I have always loved big empty spaces. No buildings no roads. There are not enough of these places today.
Besides the glorious desolation it is the atmosphere. The feeling of distance and light. I try to capture that feeling in my work, try is all I can do.
Three surf paintings together on my studio table. It is still full night and snowing in North Idaho. I stomped the powder off my boots at the studio door. It was a nice greeting, scenery from some other place.
I am not moving to Australia but these two paintings are! Yesterday afternoon I shipped them off so they have a long voyage ahead.
I have only been to Australia once, many years ago. I went to Sydney which is where these works are going. It is such a beautiful city. I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to Australia now to escape the winter. One of these years I will have to get back!
Friday is just another day for me these days. One advantage of the winter in North Idaho, it encourages me to be hold up in the studio!
I am playing around with some waves trying to capture the sense of power and beauty. I will be starting on a large commission and wanted to do some experimenting first. This painting isn’t the direction I will be taking but it is an interesting piece.
I have been swamped with work lately, my studio is a mess but no time to pause. I am doing some wave studies in preparation for a large commission. This first go is the same aspect ratio as the final painting. Giving me a chance to play around with some compositions and color schemes.
I painted this over the weekend, just a final glaze this morning.
I am doing a little series of cloudscapes with the sun concealed but still very present.
I have a number of 30″x24″ panels primed for painting, I love working at this scale. Large enough that you have a sense of freedom moving around the surface but not so large that it is awkward in the studio. I did have to stand on a chair to get far enough away for a photo, so a little awkward!
I am pretty obsessed with brooding epic scenes. I keep getting wound up about new ideas but I realize this is a common thread.
Today I will be varnishing and photographing much of my work. As eager as I am to paint I have a looming deadline for my show solo show at Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento, California. The show is the month of February so I need to get my work photographed, varnished, framed, packaged and shipped very soon! Deadlines keep me running!
I have never been an optimistic person. In grade school, learning vocabulary, the teacher asked us if we were optimists or pessimists. A girl I had eyes for said, “Oh, we are both optimists.” She was a bit smarter than I was, but as she explained the difference, I knew she was horribly mistaken.
For some odd reason, I am filled with an unrealistic optimism for the new year. I am making my living painting, it’s not easy. My days are only getting shorter, never mind. I have a vision for my work, mastery of my materials. For the first time in my life I know my greatest work is ahead. I am excited to make it.
I hope you all find passion and meaning in 2019.
It struck me when I walked into my studio this morning that my current painting feels very much like a ghost. I have it on my table easel and it seems to hover on the table.
This painting is almost a study in subtlety. The color and values easing into one another. This kind of painting seems difficult to capture digitally but for now here is an iPhone version.
