Rusty Haze

"Oil Plant 11 (Rusty Haze)"
oil on panel, 2014
6" x 6" (15.25cm x 15.24)

Number 11 in my series of the Oil Plant, actually an oil pumping station from the 1930's or 40's I think.
(I've done more than 11, some were not titled within the numbers) Unfortunately it is gone now but my series will continue. It is a hazy memory.
I left out quite a bit of the pipes and such in the background, more than I usually do. I reached a point and it just felt right for this one. It was more about the thick atmosphere.
But then I take another look and think it may have been better with just a whisper of them here and there.
Who knows. It's probably better to move on to the next one.292

2 Watercolor Landscapes from Series

"Burnscape #9"
watercolor on paper, 2011
8" x 11" (20.32cm x 27.94cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

"Oil Plant #10"
watercolor on paper, 2011
7" x 10" (17.78cm x 25.4cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

Here are two recent watercolors done near the end of 2011.
I'm still searching for my own 'visual voice' in watercolor. Up until the last six months, I had not painted with it much the last couple of years, at least in a more traditional direct approach.

I have a love/hate relationship with (this kind of) watercolor. I do enjoy it's direct, fast dry properties over oils but often I'll lay down a color wash and later realize it's wrong and I'm stuck with it. Or an area that got too dark and I can't lighten it enough. That is tough to take since I've invested the time and may otherwise like the painting, but it is essentially ruined by that.
It takes a different kind of planning I know, but it generally goes against the way I prefer to work.

I also dislike the early stages, the first few steps or washes. Mine always look so ugly and I have to remind myself to push through these initial steps and not give up. I don't have that issue with oils.

In both of these my initial intent was to work looser. They ended up tighter but that's okay for now. It is going to take a conscious effort to get to that goal without loosing the substance and solidity I want. That said, I'm still happy with the way they turned out.162,163


*Update:
I found this quote from Jamie Wyeth that best sums up the last paragraph above. I'm happy that even the greats face(d) the same predicaments.


"Painting to me is constant searching.  I can see what I want, but I can’t get there, and yet you have to be open enough that if it goes another way, then let it go that way."         Jamie Wyeth.

Click 'LABELS" below to see more from each series
Click on images for larger view

Portrait of an Oil Plant

“Oil Plant # 9 (Broken Pipe)"
oil on panel, 2011
6” x 6” (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

This is the third of my paintings in the  6" Squared Exhibition and Sale at the Randy Higbee Gallery , Saturday December 3rd through Thursday December 22nd.
The opening was packed as usual with lots of little painted gems. The real joy of a show like this is the wide variety styles and artistic approaches among the 500 or so artworks, including some fabulous watercolors and pastels. Impossible to pick a favorite. In addition to the art, meeting the collectors and other artists is always a highlight of the evening.

When I have a visceral reaction to something I sometimes have to pause, really look and figure out what it is I’m seeing. It is not always obvious. I initially responded to this view of the storage tanks for its clean, neat and tidy nature. Not too cluttered, no scattered remnants of the broken plant other than the broken pipe, which was my own invention.
What I eventually saw in this view was an industrial version of an old face, wrinkles and all... a portrait of the oil plant ... solemn, dignified. It reminded me of a man with most of his years behind him, who had a well lived life, worked hard, but is still vital, still fastidious and loaded with silent stories.153


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Oil Plant at 6 x 6

"Oil Plant #7"
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


From my Oil plant series, it was an oil pumping station. I'm told it collected oil from local wells then pumped it, via underground pipes, to various oil refineries around the South Bay. It looked like it was built in the 1930's, although that's an educated guess. I wish I knew more about it.

Th oil plants dead and lifeless state emphasized by the climbing vegetation. The pipes or valves also seem to be sprouting from the bottom, adding to their anthropomorphic manner along with the two lights atop the the wooden structure that appear to be looking down.113

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Monoliths

"Oil Plant #8 (w/ Tree)"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

This painting was just excepted into the 6" Exhibition and Sale (show) at the Randy Higbee Gallery.
The Gallery reports the show promises to be an even greater success than their December show with twice as many artists entering this one. I don't doubt that, there was some terrific art at the last 6" show.

From my Oil Plant series, it was an oil pumping station. I'm told it collected oil from local wells then pumped it, via underground pipes, to various oil refineries around the South Bay. It looked like it was built in the 1930's, although that's an educated guess. I wish I knew more about it.

Here it is seen from a distance, framed by a dead, leafless (read lifeless), tree. The tanks or towers, I'm not sure of their technical name, remind me of ancient stone monoliths from bygone civilizations, silently standing long after it's inhabitants have left, the structure slowly decaying around it.104

For others in this series click 'OIL PLANT' in labels below this post or in 'LABELS' column at right.

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TERMINATED

"Oil Plant Nocturne"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
4" x 5" (10.16cm x 12.7cm)
davidteter@att.net

My 100th posted image. Numbered posts include only images posted for the first time, so this does not count posts with repeated images due to an update or an all text post, gallery or show announcement.
I originally planned to feature an image from a new upcoming 2011 series on the Vincent Thomas Bridge as the 100th but upon discovering the recent demise of the oil plant I decided it would finish out the first 100. The new series starting at 101.

Although this nocturne features trees, it is from my Oil Plant series. This building was on the same site as the oil plant and served as the office.
Now shut down, the windows boarded up, the only signs of life are the trees and the lone light needlessly illuminating the parking lot.

I saw this in the day time but turned it into a nocturne, so I needed to figure out or imagine how it would look at night with the light on and other ambient light at the horizon and the left side.
About the time I painted this, I revisited the site and much to my dismay it was gone, the plant razed to the ground (actually a pumping station I recently found out), nothing left but a lot scraped clean and piles of dirt. TERMINATED.

So with that in mind... it's final night.
The power pole, with it's wires, function as a cross much like you would see on a grave site. Although it is usually considered bad design to split compositions in half, sometimes I will do so just to see if I can 'break a rule' and still make it work, a challenge I enjoy. See three others with the same premise here and here and here. In this case I made it work by keeping the dissector, the pole, the same value as the tree so that it did not prominently show the near mid composition split.

Then deciding the distribution and the balancing of the warms and cools; the front of the building cool, the back warm, via the light (which probably wasn't actually working since I doubt there was power to the site). But in making an image, changes can be made to strengthen an idea or composition, so on it went. With the focus on the lower right corner, typically another design no-no, the taller tree was lit by another warm but unseen light source, to set up a diagonal and give it balance.100

Click 'Oil Plant' label below for more from this series
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Phantom Cloud

"Oil plant #5 (Phantom Cloud)"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
8" x 10" (20.32cm x 25.4cm)

I love this view from below the tangle of pipes. Seen late in the day the shadows stretch out and colors deepen.

As I was working on the sky nothing seemed to fit, I then laid in some quick gestural strokes and this phantom shape began to emerge. Recognizing the drama it added and the nice contrast of loosely applied paint to the straight, harder lines, a bit of refining was all that was needed.93

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A Show of Color

"Oil Plant #6 (Two Stacks)"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

This is the fourth of my paintings from the 6" Squared Show, December 4th-23rd, Randy Higbee Gallery.

My Oil Plant series. Here a close-up. The sense of scale in industrial images is not always evident. The two stacks are huge, prominently standing at least 7 or 8 feet tall. Years of service, then years of weather have left them multicolored, glazed in rusty orange and dark chocolate, iced in white, heat tempered in blue, in stark contrast to the more somber wooden structure.

I'm not sure if they were originally painted white or if it is oxidation, but either way all the process' metal goes through, producing bursts of color upon color, is spectacular. The roof too is alive... it's amazing the range of hues found on old metal.

It is usually mother nature who gets credit for such splendor... sometimes we forget to look elsewhere. Dormant while still putting on a show in color.90

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"Dark Rain"

"Dark Rain"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

This is the sister painting from the previous post "Light Rain". Both are the same site and location, different views and included in the 6" Squared Show at the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa California.

These buildings are on the same site as my Oil Plant series.

I like this area for it's hodgepodge of cement slabs laid over the years at various angles. By showing a lot of foreground the emphasis is less on the buildings and more on the weather as a subject for the painting.

The dark cloud allows for a more limited, almost monochromatic palette, and with the sun still breaking through, higher contrast values. The rain rolls in with an unrelenting fury, about to pound the landscape. A cold brooding day with only hints of color, the orange cone and yellow poles.89


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"Light Rain"

"Light Rain"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

This painting will be in the 6" Squared show this weekend at the Randy Higbee Gallery. It is the sister painting of one titled "Dark Rain" which I will post soon.

These buildings are on the same site as my Oil Plant series.

I like this area for it's hodgepodge of cement slabs laid over the years at various angles. By showing a lot of foreground the emphasis is less on the buildings and more on the weather as a subject for painting.

A light rain kind of day where the clouds streak swiftly across the sky, scattering their rain. The sun breaks, bringing hard shadows, rain washed air and that great mineral smell.88


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Yin and Yang

"Oil Plant #4 (Sunlit Grass)"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

This painting was included in the Small Works Show at the Randy Higbee Gallery this weekend.

If it is true that you never feel more alive than when you have had a brush with death, then like death lingering nearby, the dark wooden structure serves to accentuate the burst of light and the live plume of red fountain grass.

Even the old used pipes and valves seem to have new life, seem to be invigorated.

This painting, half dark and half light, is Yin and Yang in it's most basic definition... shade and sun... earth, dark and cold... heaven, heat and light.83


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Left Behind

"Oil Plant #3"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

From my Oil Plant Series. While the plant is fascinating enough to simply present as is, I still find myself searching for a bit more... wanting the image to have meaning beyond the surface. This painting is about the idea of what's left behind, what was. So goodbye blue sky.

The plant sits in the sun. Two contrails, traces of jets passed, sweep overhead. The facility, a vestige of it's former self. Both are about to be lost to the marine layer which reaches up from behind to engulf the aging structure. The salt air urging rust once more. It also replays the theme of man vs nature, no matter what we do nature is always stronger.73
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Ghostly Structure

"Oil Plant Backside (w/ Storage Tanks)"   SOLD

oil on panel, 2010

5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

Featured in Crussell Fine Art 2011 International Survey Periodical

Here again the oil plant, (previous images under post headings 'Aging Relic' and 'Bleached White Sky' ).

A fabulous view from the back with it's white storage tanks being gradually overrun by rust, taking on a patina of colors ranging from burnt sienna to deep copper to a rich chocolate, the whitewashed wood cladding showing itself in grays, blues and greens. A palette I love.

Seen in the late afternoon, the sun reveals the ghostly structure, the top wisped in shadow. It's age apparent by the holes, missing and leaning sections, rust, stained wood and foreground growth. All contrasted against the newer power pole, it's wires, bypassing the older oil plant.

Painted with precision while allowing hints of a 'shaky hand' here and there to remind of it's delicate state. Presented from a distance but tightly cropped. A subject still robust but unsentimental. It's purpose having been served.63

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Aging Relic

"L.B. Plant ( Arco Oil Plant)"  SOLD

oil on panel, 2010

6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Back to one of my favorite subjects, the time worn industrial. This one an old oil plant from the 1930's or 40's, maybe the early 1950's I'm not sure.

The sky is actually darker than the photograph shows, and is a bit blurry here, so the painting looks better.

I always try to get the most accurate photo I can for my own archives, but sometimes I get so busy I don't have the time to spend. Always with regret once it's gone. Oh well, when I have the time I will adjust it in photoshop from memory then update it as I've done with the post 'Chilly Biting Air '.

This is the same site, different building, of the watercolor "Oil Plant Roof Detail" under the post heading ' Bleached White Sky '. An endlessly fascinating relic from a bygone era.

Painted in the fading light as the shadows slowly wick over the plant, consuming it once more in darkness. It's nearly a nocturne.

Dusk is my favorite time of day, I love the transition from day into night, so many of my paintings are at dusk. The temperature of air and color gradually cooling, forms melting together into single masses, the constant noisy clamor of day giving way to the sporadic crisper sounds of night.53

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Bleached White Sky

"Oil Plant Roof Detail"

watercolor on paper, 2010

9" x 12" (22.86cm x 30.48cm)

For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

Like my previous post, this subject is utility over beauty. Or at least inherent beauty.

So in this painting my concerns were about color and design.

A limited palette of mostly blue and brown with touches of grey and black.

Backlit and a bleached white sky helped give this image the contrast needed for a more abstract composition.

The cooler, darker blue and black provide a solidity for the heavy forms, but it's the accents of burnt sienna, the warmer blue in the vertical shadows and the light blue strip across the bottom that give the image some life.41

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