The daily dose of art MINIATURES

Once in a while I get lazy.  Well...maybe more than once in a while, and when I do, I turn to the minis, watercolor or acrylic paintings 8x10 and smaller.  They are easy and fun, and make me feel like I'm being "productive".

Barbed  watercolor  3x7

Acrylic Diptych I 8x8

Acrylic Diptych II 8x8

TWO MORE FOR THE CAUSE

There is a reason for this recent barn frenzy of mine (over 40 small drawings/paintings in the past 2 months). I will use them to develop a new series of painting and drawings of barns and farmscapes that will become the focus of the next formal exhibit at Gallery 5 early next year.

Watercolor...6x8"


Markers and pastel...5x5"

AN UPGRADED WEBSITE

After almost 10 years it was time to make some changes to the website that served me so well. Thanks to new technology it is now possible to create and manage a website with minimal effort and no understanding of the necessary technology. On the recommendation of a knowledgeable friend I chose to work with Otherpeoplespixals (OPP) and am pleased with the results. The advantage of the new site is the ability to easily manage it myself, adding and removing content as needed as well as reorganizing the artwork, links, etc..

My art is presented in 5 different galleries, based on the medium. I’ve also added a new feature called “What’s on the easel”, where every few weeks I will feature a different piece of work reflecting either something new, interesting, or specially priced.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process of setting up the site; it was amazingly easy, and I recommend it to anyone who may be considering such an undertaking. Check it out…
renzulliart.com

Here are 2 more small watercolor landscapes, plus the latest progress on the Cambridge commission.

LESS IS MORE,

at least that is that my current mind set. Of course it could be that I simply lack the ambition to tackle anything larger than 7x13", the size of the last 2 small watercolor landscapes. I expect that sooner or later I'll take on larger, but when I do I'll keep one foot in the smaller camp.


landscape #6

Landscape #7

TWO MORE

small watercolor landscapes to add to the series. The composition/scene remains reasonably constant, only the colors and values vary.


landscape #3 5x7

landscape #4 6x8

I anticipate adding 2 or 3 more paintings to this series before moving on to something else.

QUICK & EASY

A life committed to art is not an easy one. The demands on creativity are many, and like most artists I often find myself facing the enormous daily question...What can I draw or paint that would be exciting, interesting, challenging, and of immense redeeming social value...at the same time being quick and easy?

Clearly I was in a dippy mood when I wrote the above comment in my journal in 1983. Quickness and ease are usually not the guiding principals in creativity, although there certainly are times when that happens, often unexpectedly.

But, there are also times when I find myself wandering aimlessly about the studio (as much as one can wander in the space I have.) looking for something to do but not wanting to get into anything major, in other words, something quick and easy, and fortunately there is such a thing...the small watercolor landscape. I began doing these small paintings/sketches in the fall of 2009; they were the inspiration for what would become a regular e-newsletter from Gallery 5. After almost a years hiatus I have returned to this daily exercise. They are fun to do, instructive in learning the behavior of colors and pigments, and last but not least...they are quick and easy!

Here are two such landscapes. They bear a strong resemblance to one another by design; I am planing on series of paintings of the same general composition/scene using different colors, lighting, and values. I anticipate it being a fun exercise. Each piece is approximately 5x7".

NOW WHAT?

watercolor...18x24

After spending the last several weeks with this painting on the drawing table, I believe I will miss having it to turn to whenever the mood strikes. Working on a painting like this, almost mindlessly in bits and snatches everyday creates a bond...almost like a companion...and now that it is done I will have nothing to turn to. Unless of course I come up with another one. I already have one in mind, another large ancient structure that contributes to the Piazza Maggiore in central Bologna.

And in between the bits and snatches there are the clay drawings:


White awnings...4x6'


Wonderful memories...7x14

MORE MINIATURES

One way to keep myself busy while waiting...playing with watercolors. In this latest series of miniatures I've used opaque pigments on a variety of papers found hanging around the drawing table.


I used Luma watercolor for the sky in this piece.





The top painting is aproximately 5x5". The next two are 4x7".

I DON'T UNDERSTAND

my fascination with barbed wire. For whatever the reason, I think it adds an element of drama, and perhaps a trace of human presence to an otherwise empty landscape. I have used it as a "prop" repeatedly in both large and small landscapes, such as this.


Barbed...watercolor...3x7"

RETURNING TO NORMALCY...

At least that is my hope. Patience began 2 weeks of full time work yesterday leaving me and the dogs hanging at home. The gallery is closed Mondays and Tuesdays so I'm keeping myself busy with whatever I can do in the house. On Sunday I did manage one more small painting, from my file of photos from the years in Wilmington Delaware. Unfortunately all the wonderful markets that once were King St. have given way to banks and office buildings...what a loss!


King St. markets...wc...4x6"

Here is what king St. looked like during the 70's when I first began painting.





I had to share this pic with you...the east side of my studio has never looked so clean and neat. Sadly, 4 days after the fact it has reverted to it's former state (there will be no pics of that!).

I CAN ONLY GO SO LONG

before I have the uncontrollable urge to paint another red barn! If anything appears a bit out of kilter in this painting it is the roof...it narrows as it descends, and it shouldn't.


Long Gone...watercolor...6x9"

This may be my last post for several days. I expect to be totally occupied with the preparations for next weeks 7th anniversary snow in the gallery.

SAVED BY PASTELS

Sometimes, despite my best efforts, I can't accomplish what I set out to do. That's what happened in this last wc painting, everything below the tree line looked like mud, and my attempts at improving it only made things worse. I was faced with 2 options, throw it out and start over, or get out the soft pastels. I chose the latter, and once again they rescued an otherwise failed effort.

In this sketch, everything below the trees is pastel over a previously painted foreground.


Idaho landscape II...6x8"....wc & Pastel

THE NORTH WEST,

thanks to some photos Patience took on her 1992 visit to a friend in Idaho. Browsing through my boxes of reference photos accumulated over the past 30 years I came across several pics that caught my attention. This is the first of my efforts and hopefully I will have more to follow.



Idaho Landscape watercolor....7x9"

HEY!

I just posted a painting without barns, fence posts, or barbed wire...so I felt justified in using at least one of these elements again.


Orange Field watercolor 5x7"

LOOK MA!

No trees, no barns, no fence posts, and no barbed wire!! Just another sky, horizon, and foreground.

I have learned a great deal from these small paintings, and plan on working on a larger scale after I've finished preparing for, and celebrating, our 7th anniversary event.


Dawn...watercolor...4x7"

The sky was done with Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Blue, and Raw Sienna. I like this combo for the sunrise effect it creates.

IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

before I painted another barn! I avoided the barn thing for as long as I could, but yesterday my will collapsed and I gave in to the urge, consoling myself that it was only a very small barn.


Forlorn.....watercolor.....6x9"

A NEW DAY,

a new painting appropriately called...A New Day


watercolor 7x9"

THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO SAY,

at least that I can think of, about these small sketches. I suppose that one day I'll simply stop, but until then...I just keep painting. The thrill has not yet dampened. Maybe its because they take up so little room in my already overcrowded studio/gallery.
I think tomorrow I will post some pics to make this point. But, in the meantime, here is a 4x6 watercolor pulled from the files of my imagination.



I read in one of my books that Cobalt blue and Aurealen Yellow can be combined in wet washes on paper, and because of the characteristics of their pigments, they will not become so green.

THE GRAY DAY OUTSIDE

led to a gray painting inside. Sticking with favorite themes, big sky, low horizon, and contrasting values, I came up with this small painting, based on memories of the southwest landscape.


Gray SW landscape watercolor 4x6"

WESTERN KENTUCKY

has some wonderful countryside. Several years ago a day trip with car & camera brought me through nearby Livingston county where it borders the Ohio river. I have been mining the photos I took since then for an endless number of paintings.

This 5x9 watercolor is from on of those pics. It was done with Cobalt Blue, Burnt Siena, and Sepia, with a touch of viridian green in the bottom foreground.