the eighth day of the week

Monsoon Study

12x12 oil on board

Day's Done

10x8 oil on board

oh i have so much to do! i need that eighth day of the week just to spend more time in the studio. i've been asked several times about a newsletter so i started a mailing list (sign up is on the right side of the page) and i'm going to work on a newsletter, hopefully this weekend. the newsletter will be to update you on upcoming shows, new work and the latest blog posts. very exciting, no?! (edit...the first line is email, second is first name and third is last name...i'll have to figure out how to fix that!)

here are two new works i did this past weekend. both are smaller works done on treated board instead of canvas. i rather like the hard surface to paint on and it leaves my edges with a nice clean wood surface. there's not the give that a canvas has. instead of the satisfying drumbeat of canvas when the brush hits it, there's an equally satisfying solid thud.

alright, back to the gallery to cover for a few hours and then tonight i'll hit the canvas and/or paper. cheers!

back in the fe!

i'm back! freshly inspired to start up my landscape drawings and get ready for my show at miklos coffee shop. i'll be hanging the show on december 1st and the artist's reception will be friday the 3rd from 5 to 7pm. i'm working on some postcards now...is it weird that i really enjoy making the postcards and doing the design work?!

this is my latest drawing, 'an artist's morning', nupastel on paper, 15"x10". i'm enjoying the sunrise/sunset colors and especially the blending. with nupastels, sometimes you can see the marking from where you first put the color down and it won't be covered or disguised. each layer has to be put down in soft strokes and overlapping and then carefully blended. i use my fingers to blend and often each finger is assigned a color so as not to pollute. these are a lot different than the abstract drawings which can be messy and can get mixed. i came up with a few new ideas for that series while i was in yoga. some of my best ideas come out of yoga!

a show, a drawing and a vacation

i received some good news this week, looks like i'll be showing my work at a winery shop in temecula, california for the month of january! they want to show all three of my styles, so that makes it a little easier on me as far as creating new work. so there are two shows on the horizon, including one at miklos cafe showing my landscape drawings in december. boy i've got a lot of work to do! i need a bigger studio and more days in the week!

i'm going to lose a week as it is on a vacation. finally, a real vacation! i'm headed home to pittsburgh to visit the fam, then south to morgantown, wv to visit my crew, and then finally to harrisburg to spend quality time with one of my bffs. until then, i only have one free night to create and no days off from work. i'll have to become a hermit once i get back. which, oddly, is something i've always wanted to do... disappear for awhile from the world and throw myself into my work. it's easy to immerse yourself in art when you're in college or grad school. for the most part that's all you have to do...stay up in the studio till all hours of the morning and sleep until one of your afternoon art history classes. once i become a full time artist (cross your fingers everyone), i know i'll revert to my natural night owl schedule. it's quiet at night and i can get lost in my head and into music and this american life podcasts. too bad i have to actually sleep....

above is a piece i did tonight with NuPastel on paper. it goes back to my idea of the inner language and space. through a lot of layers, i've ghosted my mark making in and out of the surface. i've used some graphite pencil which doesn't show up quite as well in pictures. i usually do these in series as i hate trying to come up with names that don't get too personal or hold too much power. this is the first of the Infatuation series. it's 10x8 but i think i'd like to do some larger ones as well. this one isn't necessarily color focused, whereas i plan to do some that you can pinpoint the overall color when you look at it from a distance. as usual with these drawings, when you get close, there is every color in the box weaving through the surface, pushing and pulling in and out of the depth.

and now i'm toast. the last two yoga classes beat me up a bit. i feel great, but tired. namaste!

if i could bottle it

the studio wall, the paint rag, the blank canvas brush wipings. some of my favorite parts of the studio! they are an art form in and of themselves. totally subconscious, not on purpose, happy accidents. sometimes i like how they turn out even better. even in school, my 'accidental' paintings got so much attention that i tried to replicate them....without success. it is impossible for them to come out of purpose. they are built out of no thoughts, a truly playful gathering of moments in time.

the other pieces are color studies and things i do on the myriad of smaller half-used canvases that i have. gotta keep the momentum going and get some ideas out of my head and onto the canvas so i can see if they're actually good.

on a fun note, i found a friend to work on my website, an actual place to show my work cleanly and professionally. stay tuned!

namaste

colors

i'm into experimenting more with my colors. my tendency is always toward a cool palette. i kinda knew that, but then my friend pointed it out to me during our artwalk through santa fe on friday. we played the old 'if you could buy one piece of art in this gallery, what would it be game' and apparently all of my choices were of the blue variety. i don't know if it's a mood or comfort thing, but i need to shake it up a bit. truly, one of my favorite colors is red and my ipod is orange. they're powerful colors...maybe it's more intimidating to use them for that very reason. so here's my attempt, Sunstorm, 24x12, oil on canvas. this was promptly purchased by a very good friend.

brushes of fury

Orienting, 36"x24", oil on canvas

Night Revelry, 40"x16", oil on canvas

A Peaceful Place, 24"x18", oil on canvas

from the last post, you saw orienting during the process. the interesting dilemma i had with this painting is that i wanted it to feel angled, therefore i couldn't work with the canvas sitting perfectly upright or my brushstrokes wouldn't match the directional pull. i had to prop the canvas up on one side, so it was actually painted while perched on one corner.

night revelry was a fun piece. i used my my smallest brush and thinner paint in order to layer my brushstrokes and colors like i do in my drawings. this one is full of color and when you look really close it is quite intricate and suprising. it takes a lot longer to cover the white canvas when using such a small brush, but i really like the effect of it. this one also verges on abstract, which is something i like to do as i feel my real subject matter is space rather than landscape.

a peaceful place, so named by a facebook poll, is an attempt for variety in landscape with more foreground and somewhat more structure with the road. a road is a great device to show depth and lead the viewer into the distance. i had also intended on using telephone poles, which was a favorite subject during my college days, but i want to do that on a larger piece on a horizontal canvas.

next up, i have two large canvases and four smaller ones. unfortunately i'm already running out of room for all of this in my apartment as i switch them out with work at the restaurant. i've already started using my friends' walls as storage, although they seem quite happy with the arrangement!

i had a great trip to aspen, colorado last week. i was in dire need of a road trip as i have an almost unquenchable wonderlust. i get rather cranky if i don't get to go out and explore every once in awhile. driving independence pass was one of the most beautiful things i've ever experienced. the leaves were starting to turn in the mountains and it was just warm enough to have my top down on the jeep. i ended up sunburnt, but very satisfied. it was a little heartbreaking when i turned off of 82 and started my journey home. but then it's beautiful here, too, so i can't complain!

be back soon! namaste. :-)

fresh air

ahhh, my day off! it's so nice out that i decided to move my studio outside. so with my indie rock on the itunes radio i flew out of my head and my instincts started painting. a few days ago i had an idea to play with the vantage point and angle of my paintings. one of my favorite painters up in maine, dozier bell, often does landscape as if it's scene through a lens or airplane scope. the land is tilted and navigational marks put you in the pilot's seat. the piece in process here has that diagonal landscape and the viewer is forced to turn their head. i'll probably call it orienting, as if we are willing it to get back on course.