Tag Archives: substance

First Painting of 2018

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Winter vacation wasn’t as productive as I’d hoped.  The blast of cold weather and a lingering head/chest cold had me focused more on Netflix and the couch rather than painting.

But with a new year in place I tried to shake off the cobwebs and get back to work.

Twinkie Painting

“untitled” : Oil on wood panel. 6″x8″ 2018

Incidentally, this is also the first time I’ve ever tasted a twinkie.

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