Video: Green Dream, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Green Dream, oil on panel, 24 x 24   $2150 unframed
Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
More about this oil on Ken's blog, For the Color

In this video Ken explains what is behind his 24 x 24 inch oil on panel, Green Dream and the small details that brought it to life.

Video: 2 minutes

New Work: Jeweled Forest, oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches

Jeweled Forest   oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches  $1575

This is a small work for me and I enjoyed the process. Since I'm typically working in the 4-6 ft range, it is amazing how rapidly things happen in a two foot world!

There was an older oil under this panel that had been sitting around in the studio for about a year. Now that 2018 had begun it felt like a good time to have another go at that image. 

My first thought was to improve the existing oil but as soon as the first brushstroke was applied, I realized that I didn't want to just tweak what was there. Now I had an opportunity to do something much bolder and that's were the orange background came in. 

I'm typically working with 1/2" width brushes and they cover canvases quickly, even at 5 or 6 feet.  In this case, it was like having making an acre of orange forest in minutes with the painting asking, "OK, did that, now what?" 

I was great fun to 'locate' the green trees rather than representing them in detail. The bright greens held their own against the orange background nicely. The yellow foreground in the bottom right is all that remains of the original painting and I used that area as a bright inspiration for everything that followed. 

There are always a lot of options for sky besides blue and that was my plan. First I put down a bit of blue and purposely left remnants of the original oil in the sky. My intention was to bring in another color over the blue creating something different. Hmmmmm, those remnants are nice with those random bits of yellow mingling with the blue... an unexpected surprise that made a common blue sky a lot more interesting. OK then, add another, brighter blue to the mix and create a glowing sky - push the blue.

From there I added more dark, contrasting areas in the trees and it was done.

...now to figure out those other 4-6 foot canvases waiting for their solutions.

New Work: Green Dream, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Green Dream, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches  $2450 framed

Some years ago, I purchased a number of wood panels. The idea was to experiment with more abstracted ideas. As experiments go, some worked out nicely and the less successful ones were stacked in dark corners, waiting for another day and better ideas.

A couple of months ago I pulled the worst out of the stack and painted over it quickly, using less detail but with the same, experimental idea in mind. It was a horizontal band of trees, unbroken from left to right. At least I changed things but still wasn't very compelling. A poor start is not what I needed.

So back in the corner it went, but visible to me every day now. It was a reminder to do better and to get there by any means possible.

Thinking back to my original plan with these panels, I had planned on using whatever oils were on the palette at the end of the day to make some small scale, interesting starts. Instead of throwing the paints out, they could be applied to the panels without a formal plan, creating interesting challenges to work out later.

It was the end of the painting session last week and I had just added a bit of Oriental Green to a large canvas. Looking across the studio, that 24 x 24 panel was calling out for something new and this powerful green might be just the thing.

Bring the panel to the easel, I took the green and quickly put in the dark line of trees, fading it out as it moved downward to the right. It made me smile because I was reminded of the chef on the cooking shows, "Boom." That's more like it!

At the end of a painting session days later, another unplanned move resulted. I was clearing the palette for the day when I noticed I had a good bit of white and yellow left. Putting the panel back to  the easel, I started putting in the right row of trees with that yellow and white.

The light color was picking up a bit of the almost-dry green from the days before and giving the yellow-white an other-worldly glow in places. I decided to play it smart and stopped for the day.

The original painting still showed through in the sky and foreground areas, so I painted over them but not completely, trying out various color ideas. All of the colors experimented with are visible, but to various degrees and it adds a nice complexity. In the sky a pale, acid green was used but it struck the wrong note. However it was very useful as an interesting remnant when overpainted wth the lavender tones. Finally, the oil was finished after a long journey of about 2 years.

That felt good. 

I took a little time to go back over the process, took a break and came back to the studio with a pre-stretched 48 x 48 canvas. On to the palette I squeezed out large amounts of Oriental Green and Perylene Black (a green-black), then started work on the bigger version. 

That felt really good.

New Works: The Saccades Series oils

Saccades I  oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Sold by Saks Galleries, Denver   private collection

I've been doing trees for years and they continue to inspire me in a variety of ways with no end in sight. With this Saccades series, much is abstracted and the forest motif becomes a place of patterns, color and light effects. These works take on a life of their own and they make a lot of demands: more shadow, color, light, mass, brights, blacks - in an endless dialog until they are finally in balance with all of their complexity. The Saccades works are designed without a singular focal point. This leads the eye to explore the equally engaging parts of the artwork.
Ken

About the Saccades Series shown here:

"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

These works are now exhibiting at Mirada Fine Art, Colorado

One-man show: Ken Elliott / COLOR view the exhibit
Opening reception, Friday, May 6, 6-9 pm and continuing through May 30
www.miradafineart.com

About Saccades I (above)

The idea was to develop a new way of seeing the forest. There are layers of forest material, tree trunks primarily, but the types of trees or even the time of day is secondary to the patterns and colors in this series of oils. There is something to see everywhere and we are compelled to move around the image, enjoying all the delicious elements that create the forest.

Saccades III  oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches  $8450 framed

Another view in saccade fashion of a forest that at first glance seems very two-dimensional but quickly reveals a variety of patterns receding into the background.

My intention was to create a green forest but not in a common or expected way. To do that, I added a variety of unusual and unnatural colors without knowing what would happen from minute to minute. It was a bit like hearing an orchestra tune up with various notes and volumes to create a recognizable sound. In this case, it became a random forest view where every note is individualized and inclusive to a green forest captured at that moment.

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Saccades II  oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches  $2150 unframed

Yellows surround the blues and the blues recede into the lights.

The pinks add to the atmospherics while the reds hide in plain sight. Every color supports and intensives the other in a patient and timeless way. There seems to be a slight movement in the trees but without a breeze. The lights and the darks are quietly alive and moving.

New Work: Through the Purple Woods, oil on panel, 24 X 24 inches

Through the Purple Woods  oil on panel 24 X 24    $2150 unframed

In the past I have done some smaller works on wood panels. The surface is smoother and it takes the paint of the brush differently, keeping me off-balance.

Last week I made a few starts, all the same size on this theme. They all have different color combinations and they look pretty rough right now. Happily this is the first to thread the needle and become a finished work.

I'm looking forward to seeing how those other starts end up - I have no idea where oils will go but along the way some very interesting effects and colors will present themselves. It is a real joy to work with the paints this way.... more of these small panels are in my future...

New Work: Gold Progressions II oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Gold Progressions II,   oil on canvas 48 x 60     $10000 unframed

I've been thinking about this oil for about a year now. In early 2014 I painted a 48 x48 version and ever since I've wanted to do it again as a brighter and larger horizontal.

Gold Progressions I   oil on canvas, 48 x 48   $8950 framed

Doing another version doesn't necessarily make it any easier. I did have that earlier template as a roadmap but happily there were some problems to solve along the way. Each difficulty required solutions that took the painting down another path, adding uniqueness to the new version.

Problems came up right away with the background. There is a lot of space running from left to right and to keep it interesting, three ideas were brought into play. The appeal of that original oil was the glowing blue field and it was the primary reason I wanted to do this bigger version.

Once the blue background was in, the painting was insisting on more interest and complexity. After a couple of weeks experimenting with different ideas a simple solution presented itself. I tried painting in a considerable amount of background yellows on the right, covering about half of the background. It was just too much yellow, so on the left I added a hint of barely discerenable trees with the reds and purples.... too much again.

After letting it all dry, I began again by putting the middle blues back in place and carefully watched what effect it was having - a lovely blue haze was appearing. Once I used the blues to subtract the yellows on the right, a nice solution presented itself. I let the blues outline the yellows and submerged the blues into was was becoming hints of foliage into the left.

It is difficult to see here, but I made sure that the yellows on the ground were different from those in the background.

Once the top trees had the mass and weight they required, I added a variety of colors to provide interest with hints of ambient and direct light in that upper mass.

After starts, stops, dead ends, solutions and and hundreds of marks, these delicate trees came to life, surrounded by a glowing blue haze. It was nice to put it into the frame and watch it breathe and glow.