Gathering up some paintings in my studio that were commissions. I painted four 24″x24″ paintings for a great family that has a house on Lake Pend Oreille. Painting these was a real pleasure knowing they would be hanging lakeside on this beautiful North Idaho lake.
I will be posting more images of the four paintings along with two additional paintings very soon!
I have been busy balancing my time and mostly burning up the too few summer days. This is a photo of the clean portion of my studio!
I am working on a pretty exciting commission, four big water paintings (24″x24″) inspired by Lake Pend Oreille. Hoping to have them finished by the weekend, this is one of four.
Three 5″x5″ cloud studies.
I found some small boards that were prepped for painting while unpacking some boxes in my studio… so I painted on them! It is a nice change to change the scale of my work. It is also a reminder how much more I like simple fresh marks on a painting.
The dark mysterious gloom of the Pacific Northwest can at times be mood altering. It is also very beautiful and inspirational!
This is a 24″x24″ acrylic & open acrylic painting on plexiglass panel.
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.
These two paintings were part of a small collection of animal paintings I did. Very heavily influenced by Tonalism, a movement that emerged in the 1880s. Works that fell under that umbrella of style were painted with an overall tone of colored atmosphere.
There were a lot of really interesting artists that were grouped into this art movement such as George Innes and James McNeil Whistler. My personal favorite was Albert Pinkham Ryder, his work is more stylized with a very grim and haunting look. I was excited to see some of his original pieces at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art a number of years ago!
This is a 10×10″ acrylic painting I did this year. It was selected for the Tieton 10x10x10 show which is an annual competition held in Tieton Washington. A pretty interesting exhibit, they publish a color catalogue with the show!
This was the second in a triptich that I did called “Other Spaces”. The images were simple and bleak but interesting, particularly together. I used paint brushes and a 24″ squeegee to create these paintings that are 20″ x 20″ each.
This is the second painting in a series of three. The paintings are 24″ x 30″.
I am continuing work on a series of paintings I started this year. The paintings are a bit of an experiment in technique, I am using acrylic paint on acrylic plexiglass. The slick surface of the plastic sheeting makes an excellent surface for subtle brush work and mark making. The flip side of the plexiglass is covered with layers of transparent textures that harmonize and compliment the painted image. The physical depth of these paintings alter the appearance as the lighting and angle of view shift.
brian sostrom 