Industrial Landscape at 6x6 Show

"Industrial Landscape"
oil on panel, 2012

6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm) SOLD


The second of my four paintings accepted into the 6 Inch Squared show at Randy Higbee Gallery

Since most landscapes are composed of strong horizontals, square formats are a challenge.

So this is loaded with the verticals of poles and the angles of steam, tree line and road, to compositionally offset the horizontal band across the middle and make for a stronger stacked composition within the square format.

This is one of those views typical of industrial vista's in and around the harbor. I compressed the refinery into the middle ground, but allowed the foreground and background to breath.

The drifting steam coming from the refinery, the softer shadows, and perhaps the light too, all help to relieve the densely packed industrial forest of the middle ground.197

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Rain at 6x6 Show

"11th St. Rain"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2012
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)
Randy Higbee Gallery

Here is one of my four paintings accepted into the 6 Inch Squared show at Randy Higbee Gallery.

If you are like me you never tire of rain and weather images. I love shiny glistening streets under these conditions. The landscape under a canopy of clouds with the golden sun breaking through.
I've always thought of rainy days as slow days. Here I've painted the late afternoon with a lone figure returning home from work in no particular hurry.196

Click 'Rain' or 'Weather' LABELS to see others.

Note: I updated the image here with one that is more color correct.
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6 Inch Squared

I am happy to announce 4 of my 7 paintings entered into the 6 Inch Squared show at the Randy Higbee Gallery were accepted.

I'll start posting them soon.

Past Work 6

untitled portrait
watercolor and colored pencil on illus. board
13.5" x 12.25" (34.29cm x 31.115cm)
NSF

Here is another blast from the past... the same experimental stuff on slick illustration board.
This was when I began to get the hang of it, however it is still a tough surface to work on.
Often the surface takes over, dictating too much for me, how it looks. I prefer controlling it. I want decisions to be conscious ones.
That's not to say I don't like happy accidents but you can't start with too many uphill battles.
This is one reason I generally don't work on canvas in oils. You can't escape its texture, especially when photographing the art.

I was still having some problems controlling the spottiness in the shadows but overall I was happy with the results... the design of the shapes, the palette, etc.
I was experimenting with mixing-in the colored pencil with watercolor. Not knowing how well it would work and not wanting to risk ruining the head ,which I was feeling good about, I reserved it for the shirt. I liked the way it gave a velvety depth and texture to what would otherwise be a flat graphic shape. It is hard to see the subtlety of its application in this photo but there is green pencil underlying the blue watercolor.195

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Past Work 5

"Megan"
watercolor/gouache on illus. board
13.5" x 12" (34.29cm x 30.48cm)
NSF

My niece at around 5 or 6 six years old...
The color palette here is atrocious, at least to me, but is reflective of colors my niece loved back then, which was one of my intentions.
Remember, experimental work means leaving your comfort zone in part so here I wanted the palette to be tied into her instead of relying on the usual familiar palette (from then) without much thought.
That mauve in the background and lavender in the shirt makes me shudder. However, even now when I look at this I don't just see Megan at that time, instead I'm taken back to memories of who she was too, it radiates with her personality beyond just a likeness. So with that, I'm happy.

This one, like the other recently posted portraits, I simply reached a point and stopped. Although I saw some problems with drawing, form transitions and even design issues I did not want to lose or destroy that spontaneity associated with experimenting and lose the liveliness of her character... remembering that experimental for me means it is more about learning and discovering than about making a finished piece of art.

I can also see where I struggled with the medium leaving some areas unresolved.
The hair is a little too coarse and abrupt since I did not refine and soften it for its bright sunny light. Some areas like the shadow in her arm and shirt are too busy but again I did not want to refine at the expense of freshness.194

Portrait of Megan as an adult here.

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