Explorations

Ok, finally at least got paint to canvas! Or in this case clayboard. I love how the paint soaks into the white clay covering and how liquid it can be. This calls for more exploration. Here's a sample 6" x 6" experiment... we'll see where it goes.

Natural Inspiration

I've been spending alot of time hiking and exploring on the mild days interspersed in our Carolina winter. On a recent walk at the trail out at the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores I was attracted to the wonderful colors of the lichens on the bark of the holly trees there. I took a couple snapshots. These look like abstract paintings in themselves.

Nature influences me in so many ways - shapes and colors like these, and emotionally by the lift it gives my spirit.

Finally got back in the studio today after taking a break for awhile. Feels good. We had an unusual 6 inches of snow yesterday and it's reflecting glorious light into my studio. More inspiration! Hopefully I'll have something to show for it soon...

More weavings

Still playing around with this weaving idea... Decided to try different versions on paper before going for it on the big canvas, so here I took a photo of each of the 4' x 5' paintings of a model. The two paintings were the same pose done in different colors... Cutting up each of the photos and "weaving" them creates some interesting effects. This is a rough draft, but it gives you an idea of the concept.

Back to the Studio

During this hectic time of the year, I really felt like I needed a day to create in the studio. Finally took one this afternoon. I've been playing around with different ideas on what to do next. One idea stems from the fact that I have many canvases in half-finished states, or are just favorites from the past few years that are accumulating in my house. I thought about painting over some, but that rubs me the wrong way. So today I thought about taking two paintings and "weaving them together." I did this once in a watercolor class, but why not with canvas? If I use two acrylic paintings they can handle the manipulation... so I took a look at two versions of a painting of a model that I did each on 4' x 5' canvases.... hmm, perhaps I should start smaller.... so I played around with these abstract paintings I did a year or so ago. I had three of them, each on 18" x 36" canvases. I liked them well enough, but they needed a little more interest... So this is today's result.

The first image above is one of the original paintings. The second is the "weave" of two of them... the third is a detail shot of the weave. I'm really excited about how this came out, now I'm going to try it with the larger faces, but perhaps I'll play around with the colors of each first. Hmmmm...

Two in One!

Fishing has become a new passion during this long warm autumn. Here I am catching two little bluefish in one cast! I never realized how much fun it is to hang out on the beach for an afternoon and catch your dinner...

Today the weather has turned colder, in the 40s, and my thoughts return to the studio. I am setting up my winter studio in the sunny west room of my house. Ready to get back in there and smear some paint around. Who knows what will come of it, perhaps fish will be an inspiration!?!

Light Paintings: Sally's Wish

Light Paintings: Sally's Wish

Above is a link to my brother's blog. I love this image he created for me.

I returned home about a month ago. Haven't posted much because I'm not back in the studio yet - I've been busy getting my house organized and cleaning/tossing things. Its very liberating to get rid of "stuff" you don't need - in the house and studio... I feel like its going to free up my mind when I do get back to the studio too. And I have art ideas swirling in my head as I clean...

Sticks and Steel

The gallery owner for Sticks and Steel in Sioux Falls invited me to drop off a few paintings after the Custer Show. Went down there last week with all of my paintings to allow her to choose which ones she wanted. She ended up displaying all of them! They look great in her shop, and we went back down for the Friday Art Walk last week. Good turnout. Here's how the Blue Buffalo look.