New Work: The Light in the World IV

The Light in the World IV  oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches   Saks Galleries, Denver   $6650 framed  

With these Light in the World series works, my goal is to have the light permeate every part of the scene. In this sunset, the light is not a sun glaring through the clouds but instead, a luminous scene.

The painting went through a number of changes and as it progressed, I worked to add more radiance and interest. Many foreground changes were tried and rejected until I came upon the idea of a diagonal movement. It worked nicely with the horizontal cloud bands and gave the painting the added weight necessary and more depth at the bottom on the oil. It was a solution worth working for.

New Work: The Light in the World I and II, oil on panel and canvas

The Light in the World
Oil on panel, 40 x 40 inches    Saks Galleries, Denver, CO, $6650 framed

The Light in the World
Oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches
Private collection 

It was a great honor to have recently have toured the Holy Land with a group wonderful people from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Fortunately, we safely exited the country just before the virus began appearing there. There are so many good memories of the people, places and experiences.

Our guides kept us busy every day and although we took a lot of photos, they were mostly of the sights with very few that were the sort of scenes that I would be painting from. 

An exception to the daily travel photos was an evening in Jordan at a nice hotel on the edge of the Dead Sea. I was sitting alone with this long, unobstructed view across the water to Israel. It was a quiet evening before sunset and I had the long promenade to myself. As the light was changing, I began to shoot the scene. There may be art in this... As it turns out, I did the 24 x 24 study on panel and used to for the larger, 40 x 40 oil on canvas.

After my return to the U.S., I kept thinking about that evening and how to create a compelling painting from that idea. Ignoring the main color from the photos, I was struck by the tiny bit of orange-yellow of the sunset in a portion of the photo and I decided to create a painting exclusively with those glowing colors. I rejected the sunset portion by using a heavy crop on the photos, just leaving a portion of the long shoreline, sea and sky.

Once the painting began, the land mass became the compositional anchor and the place where the colors started to flow. As the painting progressed, the flow became an important part of the sea and sky as well. I didn't catch it at the time, but my insistence on this limited group of colors and movement in every part of the scene is what made it all come together in an interesting way.

As I was adding the last brushstrokes to the work, a title came to me, something that touches us all, "The Light in the World."

Commissions

Bight Patterns    Oil on canvas, 48 X 60     Collection, Columbine Country Club, Denver

Throughout the year, Ken is involved in a number of commissions for a variety of clients, private and public, across the country.

He was worked on sizes suitable for residences and as large as 6 x 18 feet for public spaces. 

His works have also been used in major motion pictures and TV productions.

Email Ken to begin the conversation or call 303-995-1611

6 x 18 ft continuous canvas commission for a prominent East Coast Hospital

Double commission for Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

For that special and unique artwork, consider Ken for your private and corporate commissions

Collections: partial listing

Hewlett Packard

Coopers and Lybrand                        

Kaiser-Permanente                    

Ritz Hotel, Denver

Four Seasons Hotel, Denver

St. Anthony's Hospital, Denver

Panhandle Eastern                   

National Dairy Board                

Grubb and Ellis, Denver

Marriott Hotels

Holland America Cruise Line

Stanford Cancer Center, Palo Alto

Tufts New England Medical Center

Pinnacol Denver Hospice, CO 

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Gaylord Rockies Resort & Conference

    Center Aurora, CO

Vail Mountain Club, Vail, CO

Yampa Valley Medical Ctr, Steamboat Springs, CO

Vectra Bank, CO

Blue Shield

Hitachi

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Glenmoor Country Club, Denver

Project Energy

  St. John’s Mercy Medical Center,

    Creve Coeur, MO

Rose Medical Center, Parker, CO

Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital,

     Grand Rapids, MI

Magnet Bank, Atlanta

Ford, Harrison Law, Atlanta

Lowry Medical Center, Denver

Town and Country Hospital, Houston

Jones and Keller, Denver

Raychem

Birch Hill Investment Advisors, Boston

Avista Hospital, CO

Grateful Notices: Summer Haze, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

Summer Haze oil on canvas 36 x 36 inches
Private collection, MAExhibited: Saks Galleries, Denver

My grateful thanks to the Massachusetts collector and everyone at Saks Galleries, Denver for making this acquisition possible!

Grateful Notices:Yellows Across the Lake oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Yellows Across the Lake  oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
Private collection, Seattle

Many thanks to the person that purchased this oil. 

I put the pressure on myself by filming myself painting it. As I mentioned in the video, this idea sprang from a teeny pastel sketch I did years before. I remember staying up very late at night with that pastel, struggling very hard with it. In desperation, I scratched it all out with a razor blade and quickly reconstructed it. Out of the ashes came a very nice pastel. 

Years later, it became this oil that that is now hanging in a private collection, a great honor.

View the 13 min. video of Ken creating a 40 x 40 inch oil on canvas from start to finish

Narrating as he paints, Ken describes his methods as the painting develops.

Video credit:
Marianne Pestana Media Services


 

Grateful Notices: Bright Conversation, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Bright Conversation Oil on panel, 24 x 24

My thanks to the collectors that purchased this oil and to the the wonderful staff at the Sorelle Gallery in New Canaan, CT.

Here's a bit more about this oil:

This oil started with that bright yellow sky. Since this is a 24 x 24 image, things can happen really fast and they did! I was searching for a means to create the opposite of that bright sky, something dark, by using a line of colorful trees.

A number of tree patterns came and went until the present shape emerged with that dark reveal at the base of the trees. The foreground went through of permutations as well, with a number of complex to simple arrangements being tried out.

At one point during the creation of this I realized that despite the scale, the time involved was the same as a much larger oil. It was still a 500 piece puzzle, so to speak, but the pieces were just smaller.

The work finally started to come together with the addition of the hot pink and purple in the distant hill and a generous about of ochres and yellows everywhere.

I thought it was done and left it for a couple of days, but seeing it fresh in the studio again it came off just a bit too monochromatic, so the greens and blues were added just under the base of the trees and at the bit of standing water in the lower left.

It was very satisfying to pull all on the elements and unnatural colors together although it didn't come quickly.

Grateful Notices: Saccades IV oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Ken Elliott  Saccades IV  oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches
Exhibited Sorelle Gallery, New Cannan, CT   private collection

It is a pleasure to paint this series of forest scenes. I was thinking of something a bit more abstracted and then I came across the name Saccades. It gave me the idea of making a painting without a focal point, a departure from what landscapes usually do.

I liked the challenge of it and there will certainly be more variations in the future.

My thanks to the buyer of this oil and the encouragement it gave me!


About the Saccades Series:

"Since the late 19th century, researchers have been aware of the phenomenon of saccades, the rapid movement of the eye as we shift our attention from one thing to another. As a result, vision itself is discontinuous. We construct a “map of reality” from saccades much as a film editor puts together a scene from individual camera takes."  From an article by the film maker Errol Morris, NY Times

New Work: Summer Sunset, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

Summer Sunset, oil on canvas, 36 X 36 inches   $5100 framed

Sunsets create fascinating opportunities for artists and I never tire of them. I use them to play out different color combinations and shapes without the worry of trying to represent a realistic scene.

To start the painting, I first set up the bright orange sky and set them again the darks at the bottom. Instantly, the painting had power, at least in 1/2 of the oil. The upper part needed to be compelling on its own, but instead of continuing with more warm colors, I opted instead to use a much lighter, almost white sky.

The dark and light areas were made more interesting by adding a variety of colors to create depth and  patterns. This is essentially an image of land and sky made with strips of color but to make it more engaging, care was taken to vary the edges on the shapes and all the colors as they move across the canvas. The options were unlimited, and it made for a delightful puzzle.

Grateful Notices: Contrasts at the Creek, oil on canvas 47.5 x 47.5 inches

Contrasts at the Creek, oil on canvas 47.5 x 47.5 inches

It is always a pleasure to hear that a sale has come through, and in this case from an esteemed art consultant in the Boston area. This is a favorite work I did some years ago using a strip landscape as a backdrop for the overall tree patterns. 

There is plenty of bright color coming through the darks and everything is further accentuated by the band of sky and even brighter glow from the creek. 

I was very happy to hear that the oil went into a private collection and they sent me a photo of the installation. Thank you!

Grateful Notices: Gathering Light II, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches

Gathering Light II, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches Private collection
Exhibited: Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

How far can you push red and orange in a landscape? As it turns out, quite a bit. The wall of colors in this background pushed the whole painting into a hot and surreal scene that demanded more bold moves to make it work - high contrast darks and bright yellows. 

it is always a pleasure to do a high-key oil like this but in order to do so, the real world has to be abandoned and given over to this new world of delicious brights in a red atmosphere. The real-world subtleties of greys and soft tones are burned out, leaving the a chord of bright, clear notes. Sometimes you just wanna shout!

My thanks to the collectors that purchased this oil from Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM.

Grateful Notices: Color at the Edge of the Lake, oil on canvas, 30 x 48 inches

Color at the Edge of the Lake, oil on canvas, 30 x 48 inches
Private collection
Exhibited: Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

It was a nice surprise to get a call from Dominique with the news that one of her clients had just purchased this painting for their home. I was in the Colorado mountains at the time with views of a snowy paradise all around and the gallery call just capped an already perfect day. Thank you!

Here are the earlier blog notes describing this painting:

I was visiting a friend in the Baltimore area some years ago and came across a photo from that trip, a small stand of trees at the edge of a lake. The photograph was very different, with even lighting and all green foliage.

Regardless, I liked the composition and began the painting with a somewhat subdued palette. After a few sessions, the painting evolved into scene with the light coming in from the back, accentuating the dark trunks in the foreground,

There is a lot of color involved, each with its own part of the tapestry. Earlier, the foreground was darker with more blues but I later opted for a soft carpet of jewel tones spaced among the slightly glowing greens. 

At this point, the subdued palette idea went out the window once I added the more powerful colors to the wall of trees beyond the lake. It was a delight to push the color back there and now I'll pass it onto you.

Grateful Notices: Forest Surprise, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 inches

Forest Surprise, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 inches
Privarte collection, Denver

My dear thanks to the couple that purchased this work for their new home.

This particular oil wasn't easy but it wasn't made to be. I wanted a row of red trees showing through a lattice of tree trunks and foliage. Simple enough, but many of these elements began to take on a 'need' for the light to filter through in various ways, leaving a lot of possible options.

Another consideration presented itself: how much front to back depth should I allow? I went for a number of layers of depth in the foreground and out beyond the red trees.  This was going to be a intricate forest, so how to keep it interesting?

Complexities continued to be added but I kept to the idea of light illuminating that line of red trees. Knowing what the painting is about is very important. In this case, that knowledge kept me from getting lost in a convoluted forest.

It took numerous sessions to complete, with the final two in the company of Terry, who flew in for private lessons. A lot of information was imparted with this oil as different colors and compositional elements were tried. It was a bit of a circus at times with all of the artful juggling, but an enjoyable process as all the elements finally found their optimal places and the painting was declared done.

New Work: Evening Patterns, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches

Evening Patterns, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Saks Galleries, Denver  $12500. unframed

View the video

To begin, I followed my fascination with these delicate trees and the the limb patterns. A number of colors were initially blocked in and as the painting progressed, the blue/greens began to dominate.

Once the purples and pinks were added, the entire composition began to come together. It's not quite monochromatic and it's not really evening, but some condition between light and dark. I purposely left that bit of yellow light at the waters edge to help the composition and raise the question of how that can happen. And another question: Is that water?

Everything here is ambiguous by design. The painting just evolved that way and I followed it along, revealing some of the mysteries and leaving others. It's more satisfying that way, not knowing of everything in the forest.

New Work: Bright Conversation, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Bright Conversation, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches  $2150 unframed
Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT

This oil started with that bright yellow sky. Since this is a 24 x 24 image, things can happen really fast and they did! I was searching for a means to create the opposite of that bright sky, something dark, by using a line of colorful trees.  

A number of tree patterns came and went until the present shape emerged with that dark reveal at the base of the trees. The foreground went through of permutations as well, with a number of complex to simple arrangements being tried out. 

At one point during the creation of this I realized that despite the scale, the time involved was the same as a much larger oil. It was still a 500 piece puzzle, so to speak, but the pieces were just smaller.

The work finally started to come together with the addition of the hot pink and purple in the distant hill and a generous about of ochres and yellows everywhere.

I thought it was done and left it for a couple of days, but seeing it fresh in the studio again it came off just a bit too monochromatic, so the greens and blues were added just under the base of the trees and at the bit of standing water in the lower left.

...looks like a good idea for a much larger oil. 

New Work: Color at the Edge of the Lake, oil on canvas, 48 x 30 inches

Color at the Edge of the Lake
Oil on canvas, 48 x 30 inches  $6400 framed
Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

I was visiting a friend in the Baltimore area some years ago and came across a photo from that trip, a small stand of trees at the edge of a lake. The photograph was very different, with even lighting and all green foliage.

Regardless, I liked the composition and began the painting with a somewhat subdued palette. After a few sessions, the painting evolved into scene with the light coming in from the back, accentuating the dark trunks in the foreground,

There is a lot of color involved, each with its own part of the tapestry. Earlier, the foreground was darker with more blues but I later opted for a soft carpet of jewel tones spaced among the slightly glowing greens. 

At this point the subdued palette idea went out the window once I added the more powerful colors to the wall of trees beyond the lake. It was a delight to push the color back there and now I'll pass it onto you.

New Work: Evening Song, Foothills oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches

Evening Song, Foothills
Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches  $10400 framed
Saks Galleries, Denver

At the end of my day in the studio, I often walk out back and see tree patterns in the large meadows near the foothills. The sun has already set and the available light changes the look of everything. I have often wanted to paint a pure arrangement, just the basic elements of that view.

On view at Saks Galleries, Denver

This is not a portrait of that place, but an arrangement of shapes set into a pattern of soft colors. Artists realized ages ago that brushstrokes can indicate direction and the Impressionists went further, breaking up the colors in a new and magical way.

There is a bit of both here to keep things interesting, but my focus was create a simple landscape composition with aquas and blues. As the painting developed, the lighting became softer and I found myself just following along, enjoying the developing scene.

All of the sky and most of the blue hill in this finished work are from the first painting sessions and it was fascinating to observe how both areas seemed to take on a glow as the rest of the oil moved forward.

This is one of the softer, lower-intensity pieces I have ever done and I like the presence and calm it gives to the room.

It's like a whisper. 

New Work: Forest Sequence I, oil on canvas 48 x 120 inches

Forest Sequence I, oil on  two, 48 x 60 inch canvases, total size, 48 x 120 inches  $2400 unframed

Sometimes you just want to go bigger with an idea. With this oil and the 10' expanse, I was able to create an expressive forest view where all is simplified and surrounded in a soft, colored atmosphere.

Care was taken to keep a limited color selection and also to subtly move the color across the canvas from left to right. There is a lot of atmosphere here and it becomes more obvious when the foliage is reduced on the right side. As the oil developed, I became more aware of the lateral possibilities and seeing back into the forest.

Staged installation

It became a painting of nuances, a sweeping view of trees plainly seen and many others receding into the background. It was a joy to watch this come to life on the canvas.

Grateful Notices: Light Diffusing, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Light Diffusing   Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
private collection
Exhibited: Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

I started this oil while I was doing private lessons. The idea being presented was to grey down all of the colors and create a sunlit piece without the need for saturated colors and bright effects. Parts of the painting still appear to be bright but it's a nice illusion. The brighter colors are in reserve - they are not used here, but more vibrancy could have been brought in if needed.

Since the colors are not a full strength, it allows for the delicate purples and blue-greens to play a prominent role here and there, breaking up the line of trees and making this part of the forest more interesting. It's a good strategy for making every color count and creating a softer mood.

The composition went through numerous changes, simplifying each time with the end result being a painting equally focused on color and composition.

My thanks to the collectors that purchased this work. It's always an honor.

New Gallery Representation:

left: Brightly Lit Woods pastel $2450.  middle: Red Progressions, oil 48 x 72 $13250.

right: All Over Sunset study pastel  approx. 13 x 18   $2150. 

I am happy to announce my new gallery representation in Santa Fe, NM

Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art

403 Canyon Road, Santa Fe NM 87501  

‭505-983-0062   map  

www.dominiqueboisjoli.com 

website    email

They have a large selection of oils as well as some of my pastels and monotypes. The gallery is one of the first you will see on Canyon Road. I hope you will make the trip or contact Dominique or Bob at the gallery for more information.  Some of my works in inventory are shown here. 

left: Orange and Red Woods  36 x 48  $6750    right:  Edge of the Woods, Autumn  36 x 36  $5100.

left:  Yellow with Red Insisting  30 x 40   $5250.    right: Sunset Pond  approx. 9 x 12  $1550.

New Work: Light Diffusing, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Light Diffusing, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches  $6650 framed

Typically I'm working with pretty bright colors, but in this oil I purposely greyed down all of the chroma to create a softer image. Parts of the painting still appear to be bright but it's a nice illusion. There are brighter colors in reserve - they are not used here, but more vibrancy can be brought in if needed.

Since the colors are not a full strength, it allows for the delicate purples and blue-greens to play a prominent role here and there, breaking up the line of trees and making this part of the forest more interesting. It's a good strategy for making every color count and creating a softer mood.