29 paintings and Lulu
Getting my work together for the next show.
Filling my living room twice!
Pack up the plantation
Tag: love
Water & Light
48″x36″ acrylic painting.
I was working on this while also painting “Sea Change”, which I recently posted. They certainly share some color and lighting approaches. I typically like to work on a few paintings at the same time. The end result being you have three paintings that work well together and it keeps the momentum up. These paintings were so large that two was plenty!
Finished Wandering
I completed the unwieldy cow painting I started about a week ago. The finished painting is 48″x36″ mounted on a 3″ deep cradled board.
I could not fit the painting in my photo cube and had to take a photograph of it leaning against a wall. This painting has a lot of interesting shine beneath the surface which makes it intriguing in person but difficult to photograph.
Lake Time
A long weekend at Lake Pend Oreille. Always great to get away and spend time with Mother Nature.
I went on a six mile hike that reminded me of my age and questionable physical condition. I was rewarded with solitude, a sense of accomplishment and wildlife. I saw moose droppings. I flushed three white tail deer. Enjoyed the chattering of squirrels along with the lonely call of a varied thrush.
I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Wander
This is a large bovine painting I am currently working on. The painting is 48″x36″.
Little Rain
This is an 18″ x 18″ acrylic painting.
The Pines
This is an 18″x18″ acrylic painting.
I read somewhere the description of tonalist painting as “breath on glass”. The idea of something barely there. That phrase echoes in my mind now and again… It is a beautiful notion.
Dead or Alive
I just received the postcard for my art show in the mail! It looks a lot like a “wanted” poster which is pretty great.
Two Paintings
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!
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.
brian sostrom 