K River - 8

sketch with pastel pencil on black gesso (6"x6")

after alcohol wash

I am eager to see how the lake reflection turns out in this oil study!

K River - 7

Pencil sketch for third study

In spring of youth it was my lot
To haunt of the wide world a spot
The which I could not love the less-
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
And the tall pines that towered around.

First stanza of The Lake by Edgar Allen Poe written in 1827.

'Course those are not pines in my sketch, but it was a beautiful wild lake.

Thanks for viewing my art!

Sunday drawing session

Sunday at The Canvas our drawing group was able to have a model for 6(!) hours!

 One of the best models ever but she is leaving to go study nursing in Arizona.

Many good wishes to her. 

First photo shows midway thru and set up

Yep, didn't get to colored paint this time.

Model       15.75  x 12.75 inches      oil on panel

K River - 6

Storm at the Divide      6x6 inches    oil on Arches oil paper

 

 

 

ha - this b&w looks a bit like the pastel sketch, only more distinct

K River - 5

The study sketch, using white pastel pencil on the black gesso ...

... and then adding a little oil paint.
For some reason, I love doing paintings on black.

Like this one, for ex:

Tamarind & Pear  

from November 2011 while I was in Wyoming.
 6 x 8 inches, oil on black pastel board.

And this one (same size) that sold at my Silverbow Gallery show:

We Are Persimmons

K River - 4

Pencil sketch for the next study.

These little thumbnails are actually about 2.5" square.

I had meant to do the last small study with black gesso, but forgot.
So this scene, (I am calling it Storm at the Divide)
will be done with a black gesso surface on Arches Oil Paper.

K River - Day 3

 Began putting some dark paint on the tussock shadows.

Headwaters (Tussocks)   6" x 6"   oil on Arches Oil Paper

Well, this study turned out ok ... wonder how it will be at 4x the size??? Aaack...

K River - Day 2

I remember this was the hardest walking of the trip. 

The tussocks were wobbly so if you stepped on top of one, 

it bent and your foot twisted and slipped off. 

But, if you stepped in between them,

 it was wet and mucky and you sank and your foot got wet.

Charcoal with alcohol wash to set image    6" x 6"

K River Paintings - Day 1

After thinking about this for MANY years
 i have embarked on a new painting project

... one that has deep meaning for me ... 

i will work with my poor quality photos and
the journal i kept on the trip

i look forward to re-tracing our steps
because the whole thing was rather bold

for now i'll call it K River - Journey On Foot

*

first it was in our minds
then it was with our feet

a journey not many like us had made before us
but many have done it since
(usually the other direction using river power)
not foot power

re-living it by seeing our photos
reading those journals

and

bringing the trip to life still again
in a painting or two (or more)
!

- first sketch, pencil -

Tussocks and Eriophorum   about 2" x 2"

So, this is my first thumbnail sketch, but not the first in actual chronologic time.

 I am going to do some six by six inch little studies on Arches Oil Paper, in oils.

I am going to paint in square format for the "real thing"
which are about 24 x 24 inches.
 A fairly good size ...

Virtual Paintout - Liverpool, U.K.

Liverpool Sidestreet     11 x 14 inches   oil on Arches Oil Paper

I do like the way this painting turned out. Really thought it would take longer than it did!

Hoorah!

Watch for it on the VPO facebook page!

... or on the regular VPO site.

Still life for Easter

Easter = Spring     6 x 6 inches   oil on panel

Happy Easter!

Painting on the UW campus

Only got one day to plein air paint. 

We went to the University of Washington campus and I set up near Mary Gates Hall.  

 Glad I had some hot coffee, cause

it was chilly - windy and spitting a little precip.

Literally hundreds of students would get out of classes and stream by and only about

4-5 people came over to ask what I was doing.

Matt found some Bald Pate (American Widgeon) and Ring-neck ducks 

down at the big fountain!

 

 

Cherry trees on campus (UW)        8 x 10 inches  oil on canvas board

Below are the ducks at the fountain. I think those are the Widgeon.

Liverpool - Day 3

More progress ... and tomorrow I leave for Seattle for a week.

 

So, no more until I get back.

What color shall I make the figure's jacket?

Liverpool - day 2

VPO - Liverpool (day 1)

"I say, ol' chap."

The Virtual Paintout this spring-y month of April

 is in Liverpool and north to Lancaster, England.

I am giving it a go.

Husband as Abstract

Abstract

 

-->

From merriam-webster.com 

- expressing ideas and emotions by using elements such as colors and lines without attempting to create a realistic picture

Medieval Latin abstractus, from Latin, past participle of abstrahere to drag away, from abs-, ab- + trahere to pull, draw

From en.wikipedia.org
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.

From connoisseurimages.com

Abstract art can be divided into two distinct categories:
Objective abstract art
Objective abstract art is an art which depicts the concrete physical object in simplified, or distorted, or exaggerated form; the depicted object may only constitute an indirect reference or an allusion to the original natural subject.

Non-objective abstract art
Non-objective (non-representational) abstract art is an art which emphasizes color, form, structure and composition, and which is completely dissociated from representational art.


So, my Serendipity painting was getting a bit abstract - got me interested in doing a totally abstracted, non-representational painting.

untitled as yet       8 x 6 inches      oil on Arches oil paper

Tentative titles for this painting: "Matt as an Abstract Painting" or "Dissociated Matt".

You are probably wondering why.
Well, I used the very cool painting app/tool, Artrage, and took a photo of Matt and abstracted the shapes and colors. This is the result which I transferred into real paint.

Thanks for viewing my adventures in art!

Serendipity/R*A*I*N - day 3 - fin

Update: I have renamed this painting. Even though I love the word serendipity,
I believe this is a more accurate title.

R*A*I*N          24 x 18 inches       oil on panel

I looked up serendipity
and just LOVE the photo that Wikipedia used to help describe what it means.
Go to the link and see what I mean.

For me, the pleasant surprise was that my acrylic underpainting dripped so nicely that I couldn't have done it on purpose had I tried!

I like the discord between the abstract sky and the landscape
. . . and I really like the b and w.

Thanks for viewing my paintings!

 

Serendipity - day 2

I am so glad I went yesterday to see Herbert Siguenza in his production, "A Weekend with Pablo Picasso". He wrote the play and is the only actor.  He has been touring with the play and the next time he will be at the San Jose Rep Theatre. (The link does not list it yet, they haven't updated their season announcement for 2014-15.)

Siguenza is one of the actors (Big Daddy) in Perseverance Theatre's production of the Tennessee Williams play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (ending today). I think it was a kind of last-minute decision and also a bit of a rehearsal. He sat onstage and chatted with us (audience) about the play.

Siguenza has thought about writing a play about Picasso since he was a little boy. It was fun to see him actually painting on-stage. He fit a multitude of facts about Picasso in a short vignette of little over an hour, all quite true to life from what I have read. 

And he kind of looks like him!

As Siguenza told us, it took him his whole life to be able to do this play...just as Picasso said, "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child".

 As a painter, that little play energized me.

Serendipity - day 1

Eeeek! Looks scary now...

Really Slovenia - fin

ReallySlovenia   oil on paper   8 x 12 inches

detail

This little painting-within-a-painting is my favorite part! 

I may just take this and do a larger painting...

Today I submitted ReallySlovenia

 to the VPO site. 

Check out how many people posted! I didn't count, but there are lots.

Really Slovenia

Ok, confession time. 

I thought I had found a Google street view for Slovenia, but it was not ... it was Croatia! 

So I am re-doing the March VPO painting (good thing March is long). 

I found a nice Google street-scene in Slovenia and it has a cool house it in.

Here is the beginning. I decided to do it on Arches Oil paper. It is kind of hard to initially paint on because it sucks up the paint pretty fast - the first layer seems to dry like watercolor.

Done or nearly there - Croatia painting

There is one more thing in the streetview of this scene that I kind of want to add. It may just make the scene, or ruin it...

Croatia - Day 2