 2016

2) Painted a can on a black background.  Again testing the idea of darker backgrounds for the solo objects.  I like this one better than the candy.  I also went back in after it was dry and glazed some of the reds to make them pop more.  This is using a direct studio lamp to light the model instead of daylight as on the past cans.

back-path

Echoes : Back field : Oil on board.  9″x12″  2016

3) Painted a path.  This was one of the reference shots I gathered at my father’s house over Christmas.  It seemed a bit too precious to build into a full size painting, but it made a nice exercise in color temperature in the snow.  I also worked on simplifying/massing the backgrounds of the trees, rather than paint each individual branch.

pie

Untitled (Substance Study) : Oil on wood. 8″x10″ 2016

4) Bake pie, paint pie, eat pie.  Prodding the idea behind the Substance series I expanded from donuts into pie.  Mostly because I had pie in the fridge. Surprisingly challenging to paint the simple surfaces without seeming boring. Not quite as colorful, but I think Wayne Theibauld would enjoy.

Overpass Study : Oil on board. 9″x12″ 2016
Snow on my palette

5) Freeze my f**king ass off. At the Harvard Art Museums I came across a Monet painting of a snowy road with the quote: “We glimpsed a little heater, then an easel, then a gentleman swathed in three overcoats, with gloved hands, his face half-frozen. It was M. Monet, studying some aspect of the snow.”

It was inspiring and on my return home I bundled up and attempted to capture ‘some aspect of the overpass.’  It was actually a lot of fun.  The cold definitely takes a toll on your cognitive process – about halfway through I forgot how to use color temperature.  Then the snow started. I really like the left side – I may cut it down to a 6×9″

6) Work on a sunny landscape/beach scene.  Which, for reasons I cannot discuss I cannot yet post.

diet-coke-white

untitled (Dreams Study) : Oil on wood. 8″x10″ 2017

7) Painted a can on the white background with direct light.  The direct light on the model significantly changes shadows and highlights.  It may be what I use for the larger scale paintings.

8) Annual New Year Studio Cleanup!  Lastly, I spent January 2 cleaning up and streamlining my studio space. Fresh start to a new year!

studio-cleanup

Catching up

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Catching up on posting some work that’s been in the works.  The past few weeks have seen the completion of a new painting for Echoes, a commissioned painting for a wedding present, and scrambling to get everything organized for Brickbottom Open Studios!

Since I haven’t finished the commissioned landscape or photographed the Echoes painting, here are a few new pieces of candy:

untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016
untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016

 

Some weekend work

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I haven’t posted in a couple weeks because I have been plodding through a larger piece. It’s coming along, slowly and with effort.  I’m at the point now where I wish it finished for the sake of it being finished;  I know if I set it aside and work on something else I will likely never return to it.

Also, in advance of open studios I have been ramping up my painting on days that I don’t work my full time job.  Normally, on a day off, I will putz around the house, and paint for 2-3 hours in the afternoon.  In the past two weeks, however, I have spent a total of 5 days off, painting for a 2-3 hour stretch in the morning, and another 2-3 hour stretch in the afternoon.  That’s a lot of standing in front of the easel!

But it pays off!  This week, in addition to the work on the larger painting, I completed two smaller works.  Thanks to the urging of friends, what started out as exercises have developed into small series.

untitled (dream study VII) : Oil on wood. 8″x10″ 2016 (SOLD)
untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016

Red, white, and light blue

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Two paintings from the weekend exploring reflective surfaces again.  The PBR can was a lot of fun – the amount of detail work made it challenging in the best way.  The blue candy was for my friend Zachary, a photographer from NYC who is pushing me to keep going with the cans/candy.

untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016
untitled can study 7 : Oil on board. 9″x12″ 2016

The candy was done with 3 colors: Ult. Blue, Burnt Umber, and Cad Yellow (plus white). The can was done with the same, plus Cad Red Lt. I love working with a limited palette!

Shiny Shiny

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This month I spent a week in Maine painting landscapes (images coming soon!).  The experience once again drove home how challenging landscape painting is for me: from siting locations, to handling trees, to edge control, to atmospheric perspective.

So as a treat to myself when I returned home I spent this weekend doing studies of hard-edged, candy-colored, shiny things.

The cans were painted in 3 and 4 colors with a large brush – again, pushing myself away from the detail work I normally do. The red candy was 3 colors, but I did allow myself to use a small brush.

untitled (dream study 1) : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016
untitled (dream study 2) : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016
untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016

All of the donuts!

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Still continuing the sweets theme this week.  A couple more donuts added to the collection.  I’m happier about the surface of these two: the jelly had to be wiped off and repainted at one point to better understand the sugary texture on top.

However, both suffer a bit in the shadow area in the bite.  I’m not sure exactly what to mix to convey shadows that are both cool, deep, and yellow… every time I mixed up the colors I came out with something of a grey green approximation.  Maybe the next study will be a focus on just that part.

Enjoy.

“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016
“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)

Time to Paint the Donuts…

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The flexibility of painting small allows for a variety of subject matter without a huge investment of time.  Last week someone at work brought donuts… this weekend I decided to paint some.

The first painting I did was the chocolate glazed, and it clearly is the best.  I was distracted and running late while painting the pink donut, so it had to be partially wiped off and re-painted later.  And the plain glazed was painted under a rapidly changing light, which was also distracting.

These were a fun group. For each one painted I bought an additional 2-3 ‘models’ which Lance and I promptly ate… I might be done with donuts for a while.

“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
“untitled” : Oil on wood panel, 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)

So sweet it makes my mouth water.

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I started this series as an exercise using a couple of pieces of candy from works by Felix Gonzales-Torres.  They are oil on 6×8″ wood panels.   My friend Zachary urged me to push the idea a little further, so I perused the candy aisle of the grocery store, bought a few models, painted the ones I liked, and ate those I didn’t.

The allure/challenge with these pieces was reflections and transparencies, and the rich colors.  Reflective surfaces are difficult to map out and depend a great deal on subtleties of value.  However, when done correctly, I find them rewarding.

I also enjoyed that I didn’t have to think much about the idea.  I had a pile of candies to choose from, and a pile of painting surfaces ready to go.  But the danger I see in pushing this series much further is falling it a groove of formulaic repetition.

The sweet-hearts was a one-off done on Valentine’s day.

Vanitas (Felix II) : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016
Vanitas (Felix III) : Oil on board. 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
untitled : Oil on board. 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
untitled : Oil on board. 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
untitled : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016
Feb 14 th : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016

 

Candy and Flowers

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And it’s not even Valentine’s Day.  Three paintings from the weekend.  The models for the two candies are from Felix Gonzalles-Torres’ artworks, in which viewers are invited to take away candies from large piles.

Vanitas (Felix III) : Oil on board. 6″x8″ 2016 (SOLD)
Vanitas (Felix II) : Oil on wood. 6″x8″ 2016
untitled study : Oil on board. 8″ x 10″ 2016 (SOLD)

Bitter Sweet

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As I was poking around on Sunday trying to find something to paint I stumbled onto a drawer filled with cellophane wrapped candies.  They were pieces that had been given to me and that I had picked up from exhibitions of Felix Gonzales Torres, one of my all time favorite artists.

Felix was diagnosed with HIV in the early nineties and both he and his partner died from complications related to the virus.  His artworks are poignant and simple and beautiful. They evoke the temporal nature of life, and the tragic loss associated with being gay in the 80s, and 90s when so many lives were lost due to fear and inaction surrounding HIV.

His candy pieces are simple: a pile of candies weighing as much as one of his friends is placed in a gallery.  Visitors are allowed to take pieces for themselves, resulting in a steady decrease of the original weight until there is nothing left.  It is a powerful metaphor that I contemplated as I worked.  Was my piece the one that tipped the scales?  Did it matter?  Now several years old, the original artwork was certainly gone – all that remains is a memory.

Vanitas (Felix I) : Oil on linen. 8

Vanitas (Felix I) : Oil on linen. 8″x11″ 2015