Last Post of 2009

Well its been an artful year and I am thankful for my opportunities to produce and teach art nearly every day. These pieces are works that I've worked on in the past few months. I continue to produce art with the thought that at some point I will begin to market it...really not a priority at this point.

Been a while...2.0

Started this blog to keep up with my artsy activites. I guess the good news is that my artsy activites have kept me really busy! Here's a few I've worked on recently. My teaching duties have kept me from painting quite as much as I would like to, but it has its own rewards, so I am happy!

Here's a few recent ones:

Been a while...

I haven't had a chance to post in a while, but I have been painting. The painting of the kids means a lot to me as it is a picture that has great emotional impact (to me). The other painting is a plein air piece that I painted outside the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Long Time Coming!

Boy have I been ready for Summer Break! I love teaching and I'll be ready to go come August, but ending a school year is tough stuff. I have missed posting my work, but at least I have still been working. Here are a couple of pieces I've been working on. These vary wildly in style and scope, but they all accomplish a common goal; to help me grow as an artist.

Watercolor Journal

I have been working out of a journal and feel very pleased with the process. The great thing about a journal is that it is a personal forum for experimentation and reflection. Sometimes process itself needs some reflection and writing about it as well as painting it out seems to be helpful. Visual art, by definition, is something produced with the purpose of being viewed by others so maybe that is why I am more reticent to expand our creative parameters on regular paper (someones going to see this mess). In my journal I am freed from this constraint, by the very nature of a journal, I can share it sure, but I can also keep it to myself! Either way, I'm having fun with it and I hope I stick to it. Here's a couple that fall into the share section; they are both of Monet.

Landscapes...hmmmm

Painted this one as a demo in class last week. I do not often choose to paint landscapes so this was a bit of a challenge for me. It is my goal to introduce a lot of different things to my students and allow them to discover what they enjoy working on. It was a challenge and I almost sent it to the scrap heap a couple of times but I suppose it turned out okay; it was, at least, educational sorting out all the midvalue green that muddled me up for a while!

Grounded

This painting was from a stunning reference photo on the WetCanvas Image Library (kudos to the photographer were given on WC, can't find the artist name at present). I had been looking at the work of Winslow Homer, in particular his watercolors from his time in the Bahamas and Florida, and the beachscapes of Charles Reid and began to look for a beach scene. This one really caught my eye and I gave it my best shot. This one is 12x16 on Arches cold-pressed paper. Hope you enjoy, it was a fun change of pace for me.

Garden Stroll

This piece is the last of many attempts to take the ideas I've been developing based on Judy Morris' work and incorporate them into my own painting. While doing a couple of her demo's with relative success, I had been unable to work that great sense of light into my own work without it looking contrived. In "Garden Stroll" I feel that I have finally achieved a level of success that I can be pleased with. The reference photo itself was taken by Canyon Road from Wet Canvas. What caught my eye was the little gato strolling out of the courtyard like he owned the place. Almost left him out but I'm glad I decided to paint him. This is painted on 90lb Fabraino cp paper with various professional grade paints.

A Few Exercises

After enjoying an unexpected Winter Break last week, I am finally able to post some new work. This work finds me in the role of a student. After reading Judy Morris' book, "Watercolor Basics; Light", I found a real connection with what this artist is trying to do. I always liked watching Bruce Neville lay down some very intentional highlights and shadows and that's one of the things that drew me to him as an instructor, so it shouldn't be suprising (to me) that Judy's work resonated with me in a similar way. What I am posting here is a result of following two of the demonstrations that Judy does in her book. I followed here method quite a bit, but still managed to infuse some of my color sensibilites into these. The bird houses are on 14 x 20 fabriano cp paper and the flower box is done of 12x16 arches cp.

Sunflowers

In preparing for my class I thought it would be fun to demonstrate the same subject on different types of paper to show the different effects that papers have on a work. I chose to use the two most contrary papers in the privacy of my own studio (so no one except the cats got to hear me groan) and after much struggle I came out with two pieces that I am rather pleased with.

The bottom one is on Yupo paper, which is a synthetic paper that has no tooth and allows the paint to pool around on the surface. It is really a fun paper, but can only be used to achieve freer flowing, more abstract paintings. The top piece is on hot pressed paper which is also smooth but it absorbs the water and shows nearly every brushstroke. It is good for fine, detailed work but allows for very little "on the paper" mixing of the pigments. Hope you enjoy them.