Arts Tour Weekend

I apologize for my not posting regularly here lately but, I'm still working on Laura's Mom's house. I have taken off this afternoon to do a demonstration at North Georgia College for the local Arts Tour Weekend. I was one of four local artists that took part today demonstrating their work at the entrance to the Bob Owens Gallery. I was there from one to five and produced the two small paintings below.

Arts Tour Brochure

I demonstrated my quick and dirty methods for production painting. I painted the two compositions using poster tempera on canvas that I mounted on chipboard.

Figs and Lemons, Poster tempera on canvas, 5" x7"

Figs and Lemons, Poster tempera on canvas, 5" x7"

Thanks for stopping by and have an interesting weekend.

Brad

Copper Pots

Dear Friend,

On a late summer afternoon, a time when the long rays of the summer sun are tending more to a fall-like sensuality, I have a post with a tactile sensibility. First is a detail of one of my paintings that showcases a copper vase that pleased me more than a little when I completed it. It is purely a mental fabrication based on a copper canister from our kitchen. 

1670 (detail) acrylic on paper with transfers

A drawing of the canister gives a sense of the surface quality of the spun metal. It is a quality that can be copied and transfered to a credible facsimile of an entirely different vessel.

Copper Canister graphite drawing on Arches paper

Have a lovely weekend.

Brad

Monday Paintings

Two paintings from my early work.

Caladiums, Acrylic on panel.

Cathedral, Acrylic on canvas. As a draftsman I like to work with three point perspective. This is an early experiment exaggerating the perspective and adding some of the characteristics of technical drawing that can be very attractive.

Have an interesting Monday.

Brad

Details

As I stated in a recent post, I am trying to find some focus in my work, trying to narrow what I am doing to raise my output and not be all over the place. I consider what is best about my work is my brushwork and my color selection. To this end I am planning work that will let me explore these affects. I have assembled some details from work that I have posted for this reason.

The brushwork in the pepper executed in the tempera painting above is a style that I find quite natural. It is a more sculptural style in that I push the paint around and shape it like clay. This suites my A.D.D. more than a more considered style.

 

Oils I treat a bit differently in that there is an under-painting but the fat is laid on in a more sculptural manner.

The tempera painting here is another example of defining the volume by pushing the paint around, mixing it on the canvas.

And again an oil with a lean under-painting then, laying the paint over to add a sculptural sensibility to the garment. Over all else the beauty of the paint itself.

I would like to know how you focus your work, writers and artists. How do you decide what is valuable to focus on? How do you go about discovering the aspects of your work that is exceptional but maybe you don't realize yourself. 

I imagine that working in a community of artists that you can consult on a continual basis helps greatly with this, but until I can surround myself with such I will have to struggle on and beg your indulgences my friends.

Have a fruitful and happy Monday.

Brad  

New Paintings

Two paintings I finished this past week. They are sprayed, Krylon on Arches Cover with oil over-painting, 11x14. The first image, a reworking of this by now familiar image, is Wind Prayer.

The second painting is Crossroad, and has been selected for a gallery exhibition. The crossroads, holy of holies for us drifters and wanderers. Where you can go to find God, or Satan, or yourself. Where all decisions can be made, to go right , left, your own way or take the road back home.

I'm playing with a compositional style I have found in Impressionist paintings of an image done in a duotone style with great splashes of bold color brushed over with some gusto. Spraying in cool temperatures led to some faults in the paint but I kept them as part of the composition.

Brad