Stephen Korbich - Artist

Orange Sign

2012-02-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

Since Christmas, I have been renovating my basement, again. Hopefully this is the last time for a while.

Unfortunately I was not improving my studio space. It is the same as it has been.

I was very much missing the painting. The lack of painting was effecting me in a bad way. The art work has become much more of a mental health issue and going without makes me sad.

This is a painting that had been started many months ago. It has been sitting in the basement taunting me. "Finish Me! Finish Me!" it seemed to beg. I just let it sit there, festering.

While not one of my more inspiring pieces, I like how it came out. The name "Orange Sign" is because of the one orange sign in the middle of the painting. I used some of the same orange to accent the sky, which is fictitious, but the blank fields of blue (painted more blue/green) needed something to liven them up.

I have always been fascinated by the scale of these entangled over-pass structures. Crazy big they are.

I have seven blank canvases primed and tinted, ready for more action.

Need to make some art

2012-01-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

So, the holidays are over once again and I spent the entire time (I had the week between x-mas and newyears off) doing some rebuilding of my basement. My "studio" has been filled with building materials and tools. The small canvas sheets are now, I imagine, permanently taped to the hard board panels.
I have not done any painting in a month or so and want to get back at it.
Art Media is now Blick Art Supplies and will soon be moving out of it's current location only three blocks away to a location in NW Portland! The closest art store is now Utrecht! Blick is having a canvas sale, I think I will check it out.

Walking to School

2011-11-27T11:53:00.000-08:00

This was still wet when I took this photo and has quite a bit of shine to the surface.

I exaggerated the golds and the reds for this one to give the feel of a glowing morning, which it was.

This was my daughters first full day of Kindergarten.

For this one, I went right from the dry under painting and completed the painting in a little over four hours.

I had been waiting to do the sky after the second layer had dried, but I wanted to get it done and also wanted to see if I could get the lighter colors to not only sit over any wet paint but also mingle a bit with the leaves to give more depth.

I think that I was successful.

This is a sweet subject and it is a keeper.

Portraiture by Edward Hopper

2011-10-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a great portrait by Edward Hopper. It is an interesting pose that he chose to paint his wife. He probably painted her in on the spot (plein air).

He painted her as she painted.

Amazing how he makes it look simple.

Aidan

2011-10-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

This project has been a challenge in that it has been my first attempt at a portrait in a long time.

I like the finished product (almost finished) but I continue to like the earlier stage above. Something about the unfinished quality is interesting. I need to play with this in future paintings.

Well, this was a good first try, but it is over worked and my transitions are a bit abrupt. The contrast is good. I did smooth out the gradient on his arm, which you can see in the two close-up photos.

Painting or drawing a likeness is one of the hardest things that I have done. This came out very close to what Aidan looks like, which is promising.

Aidan has a rather heroic pose going on here and I am glad I could capture it. He has been watching me do the painting and he seems pleased. He asked me how much I was going to sell it for and I told him that it would probably not go up for sale.

Three paintings

2011-10-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday and I completed the under painting on the left.

Now I have three painting starts.
I have a bit of a cold or something and the associated aches and pains are keeping me from painting more today.

I have had two breaks during this mornings session, which is how many I should take anyway.

Painting Aidan

2011-10-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

I needed a break from all the urban/industrial scenes so I am finally trying some paintings of people.
In this case, I started a painting of my son at the beach. While I still used a grid to help with the under painting, I did not need to do any additional layout lines. I just went right to laying down paint to sketch out the scene. This was very relaxing and very satisfying.
This image of Aidan at the beach was one of the rare moments that I was able to get him to pose, but not pose for a photo, if that makes any sense.
The composition is good with the opportunity to create color fields with the background elements. The light and shadow contrast is very good. September light is my favorite for it's long shadows and warm glow.
The canvas is 16" x 32", for which I made the stretcher of old wood from the Rebuilding Center. I will be starting another painting of this size as well, which will be of my wife and kids on their way to school.

New Camera Is Sweet

2011-09-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

I have been playing with this new camera. It is pretty nice for the cost. It is at least twice as powerful as the old camera, which I have been bitching about for years, and has a built-in rechargeable battery. It does not "curve" the edges of my paintings when I shoot them, which is great.

Now I need to find an affordable way to get better studio lighting that will reduce glare. I used some old t-shirts to cover the lights for this photo, which helps, but reduces the light quite a bit.

The battery life seems to be quite long and is designed to be able to recharge through the USB cord, so I can both charge and download images.

This camera takes nice movies as well, which will be fun to play with as well.

Maybe some film clips to add to the blog?

This 4' x 4' painting of the waterfront, "Beneath the Broadway Bridge" is still for sale, by the way.

New Easel

2011-09-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make an easel that can handle large paintings.

For a few bucks, at the Rebuilding Center, I was able to fabricate this thing.

Now, I was hoping to build in more adjustable parts, but I could not get everything to work.

The lower shelf has wooden brackets that connect to the main verticals (2x4's). These brackets were supposed to have holes drilled in them which were going to correspond to holes in the verticals, but that was easier said than done. For now, the shelf is "pinned" to the vertical members with screws. On a large painting, it is unlikely that I will be wanting to move it up and down much. It only takes a few minutes to reset the screws anyway.

If this works out, maybe I will build a more refined easel for this purpose.

In any case, I can now make paintings up to 80" tall if I want.

The photo was taken with my new camera, a Nikon Coolpix S3100. I sold a painting and invested a little in this new camera and am already enjoying the quality of the photos.

New York Bridge

2011-09-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

This project has been a challenge. It has taken me longer to complete this due to summer vacations, day job and being lazy.

I am finally finished with the Manhattan bridge painting and am looking forward to getting it out of the house.

This detail from the painting shows a yellow school bus, which turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the painting.

Here is a detail of the bridge.

I painted the vertical cables last using a straight edge. I don't usually use a straight edge while I am painting, but since these needed to be relatively straight and I no longer had the under painting to depend on, I opted to paint the lines on top. I also went back in and added back in lines to accentuate the edges against the blue sky.

There is quite a bit going on in this painting and I have learned some things about doing street scenes.

The amount of layout required to get the perspective right was a bit overwhelming and I stressed about keeping things right.

I was pulling my hair out with the bicyclist and realized that I had the rear wheel too high, which made it look very odd. A quick repainting of this area did the trick.

Manhattan Bridge Start

2011-07-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is a new painting for some friends who wanted something about New York.

The guy is from New York originally and misses the Bid Apple occasionally. This image is of the Manhattan bridge as seen from Brooklyn. It is 48" x 32"

I think that this was the most intensive layout that I have done to date.

I was not able to visit New York to do this, so I scrounged an image off the internet, squeezed it a bit and went at it.

This will be a good base for the final painting and I hope to keep a loose feel over the harder line layout.

There is quite a bit more detail in the foreground buildings, but I want to keep them more simple to emphasize the bridge beyond.

Mr Ai is free!

2011-06-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the NY Times report:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/world/asia/23artist.html?hp

It looks like China decided holding Mr Ai was not worth the trouble. This is a good move on their part, but does not excuse their behavior.

Passed over overpass

2011-06-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to paint this elevated highway scene for a while. This is where 30 and 405 intersect in NW Portland.
These overpasses are so over scaled and must have been quite the undertaking.
I like this scene because of the way the curves intersect. I have seen these things painted by a few artists and thought that now was the time to give it a try.
There is a simplicity here that I can focus on as well.
This image is of the under painting.

It has been a while

2011-05-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

I have been too busy with work and home that I have not been able to do much, but I did manage to get this painting done.
I like this photo as it gives some context to my work. Besides, I just can't get a good straight on shot of a painting this big.
I'm still working on getting that better camera, but with all the bills that seem to be coming in, I will be lucky to have enough to buy painting supplies.
As I mentioned earlier, this painting is 4' x 4' and would look great in a big living room or loft, hint, hint.

This man is Dangerous

2011-04-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

This was in the US news media for about five minutes, but the arrest of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei this month is a tragedy on many levels.
The photo above of Ai holding sunflower seeds, part of an installation that he did.
He also has done more provocative work, such as a photo of him giving Tienenmen square the finger. He is a harsh critic of the Chinese government. He is dangerous.
I have strong feelings about this as should we all.
China should be concerned that it is forcing out or silencing it's creative peoples. The large scale production of poorly made, inexpensive products with little emphasis on quality is a sure sign of this. China exports millions of products, but they have very little creative influence in the world.
The little that they do have is potentially crushed.

Hey China, listen up. Do yourself a favor and drop this totalitarian bullshit before it is too late. See what is happening in the Middle East? You think you can keep people under control, but your control is self defeating. Each incident like this puts you more in the Bad Guy role.
Modify your outmoded government to allow personal freedom and creativity. Dare I say "Democracy"? Ok, baby steps...

but let Mr. Weiwei go!

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/ai_weiwei/index.html

Making a Canvas

2011-03-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I have posted. This past weekend I got a bee in my bonnet about making a large canvas.
To buy a 4' x 4' canvas would cost me over $100 and I wanted to do it for under $20.
I purchased a 5' x 6' piece of unprimed canvas for $11 at a local art store. The wood stretcher bars that you can buy cost around $15 for each 4' section, which would cost $60 just for the stretcher.
That was too much bread so I went over to the Portland rebuilding center and found some wood trim that makes a nice stretcher edge (I have done this before). The salvaged wood only cost me $6! Nice, but I will need to fabricate the stretcher.

Here is the profile of the wood trim. It has a nice edge that the canvas can stretch over without making too much contact. The trim is also real wood, which makes it lighter and stronger than MDF.
I cut the trim into 4' sections using my chop saw.

I used by biscuit cutter to joint the pieces together. The biscuit cutter is a power tool atht can cut slots into adjoining pieces of wood to allow a wood "biscuit" to fit into each slot, joining the pieces together.

I used glue to hold the pieces together. A metal square is used to true up the frame.
The wood trim that I used has a big cross section and probably would work without braces, but since I had all the equipment out, I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry.
I had some extra wood pieces in my garage that I cut with 45 degree angles and again used the biscuit cutter to join them to the frame. Now I have a solid stretcher frame to stretch the canvas over
.

The camera makes the frame looked bowed, but it is very true and square.
Then I waited for the glue to dry and stretched the new canvas over the frame.
Then a prime the canvas with three coats of Gesso and I have a big 4' x 4' canvas for less than $20. Ok, so I have all the tools and some extra primer, but I still think that this counts as a money saver. I did spend about three hours making the thing. I did have enough wood to make an extra 2' x 2' stretcher. I should have thought ahead and got one more yard of canvas, but I can get that anywhere for a low price.

Hmm, now I have to find something to paint!

Art on Wheels

2011-03-04T15:18:00.001-08:00

This post was meant for another blog, but I made it here by accident. I am too lazy to move it to the correct place, so here it stays.
Since The Art of the Motorcycle was a recent exhibit at the Guggenheim museum in New York, I think it will be safe in my art blog.

This is another passion of mine. I am a motorcycle addict.
I ride a Kymco Super 8 150cc scooter at the moment. I had to sell my Yamaha FZ1 (1000cc, 120 hp, 0 to 60 in 3 seconds) bike because I needed to pay for a summer vacation. I rode my bicycle to work for a year and decided I was going to get killed. I was hit once during that time and other cyclists are not as nice or smart as I hoped.
The scooter is cheap and fun to ride and with no clutch or gears to worry about, a 60 mph top speed and 60-70 mpg fuel economy it is a good thing to have.

So here is my fantasy...some day maybe...before I get too old...

This is a 2003 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 sportbike. It is not to be trifled with or taken for granted. It is fast and light and will make you poop your pants and would be more than happy to kill you. I want one.
One like this was advertised for $4000 in my local Graig's list and it made me drool.
Well, this all depends on who you talk to. Some experienced sport bike riders say that the GSX-R is a pussycat and is an easy bike to ride fast.
Before I get too old, I would like to try one of these machines. I could and probably would ride it to work but I would need to take it to the track to get the true feel of the thing.
I would also invest $1000 in a leather riding suit, boots and gloves. My street helmet should work for track riding. Track day fees are around $200/day.
Motorcycle insurance can be expensive for one of these, but given how little I might be able to pay for one, I may just get basic coverage.
I would like to have a bike like this and a scooter or another bike. Here is a 2005 Honda CBR 1000, which is supposedly even easier to ride and just as fast (there is much debate of performance amongst 1000cc bikes.)

These kinds of sport bikes are called "Liter" bikes because of their one liter displacement.
This Suzuki Bandit 1250 is probably a better choice for someone like me. It is still fast but has a much more comfortable riding position. I could take it to the track as well. Insurance will be less.

This 1999 BMW R110oS is a neat bike. It looks good and is solid, but not even as fast as the Bandit, but it would be nice. It would be an appropriate bike for an architect.
Even this older model would likely cost more than the better performing bikes above.
It is arguably the best looking of the bunch, but these are all works of art in my book.

Landscape

2011-02-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

This was a quick one inspired by a walk on Bybee Lake.
I wanted to do something a little looser.
I believe that Jen has already claimed it as her own...

More tomorrow

2011-02-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted anything. Work and family stuff has been keeping me busy, but I have been painting.
I managed to get the Casa Di Bambini painting safely off to New Jersey in time for the Montessori school parent tour.

I finished the Civic Stadium Painting, which is shown below. I was not happy with the plain blue sky, so I added some wispy clouds that are actually clouds I saw over the west hills.
I still really like the shapes that are happening here and think that they make a nice composition.
This is a 30 x 40 painting and I have already made a frame for it.
I am hoping to enter this painting and two others in the Lake Oswego Center for the Arts Festival. The deadline is March 4th and I have the paintings photographed and need to get the materials in the mail.

My daughter wanted to paint with me and I needed to put a base down for some future paintings.
I still had a bunch of paint left over and noticed a painting of sunflowers that I had set aside (and abused) and decided that it needed a new background. I had fun doing the loose background and I think that the painting sings now.
It is no Van Gogh (see his Sunflowers), but it is pleasant enough.

Degas, you Magnificent Bastard!

2011-01-24T20:03:00.000-08:00

Impressionist or Post Impressionist, whatever you may place him, his work is amazing.
I go to used book sales and pick up art books if I can. I saw one on Degas and for $3 figured I couldn't loose.
He was very interested in moments, small and subtle moments of reality.
I love this painting of the horse track. The subject is of the racers sizing each other up before the race. The whole scene glows with an either early morning or late afternoon light. They are probably trotting around on grass and I like how Degas made the choice to make the ground golden instead of green (it may very well have been golden like California gets in the summer).
He took great care in laying out his paintings. In every one you will find no error in perspective or proportion, which is amazing.
I admire his use of contour and color. Some say that many of his paintings are cold and aloof, but this one is warm and expressive.

Montessori Progress

2011-01-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

I had a productive Sunday on this one and am almost finished.
I think that the window shutters are too light, even though they are in direct sun. They should be more blue-green and contrast a bit more from the stucco wall.
The curtain in the window is something that I made up. It needs a crisp shadow line to make it believable.

Things in the Basement

2011-01-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

It was a wet Portland weekend and I managed to sneak in some painting time.
Saturday I managed to do the layout on canvas for the Casa Di Bambini painting while I "watched" for the kids. My daughter did some drawing with me while I sketched.
Later, during a lull in family activity, I did the under painting for the "Bambini" and set it aside to dry.
At another break, while the kids were watching a movie, I re painted the Civic Stadium painting sky. While I liked the green color, it just wasn't working for me as the sky. I kept looking at it and could not love it. I think that if the whole painting was more abstract, say with a red sky and green stadium, it would have worked as a piece. Now it is a simple blue sky with a bit of the green coming through, which adds a nice depth to it.
I was too spent to take any photos this time.

My studio is in the basement, so that is where the paintings live. I go in to visit them even if I can't do any painting. There is a conversation going on between me and the canvas, trying to decide how they want to be.
When I have more than one painting going at the same time the conversation is even more interesting. I love being surrounded by work in progress.

Casa di Bambini

2011-01-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

This is the start of a small commission for a painting of the original Montessori school, started by Maria Montessori, in Rome.
Google Maria Montessori if you want the story on the school.
The patron is an ex-girlfriend from New Jersey who is starting a Montessori school.
She wanted to purchase a painting from the Marysville series that was already purchased, so she came up with an idea to do a painting of the original school.
We pieced together some photos and this is what I came up with. I will use it as a guide, but it is kind of a nice drawing on it's own.

The Civic Stadium

2011-01-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

Here are a few detail snap shots of the current painting.
It is coming together nicely, but there was something about the orange background that made the painting more powerful.
I do need to try more expressive use of color in future stuff.
I came very close to finishing the painting, but ran out of time and steam for that matter.

I did a bit of editing of the subject for this painting. In actuality, there are tree branches, a bunch of bike racks and the red tent is actually forest green, but none of that was working.

I specifically did not paint in an all blue sky. The green is something that I made up.

I need to do the people, the stadium seating and the fence pickets.

Here is what my palette looks like after a day of painting.

Dreams and Revelations

2011-01-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

I awoke from a dream last night in a state of profound enlightenment, or so it felt at the time. The dream that I had been having was an elaborate mystery acted out by friends and acquaintances.

This was the first of three dreams that I had.

The next had something to do with art and the third I really can’t remember, but they all seemed to relate and left me lying in a bit of a sweat. This is not the first 3AM revelation that I have had, but it was pretty intense.

As with most dreams they make much less sense now than they did while experiencing the dream. What I do know is that when I woke up for the first dream I had a profound realization that there is so much to explore in life and in art.

Lying awake at 3:00 AM I felt the desire to write a novel, which would be based on friends and acquaintances and would weave a mystery of unexpected twists and turns. The story would take place in the city, perhaps a morphed Portland or other place.

My thought was then that perhaps I should write a new great American novel. I somehow managed to think that somehow I could use my life as the basis for an interesting story that would somehow connect my generation.

Waking from the next dream left images of artwork and an art scene that I am not yet apart of. While creating my own original art work, I managed to create some paintings that copied fragments of other artists work. I don’t know why I was doing this exactly, but it did engender some ideas that have not yet fully formed in my mind.

Architecture, usually urban in nature, is always a part of my dreams. I do get into a lot of detail about what the city around me looks like. Some of it is bright and new and some is old and dark, but there is always a sense that this is the stage set of my life.

I am fully awake now and attempting to solve the problem of water infiltration from below and existing concrete slab. This is not really what I want to be doing with my life. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy being an architect, I do, and I think that it works for me. Having the professional life and the artist life are not mutually exclusive and, in fact, each will enhance the other.

I am tired because I woke up three times last night, but I am left feeling like there are things to do. I don’t feel overwhelmed, just energized.

Happy New Year

2011-01-02T14:36:00.000-08:00

I have had a bad cold for the past week, including New Years Eve. It has been making me very tired and I have not had the energy that I usually have to paint, but I did it anyway.
Today was good and I managed to get the layout completed as well as the majority of the under-painting.
I like this scene because of the vertical line of the mast and the curve of the stadium roof.
I also like the sense of scale that you get from the people at the bottom of the frame. The sky is the usual Portland blue, but I am hoping to do something a little different with it.
This painting is 30" x 40" and it is good to be working big again.

Trading Card Art

2010-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

My wife gave me a pack of Strathmore Artist Trading Card blanks.
These are about the size of a business card and their origin is as follows, according to Wikipedia:

"Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards,^[1] or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (63 mm X 89 mm),^[2] small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets.^[3] The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland.^[4] Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold."

My wife has been bugging me to make something with them. This past weekend I sat down with my daughter to do some drawing and thought that it would be the perfect time to try them out.

Natasha was drawing with crappy Crayola colored pencils and I couldn't help wanting to get her better media. I dug out some ancient Prismacolor sticks that I think that I purchased back in like 1988 for undergraduate school. I have always wanted an excuse to use them.

I felt absolutely no pressure to do anything and had fun just drawing what was sitting around me or visible out the window. The Prisma sticks have a very nice color depth and I like that they force you to be loose. Unlike pastels, they don't layer very well, especially on a smooth paper and require a little bit more upfront thought.

I love the color intensity of these little guys and could see them as larger paintings. I hope to do more with my daughter in the future.

They were framed

2010-12-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

I made some frames this past weekend for my Christmas gift series.
I took me about three hours to make five little frame, including set up and clean up. The frames still need some clear finish.
They are made of 1" x 3" and 1/8" x 1 1/2" hemlock trim from Home Depot.
I use a power miter saw to cut them, a biscuit cutter to join the mitered pieces and a brad nail gun, attached to a small compressor to fasten the edge pieces. I use wood glue on all connecting edges.
Any time I need to turn my garage into a wood shop, I need to make sure that I am making a few things as it takes me an extra 30-45 minutes to set up and clean up.
The painting shown in one of the frames was done by my daughter Natasha and I had some extra wood so I thought that I would make her a frame for it.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

I was able to crank out these paintings this past holiday weekend. My idea is to give these to my relatives for Christmas and think that these will be good and dry to ship my mid December.
I was digging through my wood pile and need to figure something out for the frames.
The main reason is to share something with my family who have been so supportive over the years. I love them and wish I could afford to buy them nice gifts or take them on trips to Hawaii. Alas, I am quite broke these days and so the second main reason that I am making the paintings is that they are inexpensive for me to create.
These are all smaller paintings, done on scrap MDF board. The rectangular ones are 7" x 9" and the square are 10" x 10".
I have been using a tripod to photograph my work and have been having better results with the same camera. This is good because I don't think that I will be able to afford a new camera any time soon.
It is funny, I am feeling like a starving artist, especially with Christmas coming. I may have to start using paintings as currency, or as trade for services. Do you think that the City of Portland will take a painting as payment for my out-of-control (what is it like $4500 this year!) property tax?

Children Have the Stuff

2010-11-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

I seriously don't know. My daughter is showing some talent in the art area and I will encourage her, but I am torn.
I set her up with some acrylic paints the other day and she jammed out some paintings.

Natasha has a nice balance going on in her paintings.

She killed me with this one. I am really getting inspired by her.

Ahhh, more room

2010-11-20T19:01:00.001-08:00

So, I am still painting in my basement, but I now have a little more room.
I had been working out here next to my painting set-up and it was always crowded.
The washing machines used to be right at my back and when we did laundry, I was in the way.
I think it was a blessing in disguise when my seven year old elliptical trainer broke. Initially, I was determined to fix the thing, even thinking that I could weld it. I struggled with the machine for a while, but could not even get at the broken steel tube that had broken and decided that enough was enough (I had just welded another piece on it about two months ago).
I sat there, defeated and decided that it would be a good time to get the exercise routine out of the basement. As it turned out, a gym membership is cheap at a place down the street from my office
downtown and I had been thinking that I would like to get back to a gym.
I think that this will be a good change.

I worked down in my "new" studio today and was happy with the set up. I still need to work on my lighting, but having more space to stand back and look at the painting from a distance is good.

The blue painting is just the start of a fourth painting in my holiday gift collection. The color of the background is quite the opposite of the brick color of the wall and it will be cool to see how it works out. Again, the perspective on these is very important so I did take a lot of time to lay out the scene.
The photo that I am working from has a tree top in the lower right hand of the scene as well as some rainbow flags. I decided to not paint these in.
Jen says the flags represent the gay folks and this is one of the gay districts of Portland. I am certainly not excluding the flags from the scene for any anti-gay reason, only aesthetic reasons.

Paint Faster!

2010-11-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

It is going to be a challenge to get these paintings done for Christmas, but I think I can do it.
The FedEx truck is 7 x 9 and the street corner is 10 x 10. It takes a fair amount of time to lay them out, but I wanted to get the proportions correct.
The sign in the street corner painting is off a bit and may need some adjusting.
I should be painting in the evening, but I am so wiped from the day. I can push myself to do it...

Happiness is a Warm Gun

2010-11-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

The AA12 is a fully automatic 12 gauge shotgun that is capable of firing 300 rounds per minute. The weapon is designed so that all of the energy is absorbed by the auto loading mechanism, so there is virtually no recoil. In addition to standard 12 gauge shells, the AA12 is designed to fire explosive rounds.

This post is the most political post that I have made yet. The cartoon that I made represents the stupidity of these kinds of weapons. I am not anti-gun or anti-war or a peace loving tree hugger, but at some point enough is enough. A weapon like this in the wrong hands (what are the right hands?) could unleash deadly havoc on a crowd of innocent people. The weapon is supposedly designed for close range urban combat, where it would have a ridiculous advantage.

I came across this weapon while watching a TV show. The bad guys were smuggling these dangerous weapons into Miami. I was curious if there was such a thing as an automatic shotgun, so I Googled it.

The AA12 came up with a number of videos demonstrating the weapon. I came to the realization that as grown men, we are really just little boys inside who like to blow stuff up.

I am a fan of shoot-em-up video games and have shot actual shotguns and hand guns so I too have this innate curiosity. My son runs around fighting imaginary battles using imaginary weapons of all types and I am both horrified and intrigued by this behavior. As we get older, there is some understanding that these weapons are designed to actually kill real people, not just imaginary evil creatures. What is disturbing about the videos is the child like thrill that the shooters seem to be getting from firing the weapon at unsuspecting plastic canisters. Again, I am not without guilt here as I would probably not turn down the opportunity to shoot-em-up.

Our desire, some say need, to create ever more vicious ways to kill each other is never ending.

To create the cartoon, I traced an actual soldier firing the weapon and then created another overlay that made the soldier into a clown shooting a bubble gun. I then scanned these sketches into the computer and added color and texture in Photoshop. The result is what you see.

The Dark Tower Returns

2010-11-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to get enough of this water tower. I have painted it for the third time now and I still find it interesting.
The opposite side of the tank has been tagged by some obsessed water tower tagger, which is unfortunate. The dark tank appeals to me as a simple form and the way it is placed on the roof top.
It is funny that these utilitarian objects take on such prominence in the skyline.
This tower reminds me of some kind of silent robot, waiting for it's time to unleash terror on the city below.

Anyway, I am starting a series of small paintings (the one above is 7" x 9"), mainly as Christmas presents for my family.
They will be painted on MDF panels, which I salvaged from home projects.

Cable Towers

2010-10-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished painting of the cable car towers.
The most trouble that I seemed to have with it is getting my signature to look right, which it still doesn't.
I have been concerned that my John Hancock looks a little sloppy and may need to invest in a very small brush. Some say that an artist should sign on the wet painting, which is difficult to do. I sure looks to me like others paint a signature onto dry paint.
It felt good to work on this. It was a rainy Sunday morning and it was great to just listen to music, paint and daydream.

William Wray

2010-10-07T08:24:00.001-07:00

I can across William Wray's work in a comic book store of all places. This is probably because he worked (works?) in the comic/cartoon industry.
He has a style that I really admire and I get inspiration from his work.
William works in oil paint and has a great loose technique, augmenting a potentially banal scene with color and light.
Check out his blog to learn more...
http://williamwray.blogspot.com

This cityscape has a wonderfully dark feel to it. To me, it looks like a labyrinth's edge, or a fortress wall. Beyond is a bridge to something light. The glow of the refelected low sun in the valley of the street adds incredible depth to this piece.

William lives in Southern California and much of his artwork uses imagery from the gritty urban landscapes around him.
Here, he embelishes a funky old carport and uses power poles and yellow curb to frame the scene. I like that he is not afraid to work the dark, shady areas and takes vantage points where he is looking towards the light source . Notice the detail of the car at the left side, with it's red tail lights. Cool.

Marysville Paintings on Display

2010-10-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

I finally got the Marysville paintings up on display at a local cafe.
The Eclectic Kitchen (4936 NE Fremont) was nice enough to allow me to nail up the five paintings.
Please stop but, have a coffee and one of their tasty pastries and have a look at the art.
The space is great for displaying art and the lighting is very good. This will be a nice home for these paintings for a few months.

http://www.eclectickitchenpdx.com/

Basics

2010-10-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

After finishing the Morrison Bridge painting, I decided that I needed to simplify what I am doing. The Marysville paintings have a quality of light and subject that are working for me. I am interested in the bits an pieces of urban life. These are the places and things that we miss while going about our busy lives.
I am interested in the layering that is happening here. The power cables are an interesting middle ground, which make for a framework for the rest of the image.
The sense of solid and void, light and dark are compelling. We will see if this works in the final run, but I am feeling good about it.
My hope is to create paintings that someone can recognize but also see as an abstract composition.
I was thinking about doing a large version of this, but wanted to start something.

child art

2010-10-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

It is great to watch children make art. They are so loose with the way they express themselves and it can be very refreshing to see what they come up with.
Here, Aidan and Natasha draw with chalk on our old concrete driveway walls. They have very different "styles" if you could call it that. Natasha was doing a dance of some kind, swinging the chalk in her hand and grazing the wall with short strokes, making the line drawing that you see. It has an abstract impressionism vibe. She used at least three different colors and seemed vary deliberate as to where she marked the concrete canvas.
Aidan's drawing has a cave painting, primitive feel to it. He is trying to show movement of the characters along the curve. As you can see, he wanted to make sure that everyone knows that this was his handiwork.
We took them to the art museum this afternoon. Aidan is always saying that art is boring or he will say "I could make that" while looking at some of the drawings. "You should do that then" I said to him. Natasha, on the other hand, seems to enjoy the museum.
I envy both their ability to work quickly and not over-think what they are making. They inspire me.

Hudson Valley School

2010-09-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

The Hudson Valley School was a bunch of 19th century american artists who were in to sublime landscapes.

We have all seen these kinds of paintings in art museums and they are impressive.

In my previous post about the Morrison bridge painting, I was musing about the feel of the painting and how it felt old.
While I can't hold a candle to someone like Samuel Coleman's "Rainbow" painting shown here, I am thinking that the Morrison bridge painting has some similarities.

Try replacing the rainbow with the bridge in your mind.

Morrison

2010-09-13T20:18:00.001-07:00

OK, I'm looking at the image of my painting above and am thinking that it looks like an early American landscape painting. Is that a good thing? It does not seem like a bad thing.

It certainly does not suck.

I would really like to be able to loosen up more.

Anyway...it is good (my wife said it was "good", which usually means that there is something that is bugging her about it)

I do like how the painting can out. The stretched out view shows the entire bridge span as well as the rivers edge. The sense of light is pretty good as it was on my way home from work at about 5:00 PM in the fall. Those clouds were really ominous looking and I thin that I captured the power of the sky here.

Reflections continue to be a challenge, but I did well here. I held back on too much detail on the water, which is good. One could paint ripples and waves forever...no thanks.

This 12 inch by 48 inch painting is for sale. Please buy it. It will look great over your sofa or flat screen TV. I am thinking $600 with a black hand crafted frame if you are interested. As usual, my photo does not do the painting justice, so please come see it in person.

Seriously, I need some cash for a better digital camera and to buy Mickey Mouse ears for my kids when we go to Disney Land in October. The only reason that we are going to Disney Land is that my wife has a fantastically generous sister who wants to get a picture with the kids and Mickey.

Painting Gear

2010-09-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

A lot of people ask me about my technique. They seem to be impressed that I use oil paints and consider them to be difficult and messy to work with.
They also consider them to be smelly.
Ok, oil paints can be all of these things, but are not necessarily any worse than acrylics.

Brushes:

I use what are called "Brights" which have a straight, flat bristle. I rarely use any rounds or beveled brushes. The brights can be used to make thick or thin strokes.
The smaller four here are what I generally use to do my painting, with the larger one being used for prepping backgrounds.
I don't have a favorite brand per say, I usually look for a good brush that is on sale.
I like the synthetics vs. the horse hair brushes because fo their uniformity and soft feel.

Paint:

I use walnut oil based paints by M. Gharam exclusively. My palette is currently what you see below.
Titanium White
Transparent Iron Ixide, dark and light
Van Dyke Brown
Yellow Ochre
Cerulean Blue
Ultramarine Violet
Ultramarine Blue
Cadmium Red, Light
Quinacridone Red
Olive Green
Cadmium Yellow

Solvents:

These are the things that have more toxic vapors. Thinners are used to make paints more runny and for cleaning brushes. I use a low odor type of mineral spirit, which helps make it easier to live with.
Medium is used to make the paint more fluid and hastens the drying time. This has an alkyd that is kind of nasty. I usually mix a little of the medium with my paint as I mix on the palette using the squeeze bottle you see here.
I keep a little walnut oil to use as a thinner as well. You could use the oil almost exclusively as a medium and to clean things. This would make it much less toxic.

I must stress that even though there are these so called "odorless" thinners, you need to always paint in a well ventilated space. I always have a fan going to move nasty vapors out of the room.
Even still, I need to take a break every hour or so to get some fresh air.
I wish that I could afford to build the studio in my backyard so that I would have more room and better ventilation.

I will have to talk about how I clean my brushes sometime.
Actually, I destroy my brushes, and just happen to run them under water and rub soap into them, which while necessary, seems futile.

Waste:

While taking a painting class I learned that you never have to trash your used thinner. Simply pour the dirty thinner into a mason jar, cover and wait a few days. The solids settle down to the bottom of the jar, leaving virtually clear thinner that you can reuse.
I have a mason jar that I have been using this way for two years now and it is just now getting to the top with sediments.

I have an old board that I wipe all my unused paint on. (it is always a challenge to waste as little paint as possible). This board must weight five pounds by now and I intend to keep piling on the paint. In contrast to acrylic paints, which "clean up" with water, there is little waste added to the water system.

I try to use old underwear and socks for rags. Old under shirts are the best. Once they are nice and dirty, I do need to dispose of them inthe trash. I probably use my rags for vehicle and household projects than I do for painting, which is sad.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that oil painting is the greener alternative.

Morrison Bridge Begins

2010-08-31T07:33:00.001-07:00

This is a long painting of the Morrison Bridge here in Portland.
I really like some of the panoramic images that I get from my digital, piece of crap, camera.
In fact, the panoramas seem to be the only good quality of the camera.
Anyway, here is an image taken by said camera of the latest start. This underpainting is around four feet long and I got a little carried away with the background base, which is all the swirling orange that you see.
Please think about buying this painting so that maybe I can invest in a good digital camera.

Musing

2010-08-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

While I have not done any actual painting in a few weeks, I have been thinking about it.

Finding interesting subjects is actually a big job and takes a lot of time, luck and presistence.

As we get into the late summer and early fall, the sun starts to cast longer shadows. This is my favorite time to taake photos as the contrast is good and the colors warm.

I have been trying to get more scenes with people in them. It is very hard to walk around and snap photos of people and not feel a little creepy, but these are becoming much more interesting subjects to me.

In addition to this scouting around, I have the layout lines on a long canvas set up in my easle for a painting of a bridge. I was very close to starting the underpainting this past weekend, but just did not get in the mood.

Obsession and Madness and Making Art

2010-08-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Art is a funny thing. Artists are funny creatures and must be strange in some way to make them want to do what they do.
There seems to be a meeting point between madness and creativity which creates a calm place.
I know that for me, when I am painting, I feel very centered and calm. When I am not painting I think about things too much and am probably borderline obsessive compulsive or ADD at least.

I was reading a blog of an artist that I know. He gets a lot of shit from family and friends about his art and how much time he spends on it. He is very intelectual, or somes off as such and may be more self concious about how people see him.
He is a great photographer in a very austeir kind of way. His drawings are very simple, but are built of many layers and so many lines that you would think it would take a year to do one of his large drawings.
His work is very different from the work that I do, yet I admire the dedication to the art.
From looking at his work, I can't help but think that he is driven by some kind of obsession and that if he did not get his thoughts out in this way, he may slip into some mad state of being.
I would show you his work, but I don't know him that well and I would not want to offend.

This seems to be a common thread amongst most artists. The art is a mediator of the artists madness and emotion not just a pretty (or ugly) object.

I guess that what I am getting at is that the artist must make art or they will wither and die.
Make fun or roll your eyes, but they are doing what they do because the have to.

Marysville Paintings Done!

2010-08-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, I finally got the last one finished this weekend.

Well, it has to sit for a bit to dry and I need to see if something is bugging me about it, but it is done.

Next I will oil out the last two and add a temporary varnish.

Then I will add the usual wood "frame" and see if I can get them up in a cafe.

I am very happy to have this series on the way out of the studio.

Sweet!

Young Artist

2010-08-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

This is a painting that my four year old daughter Natasha made.

It really caught my eye. She did this all by herself with no direction. I think that it has nice balance and color.

I think that Natasha has a natural talent and hope to help foster her art.

She has taken to drawing and painting more so than my son and has much more patience for it, which is key.

She call it, "Flower Garden"

Last Night

2010-07-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

In a whiskey fueled session last night, I made some progress on the final painting in the Marysville series. The blue green adn violet colors make me think of comic books from the 1980's. I like the way the colors are working here.
The reflections are working pretty well.
I was surprised how long it was taking me to paint this one. There is quite a bit of detail here, even though it looks relatively simple. I was working at night and was probably more tired than usual, which may have made the time it feel longer than it was.
The tree highlight, sky and stuff through the windows is next and probably should be the last of it. I need to wait a week to let this layer dry.
Oh, how I want to be done with this series! Almost there...

Fine tuned

2010-07-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

I was looking at this one for a while. The lack of shadows makes it difficult to give depth.
The back of the electrical panel box can been seen in the images that I was using for reference.
The wires are darker in reality. Reality was not cutting it for me.

This weekend I wne t back and darkened (almost black) the panel box and lightend the switch panel. This does give more depth to the painting. This is an example where I needed to take some artistic license.
While this is still a different sort of subject, and perhaps a misfit, I think it portrays a kind of dark quality, which contrasts with some of the other paintings in the series and can add some balance. We will see how it plays in front of a crowd.

Sketchbook

2010-07-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

There is a great roof top patio at the building where I have my day job. It is a great place to clear the mind.
I have many sketch books from over the years. I have never been as anal as some architects in keeping a sketchbook, but do like to put down some thoughts.
The sketches above represent a 20 minute coffee break on the roof.

The progress on the Marysville series is dragging on too long. I need to get them finished. Stay tuned.

Marysville 5 Starts

2010-07-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

My painting sessions on the weekend tend to start fairly mellow but end in a frenzy. I usually realize that I have been painting for hours and that the kids are freaking out as is my lovely wife, who has been dealing with the kids.

I was feeling kind of woozy after this session. It was probably the combination of thinner fumes and low energy.

There was a lot of layout involved with this painting because getting the perspective tight was critical. The reflections were a challenge as well. I did the layout with a light pencil, the underpainting with my usual gray mix and white. I have spent six to eight hours on this to get it to this point.

More Marysville 4

2010-07-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, I like it, I don't like it, I like it...

I think that this gets the idea across for what I was hoping for. Or not.

It is kind of flat don't you think?

The lack of shadows does not help the flatness. A shadow line in the box would help.

The light switch is my favorite part, which is funny.

I set out to finish the thing last night and I did. So there.

This one can sit while I finish the last Marysville scene.

Grinding Away

2010-06-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

The latest Marysville painting has been a good challenge.
I am having trouble figuring out how to paint the wires in the scene.
The first image is shows the overall progress.

This next one shows wehre I got into trouble.

The wet in wet technique is when you add paint to wet paint already on the painting.

It can be a great blending technique for different things.

However, the danager is a muddy mess like you see below.

After I botched the top half, I changed my thinking, knowing that I would have to come back again and work on it after it had dried.

Patience is the key sometimes...

Marysville 4 Under-painting

2010-06-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

I keep wanting to get the Maarysville Series Finished.
While the need to finish is looming, I don't feel any less excited about the paintings.
Each one has it's own little story to tell.
This one, of a junction box has a mystery to it. To me the image says something about the complexity of things that lie beneath the skin. It is a deconstruction of sorts.
The majority of the painting will be grays and pay yellow browns, but the wires around the switch panel will be many colors. I hope to exagerate the subtle color that I see in the existing images.
While there is a story here, I also hope the painting has a graphic, patterened quality, with the potential for abstration and random geometries.
Or, it's just a grungy, funky painting of a messed up electrical panel, which would be ok too.

Number 5 is under construction and is in the pencil stage right now, so there is hope that I will finish the series within a month.

Portland Artists That I Like

2010-06-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that I appreciate that Google has offered me this free blog space.
Second, the editor that is supplied with the blog is a pain.

Anyway, beggers can't be choosers, so here are some painters I like.

Melinda Hannigan

Robin Siegl

Henk Pander

Roll Hardy

Micheal Brophy

Jolyn Fry

Working on Working River II

2010-06-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

I had some time this weekend to add the sky. The painting has come together as I had hoped.

It is interesting to notice how my palette is becoming consistent from one painting to the next.

This painting is at the stage where it could be done, but I want some time to think about it.

My fear is to not have done enough but at the same time not wanting to over-work the thing.

I feel good about where this painting is at and it may very well be complete.

I purchased some old wood at the Rebuilding Center and will make a frame this weekend.

Little bits of something big

2010-06-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some teasers of the current project

I think there is good texture here. The colors are close and the sky is really going to pull things together! I will let this dry for a few days and hit it again.

Kill the TV - Progress

2010-05-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

I managed to get the energy up to do this underpainting last night. Once I was doing it, the energy came back strong.

The TV is definitely a mind killer.

Here is a bad photo of the progress that I made.

Yes, the background is orange/red done with iron oxide and cadmium red.

The line and shading were done with my usual mix of Van Dyke Brown, Ultramarine Blue and Iron Oxide Red. As I mentioned in other posts, I try to not use pure black unless I am trying to make a point about something.

I didn't get much on the clouds but did get a little Titanium White to give some ideas of what I want.

The clouds are not as dramatic in the photo that I took, but the composition needs balance in the upper left, so I hope to do a large cloud formation there.

Don't think that I am going to become a preachy anti-TV type. I like the TV just as much as the next guy. TV is crap and we all know it, but we can't help ourselves. The more you watch the stupider you get and I have watched way too much TV over the years, which explains a lot.

After the fire III

2010-05-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here is the third painting in the Marysville Series.

I hope to have five paintings in this series.
Why five? I think that to get a real feel for the extent of the damage and I need to tell a story from a number of vantage points.
The more I work on these, the more depth they seem to have, for me at least.
As I have said before, these paintings are about hope.
The scenes are also an architects dreamscape. How often do you get to see a building like this with no roof and blue skies above. The fire has forced a deconstruction of the structure to reveal something new?
The main subject of this painting is, obviously, the door. The red color, which is somewhat exagerated is a bright and lively object in an otherwise drab scene. It is open slightly which gives a sense of longing to kno what is beyond or that something is about to be revealed.
I am excited to see the series together.

More Studies for Working River II

2010-05-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

This scene seems to lend itself to a horizontal format.
The previous post showed the vertical version, which
cuts off the Fremont bridge. Also, more of the river
is shown here.
I think either one could be nice, but it depends on what
the potential patron is interested in.

Working the River Again

2010-05-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

Someone contacted me this week about a painting that had been sold at the opening a few months ago. The painting in question was "Working River I", which was sold.
I am excited about the idea and have started thinking about it.
This is a sketch of a slightly different view of the scene.

Bless this mess

2010-05-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

I decided to take the day off from my day job today. Last week my wife (Jen) had a tumor removed from her neck.
We were hoping that it was benign, but learned yesterday that it was low grade cancer.
I spent the morning with Jen to get her a follow up x-ray, which will tell us if she has any cancer in her heart or lungs.
I am still numb from the news. I thought that it would be good to do some painting to relax. It helped.
The Marysville paintings take on more meaning with my wife's current health issues.
I need some good news and some hope. The Marysville series is about hope and rebirth after tragedy.

Update:
My wifes X-Ray came back negative! Good thoughts and artfull gestures must do the trick.

Marysville Dreams

2010-05-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

The School fire at Marysville school was devistating, but there is hope.
My experience with the building after the fire moved me to capture a moment in time that will not be seen again.
Since this vist, the plaster has been removed and the historic woodwork and plaster has been warehoused for future use in a new building.
I was hoping that my architecture office would be hired to do the remodel and expansion of the school, but this was not to be. Perhaps this will make these images even more memorable.
It would be nice to have the planned series of five hung on the walls of the school in the future. Perhaps an art purchase by the project? Perhaps a donation by the artist. We will see.
I think the image above is the centerpiece of the series as it shows something that evokes hope and rebirth (the trees reaching towards the sky).
I have the next in the series sitting on my easle to taunt me.

Marysville School - After the Fire II

2010-04-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have blogged. I have been prepping canvas and making a frame for a previous painting.
I have been busy at work as an architect too. I have been just plain tired.
This past weekend, I had the time to finish this Marysville painting.
I am happy with the light and color quality of this one. I need to finish the first of this series by filling in a sky, but I was so drawn to the painting above that it will have to wait. Maybe an evening this week.
I shipped off the "Yellow Streetcar" to my mom, who just had to have it.
The poor gal tripped this past weekend and broke her leg. She had surgery and is doing ok, but please send some good thoughts her way.

Back at it

2010-03-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

The show seems like a distant memory, even though it has only been a little over a week. Even before the show, I was having thoughts of the next batch of paintings.
This past weekend, I started a painting based on images and observations of a project that my office is doing on the Marysville school in SE Portland.
The school had a fire last year that destroyed a third of the building. There were no injuries from the fire, so it was a sucess as far as fire safety goes.
Had someone been killed or seriously hurt, this would be a memorial.
I had the opportunity to view the ruins of the school. The majority of the burnt material was removed from the site, leaving the floor and walls but no ceiling. It was a lovely day and the sunlight was casting deep shadows and the blue sky was above. Some of the walls had holes and the paint and wall finishes had puckered and peeled in places. Pools of water had collected in low spots on the floor, creating oasis like reflections. I could not help thinking of making paintings out of this.
I think that people have always been enamored with building ruins. It must have something to do with a realization of our mortality or is some kind of sentimental trip.
I am hoping to do at least five paintings of the Marysville ruins.
Here is the underpainting of the first one.

Art Opening is in the Books

2010-03-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a great time! I wanted to thank everyone for coming to the show. Special thanks go to my wife Jennifer and my mother Kathleen for getting the party together. Barbara Pierce at the Architectural Heritage Center along with all the volunteers are great.
I am honored that you all came to see the work and very happy that I was able to sell half of the paintings in the first two days. Very cool.
Unfortunatly, we were not able to get too many photos from the show, so if you have any you would like to share with me, please send them over.
It was great to see all twenty paintings up together in one place. The interest in the artwork is overwhelming and is extra motivation to keep painting.

Disquieted

2010-02-26T07:28:00.001-08:00

I had the chance to visit the Portland Art Museum the other day to see the new exhibit Disquieted.
This is a great collection of works from the past few decades which is trying to reflect the mood of our times. I think it works.
There is a wide variety of mediums, including video. Some are calling it disturbing, but it is more like the title implies "Disquiting". There is a simering angst to a lot of the work, but a lot of humor too. I have seen much more disturbing artwork and this show seemed to have the right amount of punch, but is not overly gut wrenching. Good stuff.
Experiencing the show really got me tuned in to things. when I left the museum my senses were hyper aware and it was as if the whole of downtown Portland became an art instalation. Very cool feeling.
Please check out the exhibit.

Matisse Again

2010-02-22T11:09:00.000-08:00

Every artist needs to evolve in order to survive. There is always a history a now and a future which inevitably nag at the artist. The two paintings above by Henri Matisse illustrate and evolution of an artists work.
The first image (which I posted before, completed in 1902 is clearly in the impressionist style. It is in the dark mood which is so common in Matisse's early work.
The second, completed in 1914, is during his "experimental period". They are both of the same subject but express the subject in much different ways.
I like them both.
The current context of American painters is all over the map. It seems like the medium of painting has exhausted the major avenues of originality. This is not to say that there isn't room for creativity, because the act of painting is so engrained as a true art form that it will always be a choice medium for artistic expression. I am always surprised at the delight I get from seeing new paintings.
There is still room for evolution.
The spectrum that I see in painting is the range between Realism and Abstraction. There are works that take direct cues from photography, attempting to replicate and hopefully enhance the realist quality of the photo. At the other end is the purely abstract which uses form, tone and light and dark to evoke a feeling or understanding.
As I fumble along with my art I am drawn to both the real and the abstract. I like the idea of abstraction coming from a subject or that tells a story (dare I say sureal?). The dream like paintings of Chagall are both real and abstract.
I have seen paintings of Portland with elephant herds grazing in parks and giants wading in the Willamette river. I do like the fantastical aspects of these kinds of paintings and am tempted, but my gut tells me these would be more for folk tales and childrens book illustrations. I may have to eat my words on this at some point.
I feel like the successful bits of my paintings lie in the abstract accidents that seem to happen here and there. I'm not sure where I am going from here, but I am exceited at the prospects.

Final Touches

2010-02-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

So here is the last painting for the show. While it is not my most inspired work, I think it is a good book end for the show.
It was nice to do some painting this past weekend since I had mainly had been doing framing work.
I still need to get the frames on the majority of the paintings. I also have to figure out how to transport the paintings to the show. We don't have a large vehicle to move the work so I will need to rent a van.
Then there are the refreshments for the show...
I also need to set up a web site to show the paintings and prices.
I can't believe that the show is only in two weeks or so.

Frames

2010-02-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

I have been working hard to make some good frames for the show. I have 20 paintings to show and they all need some kind of frame. I spent this past Sunday building the frames. Our garage turns into a wood shop. I need to set up, work and them clean up so I can park the car back in the garage by nightfall.
Tonight I sanded them. They will stay a little rough, to match the paintings. No fine sanding here or multiple layers of varnish.
The larger paintings will get a bigger frame with a reveal and will be painted black. Most of the wood for these came from the rebuilding center and are salvaged material. The smaller paintings with factory canvases will get a simple wood edge which is sometimes called "gallery style".
Thanks again to my wife for giving me time to do this.

Almost there

2010-01-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

These two images are of the final two paintings that I know I will have for the show. After this I hope to complete some smaller paintings if I have time.

The first is the start of an 11 x14 and is simple but should be good.

The second is a completed painting of the light well, the under painting shown in an earlier post.

How do I choose something to paint?

2010-01-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

I have some new work to post but my camera needs charging.
The painting above is by the American painter Edward Hopper. It is a great example of a well composed painting in my opinion. It is very simple but has depth and captures ones interest.
When I pick a scene to paint, I look for contrast in light and shadow or compliments of color. A mix of line and detail combined with areas of color wash or gradient is also something that I look for.
If the scene doesn't have any of these then it probably won't work. When I go out scouting for things to paint I maybe get one in twenty images that are worth painting. I like to have my camera with me at all times because I never know when I will find just the right thing.

Put this in Perspective

2010-01-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like a good, simple, bird's eye, one point perspective. This is the view down the light well at the back of the building where I work (my architecture job, not my painting studio).
I am a bit sick of painting the sky at the moment, so this will be a nice change.
While my initial idea here was mainly that I liked the light and patterns here but as I made this under painting, more things occured to me.
There is a lonely feeling to the space and the view could be that of a suicidal jumper. While I don't have any intention of being that jumper, I have looked at the space and imagined what a lonely place it would be to meet one's end.
Also, I used to be very afraid of heights. There is a funny feeling that you get when looking over a drop like this. Something seems to be pulling you. Yes gravity, but it becomes an almost supernatural force which becons you to take flight.
That didn't sound good. Mom, don't worry, I am not going to jump.

The Big One

2010-01-03T12:17:00.002-08:00

This is the biggest one so far. At 40" x 60" it was a heck of a piece of canvas (for me anyway).

I chose the Freemont bridge for the piece. The idea is that the water, bridge and sky are vast and the large size of the piece emphasizes this.

I think that the water was the hard part. There is a lot of it. At first, the water was a lot lighter, but I darkened the rough water areas and added extra yellow for the bridge reflections. I am happy with how this turned out but I will keep looking at it and see if it needs something more.

Waiting

2010-01-03T12:17:00.001-08:00

I almost bailed out on this one. It was getting very burnt looking from the dark tones and I was not happy. I went back at it with a dark violet glaze in the dark areas.

The orange brick is an exaggeration of the actual brick color and works as the complement of the dark violet.

If I did this one again, I would focus in on the ladies waiting. What I find interesting in the image is the warm morning light and the Portlanders enjoying a read while waiting for their bus.

Street Light

2009-12-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

This is finished version of a painting that I started. I just completed it this weekend and may do some more work on it, but then again...I like the quiet feel of the thing.

The color is very sepia toned and the orange foliage pops pretty well. As I look at the small image here, it looks fairly realistic. If you click the image and get a closer look you will see the more painterly bits (as usual, I still don't have the ability to get the photo to work, which may be a good thing. Please see the real thing).

Overall, the painting does what I wanted it to do.

Street Light

2009-12-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

In the winter we don't get a lot of sun. When it does come out it is good to get out and absorb as much as you can. You have to become a kind of sun camel to live here.

This is a quite moment and the light was just beaming through the trees. I like the graphic quality of the trees and the one point perspective is always nice. Getting down on the street is a nice change and this is the first of four that are more down to earth.

Better Burnside

2009-12-06T19:13:00.000-08:00

This is the updated Burnside Bridge painting that I showed before. I think that it is better. I added more yellow to the sky and water color, which makes it a little less pink. The sky really was more of a light red amber which I think I got close to.

I used a straight edge to do the reflections which is more how the reflections look across water.

I also darkened the bridge piers to give more contrast.

2009-11-28T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is a photograph by Frank Breuer who worked with and was influenced by Hilla and Bernd Becher. I am not the only one who finds these types of subjects interesting.

Burnside Bridge Almost

2009-11-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

So, here is a painting that I wanted to be done, but it probably needs some additional work.

The general detail and color are good, but I don't like the reflections in the water so much and the bridge needs to be a bit darker.

Once it dries, I will hit it again if I have time.

Dark Tower Returns

2009-11-24T07:05:00.000-08:00

I completed this painting this past weekend. The composition is pretty good and, to me, it is a bit cheaky in the way the fire hydrant seems to be facing off against the water tower. The shadows around the hydrant add interest (I believe the cross shape is from a church).

The sky came out well and overall, I think I added the right amount of color to the more gray areas. In reality, the pavement and concrete is more warm, but I wanted more contrast with the warm hues of the warehouse and the hydrant. This is 18" x 24".

Morning Joe

2009-11-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

I did this small painting a year or so ago but was really enjoying my coffee this morning so I thought that I would drag it out. This is actually the first small painting that I tried.
I am a morning person and the right dose of coffee gets me in the best mood. Too much coffee can make me shaky, which has its advantages in art, but is usually not an advantage.
Good to the last brush?

Happy Yellow Streetcar

2009-11-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

I like this one a lot. I wanted to do something with some bright color and this scene seemed like a good choice. It is one of the larger ones at 30" x40" and I have been loving looking at it. It will be tough to see go, but I hope to sell it at some point.

The part I am having trouble with is the dark area at the center left. The oil paint is predictable in it's color, but the sheen can change quite a bit as it dries. When the paint gets dull it is referred to as having "sunk". This is especially noticeable up close. I need to do a little research and see if I can get the shine back to these areas.
I think I did a good job with all the reflections on the street car. I was curious if I would be able to make the glass feel like glass but was pleased with the result. I debated whether or not to put in the sun highlight (the white shine at the upper left of the car) but am glad that I did as it adds to the realism.

It was a very busy weekend and I have to thank my wife (she gave me the whole weekend to paint!) and kids for putting up with me. I must have put in at least twelve hours Saturday and Sunday.

I was able to finish this large painting and start two smaller paintings.

New Starts

2009-11-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

These are the latest under-paintings.

This is another view of a water tower that I had previously painted. I like the quirky composition and the long shadows. The focus is the water tower and the hydrant plays a supporting role. I find the shadow of the church steeple in the foreground to be kind of ominous and interesting.
This is a relatively simple scene compared to others that I have done, but the perspective was a challenge.
In fact, since I first posted this, I have retouched the windows on the building to make the perspective more correct. Repetitive windows on a facade are easy for me to draw as flat elevations with the T square, but in perspective it takes some finesse. I have drawn perspectives so many times that you might think that I can get the thing down the first try. Sometimes that is the case, but usually I need to go back and correct things.

The Burnside Bridge in Portland is not as dramatic as some of the others, but in this end of the day scene it is lovely. It is tempting to make the under-painting look like it is complete as is and I may do a series of under-paintings as the final work. The yellow water really gives this away as just the understudy. The sky and water will be a luminous yellow-red (peach?) with violets and blues in the bridge and background land. Many points of light will add sparkle to the painting and I will add them at the very end. I want this to have a more impressionistic feel but we will see.

Raphael up close

2009-11-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

This month, the Portland Art Museum has a one painting exhibit by the famous Renaissance artist Raphael. The painting is "La Velata" (woman with the veil) and is one of Raphael's most famous portraits. He painted it between 1514 and 1515, which makes the painting almost 500 years old.
The museum has it displayed in an almost tomb like sapce in the second floor gallery at the Southeast corner of the building. Itis a dark space where velvet curtains have been draped. The painting is displayed in perfect light on the West wall of the space, making it the only bright spot in the room. I guess that I was not surprised to see a treasure treated with such reverence.
It was fun to see such an old painting up close. It is in very nice shape, with only slight cracking of the paint and must have been restored fairly recently.
Was I moved? Not really, but it is a beautiful piece to be sure. Did I have great admiration for the piece, absolutely!
I have not seen the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci in person, but I did see an exhibit which had a close replica. The Mona Lisa has a lot more mystery to it and got me going a lot more than La Velata. La Velata has a real calm feel to it and as expertly crafted as it is, it lacks depth as far as I am concerned.
Ha, maybe some wanabe pipsqueek artist will say something like that about one of my paintings.
I can dream can't I?

Matisse

2009-11-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

"Matisse's art has an astonishing force and lives by innate right in a paradise world into which Matisse draws all his viewers. He gravitated to the beautiful and produced some of the most powerful beauty ever painted. He was a man of anxious temperament, just as Picasso, who saw him as his only rival, was a man of peasant fears, well concealed. Both artists, in their own fashion, dealt with these disturbances through the sublimation of painting: Picasso destroyed his fear of women in his art, while Matisse coaxed his nervous tension into serenity. He spoke of his art as being like ``a good armchair''-- a ludicrously inept comparison for such a brilliant man-- but his art was a respite, a reprieve, a comfort to him."
A quote from somewhere o0n the internet, apologies to the author who seems to be anonymous. Let me know if you know.

Obviously, brilliant work. He makes it look so easy, but it is not. The subject, composition, color, light, mood, it is all there.
I can imagine the emotions involved in the art of the times of Matisse and Picasso.

Something a little different

2009-11-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is the under-painting a new piece that I am just starting. Yes, I am not beyond something cute, and I chose to do this scene of the Portland Street Car. It is a bright yellow car and looks like it has a big smile. Yes, I am not beyond doing something cute. By accident, I gave the trolley a little more tilt to the right, which I think gives it additional energy. The additional tilt was not apparent to me until I had the majority of the under-painting completed. There is a lot of movement in the scene, which is good. The dark background will really help to pop the yellow trolley, which is the obvious focus of the piece.

I have to admit that it is not my first goal to create a realistic image. However, as I look at artwork that I like, even the more abstract pieces have their compositions, perspectives and sense of proportion correct, so this more realistic painting will be good for me.

The reflections on the glass of the trolley will be a good challenge as well. You can see some of the reflections starting to happen in this first stage.

Back to that abstract

2009-10-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

I look at this painting every time I watch TV. I should be painting instead of watching the TV but I am generally too tired in the evening to do any artwork.

This is the third time that I have retouched this painting and it is still not right. Abstract work is very hard I think, but I do want to do more of it.

Hopefully there are some ideas for the cityscapes that will influence abstract stuff for me in the future.

Last Steel Bridge for a While

2009-10-25T14:42:00.001-07:00

This painting is 15" by 32" and was a nice way to say adios to painting the Steel Bridge. It was nice to paint the structure in a larger setting, with less detail and more sky and river.

On other paintings, I was tempted to add detail (clouds, brush strokes) to the sky, but I kept this one simple.

The reflections and noise in the river came out well. The warm, rusty background that I used over the white canvas makes a nice golden glow, which was evident in the late afternoon scene. I even let a lot more of the base color show through to try to exaggerate the warmth.

Overall, I think that this one has a good mix of detail and abstraction that I prefer.

2009-10-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

I started this long format painting today. I am hoping to give it to my wife for Christmas.

Because of the awkward format, I need to remind myself to keep stepping back and checking the perspective. This is just the underpainting and has good bones, so I should be ok.

Stay tuned for more.

The Working River #1

2009-10-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Two paintings were picked up by some happy clients this past weekend. One of them asked me if I felt sad letting a painting go? I am only sad in the fact that the project is over, but I like the fact that somebody else is enjoying the painting. If I have a painting sitting around my house then I just scrutinize it, which is educational but a little annoying. This is true for work that I have up around my place.
The same day the two Steel Bridge paintings left, I started in again on what I have been calling "Down by the River". I added more detail on Saturday and finished up on Sunday. I say finished, but need to live with it for a while.
I like that my work is developing a certain look, but keep looking at the work of impressionist artists and do think there is much to learn.
The light is subtle in this painting. The scene was captured early in the morning and the sun is low and is casting very long shadows. As with many of my paintings, I think that I get very close to capturing the light. I have always been shy about contrast in my drawing and painting and need to keep pushing the light and dark balance.
The sky helped with the contrast and I like the colors, but am not convinced by the line between the light red and blue. In reality, whatever that is, there is a much more subtle gradient. The light red (ok, pink) is a fog/cloud bank that typically happens at dawn. I have seen this cloud line be much more abrupt, which is what I am trying to emphasize in this painting. There is a graphic quality to this line, but I will keep looking at it.
Over all, I am pretty happy with this one.

2009-10-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

I donated this painting to the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Portland office. It was the least that I could do, since they agreed to waive my membership fee this year due to financial hardship. It can be expensive to be a professional architect. Supposedly they are having an on-line auction, although I can't locate the link.

All work and no play...

2009-09-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

I do have a penchant for fantasy and science fiction as well as graphic novels and cartoons. My son and I made up this character named I-Blaster. He (has to be a boy my son says) is a robot who fights renegade robots and either brings them to justice or blows them to bits.
This is part of a poster that I gave him for Christmas.

This is a birthday card that I made for his 7th birthday. He liked it, but not as much as all the Legos that he got. What you gunna do?

The technique involves me sketching the scene in pencil, tracing in ink, scanning the image and adding color in Photoshop. The old-school cartoonists used to have to add the color by either painting it on or laying colored film over the black and white lines. Photo shop makes this kind of thing easy. I would love to do a graphic novel or childrens book some day. We will see.

Steel Bridge Part II

2009-09-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

I just put the final touches on this painting last night. I had painted in a fella walking on the tracks, but he was too big (out of scale) and was more distracting than helpful, so I painted him out of the scene. I do think that something may have helped to bring more of a scale to the bridge, but I like the contrast of the structure and the background. I think that at 32" x 44", this is the largest painting that I have done to date.

Here is a little bit of detail. This is where I feel like I am starting to venture into the abstract. While the image is clearly of a bridge, the potential for further abstraction is clear. Oh, so many ideas are popping into my head now! I need to pursue the use of these vignettes to make other paintings.

Creative Times

2009-09-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

Everyone has their creative energy highs and lows. For me, the mornings are the best time for ideas and for creating. My energy level is high in general and things seem a lot more clear. Once I have that first cup of coffee, I am ready for my mind to open.
I do feel like I waste this energy all too often on trivial things that could be accomplished with less creative energy. I also find that if I don't do something to release this energy, I become agitated and irritated and will end up feeling tired.
I do think that the act of making art and being creative releases important chemicals into my brain. During a painting session I feel lucid, calm and happy. After a long session, I am tired, but feel like I accomplished something and am content. Knowing that I have a project in progress can also make me feel good.
My least creative time is in the evening. I can get some grunt work done like stretching a canvas, adding one block of color, building a frame but it is not a good time for creative thought.
I do get that burst of thought that keeps me awake in the middle of the night. My dreams can give me ideas for different things.
I like to listen to other peoples ideas. Reviewing student work, architectural or other artistic things, can really stimulate my creative side.
If I had to give advice to anyone attempting to draw, paint or design it would be to figure out your creative energy schedule. I would also tell them that if they are stuck on something, to get away from it and come back after they have done something completely different.

Inspiration is the bridge

2009-09-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

I snapped this photo of the Freemont bridge while I was on my bicycle commute to work this morning. The light was amazing and the water and sky are perfect. I am tempted to paint this scene.
It will have to wait as I have two larger paintings that I am trying to finish and another on deck of the river looking the other direction.
The more I paint, the more I see things everywhere that would make interesting art. The scene can be something as mundane as a trash can or as magnificent as a bridge. I am happy that there will be no shortage of influences in Portland.

Ugly phase

2009-09-10T08:24:00.001-07:00

I have added color to this previously shown painting. The colors here are exaggerated and should make a nice base for the final glazed on color. The sky will be much lighter as well, which should help things pop.

Back to the Steel Bridge

2009-09-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

This is a new painting of the Steel bridge. I was not sure about the composition, but I am very excited about the way it is roughing out. I like that the bridge dominates the canvas, and at 32" x 44" it is a big one.
I need to add more detail and block in the background. After this I will put in the sky and water.
The layout on this one did take many hours, but I think that I have things in the right proportion and perspective, which is a relief.
The image that I am working from has some tree leaves in the foreground, but I don't think it needs a foreground. Any thoughts?

Down by the River

2009-08-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is a view looking North from the Broadway bridge in Portland. I see it every morning when I ride my bike to work. There is so much industrial stuff down by the river here that I am overwhelmed with painting possibilities. I liked this scene because of the way the trains really pull the perspective and the grain elevator (I think that is what that is) gives a nice vertical move to the thing. There are a lot of colors here including lots of reds. This underpainting is a good start I think.

Dreaming of a new studio

2009-08-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

Working in the basement of my house is practical and costs nothing. It is cramped, I share space with the washer and dryer, work bench, exercise equipment and numerous spiders.
The image above is not my studio, unfortunately. This is an artist studio designed by Le Corbusier for a client. This is how my dream studio would look like. A spacious, double high space with lots of light and a ladder going up to a sleeping mezzanine.
Below is a design for a back yard studio at my house. The idea was to create something that would not require a permit. It is also designed to optimize material use and is something that I could build myself for around $3000. The reality is that my wife and I could both use studio space at the house. I have been thinking that we should double the size of the studio so can both work together.
This may happen sooner than later.