Just to break up the landscapes I painted this rainbow trout. It was a fun change of pace, a lot of paint manipulation and experimenting. The painting difficult to capture with a photograph so I am including a closeup that is more inline with the feel of the painting.
I don’t know if it matters when deadlines are. For me I seem compelled to work right to the edge no matter if necessary or not. Next weekend is the opening of my show in Astoria, Oregon. The show is called “Transitions” at the McVarish Gallery. So I suppose it is appropriate that one of the final paintings for the show shares part of the show title.
I am framing work for an upcoming exhibit. Part of the process is editing your work and trying to select the most powerful pieces. I took this photo of three of my small cloudscapes… only two will go. I have my opinions but would love to hear from you! Which two paintings do you like the best?
This weekend I didn’t get enough work done. I did manage to varnish and frame this recent painting. I am still scrambling to get work ready for my solo show at the McVarish Gallery in Astoria, Oregon. That opens June 9th and last into mid July.
This is a 16″x20″ acrylic painting. As summer approaches I wanted to capture snow disappearing from the mountains… “between the snowman and the rain”. I have painted two northwest alpine scenes along these lines. They both have an ethereal ghostly presence that I really enjoy. I will post the other painting soon.
This is a detail from “Snoqualmie”.
This is a 14″x11″ painting. I love to play around with the shifting forms of clouds and light. The behavior of the paint and the way it is manipulated is the star of the show here!
Two of my 14″x11″ paintings featuring pink clouds. I am varnishing and framing these two works for the upcoming art exhibit in Astoria, Oregon.
A little moody forest scene. I painted this one a couple months back and decided it looked great in an extra frame I had! I was planning on taking it to my show but it looks like I have sold it this morning… I really should focus on retaining work for my exhibit that is just two weeks out! A bird in the hand? Poor bird.
As my June 9th solo show approaches I am gathering together works and documenting new paintings.
This painting, “Crashing”, is 20″x16″ acrylic/ open acrylic on aluminum panel. The panel is primed with gesso and treated much like any other hard surface used for painting.
This last week was a good week for me. I mailed off 8 paintings. Work sent to Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Germany!
Selling work through my website and Instagram account (@bsostrom) is fun and satisfying. As an independent artist I am taking on all the promotional responsibility along with negotiating, packing and shipping. Ideally I would just like to spend my time painting but nothing is that simplistic and as an artist you have to hustle and scramble to make ends meet.
Thanks you for your support and interest!
brian sostrom 