Unsure

Pink, 2010. oil on panel 10 x 10

I had an idea for a painting of a pink and purple sunset. This painting was the result. When I finished the painting I was unsure weather I had captured the feeling and color of what I had seen. I put it in my show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery anyways. All along, wondering if the painting was right.

Riding home from my studio last week I saw this sky....I had nailed color.

Vindication!

The Hangover

Full Moon, 2010. oil on panel 15 x 17.

While I've gotten a few things done in the studio in the last couple of weeks, painting has come along very slowly. I always forget how hard I push to get ready for a show and how tired I am after I'm done.

I needed a short break!

So, after being sick for several weeks (which always seems to happen after a show), it's time to get back to the studio.

I can hardly wait.

Speaking about painting

Roundabout, 2010. oil on canvas 52 x 64 sold

"All my decisions are visual. I have ideas but...the paint speaks"

-Susan Frecon b. 1941

Done

Racing Down, 2010. oil on panel. 14 x 18 sold

In what seemed like the busiest month of my life is now behind me. All the hard work has paid off. My show at Elliott Fouts Gallery is up for another couple of weeks, but the reception was great fun. Elliott, Michelle, & Cynthia did a fantastic job of presenting my work, as always it was a pleasure to work with them. They make the hard work worth it. The real bummer was that my wife was so sick that she could not make it to the party...a theme that has been repeated in our household for the last several weeks as this ugly cold bug has moved through our family.

As soon as I finished with the Elliott show reception, I had to finish organizing the Miniature show at First Street Gallery and prepare the space to hang over 180 works of art in the gallery. Everybody at FSG really worked hard to get everything ready for the reception last Friday. It was worth it as we had over 250 people at the reception! Sales were strong and everybody left happy, if not a little tired.

I'm ready for a short break....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Way

Turning Towards, 2010. oil on canvas 42 x 42 sold

"Going Towards abstraction does not mean going away from representation. It is more like describing something real with means other than illustration."

- Ken Kewley

The 411

The exhibition starts today.

The reception will be November 13th from 6 - 9 pm

If you live in the area, stop by and say hello. It should be a fun party.

The gallery also wrote a very nice article about my work on their blog. Check it out @ www.efgallery.blogspot.com

enjoy.

Show Catalog

I am proud to announce the publication of a catalog of my work in conjunction with my exhibition at the Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento. The gallery really did a great job putting the catalog together. The thirty page soft cover book has twenty-eight color plates. If you are interested in one please contact the gallery for more information at efgallery@sbcglobal.net or 1.916.736.1429.

Oh so close...

Nearly Over, 2010. oil on panel 10 x 10 sold

All the work is almost done. Just a couple of things left to do. We will pick up the cargo van tomorrow afternoon from the rental agency and then load/pack it up that night for the drive up to Sacramento Tuesday morning

If everything goes to plan Monday should be a fairly calm day.

The hard work is finished, and now its a matter of keeping track of everything and getting it to where its suppose to go.

Easier said than done.

What's that funny smell?

Evening Highlights, 2010. oil on panel 8 x 10. sold

I'm in the last week of prepping everything for my show at

the Elliott Fouts Gallery. The finish line is in sight. Each day seems to fly by as I make sure everything is getting done and ready to go. Today was spent varnishing all the paintings (which is a protective coat that you apply to paintings after they have dried), while not particularly hard, takes quite a bit of time, smells awful and is tough on the body (bending over paintings that are lying on the ground.)

Each painting has to go through over ten steps to be ready to be shown in a gallery after it has been finished being painted. Multiply that by 34 and you get the picture.

Check lists are my friends.

By this time next week, I will be done. Don't call me for 48 hours after I deliver the works. I'll be in a coma.

Back at it

Ripe, 2010. oil on panel 8 x 10 sold

It has been a week of prepping work and making frames, as the final push to get everything done continues....next week brings gilding and finishing the frames.

Everything is pretty much on schedule....

I hope.

The lost week

T & B, 2010. oil on panel 12 x 12 sold

In the midst of getting ready for my show this last week....I got sick, not the best timing...but I keep telling myself that I still have plenty of time to finish everything.

I just now have one less week to do it in.

It's time to get busy.

Almost there

Wandering, 2010. oil on panel 7 x 21

Things are coming together and I am almost done painting for my show at Elliott Fouts in November.

I'm planning to have thirty five paintings for the show. We'll see if I can get everything done.

Getting Closer

Golden, 2010. oil on panel 8 x 9

A smaller painting for my show at Elliott Fouts Gallery in November.

I'm in the stretch run, finishing up the last group of paintings for the show.

More infomation about the show in the coming weeks...

Inspiration

Hot Afternoon, 2010. oil on panel 8 x 19.

I love the clouds that rise up in the heat of the afternoon over the San Joaquin Valley.

They are endlessly inspiring to me.

Making Headway

Silence, 2010. oil on panel. 16 x 40, overall.

I have been working on some very large paintings for the last couple of weeks so progress has moved slowly in the studio. This painting is from earlier this summer and is a bit usual for me, it's a small triptych. The center panel a 16 inch square and the sides are each 16 x 12. I don't think I've done any multi-paneled painting in the last ten years.

These panels were put together originally in anticipation for a study for a very large corporate commission eighteen months ago that never materialized. So when the deal fell through the panels laid around my studio waiting to be taken apart again. All the while, the idea I had for the study stubbornly stayed with me. So I decided to paint the study anyway. Each panel will be framed separately, for those who interested in such details.

enjoy.

More Reds

Scattered Reds, 2010. oil on linen 25 x 25.

A painting that I finished a couple of weeks ago.

Working Titles

Light's Last Glow, 2010. oil on panel 10 x 10 sold

A smaller painting for my show in November.

I'm still trying to come up with a title for the show.

How does Vistas & Horizons sound?

It may be in the running...

New Drawing

Busy Spring, 2010. charcoal on paper 27 x 28 1/2

Oh, how I love drawing...when I start I don't want to stop.

I just finished this one yesterday.

Still at it

Big Twists, 2010. oil on canvas 34 x 40

A new medium sized painting.

enjoy.

Time

Sun-struck, 2010. oil on linen 26 x 26

I have been working hard on a new group of paintings. Things have been going well without too many bumps in the creative road. What makes the difference? It boils down to time. I have taken my time with this new group of paintings, trying not to rush to the easiest answer, but instead waiting and looking for the best way to finish the painting. It is not always easy to do since I tend to rush to finish a painting.

When I do wait, I can see the painting in its current state more clearly and know how I need to move forward to make it more effective. The discipline to take a painting off the easel when I don't have a clear way to move forward or to finish it, was a hard lesson learned, but worth it.

The Wall - An Update

My studio on 07.17.10

Another look inside my studio.

A New Lovely

Hopscotch Fields, 2010. oil on panel 22 x 32. sold

A new (still wet) painting.

enjoy.

Looking Ahead

Afterburn, 2010. oil on panel 10 x 8. sold

New Work.

It may be only the beginning of July, but my mind is already on my fall and winter exhibition schedule. Its going to be an exciting season!

Stay tuned as I post new works for my upcoming shows.

The fourth painting

San Joaquin Spring, 2010. oil on panel 12 x 10

The last painting I just delivered for Where We Live at the Elliott Fouts Gallery in July.

It should be a great show.

One more

Layers, 2010. oil on canvas 24 x 27 sold

Here's another painting for the Where We Live group show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery in July.

enjoy.

the news

Evening's Last, 2010. oil on canvas 24 x 26. sold

I'm happy to announce that Evening's Last is in the July issue of American Art Collector as part of a feature on the group show, Where We Live at the Elliott Fouts Gallery

The reception is on July 10th, 2010, from 6 to 9 PM

Stop by and say hello.

All new, all the time...

River Evening, 2010. oil on panel, 7 x 8. sold

Here is one of my newest pieces.

Work is starting to come along nicely.

I hope to keep up the momentum.

The Wall

My studio wall on May 27th, 2010.

Here's a peak inside my studio...with twenty or so paintings in various states of finish.

enjoy.

Beautiful Spring

Clouds & Wheat, 2010. oil on panel. 8 x 10

We have been having the most wonderful spring days, the clouds have been incredible, the temperatures have been cool and the sunrises & sunsets have been amazing.

Its inspiring.

Its my kind of weather.

enjoy.

Check it out!

Quiet Exit, 2010. oil on panel 13 x 15 sold

I am very happy to announce that my web site has been completely updated and redesigned. A big thank you goes out to Paul Anderson, my web site dude, who worked very hard to get everything done.

Check it out!

www.johnkarlclaes.com

Sienna Sunset, 2010. oil on panel. 7 x 8 sold

This is a small picture from earlier this year.

I started painting in earnest about two weeks ago after weeks of prepping canvases. The paint is being flung, and it is already interesting how this work is feeling different. It started with a series of small sketches based on a drive down I-5 this past spring, and I'm twelve paintings in.

I am starting to see the framework for this body of work and I'm struggling with how to put this new body of work into words. It seems like linear thoughts are elusive. The ideas I have of my work are visual which I can not describe it verbally or in written form before I actually do the get them on canvas.

So, stay tuned for more. The show has begun.

Fresh

Redset, 2010. oil on paper 19 x 26. sold

Brand new work.

Prep Time

Last Moments, 2010. 6 x 9. oil on panel

This is a little painting that I finished recently. I'm in the midst prepping around forty panels and canvases...So paintings are coming along slowly. New paintings will be coming soon. I have tons of work to get going on...I'm very excited!

The Bank Job, part IV... the process

Big Red, 2010. oil on canvas. 40 x 60. sold

This is the last painting for the bank. I took a whole series of pictures while I was working on this painting and I thought that everybody would enjoy seeing the process of how the painting took shape.

drawing the composition

laying in the first layer of color

putting in a little red...

refining and adding to the sky

working on the fields

further refining of sky and fields

done.

The Bank Job, part III

Warm Twilight, 2009. oil on panel 24 x 24. sold

Here is the third painting for Yosemite Farm Credit.

enjoy.

Patience...

Big Turns, 2010. oil on canvas 44 x 54 sold

Sometimes they work out better the second time around....you gotta have patience.

More

Evening Clearing, 2010. oil on panel 22 x 28

Another recent painting.

Working on it

Hopeful, 2009. oil on panel. 15 x 17. sold.

I'm working a big commission so other paintings are coming along slowly.

I have several paintings that I think that are mostly done that I will post soon. They are in my studio waiting for my final approval. I tend to have to let things sit there for a while so I can get some distance from them and see them for what they really are. Sometimes I'm so anxious to be done that I'm fooled into thinking that it may be the greatest painting ever when really its not.

I think I may become slightly delusional when I'm finishing work in my studio. Its all just part the painting process for me.

The Bank job, part II

Almost After, 2009. oil on panel. 24 x 24 sold

This is the second painting that I finished for the bank commission.

Titles are funny things. I purposely keep them ambiguous so people can fill in their own story. But sometimes this leads to awkward conversations....

The study for this painting (it had same title) was hanging in a gallery and after staring at the title card for several seconds, a woman turned to me and said, "I don't understand, almost after what?"

I frankly didn't know what to say. I fumbled around for some words, "Um, a lot of my paintings are of late evenings." She continued to look at me blankly, clearly not understanding. "It's almost after evening or twilight," I said implying that she could fill in the blank.

"I still don't understand. What does the title have to do with the painting?" she asked again.

Sometimes I'm not even sure why I try.

More Work...

Intense Ending, 2010. oil on panel. 8 x 9 sold

Another smaller painting from the year's first batch.

starting again

Last Bit, 2010. oil on panel 8 x 10

It has been my habit for the last several years to start off the new year will a series of smaller paintings. This year has been no different. Here is one of my first paintings of twenty-ten.

Enjoy.