Cones and Barrels...

This is a 24×24″ painting that I did recently. A few months ago I posted a plein air sketch that included some of these elements (the truck and fence in the top left quadrant of this scene.) I also had some reference photos to work from and did a little sketching. Below is the sketch that helped me figure out this composition. In the photos the background info was further in the distance and harder to read. I also I really like seeing the orange barrels so prominent in the foreground in the photos, but I had to do some drawing to figure out how I wanted to organize the shapes and colors in the picture plane, and the objects in space.

What I really like about the scene, and the reason I wanted to paint it, was to play around with the incredibly intense colors and the ways the warm and cool light effects can work around that. A scene like this is tricky for me to figure out, because I have to see if I can make a certain set of objects, and a balance between these objects fit into a rectangular composition. This one fit pretty well onto a square format, and gave me room to have some busy sections that balanced off of larger quiet sections.

If you have read this far into this blog entry you are interested enough in painting minutiae, that you should either consider taking a workshop yourself, or go ahead and help spread the word among your friends about my upcoming workshops and exhibits.

A friend of mine, Barbara Stroud, has posted an announcement for my workshop on her own blog. She has a fun blog that often talks about her favorite artists, and has a very nice post about my work and this class coming up. You should check it out if you have the time.

Baby Drawings...

Audrey gets worse at posing for drawings every day, but I still keep trying every once in a while. Here are a few recent drawings.

Today I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Start the Week from the BBC, and heard an interesting interview with David Hockney. I have to admit that I don’t love Hockney’s paintings, but the interview was decent. Hockney talked about his interest in painting the landscape from life, and working on some very large work. Even with an artist whose work I don’t necessarily love, I enjoy hearing someone talk about their process and inspirations. For such a  contemporary artist, Hockney sounded an awful lot like most of the plein air painters I know. He was fascinated by painting  the changing light and seasons, and observing the wonders of nature. It was as simple as that. I also liked a Chinese proverb he referenced that basically said that art cannot be made without using the hand, eyes and heart. A simple idea, but nicely put.

Fogged In...

My paintings will be in a few shows coming up this spring, from Maine to South Carolina.

Thomas Moser in Freeport, Maine has a group show opening February 15th. The show will include the work of Eric Hopkins and James Mullins, along with my own. I will have a large selection of paintings on display here, so if you are heading through Freeport it would be worth a visit.

Greenhut Gallery in Portland, ME has a biennial exhibition of works about Portland. I am very excited to  be invited to participate in this show. I will be showing a nocturne of the Portland waterfront. The opening reception is March 1st, 5-7pm, and it will be up until April 28th.

Smith Killian Fine Art in Charleston, SC also has a group show coming up that opens April 6. I will have a few paintings in the show and look forward to going down to Charleston for the opening. I’m also teaching a workshop through the gallery that weekend.If you live in the area I would love your support at the opening, and in spreading word of the show.

Red Sheds...

I have been promoting a few shows and workshops lately, and I just wanted to mention them again. My 5-day class in September is getting filled up and many of the classes have had a good initial response. These classes will all focus on the fundamentals of painting through painting the landscape on site. I will post a little more info on some of the classes in the coming weeks, but for the basic info:

April 6-7
Smith Killian Fine Art
843 853 0708
Charleston, SC

May 5-6
River Arts
207 563 1507
Damariscotta, Maine

May 19-20
Farnsworth Art Museum
207 596 6457
Rockland. ME

August 13-17
Farnsworth Art Museum
Workshop retreat at Nebo Lodge
207 596 6457
North Haven, Maine

September 10-14
Coastal Maine Art Workshops
207 594 4813
Rockland, Maine

October 6-8
Haystack Mountain School
207 348 2306
Deer Isle
Part of their Open Door Workshop weekend.

If you are interested in learning more about any of these classes feel free to contact me or the host organization. All registrations will be handled by the organization planning the workshop.

“The function of human beings is to wonder at the universe, because without us here all of that balance, and beauty, and logic would be going to waste. “ Lawrence Weschler during an interview on the podcast Boomerang.

Advancing...

Here is another figure study, This was also a quick one, 25 minutes.

I heard another great quote when I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, the Slate Political Gabfest. John Dickerson read a quote from Kottke.org about what it is like to deeply understand advanced mathematics.

You are comfortable with feeling like you have no deep understanding of the problem you are studying. Indeed, when you do have a deep understanding, you have solved the problem and it is time to do something else. This makes the total time you spend in life reveling in your mastery of something quite brief. One of the main skills of research scientists of any type is knowing how to work comfortably and productively in a state of confusion.

This fits the life of any person constantly trying to advance their understanding of any field. I love it.

I also want to mention that I just looked through the site here and noticed a few pending comments on older posts. Somehow I missed them, so they were not approved before today. I apologize if any of you felt like I was ignoring you. Not surprisingly these comments date back to around the time of the birth of my daughter, when I let a lot of things slip away for a bit. But that is no excuse. I welcome your comments and hope you know that they are all appreciated.

And since the cookie debate on the poll question has lasted longer than intended, I will move on to a new one. Final tally; 73 votes, 40 for walnuts in chocolate chip cookies, 33 against. So make sure you remember to add the walnuts! For the new question I want to know whether or not you enjoy abstract painting. Abstract painting is a vague term, and there is really a sliding scale from photo-realism to complete non-representational art. But overall, do you find it rewarding to look at abstract paintings, whatever that term means to you?