Who said it?

Gathering Clouds, 2008. oil on canvas 21 x 40. sold.

"The Landscape here in the Central Valley lacks nothing, Except Glorification"

-Unknown

Again, for the first time...

The Leading Edge, 2009. sold.

22 x 30

charcoal on paper

Behind, 2009.

oil on panel

22 x 26

A couple of new pieces.

Enjoy.

Ebb and Flow

Busy Evening, 2009. oil on canvas 40 x 50  sold

Here is my first larger work of the year. (I can hardly believe that it is May already.) I still seem spending most of my time prepping panels and canvases. I was really running low in my painting support inventory. I like to have a whole range of sizes available, so when I start a body of new work so I can paint in what ever size I wish. I don't work in standard sizes, so I prep a lot of different sizes, not just four or five different standard sizes. I like to have around fifty to sixty painting supports in my studio. I don't like to be limited when a new painting idea comes into my head. In between all this prepping I'm still getting a painting done here and there. It's not how I normally work, but it seems to be working for me right now.

I'm usually much more focused on getting the prep work done and back to painting all the time. This year it seems that I am doing both at the same time, it's not the most efficient way of working, but with no current deadlines I can work on paintings and drawings at a slower pace. I don't have to force anything. If I get stuck on an idea in a painting, I can take time to just look at it. I can spend some time prepping and looking at the painting while I'm doing other things around the studio. It helps to see the problems of the painting and (hopefully) make it a better painting out of it. It's just the ebb and flow of studio life.

Quote it

Another Study for Hope, 2009. oil on panel 10 x 12. sold.



"The more I see contemporary painting distrust feeling, the more feeling I put into my painting."

-Carl Plansky b.1951

Done and Undone

Unsettled Weather, 2009. oil on canvas, 24 x 28 sold


Here is painting that I thought was finished, and then I changed it suddenly at the very end. I don't know why paintings are like that some times, but they demand to be changed. I will think they are done and that the solution to the problem of the painting has been finalized, and I leave it on the easel for the night. Usually I am satisfied with what I have done when I leave, but when I come back I know immediately that something needs to be changed.

The tough part is that the changes have to be consistent with the original idea that I had for the painting or I will ruin it. This painting was rather quick to fix, but there have been times that it has taken me months to fix a painting depending on what the problem with the painting demands. It is all about making effective paintings.

Spring Days

High Spring, 2009. charcoal on paper, 14 x 22



Another drawing from the current crop that

I have completed recently.



Enjoy.

I just can't stop

Slowly Moving Through, 2009. Charcoal on paper 31 x 32

I have been drawing nearly everyday for the last month or so. I really have to blame some friends for my situation. I did a drawing for them at the beginning of the year, and it has just opened the flood gates. I have done more drawing in the first quarter of this year than I have done in the last four years combined. I was working so hard on my paintings that I just didn't have time to to concentrate on anything else. It's interesting to see how my process has changed. A decade ago my paintings were very informed by my drawings, now my drawings are affected by my paintings. Each medium has its own unique aspects, but I am finding they are become more intertwined as I develop as an artist.