Tag Archives: painting

01/26/12

New Projects and Drawing Tablet


I am working on this painting for a group show at a local hospital, and I’d say it’s about 1/2 done. It also looks far less dreary than this  (I took the photo with my phone). It is called Rio On Pools and is based on a photo I took of the Rio On Pools in central Belize, in 2007. The first time I went to Belize we looked for these pools and couldn’t find them, but two years later we looked harder and found this magical place — or at least I think that’s what happened. They did seem to appear out of nowhere.  (It might have been a sort of Brigadoon situation.)

I’m about to put the paints away and get out the pastels to finish it up. Meanwhile I’m working on my other series, especially the Endangered animals one.  I have a larger abstract watercolor that is nearly finished and it’s at the point where I need to decide what to do with it to finish it up.  I am also doing a lot of looking at other artwork. Where I live, there are no local galleries that show a wide variety of art so I need to look at galleries online as much as possible! Two magazines that I love with artwork I love to look at (and I subscribe to both of them) are Hi-Fructose and Blue Canvas, and I recommend all artists have a look at those excellent websites and publications.

I also recently bought a copy of Painter 12, a painting software program that I have wanted for a long time. Here’s a video about it.
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09/16/11

Art for Artists and Art Crawl

Art for Artists Exhibit at US Bank and September Art Crawl!

When: Sep 16 – Oct 14, 2011 —  Opens Fri, September 16, 5pm – 9pm

Where: 1015 W Saint Germain St, Saint Cloud Minnesota (map)

Visual Arts Minnesota and US Bank will be presenting Art for Artists Community Art Show, featuring artists from Central Minnesota. Awards will be given for both 2D and 3D work.  I did not win an award, which doesn’t bother me at all since I wasn’t even aware there would be awards given out).  A reception will be held on September 16, from 5-9pm during the St. Cloud Art Crawl.  ”Windmakers” is my entry in this show, and will be displayed for the duration of the show.  I have a photo of it that will be posted this weekend.

During this art crawl I will have a colorful and partially jungle-themed display of my other artwork in the hallways on the 2nd floor, 701 building, where you can also see StudioJeff (a well known gallery).  I am not in that display but you will not be able to miss my display at the end of the 2nd floor hallway!  Photos to come of course.

Some photos of the 701 West St. Germain building hallway on the second floor, where my studio is, are above and below. These are my paintings. You’ll have to visit US Bank in St. Cloud to see the Windmakers painting I did for Art for Artists, because I don’t seem to have a photo of it yet! This painting and four others are now on display in Elk River, for the ERAA member show, which lasts until November 3rd. Have a look at that show at the Sherburne County Government Center. It’s free, of course.

09/9/11

Groups and Gender Specific Shows

El Pilar Clearing

This painting is a large watercolor that I completed in 2011, of a scene in Central America. It is based on a photo taken at a Mayan ruins site called “El Pilar”.

My city has a supportive and active local arts organization, which is great, after decades of having an arts organization in this city that promoted primarily music and dance. Until the last couple of years, visual arts in this city has been treated sort of like the bastard child.

Despite my gratitude for this, I’m torn about some things. One of them is about the promotion of a special artists “Group” as opposed to the more accessible and usual public and member art show plans.

Second, the local arts organizations sponsors many art crawls and has lots of local art shows. Which is wonderful, but . . . . Lately I’ve noticed planning for at least two art events that exclude men. Why is this the case? I have no idea, but it feels odd and sexist. I’m wondering whether to participate in one of these women-only events, (and I decided to apply anyway, even though I’ll probably be excluded for other reasons) but I can’t figure out why only women are involved in this event.

I wonder — Are women artists grouped together as doing decorative, crafty stuff that would work with an interior decorator better than “man’s art”? What is “women’s art”? What would be the reaction if there were a male artist-only event?

UPDATE: I will be included in this event after all, despite my misgivings about the sexist nature of it, because why not take advantage of some affirmative action? Well, it would be interesting to have a male artist weigh in on that question. I’ll have an upcoming blog post on this event coming soon. (that update was written on September 22).

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08/2/11

Progression of Holding on to Happiness

Lots of artists make drawings and studies before they start to paint, but because of the ease of using acrylics I’ve developed a style that usually allows me an abbreviated way of working. I just read today about an artist who does detailed drawings and composition before they begin to paint, and for some people I suppose that is the ideal way of working.

I usually just start with a sketch on canvas and build up from there. This method usually works great but for some reason on this particular painting it didn’t work well at all and I ended up with a composition that is a bit off kilter from what I wanted originally. I started this painting, (which will probably end up at the Hopkins Salon show later this month), with a photo I took at a local outdoor concert.

From there, I sketched it on canvas and did a preliminary painting. The mother and daughter were the “stars” of the photo so they were in a prominent position. I thought after the preliminary painting that they were too small. So then (not pictured here) I made them fill most of a 24″ x 30″ space on the canvas. That painting was nearly done before I second guessed the whole thing and thought they were too large. So I painted white over the whole thing and started over! I ended up with a crowd scene sketch done in paint. As you can see it was quite messy at first.

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06/29/11

Painting Lesson

Here’s a painting lesson for anyone tempted to ignore common sense and the rules of painting supports.

This is “Sunny Creases“. It was a lovely painting, done in acrylics on watercolor paper. When it was dry, it had a few deep creases, somewhat expected because the paper had gotten wet during painting. It was 140 lb. cold press paper, or maybe even 90 lb, and it was a cheaper brand. So I began to plot how to “fix” it. First I simply pressed it flat by my usual methods, or so I thought. I did it twice, because the first time didn’t work. The second time I pulled out the super heavy weights, but when I removed them, the creases were worse than ever. Bigger and more of them. Even worse, the paint itself was stuck not on the paper, from which it was peeling away, but to the clear acrylic covering I had placed underneath it while pressing. Believe it or not, things got even worse from there.

Ultimately, I decided to stop trying to save it and instead to try to recreate this painting, (repaint it!) but on a canvas this time. Therefore, in trying to help other people not make the mistakes I have made, here are some things to remember:

  1. Never paint with acrylic paint on low quality, lightweight watercolor paper.  Use canvas!
  2. Don’t try to press out creases with lots of water. It just makes even more creases.
  3. When you have discovered the creases are worse than before, don’t pick up a hammer and start pounding on them. It might feel good, but it creates holes.
  4. Don’t bother fantasizing about glue and other false remedies.
  5. Finally, when you discover the paint has embedded itself into the acrylic covering you pressed it on, give up!  Don’t sit out in the hot sun getting dehydrated, trying to fix what is very likely not a masterpiece anyway. If it was a masterpiece — what were you thinking??

That covers it. Lessons learned.

06/15/11

Gardenscape

This is a (small) detail of a big watercolor/acrylic on paper that I’m currently pressing flat. There were a few small wrinkling issues because it’s mainly acrylic on paper. When it’s nice and flat I’ll post the whole photo here. So . . . . I’ve been very busy lately with various things and exciting news: I’m going to be in a real honest-to-goodness studio in July. I’m very excited because it’ll be my first studio and I’m very curious how it will affect my work habits. I have always painted in very small spaces (or outside in the back yard when necessary) so finally I will have a large area in which to work, where I don’t have to take down and set up everything constantly. I can leave everything out and set up! If you an artist, you know what a major pain in the posterior it is to set up and take down everything every bleepin’ day. It’s almost enough of a deterrent to make a person stop bothering at all. Now that problem will be solved.

The new studio is right downtown in my city here in central Minnesota, so it’s in an excellent location in our “arts district”. The location itself should help a lot with exposure for my artwork here, something I’ve always had a problem with. More details on all this will be coming up. . . . . and I’ll have photos. I’m interested in how other artists set up their studios, so I’m looking at lots of pictures of them… if you have a good studio set-up you love, send me a link.
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03/20/11

War Monster

Tank Monster is now “War Monster”. It still eats babies, but it looks a bit different. It took a while to finish because I had to draw the babies with a marker (it’s a very small painting) and it was hard to find archival ink in a small pen point. I finally found a .005″ archival ink pen at Crafts Direct, and before I finished using it my dog chewed it half up (eating ink in the process). But I was able to finish it after taping up the pen and voila, War Monster. I’m not adding it to the usual places, but instead, it will go to AntiwarArtists.com.

03/16/11

Nuclear Human

Unlike most of what I have posted here so far, this is finished. It’s called “Nuclear Human”. I painted it while listening to CNN coverage of the nuclear meltdown in Japan after their tsunami, which is why the glow around the edges is there. It only took about two hours to paint and is about 11″ x 13″. It is now part of a local mail-in art project, so it’s NFS.

(I wish everything I started took two hours to do.) It’s acrylic on watercolor paper.

Prints of this one will be available at Artspan.com.

03/10/11

Afghan Girl

I am drawn to photographs of children that are survivors of the wars the U.S. is engaged in, especially girls. This is an image made by a photographer I found online, a man traveling through Afghanistan, not a soldier and not a news person. Maybe for that reason the girl does not look at all guarded. He found her in the countryside, in a very rural area in Afghanistan. I’m about half done with this one, maybe less. So far, it’s acrylic, on a watercolor on paper background.

When it’s finished, I’ll put the finished version here as well as on Leitworks.com.

Meanwhile, I’m loving my new Pentax K-r camera! I wish I could take photos all day long now that I have it. Honestly, they are not paying me to say that. I’m just thrilled I finally have a good camera after years of dinky point and shoots (not that you can’t get a great point and shoot camera). I like all the manual controls a DSLR has and I could see becoming serious about photography with this camera. I just wish I’d had it when I went to Costa Rica last November. Instead, I was taking most of my photos with a little pocket sized Kodak.

Below is a sample of one of the photos I took today with the Pentax, of an older painting. It’s of my grandmother as a 15-year-old girl. This painting won an award in a local art show, and it looks pretty great even as a quality-reduced photo for the web.
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02/24/11

Tank Monster

This is an antiwar painting (haven’t done one in a while) with a monster that will soon be eating children. After all, that’s what war does. The trick is to make sure the monster doesn’t devolve into a cartoonish appearance.  I’m working on it later tonight, along with a watercolor/acrylic of an Afghanistan girl.  Here is “Tank Monster” so far.  It’s not nearly this colorful yet, and probably won’t be when I’m finished.

 

02/4/11

Biológico Primario

From these two details you can get a feeling for how the “organic” painting I just finished turned out.

These are two details of one painting, believe it or not.  The colors are not exactly representational in either photo because of some weird lighting in my “studio” right now.

The painting is called Biológico Primario Border Walls and it’s 36″ x 24″.  It will be available on my Leitworks site as soon as I can get a great photo of it.  I will also put it on my Artspan gallery.

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