Cowboys 4

Acrylic on Canvas

I thought I'd give this another go. I've been reading a lot of back issues of the various art magazines I subscribe to, and my head in now full of more guidance than I can possibly put into practice in any short manner. However, it is helping me pinpoint the things that annoy me about my failures (and it's good to have failures – and insights).

This is starting to look less like a cartoon, and more like a painting. I consider that a good thing, for what that's worth. It's still far from what I was hoping for, but I am discovering why, which is actually a lot of fun. Did I mention that painting was fun before? I sure hope so.

Prince Edward Farm II

Acrylic on Canvas Panel - 18 x 14 inches - (destroyed)

I decided to crop in a little tighter and make the overall composition a little stronger. If you compare with the first version you can see what I moved around. Also, having worked out a lot of issues this was a lot easier to do, and it was easier to keep it fluid.

I looked at a few of my favorite sources and noticed that a lot of painters leave the background loose and unfinished looking to increase the sense of depth and focus. Though I tried decreasing it's saturation and tried pushing it towards bluer tones, it didn't really work out that way. Something in my is fighting this concept.

I think I could do a dozen more of these, but I think part of the problem I'm having is that this is from a Google photo, and not from a scene I've seen firsthand and photographed myself. I really should get outside. It's just that it's the coldest summer in San Francisco in at least 20 years. Excuses, excuses.

Prince Edward Farm

Acrylic on Canvas Panel - 18 x 14 inches - (destroyed)

This is for the August Virtual Paintout, on Prince Edward Island in Nova Scotia. Be sure to check out the other submissions. There's some great ones.

I seem to have fallen into all my usual traps. Almost all of the trees are the same value, even though some are far away, and all are in the same level of focus and detail. I'm going to try this one again, incorporating some of the things I should have learned by now about distance and focus. The we'll see if I've really grasped the concept. Stay tuned.

Hastings House

Acrylic on Canvas Panel

I was captured by the colors of the pink setting sun and blue shadows on a building I saw on my last trip to Hastings-on-Hudson. I took a few photos, but new that those colors just wouldn't show up on my camera, so I made a mental note to try and compensate for that later.

When I got back I opened the pic I liked in Photoshop and began tweaking it to better match my memory of the lighting. I probably could have just "imagined" the colors, but since I have Photoshop I thought I might as well start with an adjusted reference photo instead.

I think it turned out a little too dark and extreme as a painting, but I do like the shapes of the tree's shadows on the building. I may try and pull this back a bit when I have time.

Page House Blues continued

Acrylic on Canvas - 18 x 24 inches

Today I blocked in the major color shapes. I actually got a little carried away, putting in more detail than I should have at this point. By comparing to the postcard, I can see that the building is way too bright. If I had just stuck to bigger shapes, this would have been just as obvious, but would have saved me some time, since I now have to go back and go over everything here.

I think subconsciously I wanted to see what it would look like brighter, but in doing so, I think I lost out on the impact of the original sketch. The learning process continues.

Page House Blues continued

Acrylic on Canvas - 18 x 24 inches

Oh, I forgot to do a wash on the canvas before started, to knock back that stark white to some middle tone, so better late than never. Even stranger was the thinned wash I used beaded up a bit on the surface not immediately "bonding" with the gesso. Not sure why. Maybe it was something that happened in storage.

After a bit of scrubbing I got it to mesh in nicely, and naturally it mushed the charcoal about, but that's fine, since it helped prevent the charcoal from meddling with successive applications of color.

Page House Blues

Acrylic on Canvas - 18 x 24

I really liked the quick sketch I did of this a while back. I thought it would make a good subject for a larger piece, so I began by sketching it in in charcoal and then painting in some basic shapes and the darkest darks. Naturally, I kinda like it just like this, but I must proceed.

Tres Palmas Yellow

Acrylic on Cardstock - 4 x 6 inches

This is actually a quick and dirty application on top of the show postcard. You can see some details poking through. I just had some paint already out and a few minutes to experiment, so I did. Since the original generated so much interest at the show, I think I'll be doing a series of these soon, with different colors and compositions.

I just saw two great shows at MOMA in NY, for Picasso and for Matisse, both emphasizing their use of doing series of paintings/drawings often going back and simplifying and reducing compositions to just their most basic elements. In Matisse's case, often over a period of years, revisiting a piece, moving figures within the space, deleting elements, changing the color palette. If you get a chance, definitely check these two exhibits out.

Tres Palmas Blue

Acrylic on Cardstock - 4 x 6 inches

This was another sketch version I did of the Tres Palmas in a much more muted palette. It basically revealed that a more colorful version was in order. Still, I like the variety.

Fulton and Baker Revisited

Acrylic on Panel

This piece is lying near my easel, so I often pick it up after working on something else and being all warmed up already, I find something new to adjust in this piece. It may be a bit like polishing, well, a thing that shouldn't be polished, but I do enjoy seeing how a few bold strokes here or there can completely change the focal point, or the mood, the relationship of shapes etc.

In other disciplines I've discovered that this path is often fruitless, in terms of arriving at a finished piece, because of some major structural flaw. A boring song, a poorly conceived photo, even a bad pasta sauce. It can't ever really be saved. Better to just start anew.

However there is a lot one can learn in the process of making adjustments and seeing what happens. Especially freeing if you know you're working on a piece that may never turn out right. You can't ruin a disaster. The knowledge gained can then be applied to other projects, even if it can't save the patient at hand.