the daily dose of art....FROM START TO FINISH

Working from a photograph, this commission was somewhat of a challenge.  Here it is, presented in stages:

Cambridge UK  watercolor   22x30

JUST WHEN I THINK IT'S DONE...

With a loud sigh of relief I stand back from the easel and look at the finished painting...the result of my week long effort.  I'm satisfied with what I see, until I'm not.  A few days go by and I realize what it is that bothers me; the painting needs something to help establish scale and distance.

 

So I add the building and a few trees, followed by another sigh of relief, and all is well, until it is not.
The very dark mountains "don't work".  They need to be lighter, like this....

 

Finally I'm done.  The lighter mountains have made a difference.  But have they made it a better painting?  That was yesterday.  Today I'm thinking I've gone to far, and the value of the mountains need to be somewhere between the very dark and the too light.  I'll have to think about that for a while.

FROM BEGINNING TO END

 It begins with a small color sketch to work out the composition and values

 The next step...With the buildings blocked out, the sky and background is rendered and an under- painting for the foreground is completed.



This is followed by the completion of the buildings, working out the shadows, and rendering the foreground.

 
 

 

The last stage...architectural details and warm glazes on the buildings and foreground.

Must be summer...acrylic...16x40"

TERRA FIRMA

OK, I've paid my homage to the sea and now it is back to mother earth. I'm still riding the wave of this new work; I keep waiting for the enthusiasm to begin to fade but so far it is more than holding its own.

This current piece is 24x48, and like the previous paintings, it is all about the sky. I still don't know what will happen to the foreground...will probably find out later today. I have several ideas in mind, but no clear cut preference at this time.


Red Oxide sky...acrylic in progress...24x48

I have several completed drawings waiting for me to begin a new series in watercolor and pastel...I may spend some time with them (street scenes from Bologna) and take a break from the acrylics and big skies.

MISSING THE 60s

I don’t miss the sixties, because I missed them . Let me explain.

In 1961, which culturally was still the fifties, I entered medical school, and for the next four years my life was focused entirely, totally, and completely, on my studies. After graduation in 1965 I spent the next two years submerged in my duties, first as an intern and then as a medical resident. “Submerged in my duties” translates into 10- hour days plus night call every third night, including a six week ER rotation of 24 hours on and 24 off. In 1967 I was drafted into the US Navy and spent the next two years with the 2nd Marine Air Wing stationed at Cherry Point, NC, isolated in a small town on the Carolina coast. My life was now all medicine plus the Marines. In 1969 I resumed my medical training at the Delaware Hospital in Wilmington Delaware, and in 1971 opened my first medical practice with 2 colleagues, but still had the “boards” to prepare for (a two day test required for board certification in internal medicine). So the next 12 months was devoted to constant study, and when I wasn’t studying, I was either thinking or worrying about studying. It all ended in 1972...I passed the boards and vowed I would never, ever take another test again. When I emerged from eleven years of this very narrowly focused life I found the world had changed, and I had not been part of that change. I had some catching up to do.

While that was looking back, I am still looking ahead. Two work currently remain in progress:

This watercolor of Cambridge in UK...



and a new acrylic taking shape on this 48x34” canvas...

FINALLY,

after weeks of procrastination, I have started working again with the acrylics on canvas. I don't know why I put things off like I do, and now that I've started I am ready to begin another one. In the meantime I've continued to play with the clay and markers.


Italian landscape...in progress...24x24


Via Ferrucio in Castlellini in Chianti


dining out in Castellini in Chianti

LANDSCAPE IN PROGRESS

This piece is derived from the recent small painting I posted...


Tractor road 6x12"

I've taken a more abstract approach to the sky, but want to retain the same warm mood.
The canvas measures 30x40, and I find myself in no hurry to get it done, quite a contrast to the impatience that rules the rest of my life. Maybe it's a bellweather of changes ahead.

48x48 with revised sky

It took me three tries to get the sky that I wanted. The next step is to establish the placement of the primary subject, and from there, further refinement of the foreground which will not be as dark as it is now. If all goes well I should have something to show you in 2 or 3 days.

THE BIG SKY

The first step has been taken, and the next decision to make is whether or not it needs some tweaking in the lower parts near the horizon, especially on the left where it appears a bit too yellow. I'm still mulling over my choice of subject matter and hope to have that resolved today.

STARTING OVER

All about color acrylic on canvas 48x60"

I did this painting in September of 2007. Even then I knew it was less than my best, and for most of the time it has been sitting in the storage rack collecting dust. In keeping with my intentions of reducing expenditures I pulled it out of storage determined to reclaim the canvas and start anew.

At this point all I know is that it will be a landscape with a big sky (surprise!?) and that the sky will be red-orange-yellow. I have yet to decide on the "subject", either another farmscape or barn, or perhaps an urban skyline. In either event, the painting begins with an under painting of contrasting color and value, which I accomplished yesterday.


Work in Progress

Today the sky, tomorrow the world!

AN ITCH I HAD TO SCRATCH

In the past several years I have painted five 48x60" canvases, which is the largest size my cramped studio and gallery can handle. I've sold one, leaving me 4 of these behemoths to show and/or store, not an easy thing to do. In addition there has been a 6th canvas, untouched, sitting in the storage rack. I like working large, the size presents challenges unique to its scale, but for reasons stated above, it is something I've been avoiding. A few weeks ago it hit me, like a brisk slap on the head, not painting on a fresh canvas in my storage rack because I have no place to store it is kinda...well...just plain stupid!!! And, inspired by a recent pastel farm scene, I dragged the canvas out into the studio, arranged for my easel to accommodate its size, and began to paint.

First, here is the pastel that is serving as the inspiration for this piece.



And here is the work in progress. Before going any further with the architecture I will work on establishing the colors and values in the foreground since it will have a direct effect on the final appearance of the buildings.




Using the retrospectoscope I think the buildings should have been smaller, but the deed is done and I have no desire to start over.

WORK IN PROGRESS III

It is taking time, far more time than I usually spend on a painting, but it has been gratifying to see the progress. I don't know where this new found patience comes from, but I'm doing my best to take advantage of it.



There are more details to complete, as well as work on the foreground. I think the next time I post this will be the last. In the meantime, a new canvas has just been hoisted onto the easel.

WORK IN PROGRESS II

36x36 canvas

White artist tape can be seen on the right of the canvas. I frequently use tape to get the "hard" edges I like on architectural subjects. Eventually the remnants of this barn will be surrounded by leggy bare trees and vines. The foreground will be winter grass, brush, and leaves in autumn colors with patches of the dark under painting showing through.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Ever so slowly...I have screwed up the courage to move forward and have begun adding the darkest values using acrylic washes of dioxazine purple, cadmium red, and hookers green. I mays till overpaint some of this with opaque darks. It all depends on how it looks to me after I work on some of the details.


This is a new 36x36 canvas I started yesterday. I don't know if you can see the faint outline of the falling down frame of an old barn. That will be the next step.

MANHATTEN STREET SCENE

I'm making progress. I finally overcame my inhibitions and began loosening up in the foreground. Here is how the day ended. There remains a few details that need my attention.

URBAN LANDSCAPE IN PROGRESS

I've been forcing myself to work for the past week. For whatever reason, I decided to paint another urban scene, this one a little different from the last one I posted a few months ago.
It has been a slow process due to my lack of enthusiasm plus an unfamiliarity with the technical approaches needed for the work. With few exceptions, all of my urban paintings have been rendered in watercolor.

Although the scene is different, I'm attempting to follow the same approach as I used in this pastel painting a few years ago, with an abstract/impressionistic foreground against a stark, geometric background.


Orchard St. NYC pastel

The background - the easy part is done. Now I have to tackle the foreground which I find much more difficult to do.


Work in progress acrylic 30x20

NEW WORK

I've been a busy little bee in the studio...missing yesterday's post...and here is what I have to show for it.


Skyscape, or for the birds II 30x20


An urban landscape in progress. 30x40. An imaginative cityscape based on several unrelated NYC photos.

FINISHED!!! (I think)

Here it is...the last installment of the resurrected urban landscape. It will remain on the easel for further review, and be subjected to the harsh but honest eye of my wife. I am reasonably satisfied with the final results, considering the starting point. There are several things I would do differently if I were to do this again, but I learned a lot from this exercise, and find myself anxious to take on another urban landscape


stage one


stage 12


end stage?

NEW WORK

Following up on yesterday's post, here are the 2 new paintings. The first is completed, the second needs more work to create a greater sense of distance in the foreground.


Upstream #1 acrylic 16x20


Upstream #2 16x20 "WIP"

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Yesterday, after several weeks of busy work and/or no work I found myself back at the easel working on 4 canvases. (I like to have 2 or more works in progress so when ever I get stymied on one or have to wait for drying time, I can move on to another.) Three are new pieces and one is a previous unfinished disaster I’ve decided to rehabilitate. Two of the new canvases are the same composition, painted with slightly different palettes - don’t ask me why because I really don’t know.

Today, The disaster!


Acrylic on canvas 24x48"
The painting is from a photo I took in NYC years ago, looking across the East River to Brooklyn, under the bridge. For a number of reasons it never "worked", meaning I couldn't do it. That was about 2 years ago. Yesterday I felt I knew what had to be done, and began resurrecting the painting by repainting the sky. The next step is to re-do the architecture. I will keep you posted on my progress