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.
Tag: poem
One last cup of coffee.
The final painting for my upcoming solo show is shipping out today.
The show opens February 2nd at Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento, Ca. It will run the month February.
Continue making waves!
This is the last of my smaller wave paintings. I am moving on to the large commission at long last! It is not going to be a recreation of any of the recent wave paintings. It will however pull ideas from each of them. Most of all I was trying to get my brain in the mindset of the ocean and surf.
Rolling on…
My small wave paintings continue! This is an aspect ratio that is interesting to work with. It is well suited for something as potentially horizontal as waves breaking.
My next step will be to start the actual commission. That painting is much larger, 60″x23″. Sort of a challenge dealing with a hefty oddly shaped panel.. I tend to flip paintings around and move them about the studio… trying to see it with fresh eyes. Some people keep a small mirror around to see it in reverse. That is something I used to do with digital paintings, flip them. Maybe I need a mirror…
Enjoy your weekend!
Friday!
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.
Waves rolling in the studio
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.
Boom
I am continuing my recycling of boards. Half a dozen paintings I liked but not enough to keep have been stripped off to become something new!
I am really pretty addicted to apocalyptic cloud formations. The beauty and power are fascinating. This one is small but mighty!
Hidden Sun
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.
From the ashes
I destroyed half a dozen paintings I decided not to put into my solo show. I like to let paintings breathe for a while and see them fresh. So often you feel an energy and excitement from work, that usually fades. If a painting doesn’t intrigue me after hanging around the studio for weeks it is probably not worth keeping. Sometimes I will deeply love elements of a piece but it has to be compelling as a whole. Once in a while a painting just needs a little extra work to bring it all together. Sometimes that little extra is the final blow…
So I destroyed a painting, this is the new painting on the same panel. Now I can’t remember for sure what was originally on this board but I know this is stronger. Will it stick around? Time will tell.
New Start
I have shipped all of my recent work to Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento. Now I am making a new start! I have some commissions I need to work on, those start next week. I will take the remainder of this week just to paint.
Time erodes everything, painting offers occasional moments of ascent.
brian sostrom 