some recent art

 I made this painting Plein Air in Boston, Ohio for the OPAS competition. It was fun and quite liberating to work large again with oils. I would like to polish this one up a bit and revisit the site again, but overall I like it!

This painting is made plein air in Putman county, another OPAS site. I really was thinking hard about painting weather lately and wanted to paint something other than sunshine. Alas, this is what I found. Gloomy day, windy as all get out, but fun. One minor detail, I forgot to pick out all of the debris from the field wind so its all trapped in the paint, which makes it quite authentic!

11/26/11

Today it was back to portraiture. This is a painting of my niece and I feel good about my portraiture shoes... they still fit.

10/27/11

This is a painting that I had started long ago but just recently had the time to work on again. I have been painting lately, just not getting around to updating my blog. I know, I need to work on getting my art posted more. Anyways,  about the painting. I started to use brushes on this one again but soon realized that palette knife would be best. I kept it fun loose and hopefully cohesive. Things got really sticky and out of control so I had to walk away again till things started to set up and dry a bit.

This is a painting revisited. The original was destroyed in my recent move and I wanted to redo it for a friend. I love the colors in this one and the circular sky. love.

7/25/11

Today I started on a painting of water, grass, and reflections. The colors in this photograph that I took are amazing and once I played with the contrast in the photo editor it became clear that I had to paint this. I steered clear of the brushes and just used a palette knife to block things in. Palette knife was fun but I want more and that will come from my brushes. Hope to use my extra extra long filberts on this tomorrow. Also, this is a 24 x 36 canvas so it is taking up gobs of paint. yay.

Lakeside Ohio 7/15/11 to 7/17/11

 Sold
 This is a nocturne completed of the Lakeside Hotel. This is only my second nocturne so naturally I was a bit queasy about the whole thing. Not to mention that I had to use a giant Mag Light flashlight that was losing its battery. Odds seemingly stacked against me, I painted it. I couldn't see the paint on the canvas, too reflective. So I just pointed the light onto my palette and painted from that. This was very disturbing because you usually look at how one color relates to another on the actual canvas. So I went with my gut and painted bold and said we will see how it turns out. Turns out.... I loved it. I loved it a lot and I wanted to take it home and hang on the wall. Someone else loved it so much that they bought it to put on their wall. Definitely more nocturnes to come in the future.

 Sold Painting of the Lakeside pavilion. Four horse fly bites later and tah-dah a pavilion.

 Ahhhhhh. My favorite painting of the lakeside adventure. So much of the old style with a splash of the new. I love its simplicity, its loose-ness, its life. Love it. and I got to keep it. Bonus.

 Painted a sunset at Lakeside. Was a challenge because the actual sunset lasts maybe 20 minutes and it is changing the entire 20 minutes. So I kept it loose and kept it real. a sunset.

Sold
I painted a home at Lakeside that was named Tapestry of Life. The house was beautiful with the sunlight and shadows dancing across its face. This is in pastel. I ended up selling this one also. Oh, and I forgot to photograph it before it was framed, hence the reflections.

7/9/11

So today I revisited a painting that I had made in February at the midpoint of my initial 90 day journey. I gave this portrait another whirl and I was shocked at how much color I now understand. The initial painting was cool and weak and I really feel that I nailed it this time around. Also my simple facial structure seems to be back... I have only had that once and that was at the Art at the Arnold when I nailed that portrait. Tee Hee!

7/6/11

This morning I mustered up the courage to paint the Short North in Columbus. Painting city streets kind of freaks me out. I love cities for people watching and to listening to all the urban buzz but when I paint I kind of like to escape into my head. Needless to say, its kind of hard to focus when I paint urban scenes. So, this is this mornings painting. Tah-dah. 

So its been a while....

So it has been a while since I last updated my blog. I have been going through some transitions in art and I kind of lost focus on posting my work. I have been doing commissions lately and trying to get back into some sort of routine with art. Kind of hard when I have absolutely no schedule.

As of most recently, I have begun the return to oils. I tend to switch mediums every couple of years. I think that I was in pastels for the longest lately with about three solid years. But as time will show, I will keep moving mediums. Not a bad thing if you ask me because my work is consistent in all mediums. It has the same feeling and energy.

So, here is today's quick plein air painting at the Park of Roses. Felt kind of silly being at the Park of Roses and painting lilies.

5/11/11

Today I painted from a photograph that I took at the Art at the Arnold painting competition in February. I really loved how this kid looked as he sat in his oversized coat and jeans. This is my kind of portrait content, simple and moody.

5/9/11

This painting was made from a photograph that I took. I have this fascination lately with clouds and I have had a fascination for years with crosses in nature or unintentional crosses. This power pole exemplifies this perfectly. I had fun with the clouds and tried to keep them especially impressionistic.

5/5/11

Painted today at a park in Georgesville today. Usually this field has really tall grasses but they just mowed it all down. It was nice to get out especially since I brought my dog to keep me company.

5/2/11

Worked on the conceptual piece again tonight. This painting is nearly impossible to photograph. I have added more content and just poured some spheres throughout. Slowly carving out a painting that was already made in my head. Cant wait to meet it!

5/1/11

On Sunday there was a micro paintout in the Short North in Columbus to kick off the year of chosen sites. Well it was gloom and doom weather and really quite miserable... BUT it was still fun because of great company.

4/27/11

Today I painted from a photograph I took while I was at the park of roses. This bench really attracted me, perhaps because of how it is framed by the dark shapes of the pine tree. I thought about this picture daily for at least a week and finally gave in to paint it.Also, I decided to not smear and blend any color with my hand. Color mixing is all by pastel stick.

4/25/11

Today I worked on my shelves underpainting again. Today I went bold with the alizarin crimson and linseed oil. Basically I coated the shelves and floor with them. It is thick like honey and amazing to paint with. I let it ooze and drip in some spots. I also began to play around with the ceiling by adding some swirls into the wet paint. I plan on doing some stylized branches (like art noveau) that transition into three dimensional branches coming out of the walls. Dont worry, many more surprises to come. 

4/22/11

Did a close up of my umbrella bonsai today. I just wired her and gave her a serious hair cut on Wednesday. Also in a book I am reading I am supposed to pay attention to small beautiful things this week so I thought about my trees cool trunk. I left the leaves off (I didn't cut them all off) so that I would focus on the trunk.

4/20/11

I decided to paint last minute tonight and was at a loss for something interesting. I have lots of photos but couldn't find one that would hold my spastic attention. So I grabbed a piece of foliage out of a vase of beautiful flowers (from Emily) and painted it. Keeping is ridiculously simple here but I like it anyway.

4/18/11

Today I worked on a conceptual piece that I started the other day. This is still the under painting. I am working on building textures and deep shadows before I add light to it. Right now it is a room full of shelves... much more content to come later. This canvas is super huge 40 x 40 which makes things really fun.

4/17/11

Painted plein air today with Carol and Bridgett at the park of roses. It was really windy out there today but I am so glad that I braved it and made a painting. I could not help but fall in love with this tree. It had such an amazing color of foliage against super dark branches. Made me melt when I saw it.

4/14/11

Painted this today after work. It is of a co-workers pond at their farm. It is a beautiful location that I hope to revisit. I really liked the trees in the foreground how they branch apart into three.
The strangest thing though, these giant fish were beaching themselves in the marshy grass and swimming half in the water and half out. They kept making crazy flopping and gasping noises. I think they were spawning or something. Crazy fish to keep me company!

4/13/11

Today I painted this magnolia from a photograph. The painting is large as usual (20 x 24) so I had lots of room to get my fingers in there and really work the pastels freely.

4/12/11

The sun poked its head out very briefly in Columbus today so I grabbed my camera and darted outside to find something to paint. My daffodils are in bloom and caught my eye but as I was photographing the flowers I looked underneath and saw this great composition and variety in the greens of the plant.

4/9/11

Today there was an OPAS paintout in Athens Ohio. The day was totally gray but with the beautiful cherry blossoms blooming, who could resist? The blossoms seemed to radiate their own light. I really had fun trying to capture the subtle shadows and texture within the blossoms.

4/6/11

Painted a barn from Pickaway county tonight. I challenged myself to keep it loose and uncomplicated.

4/3/11

Today I painted a red barn from a photograph that I took earlier in the day. There was absolutely no light when I took the photograph, only what I call gloom and doom weather. But I was interested in painting this anyways. I also experimented with a new paper that I just discovered from Arches that feels like 100% cotton. The paper is receptive to the pastels but is bright white. I think I will try staining it for future use.

The day after day 90

 I painted this first plein air of the day of the Cuyahoga river in Kent, Ohio. The sun was perfect when I first selected the location. But, as usual, when I got my gear there the sun totally disappeared and it started snowing. I worked through it and painted anyways. Gloom and doom I say, gloom and doom weather.

This is my second plein air of the day. I visited a neighbors farm and was fascinated with their bee hives. It was really neat to get close to the hives because the bees are still hibernating. These structures were really interesting to paint. So glad that I made two paintings today.

Day 90

 My day 90 started off with painting plein air in blue hen falls int he Cuyahoga valley. This park and whole area is very overlooked by most artists and has some amazing hidden treasures. It had snowed the night before so when I was painting the snow was bombing me from above. I had to call it quits with this one because of all the snow and I only completed my under painting.

I painted this view plein air as a nocturne in downtown Kent, Ohio. This was my first nocturne and I really enjoyed it. I ran out of time with this one again and may finish it later .

Day 89

Had to make a quick painting today so I chose some old cans from my garage. The cans were bent and had loose lids. Instead of fixing the lids I decided to try and catch them in the painting. What else can I say? They are cans!

Day 88

Took a photograph of the sunrise over lake Erie. I tried to play with my technique as I painted today by leaving things loose, unblended and incorporating some broad hatching.

Day 87

Made this painting of the marsh next to lake Erie in Luna Pier. It was a beautiful, peaceful, and perfect experience as I was surrounded by grass reeds blowing in the wind. That is the perfect music to paint to.

Day 86

Painted this portrait as a commission. I love taking things back to basics with black and white and really looking at something. Taking color out of the equation can be so liberating but so challenging at the same time.

Day 85

Speedy Bird- I have been saving this image for quite a long time. I decided to paint it today from a friend of a friends online images. I get really excited to paint and start to visualize what I am going to do. I think bird, bird, bird. So I try to open the image and I cant open it any larger then about 2 x 2 inches! I really wanted to paint this so I gave it whirl from my tiny reference photo. I could only work for about half an hour before deciding that the image is too small.

Day 84

So I was minding my own business walking through my local Kroger when my mind was baffled by this amazing blue orchid. Did I say blue? I meant electric blue. This orchid is just beautiful. I had no idea how they made this (is it just dyed?) but I am fascinated because I tend to collect orchids. So I bought it as a gift but decided that I had to paint it before I gave it away. I ended up loving the painting nearly as much as the flower.

Day 83

This is a painting created from a photograph taken at the botanical gardens in Toledo, Ohio. The gardens there are beautiful and this arbor in particular is breathtaking. I went there last weekend and took pictures to paint from. Things still have not really greened up but it was interesting to catch the scenery before the green takes over.

Day 82

Tonight I let my mom set up my still life for me. It is interesting to see what others find for you to paint. I may have to do this again. The bottles were fun!

Day 81

This bonsai tree is the newest addition to my collection. It is an umbrella tree and is my first true indoor bonsai. I selected this tree to paint today because of its interesting twisting trunk. Throughout the trees life, and mine for that matter, I hope to paint this over and over again.

Day 80

I painted these boats in Luna Pier, Michigan. The day started off with bright sunshine but by the time I was ready to paint there was cloud cover everywhere. I still decided to paint this interesting sight despite the lack of light. I found the ropes and the texture of the boats create an interesting composition. Perhaps it would be nice to recreate this as a textural painting in oils at a later date.

Day 79

This painting was made in Botkins, Ohio. I have always had a fascination with train tracks and I finally had the opportunity to paint them plein air for the second time in my life. I was only chased away by one passing train.

Day 78

I did the mad dash today to stumble along and find something beautiful to paint. Also the hard part is finding somewhere to park nearby and to be comfortable with the surroundings. I found these three trees and thought they had so much character. Again I tried to keep things loose and spontaneous. They were by the Batelle Darby Metro Park on the west end. The weather was perfect today, crisp cool and sunny.