"Little Gems" at West End Gallery

I recently delivered a number of paintings to the West End Gallery (Corning, NY) for their annual "Little Gems" show. As you might guess, the show features...small paintings. The largest I delivered is 8x8, the rest are all 6x8. If you're in Corning, stop and check out the gallery. The opening reception is Friday, February 3 at 5 pm.

"Break in the Clouds", oil, 6x8:

"Yellow Barn, Morning Light", oil, 6x8:

"Summer Tree Line", oil, 6x8:

"Snow Flurries", oil, 8x8:

"Stormy Sky", oil, 6x8:

"Cherry Trees", oil, 6x8:

"Garlic Study", oil, 5x7:

GVPAP Show, 2012

I wanted to take this opportunity to invite everyone to this years GVPAP plein air show, which is taking place at Barnes and Noble in Pittsford, NY. The show runs through January 27th. I have 5 paintings in the show and was fortunate to receive a Judge's Award for the painting called Streamside. Following are the 5 paintings in the show, some may have been posted previously.

Marsh, Early Spring, oil, 6x12.:

Autumn Sun, pastel, 11x14:

View From Skates Hill Road, pastel, 12x16:

December Snow, oil, 6x8:

Streamside, oil, 6x8:

Some winter studies

I just realized it's been 2 months since I've updated the blog. Time flies! I have been working on larger studio paintings this winter and have several in various stages of completion. The sizes are not huge, ranging from 14x18 to 16x20...but definitely larger than I'm used to painting. I'm finding this to be more difficult than I expected but hopefully I'm learning from it. I should have some images to post very soon, and need to get them done and out of the way as outdoor painting season is about to heat up.

Because of the studio work, I haven't painted outdoors much this winter. The days I have gotten out to paint have featured challenging weather - with associated time constraints and pressure. It's either been snowing (or raining), or about to snow...so dealing with snow or rain getting into the paint, or changing atmosphere...and the resulting paintings have not been overly successful. I've been challenging myself to paint the "atmosphere" associated with rain or snow, and not worrying about composition so much. I figure I can work that out in the studio later on...

First painting: "Grain Bin Through Snow", 6x8 oil...Light snow was falling this Saturday morning, and even though we were set up under a park pavilion, snow was blowing onto the palette...making the paint difficult to work with. Colors were very muted and there was beautiful harmony in the scene.

Second painting: "Wet Marsh", 6x8 oil...it was raining lightly, which again provided great atmosphere with all the moisture in the air. I was standing in knee-deep snow on a frozen marsh...didn't see much there in terms of composition so concentrated on the color and value relationships especially between the sky and distant tree lines.

Third painting: "Approaching Snow, Genesee County", 8x10 oil. The sun was barely peaking through the thickening clouds this morning, and as we painted the distant hills gradually disappeared in the approaching snow. I really was drawn to the sinuous tree trunks and limbs in the foreground and could envision something like this as a larger painting.

Snow-topped Bushes

Here is a little 6x8 plein air oil study done in mid December. After several snowfalls, snow had accumulated on the tops of bushes and shrubs. I found the patterns interesting and thought the large clump of snow made a nice focal point, especially against all the surrounding darks in the brush. The morning started cloudy with very flat lighting, but during the painting session the sun broke through, illuminating parts of the snow clumps and further enhancing the patterns. Haven't been able to come up with a good title for this one, still thinking...and may use it as the basis for a larger studio painting.


In other news...I received a "Judge's Award" at this years GVPAP plein air show, for my painting "Finger Lakes Morning". The show continues through January 27th at the Pittsford Barnes and Noble, stop in if you get the chance!

GVPAP Show (2011) and End of Year Thoughts

These are the 5 paintings I submitted to this years sixth annual Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters show. I'm happy to report that 4 were accepted , only the smaller one in the upper left was rejected. I believe all of these have been posted on this blog previously, except for the one in the upper right called "Windbreak". I forgot to get a good close-up of that but will do so at the show reception, which takes place on Saturday, January 8, from 4 - 6 pm. Hope to see you there! The show runs through the 27th of January and is located at the Barnes and Noble in Pittsford.


It's been an eventful and productive year for me. I received several best of show awards, including the one at the Artist Row festival in September which I'm particularly happy about. Perhaps the biggest event was having my work accepted by the West End Gallery in Corning. They've already sold one painting ("January Thaw" which was previously posted) and are using one of my images on their postcard for their upcoming "Little Gems" show. I'll have a bunch of small (6x8 and under) paintings at that show, so stop by if you're in the Corning area.

I'm not typically one for new years resolutions, but I do have several art-related goals for the upcoming year. A major one is to become more focused and serious about my painting. I'm going to concentrate mainly on studio work for the next couple of (winter) months, and try to develop some larger paintings based on the many plein air studies I've accumulated. I'm also planning to participate in at least one plein air festival this summer, and attempt to get some work into a national show, probably through OPA. I'm looking forward to these challenges and will report on progress along the way.

Finally, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the best for 2011. I truly appreciate all of the supportive comments I've received, and hope to have many more paintings to share this upcoming year.

Winter Solstice 2010

Our local plein air painting group has an annual holiday tradition - painting on the day of the winter solstice (December 21). This year we were fortunate to have deep snowcover, a rarity at this time of year (this is actually the first year since we moved up here in 2003 that we're having a real "White Christmas"). The sun actually was out, another rarity, and the moderate temperatures (upper 20s) and light winds made for a very pleasant winter painting experience. I set up at Northampton Park in Spencerport and painted a field of wild dogwoods. These plants have the most amazing red-colored stems and twigs and they absolutely glow in the sunlight. This plein air study is 9x12, oil on canvas. I'm thinking it will probably be used to develop a larger painting in the studio this winter. Note there is some glare on the lower left of the image, I'll have to see if I can re-shoot and eliminate that.

Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a wonderful new year.

"Finger Lakes Morning" and West End Gallery

As the snow is falling, I'm thinking about warmer times...like the day depicted in this painting, called "Finger Lakes Morning". This 10x12 oil painting was completed en plein air late this summer at Vitale Park at the north end of Conesus Lake. Beautiful cloud formations created an almost "reverse sunset" experience which I tried to capture. Most of this painting was actually done after the clouds had cleared away, but the vivid colors left quite an impression as you can tell! This may be used as the basis for a larger studio painting this winter.

In other news - my work was accepted by the West End Gallery in Corning, NY! I've got several pieces hanging in their annual holiday show which continues through the end of December. Even better, they've sold one - "Altostratus" which was posted a while back. I'm very happy to have my work in this excellent gallery - stop in if you're in Corning to visit the glass museum (less than a mile) or the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.

Summer on the Farm

Been busy lately and haven't had time to upload some recent paintings, so here's one from late summer. This 9x12 oil was started on site, but required considerable re-painting in the studio. A day of beautiful clouds, so I chose the low horizon to accentuate the sky. This was painted at Burger Park in Greece, one of my favorite locations. This actual scene does not exist at that location, but most of the elements are there. I just had to move and piece them together to make the foreground more interesting. Getting better at that!

Ignore the vertical join mark on the right side, I had to join two smaller scans. However, I've just obtained a new digital camera, so hopefully I can go back to using pictures rather than scans.

Purple Haze

A tough one to get a good scan of...this 9x12 pastel done in late August at a friend's farm. One of those magical late summer mornings with haze/mist in the air which gave the distant trees a strong blue/violet appearance - which was enhanced by the contrast provided by sunlight glowing through patches of early fall foliage. OK, I may have gone a little overboard with the violets here, but it was fun and captured my impression of the morning.

Passing Storm

This is an 8x12 oil painting that was completed en plein air (with only very minor studio touch-ups) in early September. We were set up in a field and I wasn't feeling overly inspired...it was a typical late summer field, with clumps of trees here and there and an empty blue sky. As I was setting up I noticed clouds building up in the distance...they rapidly grew and created a beautiful backdrop for all those greens and golds. I knew what I wanted to paint...but the clouds passed very quickly. I was able to get enough blocked in to finish the painting. Ironically, during most of the painting time, the sky was completely clear.

Dave's Hay Field

A couple of paintings from late August/early September, both plein air. Same location, but the first one was painted just after the hay had been cut, the second after it had been baled. View toward the west in the first, toward the east in the second.

"Dave's Hay Field", oil on canvas, 10x8:


"Curtis Road Haybales", oil on canvas, 6x8.

Artist Row - Best of Show!

Finally getting my act together after 2 weeks of hectic preparation for the Artist Row festival. It all paid off, as I was fortunate to receive the best of show award! Not for an individual painting but for my body of work. I was able to sell some paintings as well. Thanks to everyone who came out to the festival, and especially to those who purchased paintings! I look forward to participating next year, and also am thinking about participating in the Clothesline Festival. Stay tuned. I'll post some pictures of my setup when I get them off my wife's camera...

In the meantime, here is one of the paintings from the show. It's a 12x9 oil on canvas called "LeRoy Shadows". This was painted about 3 weeks ago en plein air, with just a minimal amount of studio touch-up. Interesting story...I was with my Saturday morning painting group, and when we set-up the light was actually behind this building, so it was all in shadow. Several others started painting the building right away but I decided to wait until the sun came around, and worked on another painting for a couple of hours. But the whole time I was thinking about this painting, and how good the building would look in the sun. So of course the first painting didn't turn out well, but then once the sun came around - I painted this one in about 20 - 30 minutes. It essentially painted itself, I guess because I had been thinking about it for 2 hours! Meanwhile my painting partners were unable to make their paintings of the building work, I think because the light was so dull when they were painting.


Here are a couple of pictures of my booth...click to enlarge!

Streamside

"Streamside", 6x8 oil on canvas. This one was completed en plein air earlier this year. I don't even remember where we were painting, but it was an overcast, cool morning threatening rain (and it eventually did rain a bit)...most of the views in the area didn't inspire me, but I kept coming back to this particular section of the stream. Lots of interesting, subtle color in the dark tree mass, and a nice contrast with the rocks along the edge of the stream. This one seemed to paint itself, and I really like the result (there's probably a lesson there). This one might be used as the basis for a larger studio painting this winter.

There was some drama during this painting session as just after setting up, one of my fellow painters dropped about a dozen brushes...tips down (of course)...into the muck. We were set up on a high enough platform that the brushes were just out of reach. They were eventually retrieved but it required considerable effort.

Sunset Studies

We had some really good sunsets this summer, and I managed to get out a few times to attempt to paint some studies. They are such a challenge, as things change very rapidly during the last half hour of the day. The drill pretty much is: look up at scene, decide what to do on the painting, look down to mix paint, apply paint to canvas, look up and realize all colors and values (and cloud shapes) in the scene have changed! Repeat until dark, or until the painting is ruined! What I've learned is that you must either be extremely fast and efficient, or you must memorize the scene at a particular point in time and ignore whatever changes appear. This is difficult since the colors tend to become better and better until the sun actually sets or goes behind the clouds. Another approach is to sketch in the composition based on the cloud shapes about a half hour before sunset, then slam in the colors at the right time. Of course, the problem is that the cloud shapes change and often look better.

Then there is the whole matter of how to paint the sun itself, making it look both bright and colorful at the same time...using lots of white is NOT the solution! I'm still working on this.

These two studies are both 6x8 oil on canvas boards. In the first one, it was the dramatic cloud formations that caught my eye. I like the resulting study, and feel like I captured the gesture of the dark clouds and also the "controlled chaos" of the sky above the sun. Unfortunately I do see the appearance of some kind of animal head in the dark clouds (with the sun being the eye). The second painting was more about the overall color harmony of the scene, everything was bathed in an amazing peach/yellow light.



These were extremely difficult to scan and get good jpegs - I had to do a lot of color adjusting and they still don't look as good as the originals. But hopefully you can get the idea! I plan on working on some studio paintings of sunsets this winter.

Cloud Study

Quick little cloud study (6x8 oil) done a few weeks ago. Trying to apply some of the things learned at the recent workshop. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. The scan of this painting hasn't reproduced the colors or transitions (edges) in the sky for some reason. Clouds are so beautiful and everyday is different, yielding endless painting possibilities. While I feel like I'm getting better at painting clouds, I haven't yet figured out how to make cloud shadows (on the land) work. Always something else to work on!

Otherwise...starting to get ready for the Artist Row festival, which takes place on Sunday, September 19. I'll post my booth number as soon as I get it. I have a lot of paintings to work on, many things that are "close" to being showable but still need a little work...so I'll be in the studio a lot. Will post things as they are finished.

Still-life mini-studies

Some indoor still life studies from earlier in the year. These are the kinds of things I like to work on during the winter, as a change of pace from landscape work. The first is a head of garlic with one clove removed. The area where the clove was removed had many interesting shadows and color transitions and was the most fun to paint. Size is 6x8 inches, oil on canvas:

Study of a half-peeled tangerine. Experimenting with fading the shaded side into the dark background. This is a 5x7 oil painted on a new surface for me - a baltic birch panel primed only with shellac. I have seen this surface used by other artists and wanted to give it a try. The jury is still out...I have to try more of these.

Another tangerine, viewed from above and set on a folded piece of white fabric. I haven't painted fabric very much, so this was another experiment. It's not easy! Note that the scan has over-emphasized the reflected colors from the orange for some reason...

Gouache Studies 3

Catching up on some posting, there are a set of small (4x5 inch) gouache studies I did in May. I was recovering from what I think was H1N1, and didn't feel up to standing outside in the cool, windy spring weather - so I painted these in my car. It's kind of cramped, but I can see doing more of these in the future. Each one took about an hour. I've tuned these jpegs to look closest to reality on my laptop screen, so the colors are a little over-saturated (garish) on my older CRT monitor. Some of these may serve as inspiration for studio paintings this winter.

First one at Adams Basin (on the Erie Canal), about 4-5 pm on May 9. This was the second one I did that day, but I prefer it to the first (see below).

This was actually the first one I did, also at Adams Basin, from 3 - 4 pm. Felt quite rusty and wasn't thinking too much about the composition, just wanted to get the "gouache feeling" back.
Last one from May 9, from about 5 - 6 pm. My favorite of the day, unfortunately the subtle colors in all the spring greens don't come through really well here. This one in particular could become a studio painting, I think. Springdale Farm area.

May 12, noon - 1 pm. Braddock Marina. Not much to say about this one...

Kenn Backhaus workshop

In late June I participated in a 3 day plein air painting workshop in Rochester with Kenn Backhaus. First I'll say to any artists reading this - Kenn is a fantastic instructor. I'd heard this from others but can now say it from experience. His demos were excellent and instructive, his "at easel" suggestions helpful, and his final critiques were insightful. Overall it was an excellent experience. If anyone has any more detailed questions about the workshop, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

These are a couple of study pieces I painted during the workshop. The first, an 8x10 oil from day 2, was inspired by Kenn's demo and completed in about an hour. I did learn some things about painting clouds and am looking forward to employing them in the future. The cloud shadows on the water and distant headlands were a very exciting aspect of this day/scene. The second study, an 8x6 oil, is from day 3 and was also completed in about an hour. The eyecatching aspect of this scene was the bright white tent canopy and the strong violet shadow on it. I followed Kenn's approach for this one (see below) and even though it's somewhat rough and unfinished, I feel it is successful as a study.

Day 1: We met at an estate south of Rochester with open farmland, interesting buildings, a pond, statues...Kenn lectured for a while, discussing the importance of design and contrast in paintings. He discussed his palette (titanium white, cad lemon, cad yellow, permanent rose, permanent alizarin, raw sienna, ultramarine blue, ivory black) and demonstrated color mixing. He also showed some of his previously completed studies to reinforce some of the ideas presented. He then discussed the approach he wanted us to follow: (1) do at least 3 thumbnail sketches to work out the composition, (2) do quick studies (45 minutes or so) using a "puzzle piece" approach. The idea is to first block in the main masses of color and value first, resulting in a posterized effect, then go in and adjust edges, colors and values to refine the painting.

Kenn demonstrated this approach. He started with the area that would be considered the focal point, the area with the strongest value contrast...this was actually a lit field in the distance between trees. Once he had the big shapes in that area, he worked out to the rest of the painting. Here is his demo piece near the end:


Day 2: We met at a private residence overlooking Lake Ontario. It was a day with beautiful, rapidly changing skies that were featured in many of our studies. We painted in the morning using the same approach as on day 1. After lunch, Kenn did two quick demonstrations. The first was an amazing cloud study that took barely 20 minutes. A couple of participants tried to "paint along" but had a hard time keeping up! I don't have a close-up of the finished piece, but here is Kenn working on it at some point along the way:


Kenn then did another quick demo using an even more limited palette consisting of white, black, cad lemon and permanent rose. This demonstrated the importance of value, and how careful juxtaposition of colors can give the illusion of another color...i.e., no blue paint was used but the sky and water, painted mainly with white and black, still appeared blue:

Day 3: We met in Pittsford and painted either farmland or canal scenes in the morning. After lunch, Kenn did a great demo of an interior woods scene with dappled light. Many of us were wondering about his choice early on when he sketched in that huge foreground tree, but he pulled it off very well. The scene really came alive when he added the touches of sunlight to the forest floor and tree trunk:

We finished out the workshop with a critique of the work done during the workshop, followed by a group dinner. I think everyone had a great experience and came away inspired. I wish we had a couple more days...

Palenville Morning

This little gouache painting (4x5 inches) was done Friday morning (July 16) in Palenville, New York. On my way to Long Island for the weekend, I stopped to see my friend Jamie, who has a home on the edge of the Catskill Mountains. We didn't have much time for painting, but were able to get out for about an hour and a half. I had only brought along gouache, so I did this little study. Haven't used the gouache in a couple of months so it took some getting used to...the result is OK but I had trouble getting the mountain color correct. The views in the area are beautiful and I would have liked to stay and paint all day...it was amazing how quickly the mountains changed in appearance as the morning progressed.

Jamie did a larger oil painting which can be seen on her blog.

As a side note, I've been very busy lately with the Kenn Backhaus workshop (I'll be posting about this shortly), some art club business, and the trip to Long Island. However, that stuff is all done and I should be painting a lot from now on, so check back for updates!

Suburban Rochester Art Group Show

My painting "Ramshackle", pictured below, received the "Best of Show" award at this years Suburban Rochester Art Group (SRAG) Summer Show. This is an 8x10 oil painting that was started on site (plein air) and finished in the studio. I also received a "Third Place" award in the oil/landscape category for "January Thaw", a 9x12 oil painting also pictured below. A third painting received an honorable mention, but I forgot to take a picture of that one before delivering it to the show.

The show runs until July 29th at the Pittsford Barnes and Noble.

Ramshackle

Well, it has been a while since my last post! I've been busy with a number of things...had lots of spring yard work to catch up on (was way behind due to my illness in early May), been organizing a workshop with Kenn Backhaus (next week), working on a studio painting that has been giving me fits. As a result, I don't have many completed works to show right now, but there are a number of smaller, mostly plein air paintings that need a little tweaking. Things should calm down after mid July, so I hope to be getting to those eventually.

This 8x10 plein air oil painting was done earlier in the spring, on one of the first really warm, sunny days (I even picked up a little sunburn). A collection of run-down old buildings nestled in the trees. I wound up painting them much "nicer" than they appeared in real life, not sure why! Just the way the painting evolved. I don't know how well it comes across on your monitor, but in person this one has a very nice warm color harmony and is one of my better recent paintings. The door shadow, and the mysterious dark passageways (door and partially hidden windows) were the main factors that caught my eye.

Something a little different...castaway!

It's been a while since I've posted anything...haven't been painting much due to a number of issues - mainly lots of spring yard work followed by a nasty bout of the flu. I haven't painted very well the few times I've been able to get out. I'm hoping that will all change in the near future.

Anyway, now that I'm devoting myself to art full time, I decided that I needed to work on some basic skills - especially drawing. So I joined a local atelier program. It's really an "accelerated" atelier program which will last 2 years and progress from cast drawing through figure drawing, followed by monochrome painting and finally full color. I didn't attend art school and thus have never really studied the basics in an organized, logical way.

Since I don't have any paintings to post, here are some cast drawings (in pencil) from the first few weeks of the class. The nose was drawn first, and I found it very difficult because there really weren't many well-defined features. The hand was done second, and the head last. The idea with these wasn't to be "perfect", but to focus on the steps of the drawing process: (1) get used to the idea of starting with the big envelope shape, and gradually work down to the details, and (2) break down the drawing into the shadow and lit areas before working on the detailed halftones.

I'm enjoying the process, and have developed a new level of respect for those who do figure work in pencil. I never realized how difficult it was to get nice, consistent shading with pencil!