Friday, June 21, 2019

A Window to the Past

A Window to the Past 8 x 8 acrylic on a Raymar panel


Architecture, Building, Impressionist, Historic

We took a trip back in time when we visited an old logging camp in Northeastern Wisconsin. Log buildings and rusting equipment marked by time caught my eye and inspired this painting. I have always been intrigued by windows. This one was especially mysterious and inviting. The roughly hewn logs and random lines presented me with an almost abstract study. The gray tones, warm and cool, in a very close value range made for a challenging composition and color harmony.
One “color” I try to avoid using is black. Right out of the tube it shouts it’s presence and disrupts the true dark tones nature and natural light provides. For that reason I mix my grays and dark tones with deep transparent colors. If I use black it will be just a “ touch” modified by red or green or blue.
Two mixtures that use the color black to an advantage are: white black and cadmium red ( which makes a lovely violet) and white, black and cadmium yellow ( a wonderful forest green  results). The white is just a bit!
Finding and enjoying the beauty of gray tones or  “mouse colors” will give an artist a powerful tool to add a supportive cast of players to lift the brighter tones.

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Prairie Skyscrapers

Prairie Skyscrapers 8  x 8 oil on a Raymar panel


Impressionist, semi-abstraction, abstract, landscape

Where does inspiration come from? What is an artist’s point of view? How does reality play with invention? I’m not sure that I can answer each of these questions. I can share a small part of my own process toward the creation of a painted idea.
There are times when I snap photographs to remind me of a moment, a shape, or a detail that I feel might escape my memory. I rarely use photographic references to paint the photo.
I have a long history of traveling the backroads in Northeast Wisconsin. Often, I find myself  studying the old and worn structures that have a story to tell me. Growing  up in the Midwest I have always felt that it’s agricultural heritage is close at hand. Often, the tallest and most prominent architectural elements  of a community were found in it’s taverns, barns, church steeples and grain elevators. They rose like prairie “skyscrapers” across the plains and throughout the state.
The structures below caught my eye one winter day. We had been driving around the small towns of  Algoma and Kewaunee , out hunting for images and ideas.
This past week I pulled up this photograph and I let my imagination and emotions guide me to the finished painting you see here. The road to art from idea is often a bumpy one. It is a process of trial and error that always creates both discomfort and excitement.
I find that if I can let go of what I see and strive to paint what is true for me, then I have a painting that has something to say.


Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Blossom Time

Blossom Time 8 x 8 oil on a Raymar panel


Wisconsin,rural,landscape,architecture, impressionist

Whenever I see the exuberant blossoms of late spring I am reminded of my grandmother Adeline. The Great Depression and subsequent illnesses took an immeasurable toll from my mothers family. They lost a beautiful farm and lifestyle in rural Ozaukee county, Wisconsin. My grandparents were forced to move to the city and my grandfather traded farming for a job in a factory. Their home became a rented upper flat. I don’t believe they ever  fully recovered from that loss.
When I was  a child I  could walk to their apartment from my grade school and I often stopped in for the cookies my grandmother always kept for company.
During these visits she would take me downstairs to her garden, the strip of soil surrounding the building, and show me her flowers. Sweet William, Bleeding Hearts, Peonies and Lilacs were punctuated by the flowers from  bulbs she added each year.
It is a poignant memory, as sweet and fragrant as the blossoms she nurtured. Fragrance is a powerful trigger for memories. Recently, the scent of lilacs took me back to that small strip of land so carefully tended. And, to the farmstead that inspired a labor of longing and love.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Geraniums

Geraniums 8x 8 acrylic on a Raymar panel



This painting began with a desire to capture a feeling of summertime. I wanted to share the joy of planting and of  watching the fruits of that labor grow. The glorious color of these flowers following a long gray and rainy spell inspired me to head outside with my gear. I also felt a sense of urgency and perhaps impatience as I  recovered from hand surgery. Some of that energy found it’s way into this painting.  When I paint outside my goal is to be direct and  uncontrived.  It can be a difficult judgement call. How do I know when to stop adjusting and adding to a painting?  The truth is that often a moment will  come when a painting feels just right. One of my guiding principles ( if I am truly paying attention ) is to listen to my intuitive “voice” the one that says enough, done. Confidence can be shaken by moments like these when the purest form of expression might be judged unfinished. Often my best work is about less, rather than more.