ejartblog

Last one for now

2012-01-16T21:51:00.001-09:00

I'm taking a break from painting for a bit. I finished this one and only have to decide which way to hang it. It has a different feel depending on how it's turned. Kind of fitting that the last one I'm doing has confused me like this.

This is roughly 11 X 14 inches.

Edit: I matted this with a cream colored mat and put it in a natural-looking wood frame I had and hung it in the orientation of the third photo above. It never ceases to amaze me how a painting can come to life once it's set off by a mat. This picture is one of those ones that seems to change as the light in the room changes through the day. Really, really happy with this picture....too bad it's not larger but it's painted on a piece of bristol that's only 12 X 16, so I can tell myself there wasn't any way to make it significantly bigger.

Maybe some day I'll start one on the big 22 X 30 piece of Strathmore bristol I've been saving for a couple years. Right now, though, I can't imagine having the mental energy to even consider something so time-consuming. This picture took long enough. As far as I can determine, I started it in September 2010, so it took at least 14 months to complete it. No big deal. I've got one that I started almost three years ago that sits waiting for me, and another one that promises to be really special that's easily a year old and not even 10% complete. Good thing I have no deadlines to meet.

Happy holidays

2011-12-24T15:30:00.001-09:00

Just some cards I made for people this year.

Small moon picture

2011-12-11T22:44:00.001-09:00

I just realized that I refer to this as a picture of the moon and it seems to look more like the sun.... the thing is, it felt like the moon while I was making the picture.

I think this is about 6 1/2 X 4 1/2 inches, something like that. I'm trying to decide whether to make a large version of it, but I have so many other pictures in limbo right now I might have to put it off. I'll also have to figure out if I want to make the moon more pale. I have another small picture I recently did that has a pretty cool looking moon in it, sort of a faint yellow / gray mix that feels cooler than the warm gold in this picture. Sorry, I can't get a good photo of the other one. I think I'm getting in a rut with all these pictures with lots of blue and gold/ochre/naples yellow/deep raw sienna in them.... time to do other things, I guess... back to the grays and browns and boring stuff, I suppose.

I didn't make much effort at getting any atmospheric perspective in this. If it was a larger picture I'd try to move the cliffs back and put in some sharp detailed stuff in the foreground. Still, it's just a card so I can't justify spending more time on it than I already did (which was quite a bit considering the size). I'm happy with it, and I have to decide who to send it to....ha ha, I'll probably keep it, as I tend to do with the ones I really like.
One of the best parts of this picture is the stuff on the left side. The shadowed area at the horizon worked great, and the variation in the terrain on that side is pretty nice. There's lots of stuff in the picture that I could have done better, so it's a good learning experience.

Fly to the moon

2011-12-10T08:44:00.002-09:00

This is about 11 X 15 inches. It's painted on a piece of cardboard. I have no idea why I used cardboard for this, but pretty much any white piece of paper or mat board / Bristol board / illustration board seems fair game.

This is nearly finished. I need to fiddle around with a couple of the forms in it, but otherwise, it's complete enough to post here. It's a happy picture, I think.

I guess I should mention that this picture is a followup to this other one, which is about 7 X 5 inches. Sorry, I couldn't get a better photo of it. The blues in this small one are really pretty.

Another one with a gray background

2011-11-16T05:05:00.000-09:00

The problem with these things - aside from how much time they take, which is probably my most common and tiresome complaint - is that they really wear me out, because each one seems to involve me more. The first ones were instinctive. This one was a bit more deliberate. Another one I've started has already stumped me, because the background is different than I had envisioned and I have to debate whether to leave it as is or continue to mess around with it. Its character changed immediately after the background went in. I guess I'll just remind myself that it's just a small picture and nothing's really lost if it doesn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. It wouldn't be the first time that happened, not by a long shot.

I probably should try to get a crisper photo than this one to show some detail, because the lower half of this picture is really something else in person. The foreground stuff at the bottom has wonderful texture, and the standing form absolutely feels like something tangible and three-dimensional. This picture was painted with a certain rhythm that might be a one-time thing. I'll take it, and I'll hope I get that rhythm again some day.

Pictures with dark backgrounds

2011-11-13T16:45:00.001-09:00

I've been sort of moving toward doing these types of pictures, ones with fairly dark backgrounds and higher key objects in the foreground. The problem with posting photos of them here is that there's really no substitute for seeing them in person.

These are two I did the other day. They're both about 6 inches tall.

The first one is just some vaguely flowerlike things against a background that came out really well. The backgrounds take quite a bit of time, because they have to be built up gradually in layers, and the paint tends to smear if the previous layer is still wet. I'm patient, though...plus, I did both of these pictures more or less at the same time, so I was constantly switching between them as I developed the background of one while the other dried. I might play with this one a bit more to clean up the colored "flowers" a little, although I don't know if they matter so much. The background is what really gets me excited on this one.

This second one is really wonderful in a lot of ways (I think), but the form at the bottom is what makes this a special picture. It's so solid, as if it's an actual object. When I put in that form I was kind of stunned. It really didn't dawn on me when I was getting ready to paint it that the bottom form was going to extend all the way to the edge of the picture. If I mat and frame it I'll have to be really precise, but I masked off a white border around the picture and might want to mat it to have a little bit of the white exposed. The alternative is to risk losing a little bit at the edges...my mistake for not taking that into account when planning the picture (as if I actually plan pictures!)

Not sure, but I think this is done...

2011-10-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

I'll try to get a better photo of this, because it's really kind of cool when you can see the little forms in this. This is one I posted back in August and only yesterday resumed playing with it. To be honest, I had forgotten about it.

Of course, it's small. Maybe 5 inches across....rough estimate...don't know why I can't just go measure it, but it doesn't really matter.

When last seen:

Finished (at least for now):

Just for fun

2011-10-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

I have several "blossom" type pictures going. They're in various stages, and the earliest I'm likely to finish one will be a couple months from now, if I'm lucky and persistent. So, to remove stress and feel like I'm actually accomplishing something, I make small pictures.

Such as this very realistic portraitlike thing. I can't imagine what goes into making a picture of someone that actually resembles them. If I witnessed a crime I'd never be able to identify the perpetrator. I just don't notice people's features very well...

Anyway, here you go. This is maybe 4 inches tall. The photo doesn't show some of the detail very clearly, but there are a few small bits in this that I'm actually quite happy with (emphasis on the word "few"...).

More of this sort of picture

2011-10-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

Probably the last of these for a while. It takes forever to put in the backgrounds. This one's 9 X 12, so it took really, really long to do (at least, it seemed like it did).

Here it is, turned on its side. Really seems like a different picture.

Small picture

2011-10-15T09:00:00.002-08:00

This is about 4 X 6 inches, I guess. I didn't measure it before sending it to someone. The image itself is probably only about 3 inches tall.

Funnest picture in ages for me

2011-09-08T19:20:00.003-08:00

This is a strange little picture, but I can't begin to express how happy I was while making it and seeing it done. It's only about 5 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. It feels so much larger for some reason. I'm working on finding the energy to make one much bigger. Putting in the background, though, takes a whole lot of time... well, it'll never get finished if it never gets started, so I better find the time to do that.

Edit: I made another one, so I'll stick it in here to show them together. I love the feel of these things, but man, what a bunch of work to do them. This second one is about 4 1/2 X 5 1/2 inches, something like that.

Might as well throw in a third one. I think this is it one these for now, at least until I muster the determination to do one that's quite large (like 11 X 14....I know: gasp! huge!).....(how I envy people who paint stuff on canvas....)

Okay, I'm learning

2011-08-30T20:03:00.000-08:00

I found this wonderful photo editing program you can use for free online at pixlr.com. I haven't really spent much time on it yet, but it seems to have almost everything I need for formatting photos and adjusting the levels in the photos so they more closely resemble my pictures. Here's a small picture I edited at pixlr.

I still have to figure out how to get the background closer to white, although this is an improvement over the original photo (sad to say).

Practice

2011-08-26T21:18:00.001-08:00

You'll have to trust me that these are related to each other.
The first one is a practice thing on a piece of bristol board. Bristol is nice for figuring out how to get forms to cooperate and relate to each other. It's receptive to the tip of the brush and allows me to make fairly narrow lines.
The second one is more or less a work in progress. It will only end up covering an area about 5 X 5 inches. Here it's about 2 1/2 inches in each direction. When I look at it while painting it, the forms seem solidly dimensional, and because it has a sort of mixed perspective it already feels as if it's crowding the available space. The first one has the same sense of perspective, though it's more of a single point thing, and for some reason it seems to have more depth.
Anyway, these are enjoyable to do, at least in terms of escapism. The second one is the sort of picture where I find myself talking to myself as I work on it, almost as if I'm narrating what's in the picture and what will come next. I call it a structural picture, only because it's easier than saying that it's a picture of a multiple occupancy, mixed use, urbanized environment with exposed elements of the parts in which people live and work and play.

I just realized that if you click on the pictures they open in an enlarged form that, depending on the size of your monitor, might be larger than they are in reality. They tend to lose definition at that size.

Just playing

2011-08-20T11:38:00.001-08:00

This is a picture that just sort of keeps growing. I add forms to it whenever I want to paint with my mind off the leash a bit. It's sort of like making mental notes in images rather than words, more or less idle thoughts, having fun without the responsibility of making a complete picture that is in any way cohesive. Maybe it's just daydreaming. Really enjoyable, in other words.

This is on a piece of cardboard that was the backing for a block of Arches watercolor paper. A nice, smooth surface that accepts watercolors really nicely.

First the overall picture and then a couple detail photos.

This "dimensional" stuff

2011-08-13T08:15:00.002-08:00

If you look to the right you'll see the image below. Someone recently made a comment that a picture of mine was "dimensional," and I realized that that's maybe the first time anyone has ever said that. The thing is, that's what I consider most of my pictures. Last year when I joined a few other people to put together a group exhibit we were asked to submit "artist's statements" (ugh...I know...nothing more pretentious than those artist's statements....I love the ones that say they want to "challenge people's perceptions," which is code for "I really would prefer to paint realistically, but I'm not that competent."). Mine said, among other nonsense, that I considered myself a frustrated sculptor. I take the easy way out and avoid the mess by painting pictures that have a "dimensional" feel to them. It's why quite a bit of what I paint is a form or group of forms against a white background, with no sense of what anyone might consider "composition" or "design elements." It's form standing on its own, limited to the two dimensions of the picture plane. You can't walk behind or around the picture to appreciate the solidity, but that's a limitation I accept. I'm not going to glue stuff to the paper to move the image into three dimensions.

Anyway, this is one of the early pictures that are "dimensional." It's still one of the most beautiful things I've ever painted. Seriously, it is.

I'll edit this post to go back in time to 2008, when I was first really figuring out how to bring a sense of three-dimensions to a watercolor picture. The two pictures below have hung on my wall since then (I might have posted them before, but I'm too lazy to go back and see...and you're probably not going back through this blog, either, so I'll make it easy on both of us). I probably don't look at them as often as I should, because these were really formative things. They're the kind of pictures that get my mind wandering. I become more involved when making these types of pictures, feeling more a part of the image, inhabiting it. If you've ever read anything about Jackson Pollock, you might be familiar with what he said about his pictures: He talked about "when I'm in the picture." I never fully appreciated what he might mean by that until the first time I realized that there are times when the thing I'm painting is so real to me that I honestly feel I'm within it, looking around, experiencing the forms as I move through. It's probably why I paint while crouched or kneeling or sitting cross-legged on the floor, almost always with one hand in contact with the paper or board I'm painting on; I need to feel that contact. Nothing deep or significant there, but it explains a lot of the frustration I have when watching anyone look at one of my pictures and spend only a moment doing so. Although I suspect that much of what passes for "abstract" painting is just paint-tossing and forgettable emotional crap, my guess is that there are plenty of people who get this same experience when making a picture that doesn't have the kind of logical link to reality that many viewers would prefer.

Sunrise curves

Cliffs

Back to doing cards....

2011-08-13T07:59:00.000-08:00

I guess this is just a way to recharge or something. These are all in the range of 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 to 4 by 6 inches. We're having a gloomy day, so I'm using that as an excuse for my inability to get photos that are focused, properly exposed, have good color balance, etc. I actually looked at the manual for my camera once and didn't see anything that seemed like an easy fix for the white balance issues that make white backgrounds come out blue or gray. Maybe I'm just not seeing my own pictures as they really are. They're invariably painted at night under artificial light, and they tend to look quite a bit different the next day when there's natural light available. Maybe I'd choose a different palette if I could manage to paint during the day.

Can't remember if I posted this

2011-08-09T16:48:00.001-08:00

I couldn't recall whether I ever posted this picture. I did most of it last year, and this is as far as I had taken it. I put it on a shelf and did the "out of sight, out of mind" thing. I just wasn't sure about the thing for some reason. A couple weeks ago, though, I took it out and looked at it for a while and suddenly I decided it needed to go farther up, maybe a few more inches. When I get most of it done I'll post a picture. You really can't imagine how much time is in this thing. I think it's about 14 X 16 inches here, so it'll be about 14 X 18 when it's done. It can't get much bigger than that, because the paper is only an inch or two longer than 18 inches.

There are a lot of really enjoyable forms in this picture, and I enjoy following the patterns and lines. I think if I were to do it all over again I'd want it to be just grays with sienna/umber/ochre....something about blues and greens doesn't sit well with me in most pictures.

Juried show coming up

2011-07-30T14:55:00.002-08:00

Here's a followup on this post (Aug. 7): Today I was told that the second picture here - the one I call the "blossom" picture - was awarded first place in the juried show. That's not really first place, because the overall winner is awarded "best in show," which means I sort of came in second. I guess that's still a nice thing. To be honest, I would have chosen the other picture. Both will be hung at the Anchorage Museum of Art and History when the exhibit opens October 7. To be even more honest, I'm not crazy about either the attention or the pressure that comes with winning something, partly because I don't really believe in contests when it comes to painting.

I submitted these two for the annual Alaska Watercolor Society juried show and both were accepted. I have to turn in the originals for judging this week. After that, I have to wait to turn in the pictures for the show itself in October. As it was last year, this year it will be held at the Anchorage Museum of Art and History.

Because I've been accepted into multiple juried watercolor shows, I now get to be a "signature" member of the watercolor society. I have no idea if that means anything to anyone other than those who are members. I guess it looks good on an artist's statement or something. [Edit: Well, this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I just found out that I do not qualify for "signature" membership after all. Although I have the two requisite AKWS juried acceptances the previous non-AKWS juried show I was accepted for was open to non-watercolor works and so doesn't qualify me. I would have to be accepted to a third "water media" juried show, either an AKWS show or any other. Sorry to appear to have boasted about this. I'm pretty doubtful I'll ever qualify. Edited Aug. 18.]

I'll let you know how the judging goes.

Wow, I'm a slacker

2011-05-08T21:46:00.001-08:00

I haven't really been producing many pictures lately. These are two cards I painted. I'm working on other stuff, but it's the kind of stuff that takes a while to complete, so I'm going to hold off posting photos until they're at least half done.
[Edit: I read back through a bunch of my posts and there seems to be a common theme: I keep saying that I haven't been painting much lately or finishing pictures or whatever. Generally speaking, I guess that's been true of larger stuff - things bigger than, say, 8 X 10 inches which, for me, is large. As you can see, some of the things I paint tend to be made up of quite a few small forms. If you saw how I work on these you'd realize how much time it takes to put in those little bits. I probably have a dozen or so pictures going at any one time, but sometimes I don't touch them for months. Part of that is because they require a combined physical and mental effort that I can't always deal with. Another part of it is that each one demands a different type of visualization, regardless how similar some may appear to others I've done. If I can't get back into the view I had while working on a picture I have no choice but to let it be and wait for the time to be right again. There's no hurry on painting any of these, of course, because really, it's not like I'm going to rush off to a gallery to have the pictures hung and have to meet a deadline. And since I don't use a drawing for any of the pictures I can't just say "Oh, I guess I'll put in the trees in this one now." So, anyway, it's rare for me to go even a week without painting, but it's easier to just say I haven't been painting much rather than saying that I added about two square inches to a picture, did some practice things, or whatever. I'll try not to keep saying I'm not painting. You can assume I really am but that nothing's finished or I have no good photo of anything worth posting.]

And more cards

2011-02-05T12:49:00.000-09:00

I'm just in the mode where I feel like doing practice pictures, I guess.

Various cards

2011-02-05T11:39:00.000-09:00

Just some small cards I painted. Actually kind of pretty, though hard to take photos that show that.

Dream catchers

2011-02-02T23:06:00.006-09:00

I think this is about 12 X 15 inches. It actually looks decent framed, but I think I need to put a black mat around it, rather than the white one I've temporarily used.

This one is sort of a practice I did before adding the blue/yellow one in the picture above. I like it. It will make a nice card to send someone.

Still working on this

2011-01-05T22:55:00.000-09:00

This picture is taking its time. It was started at least two years ago, but recently I've become sort of fixated on it. I'll be surprised if I finish it before summer, because sometimes I just stare at it and end up not even wetting a brush.

Nothing happening

2010-12-29T23:57:00.000-09:00

I painted a bunch of cards to give people over the holidays, but only took photos of a couple. Now I can't remember which ones I gave away....or what they looked like, for that matter...

Anyway, here are two, one of which no one wanted (not saying which).

Also, I have to turn in a picture for the International Gallery members' show, and below is one of the ones I'm considering. I only get to turn in one.

Others

2010-12-01T21:15:00.000-09:00

Just a couple other small pictures, each card-sized.

Other pictures

2010-12-01T21:12:00.000-09:00

I haven't really been painting much the past month, so these are just ones I haven't posted here before.

This one's only 4 X 6. Some day I'll send it to someone as a card.

This one is 13 X 22. It took forever to do.

A couple for the Mixx show

2010-08-28T09:46:00.003-08:00

Here are two pictures I'll put in the show at Mixx at the Inlet.

[Edit: One year later and the first picture is one of the two accepted for the 2011 AKWS juried show. It'll be exhibited in October and November at the museum. The second picture is framed and hanging in one of my bathrooms. I really wish I could get the energy to make a really large version of the second one.]

Juried show in September

2010-07-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

The juror for the 36th annual Alaska Watercolor Society show selected this picture out of the two I submitted. I have no idea why the other one was rejected. I thought it was superior to this one, but then again, there's a reason I'm not a juror.

Nothing new here

2010-06-26T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm not painting much lately, trying to enjoy the summer. What I am painting is a number of different "cascade" pictures, each of which will take a long time to complete....if I ever do. I'll post whichever ones I complete. Until then...

June update

2010-06-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

I really haven't done much the past month, other than one very time-consuming picture that I finally finished in late May. If I can get a good photo of it I'll post it soon. Until then, I'm just doing small practice pictures to figure out a sort of drybrush method. Here are samples.

Another small plant thing

2010-05-01T21:53:00.002-08:00

This one came out really well. Still working small here, but now I think I know what I'm doing and can move up in size. Maybe an 8 X 10! Really, these take some effort, so that would be big for me right now.

I like this, but

2010-05-01T17:50:00.001-08:00

I feel like this might have benefited from leaving more space around the central form. It looks nice matted, but I'm ambivalent about whether it is cramped by this close cropped composition. It actually does what I want it to do, but I'm trying to imagine what a viewer would think.

Two small plant things

2010-05-01T17:41:00.001-08:00

These are each matted to about 7 X 5 inches. As usual, both are watercolor.

This one's really kind of a pretty picture.

Other stuff

2010-04-30T09:20:00.001-08:00

This is the original picture. Not sure I like it.

This is how I might crop it, getting rid of that weird thing on the left.

This is what I'll probably submit to the IGCA 100 X 100 exhibit. (Edit: I submitted this. It will be offered at $100 and while I feel good about possibly helping raise money for the gallery I'm not feeling so hot about the price. If the exhibit didn't limit the price of the pictures to $100 or less I'd price it at least three times that. Call me delusional, but this is a beautiful picture in person, in my admittedly biased opinion.)

Maybe this one's finished

2010-04-23T20:45:00.002-08:00

I might donate this one for a fundraiser. It's small, maybe 8 X 6.

Practice, practice

2010-04-23T20:44:00.000-08:00

These are things I'm doing to try to figure out how to make certain forms.

Looped forms

2010-04-05T21:23:00.001-08:00

This is one that I feel is done but I also feel that eventually I'll add to it. Parts of it have a real solidity, and the harmony of colors resonates with me.

I think I made it as a reminder of this one below, which is a card I made and sent to a friend.

Another pig

2010-04-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I haven't finished anything new in a while since my trip. Heck, even these things aren't finished!

Other stuff

2010-02-04T23:57:00.001-09:00

I'll probably take a break for a while, maybe until I get back from my trip. I've painted almost nothing in the past few weeks, at least nothing worth showing here. So, these are just filler, I guess.

Just another card...

2010-01-09T08:15:00.001-09:00

I really have a hard time deciding when I can let go of a picture I like. This is a small one I'll send as a card. It's important that it look as good as possible, so I'll add a second stem - just a partial thing - because I didn't realize until I finished with this that I put the stem right in the center of the top of the vase. Ugh, what a mistake. I'm happy with how the vase came out, though, and I hope the recipient will focus on that instead of any flaws in the composition. (Fingers crossed.)

Flower with vase

A few more card-sized pictures

2009-12-29T06:00:00.001-09:00

These are starting to get fairly decent. The photos are a bit rough, since they were taken under artificial light. Good enough for now. I'll get off the cards soon and get back to some of the more involved things, but I still owe cards to people and really need to make some more to mail out.

Bowl

Eggs

Emergent forms

Floral

Vase

Two other cards

2009-12-22T22:48:00.000-09:00

One of these is about 6 X 4 inches (the bottom one), and the other is about 5 X 3 1/2 (I think).

I'll try to get better pictures in natural light, because these are really pretty cards. The larger one is really lifelike.

Better late than never

2009-12-22T22:34:00.000-09:00

I'm finally getting around to switching into card-making mode. Great, I've mailed three cards so far and have a bunch left to paint and send, and no one is getting theirs by the 25th. I'll be happy if I get any more in the mail before the end of the year.

This might be one I'll send, but I really like it a lot and...etc...etc....I'm selfish.

I think it's about 3 X 5 inches. Small, in other words.

Cascade

2009-12-11T09:23:00.001-09:00

As far as I'm concerned, this is finished. I temporarily framed it, but I haven't cut a mat that fits properly. I think the dimensions on this picture are about 12 inches wide by about 14 inches high. This took a bit of time, but I found it worthwhile.
I guess one of the things I like about these cascade pictures is that they offer infinitely varied means for interpeting things - in this case, a city. There's no chance I'll have the same composition twice, or even the same elements in it. It's weird in a way, because I can stand two feet from this picture and still not understand how I made some of the forms that are in it.
Rather unrefined brush work in this picture. The other one I'm in the process of doing has very crisp lines and, as a result, a wholly different character than this one. I don't know that one is "better" than another, just different.

Grid picture - Blossom 441

2009-12-05T10:49:00.000-09:00

This picture is only 7 1/2 X 7 1/2 inches, watercolor on paper. I call it a "grid" picture, but it could also be called a basket weave, because the brushstrokes in adjoining cells are perpendicular.

This was constructed freehand, rather than with drawn-in guidelines as with other grids I've done. I needed to have a more "organic" sense of what's going on in the picture. It took forever to do this because of the amount of time I would spend just thinking about it, looking at it, moving toward it and away from it, letting it resolve itself.

I refer to it as the blossom picture, because it's what it is and what it does. Fairly simple idea, in other words.

There are 441 cells in the grid. When I find the mental energy, I plan to do one much larger, perhaps 2 feet tall. It will take quite a while to put it on paper, but I'm viewing it as something that will be less of a compulsion than this one was. Probably all browns and grays again, but on the next one I'm pretty sure I'll use bristol board, as that allows me to move the brush more quickly. The downside of bristol is that the brushstrokes tend to be more crisp and defined, and there's a sacrifice in terms of how natural it feels both while making the image and when viewing it. I'm encountering the same problem right now with a "cascade" picture I've started. I'm getting close to finishing the cascade picture I posted as a WIP earlier, and I'll probably post that when I think it's done. It's a marathon doing that one, believe me.

Autumn still life on a hillside

2009-11-15T22:12:00.000-09:00

This picture is close enough to being done to show here. There will be some more detail on the right foreground, and some tuning in the main still life arrangement, and this and that. This photo's a bit too high in contrast, but it gives you an idea of what the picture is about.

The interesting thing about this picture and a couple others I've been working on lately is how much each one has suggested to me for future pictures. Since I don't work from real objects or from reference photos, I've tended to rely on memory and dreams. Now, though, I'm starting to catalog my impressions of forms within my own pictures, and this one has tons of forms in it. It really has been enjoyable to work on in some respects.

I read a biography of Pierre Matisse this week - actually, it was as much a story of his relationship with his father, Henri, the famous painter as it was a straight bio - and he was among the first to recognize the unique vision of Joan MirÓ. The interesting part was how MirÓ used to say that he spent more time thinking about his pictures than he did painting them. He said that a painting that might only take him a half hour to make could take him hours - if not days - to envision. This is something I've gone through until recently, and it's something I've not wholly gotten away from.

This picture, for instance, is one that I only saw vaguely for quite a while. I knew several things: the horizon had to angle down; the sky had to have a cold feel; and the foreground would be severely foreshortened. The details of all these emerged as the picture progressed, and there've only been two times that I've had to stop and set it aside to deliberate. Right now I'm leaving the right foreground for later in the week. There's not much left to insert, but I have to consider it anyway.

Now, about the "title": I've got little patience for people who seem to believe that there's anything left to be interpreted in the trite, repetitive still life pictures one normally sees. I don't really care if you want to put two oranges with an onion and a knife on a table, or a jar of ketchup next to a fork and a lobster.... doesn't matter, because inevitably these things are formulaic, and the only thing that apparently matters to anyone is if the painter does a good job of depicting the stuff. It's irrelevant whether it's photorealistic or has largely abstracted elements, all still lifes seem to come down to being aesthetically driven, and any art involved went out of the genre hundreds of years ago. If you want to see someone who took it to extremes, stop by the Wallace Collection in London. I can't recall the name of the painter, but they have about a dozen paintings by him, each virtually identical in terms of content (and each absolutely beautifully painted). I can't even recall what's in each picture, but I think it involves various dead game birds and rabbits and such, you know, nature's bounty, a true still life.

So, this picture I consider a still life. It's an artificial gathering of objects grouped together to no clear purpose other than to sit against or near each other in some sort of relationship. And yet I enjoy looking at it, to some extent because I painted it but also because of the incongruity of the picture. There is no reason for these objects, as organic as they are, to gather together on what is otherwise a tundra-like hillside. Especially the leaflike objects have no apparent origin, nor do the branchlike or bonelike things (even I don't know what the heck they are!). Regardless, I feel they belong together, and they are at least in a somewhat natural environment. Bottom line: some of this picture's elements are just nice to look at, but when I do I find myself continually looking away from them, toward the horizon, toward the sky, toward the distant landscape. That, more than anything, is what this picture is for me.

2010 Calendar by EJ

2009-11-15T08:41:00.000-09:00

Here's my calendar for 2010. Most of the pictures you've seen before, but now you can have an entire year to view them at your leisure. I'll try to see if I can upload the upgraded version of the calendar.... I'm new at this, can you tell.

A picture I found

2009-11-12T20:51:00.001-09:00

I found this taped to the back of a small board I was using for another picture (I tape paper to boards to paint so I can set pictures aside and work on something else without having to untape them....they end up stacked various places and I soon forget they exist....).

This picture was partly done and had nothing interesting in it except the sky, which had a feel to it that's hard to explain. The landscape, though, was pale, as if all it was was an underpainting. But it had the landforms in it that I thought would work, so I made this out of it. I probably should have taken before and after photos. It's a bit too large to make into a card, I guess.

Figurative pictures

2009-11-11T17:59:00.001-09:00

I finally finished the second of these, which has sat since June, patiently waiting to be taken up again.

This first picture might be the most beautiful thing I've ever painted. I don't deal in metaphor, but if I did I'd say this is a picture of beauty.

This goes with it. These two figures are also, in their way, as real to me as if they actually existed. This is the kind of picture that causes my heart to beat a bit quickly as I'm making it. This is the type of picture to which I have an emotional attachment, much as I had (and still have) with the "greet the morning" picture I posted a couple times previously. No way to explain that without sounding stupid.

Each of these is small, of course. I guess they're in the range of about 5 X 6 inches or so. I should measure these things, I guess, but really, it doesn't matter in the end.

By the way, as always, the pictures are watercolors. I'm not sure if I'll ever reach the point where I think I need another medium. Watercolor does what I ask.

Almost done with this

2009-11-10T23:14:00.003-09:00

I refer to this as the "movement of the earth" picture. I didn't know if I should post it, since I have a bit left to do to it, but I already like it enough to put it up. This has absolutely exhausted me. It's about 12 X 15 inches, and it's a bit full of content. Not much in the way of conventional composition, but I don't really give a hoot. It was all created with a sustained view, and the forms all relate (please, you'll have to trust me on that). I'm not sure if I want a gray or black mat on this....leaning toward gray, with a black frame.

The colors aren't quite accurate, and the contrast is probably a little bit too high, but they're fairly close. Close enough to show what's going on, at least.

Okay, this is November 12. I worked into the left foreground and fiddled with a couple other little bits. Now I can set this aside and see in a while if it's finished. My feeling is that it's done except for a couple touchups. I'm really happy with it in some respects.

I didn't adjust the color in the photo to match the saturation of the previous photo. The greens are showing up a bit lighter here, I think. To be honest, at this time of year, having to work with artificial light I can't even tell myself which photo is closer to the real picture. The only time I get to see these things in natural light is on the weekends, since that's the only time I'm still home when the sun comes up. Only five weeks until the shortest day of the year, after which we'll begin to gain light again, so in a couple months I'll once again be back where I am today but headed for longer days and more honest light. Yay.

Another card

2009-11-10T23:04:00.001-09:00

This picture is another little card, about 4 X 4 inches. I love it and hope I can make a larger version. If I can do that, I'll send this to someone. Until then, tough to let it go.

Sorry about the fuzziness of the photo. For some reason, this card resists me like mad when I try to take its picture. I've taken about 20 of it, and each comes out blurred. I'm too lazy to get out the tripod, which is the only thing I haven't tried.

Other stuff - mostly cards

2009-10-27T22:25:00.001-08:00

This I refer to as the "altar rock" picture. It's small, maybe about 4 X 6 inches, so it's basically a card.

This was painted not long after the altar rock picture. Again, it's about the size of a card. I've started gathering up my cards to send to people this winter. Looks like I'll have some decent ones this year.

This photo doesn't show this card very well. It's actually kind of pretty and has some nice forms in it.

This is maybe 2.5 X 5 inches. It was actually a practice thing that I forgot about, then made some changes to it, and now it will make a kind of nice abstract card, even if it's kind of an odd shape.

As you can see, except for the last one I'm still in a sort of limited palette rut. I don't know why I have such an aversion to reds and yellows, especially reds. I think I view red as an unnatural color, and it doesn't seem to play much of a role in my view of the organic parts of the world.

Some recent pictures

2009-10-26T20:01:00.001-08:00

The World

Large flag - this one's going to be auctioned in support of the Alaska Theatre of Youth - it's really pretty in person.

This is a card I made.

It's autumn

2009-09-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

Probably the prettiest autumn we've had in years. Most likely, that's because we've had little rain to knock the leaves off, so everything's looking golden and orange all at the same time. If it stays dry, it should be beautiful another week and then pffffffffttttt...gone.

Slow going WIP

2009-09-18T08:52:00.004-08:00

My output has slowed to a crawl, partly because of the adjustment I'm making for my workouts at the gym and partly because of the writing I'm trying to do. More than anything, though, is that my own needs have changed again in terms of the types of pictures I want to make. This is one of several that are ongoing, and it's taking quite a bit of time to get anywhere. The photos below show several stages of the development of the picture. As you can see, there's no drawing. I spend a lot of time just staring at this to feel where it wants to go.

This picture will eventually be somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 X 16. At least, that's the size of the sheet I'm using. The photo at the bottom shows the picture about 1/3 done, which is where I am with it as of today. Doing this kind of picture beats up brushes badly, and I've already worn out two brushes just to get this far. I have no idea if it will be worth the time I'm putting in, at least in terms of a finished picture, but right now I won't allow myself to start anything new until this and a few others are done.

And the others are going to take at least as much time as this one.

I should mention that this picture has really nothing to do with the "laminar" picture posted earlier. I call this a "cascade" picture. It's one of several I've started. It might be the first I ever finish....but the stack of unfinished pictures is pretty large now, and my track record of finishing stuff is very poor.

Further Work in Progress photos

2009-09-12T08:30:00.005-08:00

These are just some updates on the picture I posted earlier. I haven't really done much to it, because the thing is big (for me) and I really sort of savor the parts as I make them. This first photo shows the overall picture. The background is pretty close to done, and now I'm moving into the midground. For some reason the links to expand the pictures aren't working correctly. Oh well, it's a free blog so I can't complain if it's not perfect. This is detail of the left side of the picture.

This is detail of the right side of the picture.

A small picture

2009-09-07T14:41:00.006-08:00

Winter is not far off, no matter what the continued warm temperatures and pleasant days might say. And so, I find myself thinking of ice and snow and the cattails on the marsh. This is a small picture, about 5 X 8 inches, probably just a bit too large to send as a card so I guess I better keep it for myself.

This is an alternate view. I honestly can't say which way I prefer to look at this. It might even look better turned 180 degrees from this view.

Monthly update

2009-09-05T07:45:00.008-08:00

I guess I'm slacking again. The weather's been too nice to stay inside and paint, and lots of what I have painted has been really lousy, lousier than usual.... plus, I've gotten into weightlifting in a serious way the past month, and now I'm hoping I can make sufficient progress to enter a powerlifting competition being held this fall in Anchorage. It's one of the few times I've been happy about getting older, because there will be few competitors in my age/weight class, so I think I can show up, lift about 10 pounds, and feel confident I can place at least third! Sweet!

So, anyway, this is one I finally got around to finishing. I like the flow in this, and it really looks nice matted and framed. I'm guessing it will end up in the bathroom, which is getting a bit crowded.

This next one is a picture I did last week. I love the repeated forms and the way the sky and foreground work with each other, but the best part, for me, is the midground. I'll do a larger picture soon that primarily will be based on this landscape. I like the patterns and textures of the land here.

Finally, here's a work in progress I'm doing just for fun. I have no idea where it's going, because I'm doing it piecemeal only to allow myself to create solid forms and moving forms. Really enjoyable. It will end up a complete hash of disparate images, but I love looking at it up close. (Sorry about the shadow across the top of the photo.)

2009-08-02T17:22:00.006-08:00

I have a couple other pictures I'm working on that will appear superficially similar to this one. If I ever get them finished, I'll post them. However, this type of picture takes a very long time to make. I spend more time thinking about the picture's elements than I do painting them, and it takes quite a bit of time painting them....so, very slow process. I love this picture, which means my investment of time was worth it.

I should mention that this is probably the first time I've incorporated a more rectilinear set of forms and form relationships in a picture of this sort. My "cascade" pictures have a more curvillinear design. One of the ones I'm currently working on is based on a new set of "rules" that I set for myself, and it includes more clearly distinguished vertical forms, almost a literal approach. I'm at the "afraid to eff it up" stage with that one. It's really a beautiful image (to me). I'm also doing a couple practice ones that have a drawn "framework" that constrains the relationship between the vertical and horizontal lines....not sure that I like it yet, but these things have a tendency to take their time about pronouncing themselves. I'll have to look back through old posts and see if I posted a picture of one that I did last year that's really mesmerizing (again, to me). I actually stared at it one day for about 5 minutes, trying to figure out how I got the forms to relate so wonderfully. Terrible, huh? I can't recall how I made that picture.....happens with almost everything I paint, it seems: within a day I can't remember what brush, what strokes, or what sequence I used in making the picture. If nothing else, it helps guarantee that I won't deliberately copy myself.

This is about 8 X 10. Watercolor, of course.

Following up on a previous picture

2009-07-19T16:47:00.002-08:00

I posted this one earlier.

Then I did this picture, which is basically of the same type of forms but without the human figurative aspect. I really intended the human form to be part of this, but I've so far been unable to convince myself it's needed. This group of forms has its own identity. There are parts of this one that I really love because, up close, the picture has a dimensional character that I love. Because it feels real and solid, I'm able to attach myself to these forms - they have a personality that recalls that of the first picture. I wish I could verbalize this a bit better.

Old pictures

2009-07-07T17:46:00.003-08:00

These are pictures I did a couple months ago. I suppose at the time I was thinking about birds.

WIP....or done... not sure

2009-07-05T08:20:00.002-08:00

I'm not really sure about either of these, whether I should consider them works in progress or finished pictures. The abstract looking thing is a city view, but right now I haven't figured out if I like the flow of the lines. This is one that has to sit for a few days. If it starts insisting to me that it's done, then it is. If not, I have to lean it against the wall with the others that await re-work.

The other one is just a little tiny 5X7 landscape that was merely an excuse to paint another bright spot against drab/dark background. It will probably end up as a card to give to some unsuspecting person.

50th anniversary

2009-07-04T23:28:00.003-08:00

July 4 marks the 50th anniversary of the day the 49th star was added to the flag of the United States.

I was fortunate to be allowed to submit a picture for the July page of the 2010 calendar for the Alaska Watercolor Society. This is the picture I painted.

If anyone wants to get a copy of the calendar when it's published in September, contact the AKWS. The calendars are $25 each, and all proceeds go to the University of Alaska art scholarship fund. So, you support a student who might some day produce art you will enjoy, and you get a calendar full of nice pictures.

Not even sure what I meant to say here

2009-07-04T11:16:00.005-08:00

I love looking at art of all types. I get a thrill seeing the work of others who paint or sculpt or assemble various media. I've often been envious of the talent of others, but more often I envy their vision. At the same time, I'm grateful that there are so many artists whose way of interpreting the world is differently expressed than my own.

The only thing I can take credit for in terms of creating pictures is that for some time now virtually everything I paint is my own imagination being set out in pictures. There are plenty of natural settings that I think would make nice paintings, but those are for others to make. I don't have the discipline to paint things that already exist, even abstractly. Instead, I get the thrill of having forms and relationships suggest themselves to me in night dreams and day dreams, and I get to try to make them permanent with paint. My lack of success is probably apparent when you see the repetitious nature of some of what I've posted here: this is a process that is ripe for error, and at times I have to keep making similar pictures until I hit what the original vision was. If I can get some good photos, I'll try to illustrate that the next time I do a series of attempts that result in a single, satisfying picture. This is part of why I've not been tempted to sell pictures, because I'm afraid I'll consider the marketability to the detriment of the personal gratification.

Sorry, this photo's kind of lousy

2009-07-03T23:47:00.003-08:00

About 2/3 of this picture was painted upside down, because for some reason I found it easier to get the shapes to cooperate that way. Once I got down to the foreground I flipped the picture right side up and finished it. I call this the "white rock" picture. When the light colored rock form on the front left went in, it was like the whole picture came alive. This is about 5 X 7, maybe a bit smaller, on cold press paper. I am crazy about this picture, to be honest with you.

A few small pictures....I know, they're all small...

2009-07-03T23:41:00.002-08:00

These are all about 5 X 7. I made them to give as cards. The first two are on hot press paper. The other two are on cold press (I think it was cheapo Bienfang paper, which has a texture I really love. The hot press is Arches.)

These were all made over the course of a couple days, so you can see there's a bit of a continuum of the forms in them. I really don't recall which was made first or last. They were all derived from a little practice thing I did that had these cool forms in it. Especially in the first one here, the forms are very satisfying.

2009-07-03T23:38:00.002-08:00

Wow. Watch this 8 second video of a volcano erupting.

via videosift.com

A recent picture

2009-06-29T17:41:00.002-08:00

I call this the "greet the morning" picture. I guess there's a bit of a surreal element to this one, but still, I view it as having a type of energy not found in most of my other pictures.

Here, this picture gets its own post

2009-06-27T18:14:00.002-08:00

This might be the one picture I've done that I would grab if my place caught fire and I had to choose to save only one.

Actually, I'm pretty sure this is the one. The problem is that it would be like being forced to choose among your children if you were in one of those ethical dilemma hypotheticals where only one more person can get in the lifeboat....

More stuff

2009-06-27T18:05:00.002-08:00

Just a few more pictures. Several of them are fairly small and will probably become postcards that I'll send people in lieu of greeting cards. The dark blue picture is oddly shaped and won't be suitable to send....besides, I'd rather keep it for myself.

What the heck, here are a few more....

2009-06-26T22:46:00.005-08:00

These are four pictures I painted in sequence. Each one relates to one other. I'll try to arrange them here in the proper sequence. (think it worked.)

This is a picture I think of as "the brightly lit staircase". Someone said, "Oh, cubism....er..."

It's not a cubist picture. Anyone who knows about cubism would know that.

A couple others

2009-06-26T22:24:00.005-08:00

This is the picture I refer to as the "sweet dreams" picture. It really is kind of nice in person. I wonder at times how I dreamed this...

This one is the only one I've ever shown publicly. It was in a juried exhibit a couple months ago at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art. I marked it "not for sale". It's home, where I can see it each day.

Okay, I guess I'll post some stuff

2009-06-26T22:14:00.007-08:00

This is a small abstract I did a month or so ago. It's a picture of rocks and branches. I've been painting quite a few things with rocks in them for some time now. I'll dig around and find some to post here.

This is a picture of land forms.

Another land form picture, more of a seascape than a landscape.

This I call the

"receded tide" picture.

Slide show!

2008-11-22T20:42:00.003-09:00

A couple pictures

2008-09-14T00:16:00.004-08:00

I remembered recently (today is June 27, 2009, and I'm editing this old post) that I had started this blog in the spring of 2008 and, by the end of May, pretty much abandoned it. It sucked. I found I had nothing interesting to say, and when I solicited input/submissions from galleries and artists the response was tepid, to say the least. So, I'm just going to post pictures that I paint on here. If anyone out there has pictures of their art they'd like to share, feel free to pass them along and I'll probably post them. Tell me about yourself if you do so I can give you a huge promotional boost for the thousands of people who visit the blog each day..... er.... well, if you send something and I post it, I promise not to delete the post without warning. (I deleted all posts from this blog dated earlier than this post.)Cliffs
Sunrise Curves