MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

ABSOLUTELY, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THIS IS IT,

the last pastel in this series. It began with a piece of 4-ply cold press illustration board taped to a watercolor board and covered with a thin gray acrylic wash. The sky was created wtih repeated layers of pastel dust, rubbed into the surface with fingers and hands. For a heavily textured foreground I applies acrylic molding paste, seen here...the white lower part of the board.




The next step was the buildings...they're ok but could be better.




The last stage is the trees and the foreground.


The Farm Pastel 15x25 $600

My current thinking is to repeat this landscape in acrylic as a triptych on 3 24x24 panels.

ITS NO USE EVEN TRYING,

I am at the mercy of the pastels. Rather than fight it I will relax and enjoy the ride as long as it lasts. I'm not even going to think about the cost of framing...if I can't do it, it won't be framed. Here is the result of today's effort.


Creek at Sunset pastel on illustration board 12x16 $275

I TRIED, I REALLY DID

try to put the pastels away. In fact I did! But it was like an itch I just had to scratch, so yesterday I began work on another piece. As you can see I am still drawn to the dark skies, barns, and a bit of light. I guess I'll keep painting these until I get tired of them.


Bathed in Red pastel on illustration board 9x14 $250

THE FOURTH OF FOUR

This will be the last of the pastels for awhile (I think, maybe, perhaps). I've been working on preparing several birch panels and am ready to return to the acrylics. I will be showing new work next month at a local venue and I would like to get 2 or 3 more pieces ready.


A Patch of Light pastel on illustration board 14x18 $375

I'M ON A ROLL

When it rains it pours. And when I do one pastel painting I have to do more. In each case, I begin with a color selection, not knowing what will eventually be done. Here are the second and third paintings of this current series.


Tuscan Lavender pastel on illustration board 14x26 $500


Sun rise pastel on illustration board 12x18 $325

TAKING A BREAK...FROM ACRYLICS

Time to get down and dirty with the soft pastels. And I really do. I work with a lot of pastel dust to create backgrounds and foregrounds, and by the time I finish there is multicolored dust all over the place, especially me.

Here is yesterday's effort.


orange sky pastel on coldpress illustration board 12x16 $275

ALL ART IS DERIVATIVE

While looking for an older piece of work I came across these oil pastels from 2-3 years ago. I was impressed at how, way back then, they could be seen as the precursors to some of my current work. They, like several of my recent acrylics, are a series of color fields resting in vertical planes creating moods open to the viewers discretion.

Here are 4 representative oil pastels, all created over clay mono types, some of the edges still visible around the central image.






And here are 4 recent acrylics on canvas.





The Surf acrylic 36x36 $2500

Looks like Hell acrylic 24x24 $1200


Horizon #2 acrylic 36x36 $2500


Horizon #1 acrylic 36x36 $2500

TERROR EVERYWHERE

On one side of the page...15 young terrorists kill over 175 innocent people. On the other...over 175 people trample to death one young man, pushing aside those who try to help him.

Maybe, just maybe I can understand what motivated the 15 men in India (understand by not approve), but I cannot begin to comprehend what motivated the shoppers at Walmart.

FINI - KAPUT - DONE

Well...at least I hope so. I've been threatening for days, but I believe I have finally finished the black "recession" paintings. Yesterday resulted in the following 12x12 panels:


Moonscape 12x12 acrylic $300

small square 121x12 acrylic $300

Tuscan trees o black 12x12 acrylic $300

I must say, this has been like eating potato chips, impossible to stop after only one.
I will make one more effort to move on, away from the acrylics and on to watercolors and clay printing. Hopefully I will have something to show for my efforts in a few days.

NOT QUITE DONE

I'm still in the Black, creatively if not financially. Today I worked on what I believe will be the last of this series for awhile. Here they are in all there glory!!


#4 12x12 acrylic 12x12 $300

Black #5 acrylic 12x12 $300

Black #6 acrylic 24x24 $1200

THE RECESSION PAINTINGS

Willie Nelson has his IRS tapes and I have my own economic series, aka, the black paintings. The first one was serendipitous, the remainder where planned. Here is the latest in the series. Although I've posted the others recently, I'll post them here so they can all be viewed as a group. More to follow....


Black painting #3 acrylic 30x26 $1500


Black painting #2 acrylic 36x36 $2500


black painting #1 40x30 $2500

ONE MORE TUSCAN LANDSCAPE

This is the last in a series of five tuscan landscapes. If I can overcome the inertia, my next efforts will be with the watercolors, something I've been thinking about since our return from Italy. But for whatever reason, all I've done is procrastinate and the watercolors remain untouched. Perhaps by publicly make this announcement I will feel the need to act....on the other hand, maybe not,


Two Tuscan farms acrylic on canvas 12x48 $1200

dettail right

detail left

THIS ONE WAS PLANNED!

I had to follow up on the last painting. As unplanned as that one was, this one was well thought out in advance.


Solitary Tree III acrylic on canvas 36x36 $2500

I don't know where this series will go from here, but I will be sure to keep everyone posted. In the meantime, I have been working on the Tuscan Landscapes.


Tuscan Hills acrylic on canvas 12x48 $1200

SO UNPLANNED

On Fire acrylic on canvas...40x30 $2500

This is not what I had in mind when I started to work on this canvas. It was supposed to be a dark, foreboding sky with dark blues and warm grays with a touch of red-orange. Working from top to bottom I could not escape the sense that all was not well. It simply did not look good. I tried tweaking it a bit, but the more I went back into the painting the worse it became. Finally I gave up and covered everything in black. At the last minute I decided to add the splashes of color and realized something good was happening.

Some of the nuances in texture and color have been lost in the photo because of all of the black. I've already started a companion piece. Similar colors but different composition...I think.

TWO MORE

Continuing in a series of "solitary trees", I find that so far, only 1 of 4 paintings has a tree. Oh well, as the artist I can call the series whatever I choose


Horizon acrylic 36x36 $2500
I've decided this painting can stand alone. It needs no "subject".

However I felt differently about this next piece. The more I looked at it the more it felt unfinished to me. So I added texture to the foreground which helped, but not enough. I thought the gate was the right touch...not as imposing and overwhelming as the large tree, but enough to add an element of interest.


The Gate acrylic 36x36 $2500

Both paintings are on canvas...36x36

NOT EVERY LANDSCAPE NEEDS A TREE

I thought I would be working on a series of paintings of a "solitary tree", depicted in various colors and moods. I completed these two canvases and decided that one of them did not need anything but the horizon. The other, after looking at it all afternoon convinced me it would be helped by the tree.


without tree


with tree


no tree

Both canvases 36x36 $2500 each

RUNNING UP HILL

Ever so slowly...I'm getting back to work. Sometimes I find myself spending more time sitting and staring at the easel than standing in front of it and working. I did manage to complete this painting....

Solitary Tree acrylic on canvas 24x36 $1800

After my last post of FOGGY MORNINING, a revised painting, I found this photo of the original rendering.

CATCHING UP

Thinking about a series of painting depicting the same tree against a variety of colors and moods.


solitary Tree acrylic on canvas 24x36

After the last post of a revised painting I found a jpg of the original work. Here is what I painted over to create Morning Fog.

REVISING THE OLD

No! I don't mean me. Without any new canvases to work on I turned to my pile of "losers", paintings I would not show anywhere, and began some reworking.

This piece originally had the tree against a light blue sky and an awful, stylized foreground...I don't know what I was thinking!!

Here is the revised painting, much better, I think.

Today I will pick up some new canvases, which is not to say there are no more losers in the studio.


Morning Fog acrylic 24x36" $1800

FINDING MY MOJO...WELL...MAYBE JUST MY GROOVE

OK, I'm back home and have no plans to go anywhere else for a while. I've been able to get back to work, albeit a little tentatively. My first efforts were directed to the Tuscan landscape which I found a bit of a challenge, perhaps because of my long absence from work.

The first painting looked like this, which I did not like...


It ended up like this, and I am delighted to say it was sold last evening...



My second effort....


It will be interesting to see the direction the next paintings take. I expect more of the same, but hopefully of better quality.

HOME SWEET HOME

San Diego was great, and is good fodder for fantasies, but Paducah is home. It will take me a few days to find my routine. Can't believe I've been away from here 3 out of the last 4 weeks. Here are a few more pics from the week. (All photos by my gracious host, Dr. H.Tilker.)


Foggy morning

On the brink of self discovery...but for a week!!??



There can be beauty in death