Clouds, the mighty transporters of water, are a beautiful presence above. Morphing and shifting they are never the same from moment to moment. Casting darkness as they steal the sun’s light they set the tone, create a mood. There is a meditative quality to clouds, something primitive and soothing. To me painting clouds creates that same hypnotic feeling, I hope the result echoes the creation.
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This was one of a black bird series I was working on a few years ago. Part of that time period where I was creating paintings in unstable ways and letting them crack, run or erode. I liked the idea of a paintings forming with me just guiding the process. I have completely changed the way I paint a number of times since then but it is interesting to look back.
When I was young I used to get so excited about hunting season. The crisp fall air, camping with my Dad. Now I find myself releasing every fish i catch… I love animals the idea of hunting has lost the magic. I have always loved animals but the way we humans absolutely eat this planet so much worst then hunting. I cherish wildlife and it is truly one of my great joys. This is painting is a few years old but appropriate for the season.
Since I was a child I have always had an interest in skulls. I used to collect them and prize each skull I came across in my wanderings. At a certain point that sort of behavior becomes a bit “odd”. Luckily all of my interests were odd so it blended seamlessly into the patchwork.
A couple years ago I spent a bit of time painting still life images containing rocks and bones… This particular setup was in a box I lined with aluminum foil. As the title suggests, it is the skull of a peccary… a really interesting little pig like animal found in the desert. The skull is incredibly thick and powerful for such a tiny creature… and the teeth!
Water is mesmerizing and soothing to watch. This year I have painted a number of vacant water scenes. They are also fairly mesmerizing to paint.
A simple cloudscape that I completed the other day. This one has a lot of subtle character that was difficult to capture with the camera.
A pretty simple little painting with some textural experiments that seemee a bit intriguing. More continuation on the moody landscapes.
This was a self-portrait I did as an experiment. It is composed of 4 paintings on plexiglass of my mug from slightly different angles. The underlying paintings were done with warm translucent colors. The top most painting is the boldest with the darkest values. I stacked them all in a frame which created an intriguing result. There is a very physical depth between the paintings that gives it a real sense of volume.
I photographed it from different angles to give you an idea how the color shifts and the image changes.
Anyone who has digitized their artwork knows how difficult it can be to capture an accurate representation. First getting the image “square” so that the art is not being distorted. Finessing the lighting so that it is bright without glare. Balancing the contrast, hue and saturation to accurately represents the original work etc…
I recently had a little fun with some work I had painstakingly digitized. I used a simple little app called “layout” on my iPhone in order to combine multiple images for a single Instagram post. Immediately the paintings started to feel like new work. The specifics of the images and the context shifted making them feel fresh and a bit more intriguing. In college I created a number of paintings that were a pre planned amalgamation but they lacked the spontaneous and unique results that are immediately possible in the digital age. Part of me wants to take a saw and glue to my work to recreate these kind of hybrids! In the end it is just an interesting exercise. What are your thoughts on the results?
