Early on

This particular painting was generated early on during my residency. As I look back over the body of work from this time, its interesting to see the shift that started to happen. I think it can be best said in two words; Clarity and Conviction. Having the luxury of time to devote solely to one purpose really helped me to refine and define what Painting means to me. It gave me the space to step out of Professional-Illustrator-Head where creating art is about the finish/outcome, rather than process. I mean why does anyone create art for the first time anyway? Because its FUN. Sometimes though when you draw for hire, the deadlines, the desire to give the client what they want, and the next project looming (or lack of!) can get in the way of the FUN.

Out of the 15 or so canvases I completed, only 5 or 6 are what I would consider successful. But the true measure of that time and space I feel is only just now starting to manifest. In the words of Patanjali's Yoga sutras, "No effort in Yoga is ever wasted." I think that applies to painting as well.

Way Back When

About a year ago when I started this blog, I posted the underpainting of this piece under "I am Jinxed." It really didn't take me a year to complete, only a year to post. This one is a pastel, done on a Wallis sanded paper. Am considering tackling this in oils, just to see if I can loosen it up some. The finish on this ended up being a little fussy.

Happy New Year!

O.k., so I'm not big on making resolutions, but setting an intention is a whole 'nother thing. So with that said, it's my intention to get outside and paint more this year. I already have a couple of painting trips planned, as well as attending a workshop or two. A couple of workshops worth checking out.....Stuart Shils at Three Pines Studios in Cross Village and the Parke-Kooyman Workshop at Camp Tosebo in September. Workshops are really valuable for not only the exchange of information, but for the immersion experience as well.

He's a Fabu-Lab!

From Wilco Road

Just a quick sketch in oils. This was done from a photo earlier this year.

Prior to my Artist in Residency, I'd been primarily a studio artist. For me, illustration pretty much happens alone in my studio. Its a pretty solitary gig, unless you count the four-legged supervisors. So I had sort of naturally gravitated towards working in the studio when doing fine art as well. The temperature, the lighting, music, its all consistent. But having the opportunity to spend a large chunk of time outdoors working in nature is well, amazing. It really makes you focus on the essence of the subject, as your subject matter is constantly in a state of change. It becomes very apparent that nothing remains the same, unlike working from a photograph.

Kelderhouse

Kelderhouse

North Bar-Another view

What's in a name anyway?

A good portion of my Residency was spent sketching and painting in the Port Oneida Historic District. This little oil, I do mean little (5x7) is a portion of the farmhouse and one of the outbuildings. For about the first week I was there I thought the name of this particular farm was Burfield, but as it turns out its Burfiend.

Empire Beach

This particular sketch and subsequent painting were done on the same day on location at the public beach in Empire. One of the things I "rediscovered" during my AIR was the importance of keeping a sketchbook. My sketchbook became one of my greatest assets during my time away. I love working in a sketchbook form: its easily portable when hiking, it's more lively than a photograph, and the time investment is much less than dragging all your painting gear out. I hate to admit it but its been years since I've kept a sketchbook of any consequence. Am not really sure how I got out of the habit, but I suspect that it was more of a time issue than anything else. (Too much time devoted to other things.) Anyway, with this particular scene I used the sketch book to block out my composition and to solidify my knowledge of correct value.

And then it rained

During the 2 weeks of my Artist in Residency, I spent a significant amount of time at North Bar Lake, just a shade north of Empire. Its a beautiful area; dunes, shoreline, and a small lake that connects to Lake Michigan. Usually. Not this year. In the many years that I've been going up to North Bar this is the first year that I've ever seen the lake levels so low that that the Big Lake and the "little" lake are separate.

The day this particular peice was painted was one of the very few cloudy/rainy days of my Residency. I love a moody day, so I was excited by this development, especially after days on end of sunny, 85 degree, windy, and bitey-fly days. (There's nothing like standing on a beach in hot windy weather with jeans on, plus a towel around your legs to keep from being biten! And thats after you've hiked carrying all your gear to just the right spot.) Anyway, this day was ideal for painting. I schlepped my gear to the spot, got set up, started painting and it started to rain. Then it started to rain a little harder. The water was beading up pretty good on the canvas. I quickly packed it all in and marched back up to my car, only to have it quit raining. So I did what any painter worth their muster would do.....I marched back down to the lakeside and resumed painting. Quickly, as I could see yet another wall of rain heading across the lake straight for me. Between migrating my gear between the lake and the car, I managed to complete this painting in about 45 minutes.

Its been a long, long time

Since I've posted anything. Since January to be exact. Its not that nothing happened between now and January, its more like much has happened. Life got in the way of all my good intentions. Since January I have: embarked on a 108 Anuasara Yoga Immersion which is now leading to a 100 hour teacher training, taken a painting workshop with Richard Kooyman, spent a week on Beaver Island with Craig and the Beastie, spent a weekend in Port Onieda doing plein air painting, got approved to draw Dora the Explorer thru Nickelodeon, and the coup de gras.....a two week artist in residency in Glen Arbor through the Glen Arbor Arts Association. During this time somehow I still managed to maintain a fairly full illustration schedule. Whew, it makes me tired just reviewing it.

Posting here a couple of pcs. from my Residency, which I'll go into with a little more detail later this week. Promise.