Tag: atmosphere

Dark Reveals Light

by Brian Sostrom


A quick little 10″x10″ painting. The simple theme of light and dark are a consistent pursuit in my work. 

I paint with acrylics, I don’t use white or overly opaque pigments so there is a bit of a parallel to watercolor painting. I preserve the bright beneath and essentially darken the entire image. The title of my next show plays into that, I will post about that at a later date.

Hidden Moon (moonlight studies)

by Brian Sostrom

IMG_0103

Moonlight is mesmerizing, it’s not news that it has a romantic feel but there is something so hypnotic about a big moon casting shadows and lighting up the darkness with such interesting and subtle colors. I have done very few moon paintings but it is something I always mean to put time into.

This weekend I was working on some atmospheric cloudscapes, nothing unusual for me. I was also unpacking boxes in my new studio space, more on that at a later date. I found some small boards that I had readied for painting at least a year ago and packed away. So I decided to play around with some nocturnal imagery. Ultimately I want to do some really good sized paintings but for now it is nice to get some forward progress into the night.

Sense of Scale

by Brian Sostrom

 

I am continuing my work on large pieces, at least for me. These atmospheric paintings are 24″x24″. I have a backlog of paintings I have been wanting to work on… not enough time it seems.

With the snow piling up outside I am getting distracted by the stark bright landscapes that surround me… I will probably be shifting gears soon. It has been a long time since I lived in snowy country, I am loving it so far!

Look Ahead (candy)

by Brian Sostrom
Look Ahead (Candy)

This is an 18″ x 18″ acrylic painting that I recently finished.

Before I took the final photograph I took a snapshot with my iPhone in the studio. My subjects have been bouncing around from minimal landscapes to portraits of cows (cowscapes)? I thought it was interesting seeing the latest cow portrait next to “Cloud & Sea” on my easel. Wondering how these paintings will relate to one another in the context of a gallery show. Each painting was done by the same hand, same mediums and the same general approach. They are different paintings but they both are sort of a simplistic study of isolation/solitude. These two in particular had a nice relationship and set my mind at ease to some degree.

Building a collection of paintings for a show is both exciting and a bit daunting. I am always wondering if I shouldn’t narrow my scope and make a really tight collection of paintings with a very specific subject holding them together. The problem is when I’m working I always get excited about “the next painting”. Often this leads to something seemingly unrelated to the previous piece. Tangents and random explorations are part of the creative process and lead to new ideas and often new approaches. In a perfect world I would love to have a massive space where I could hang paintings to really get the overall feel. Then I would replace paintings that were not bolstering the show. Remove paintings that felt redundant or didn’t enrich the overall feeling. Create new paintings that would fill out the collection in just the right way. Of course this is not a perfect world and that is just a daydream. So ultimately I will follow my gut when choosing pieces and have a little faith…

even the moonlight is blinding

by Brian Sostrom

moonlight

The moon always a powerful presence in the sky, night or day. It seemed like a good excuse to post the last few lines  from a great song by an amazing songwriter…

Townes Van Zandt – Rake

…
And now the dark air is like fire on my skin
And even the moonlight is blinding