New Work: Gathering Light III, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

 In the studio

$10500 framed
 
About this oil:
It was thoroughly enjoyable to start an oil of this size and to create an opportunity to push those reds across 5 feet of canvas. Those intense colors instantly dictated that the rest of the landscape would require brighter colors everywhere.
 
As surreal as this scene is, the addition of green makes the scene somehow more acceptable and natural. As the rest of the colors are pushed, care was taken to keep them all in sync with the outrageous background. It was quite the puzzle, resulting in this painting being months in the making with a lot of downtime in between sessions before all of the solutions were found.
 
There is one part of the oil that is not engaged as powerfully and that is the strip of sky at the top. As the painting developed, I kept looking beyond the bright hills and into that peaceful and normal part of the sky that was painted in at the beginning. I continued to keep those clouds as they were even as the other colors became stronger.
 
That unexpected combination of the natural and the extreme makes the work even more unusual and attractive.

New Work: Found Colors at the Snows Edge II, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

 

Exhibiting: Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY

$10500 framed

 
About this oil:
Out in nature, we are surrounded in beauty and for many of us, inspiration. There are the broad, epic landscapes and those perfect compositions that artists will spend a lot of time searching for. I was among those searching for years and finally, I began to see more.
 
That’s when I discovered wonderful compositions presenting themselves almost everywhere. The arrangements were always available but found in the smaller places.
 
This is certainly not the epic landscape but it is a familiar one. This vignette of a forest contains endless possibilities of interpretation and as an artist, I took on the task to create something beyond nature, more striking and beautiful.
 
Much has been brought into play here with abundant and richer colors set off by the deep, delicate darks. All of the natural details are here, but slightly modified and heightened. The result is an artwork full of life and even in this small scale, a true sense of place.

In the Studio, January 1, 2022

I wanted to record this small portion of works  progressing in the studio today. There are a dozen others in play but this shot will bring back good memories in the future.

Every day is a new day in the studio and change is a constant. I start with an idea and as the painting develops, there are constant surprises and unexpected problems. Regardless, they are deviations from that original concept and adjustments are required. 

Sometimes the appropriate change is a thoughtful tweak or something more dramatic, but it is the change that is constant. There is always something new that is needed to bring a painting to completion and I enjoy the challenge.

New starts will be made this week and those new canvases will shift the feel of the studio. At some point, all the canvases take on a life of their own. They are very demanding, with each one wanting to be brought to fulfillment and it’s is a joy, (sometimes grrrr) to be invited into the process.

Here’s a peek into one of my two studios. All of these canvases are well-along and will be completed soon, with the larger ones at 4 x 5 feet. I do like to see them temporarily sitting in the floater frames as shown here because it’s a good way to see the works differently and to better understand what else is needed.

Thank you for sharing this first day with me.

I wish you all a marvelous New Year full of joy and sweet fulfillment. There will be changes and I hope they are all in your favor.