Here is a photograph of two large water pieces I recently finished. Both of these paintings are acrylic and three feet by four feet. It is exciting to paint larger pieces again but of course they also take up a lot of room!
Tag: contemporary art
Big Water
Big Water
For a long while I have been meaning to paint some much larger works. I finally finished one of these paintings. It is 3 feet by 4 feet (not huge but for me very large). It is tricky to work on a surface this big as you not only use a lot more paint it also feels like it is drying faster than normal. The painting also got heavy and difficult to move around without bumping the ceiling or walls in my work space. I tend to move paintings around and look at them from various distances and angles, tricky with this one.
This painting morphed and just about fell apart but then I switched to a small squeegee I occasionally use and suddenly it really started to work. Most of the mark making is done with a squeegee tool that is maybe 1.25″ in width… it leaves very decisive and clear marks. Once I found the rhythm it painted itself.
All the difficulties aside it is exciting to see something that feels like it has some legitimate scale. I am really hoping to do a couple more paintings of this size in the coming weeks… we shall see!
It is also a bit challenging to take photos of a painting this large! It doesn’t fit in my photo cube and it is difficult to get even lighting on the surface. I have attached a detail of some of the brush work so that you can get a little better sense of the surface. Still these photos don’t quite do it justice.
Three Paintings
I finished these there paintings this week. I still need to sign them and mount hangers on the back but the art is done. They are all 18″ x 18″ acrylic paintings. I’m getting down to the wire for my solo show (it is the end of the month). I have a handful of additional paintings I am currently working on which may or may not make the cut… plus there are three paintings I’m really hoping to do before the show.
Which of these three paintings do you like the best?
Across the sky
I’m continuing to flesh out the cloud series I recently began. This is an in studio iPhone photograph of the most recent piece. Once I finish the painting I’ll take a proper photograph!
I will paint a couple more of these… Easy to get lost in this stuff.
Billowing my mind
Somewhere along the road I fell back into another painting habit, cloud scapes. Often the most simplistic image speaks to me the most.
I think this is probably the reason I still paint. You have fun making a mess and then there is a flash of magic. You can’t take credit for it because it can not be reproduced. The brush was in your hand so…? It is the mystery of life and everything unknown suddenly feeling fine.
Distant Darkness
After wrapping up this series of skull paintings, I wanted to shift gears. I decided to paint another lonesome cloud image. This is a “work in progress”, though it is nearly complete. There are six more paintings I hope to create before late March… We shall see how it goes…
Heard of the dead?
Here is the complete collection of bison skull paintings I have been busily working on in recent weeks. It is nice to see them all together, feels like a small accomplishment! These will be part of my “Shadows of the West” solo show that is taking place in late March. I still have so much more I want to do…
All of the paintings are acrylic paint on acrylic plexiglass. They are 18″x18″ and 20″x20″ in size.
Do you have a favorite in the group? Thanks for taking the time to check them out!
Blue & Bone
This is the last bison skull painting in the series, the last one I am going to do for a while. I experimented with a bit of blue which gave the painting an interesting look. Along with the texture it has a bit of an underwater feeling to it.
The painting is an 18″ x 18″ acrylic painting.
Western Shadows III
This is the third bison skull painting in the series of “Western Shadows”. As I type this it dawns on me I’ve adopted the Led Zeppelin naming method… which means that number IV will be the most popular and this one will be my personal favorite… tangent!
This painting is 18″x18″ acrylic on plexiglass. I’ve developed some very heavy textures on the back of this piece as you can see there are interesting crater shapes and extensive cracks that catch the light. I’m taking a very basic subject, one that I adore, and experimenting with different ways to visualize it. I am currently working on the fourth one so before long I will be able to have all four up on the site for comparison.
Lulu decide to come by the photo cube and inspect the progress, she didn’t have much to say. But what is there to say?
Final Word
Western Shadows #2
This is the completed version of “Western Shadows (bison skull) II”. It is, for some reason, particularly difficult to capture this painting digitally, it just doesn’t seem to represent the final piece properly. I am including some detailed photographs that display some of the intriguing textural elements that make the physical painting so much more compelling (at least to me).
This is an acrylic painting that is 20″ x 20″
brian sostrom 