Something different!

    I had no idea it had been so long for a post!  Golly, time zips by.

    I had an interesting call last week asking for my permission to use photographs of one of my painting for some posters for a small film group.  The got my name from a friend of my daughter in law in New York.  They thought it fit with "Uncle Vanya".  Love creative people.

   Some of us, 8 to be exact, are having an OPEN STUDIO day Nov. 15th. for those of us who live in Pecan Grove outside of Richmond, TX.  It's free.  If any of you are interested, let me know and I will send you a e-vite.

   I'll be doing a workshop on painting trees in the landscape with some of my ideas about color on October 26th-27th.  I started painting trees when I moved away where it is hard to find models for figurative work.  Thought maybe trees were the closest thing to people,  It's at the Art League of Fort Bend's  "5th Street Gallery" in Rosenberg.  Let me know if you're interested.   

Thinking about the art of creating

 
 A play set me thinking about the art of creating.
  Four of us went to the Alley Theater's new production "Old Friends", a play by Horton Foote.
It was thought provoking, and well preformed, though not really a happy situation.  But it got me thinking about the process of putting thoughts on paper or canvas.  I love to go to the theater.  It always gets me thinking, or I should say gets my mind racing like the roulette wheel.
      Creating a painting must be much like creating a book or play, perhaps even music.  The ideas bounce around the brain attempting to find a place to rest.  Emotion!  That's what it's all about.  How do I put what I feel into a way it can communicate with a viewer or reader.
      A thought must first become a reality that then creates the emotion in the eye of the beholder..  In a play,  it's translated by the words and actions of the performers.  In a painting it must be translated into a visual reality of color, content and composition. 
      A while back, I began searching for a way to visually explain how I feel when I encounter another for only an instant.  In a flash I see a woman in a car next to me.  I see the group waiting for  a bus or a mother with her children rushing them to school.  Maybe a man is walking his dog or simply sitting on a park bench.  Or maybe just mowing his lawn. Their image leaves a fleeting image that quickly passes off my screen.  Yet I know they have a real existence that I can only imagine.
 So, how do I express this on a blank canvas?
     I have been thinking about this for some time.  I have even tried some sketches.  But I have not been satisfied with the result.
     In the meantime I  paint other things that interest me.  Trees, skies, weather, flowers......these are solid, three dimensional things that can easily be translated to the paper. I can use color, draftsmanship...all the artist's tools. But all the while I have been searching my mind to come up with a solution to my quandary.
    The time has come, I decided, to try again.  So I will begin exploring this here on my blog for a while.  I hope some of you who read this will watch my progress and pass your thoughts on to me.

On the Easel

COMISSIONED PIECE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

      This is for a condo in NYC.  It's taken from a photo from Christmas, 2013.  I'll be glad when it
done.  The scene is a little outside my area of expertise and is pushing my knowledge.  There's a good bit left to do and it's slower than usual.  It just needs to be done by Thanksgiving.. I seen some glaring problems I need to work on.

Changing subjects

          I enjoyed trying my hand at the water and sky with the series of gulf shore paintings, but my true love still is with figurative work.  So I an anxious to get back to it.  It's just a little harder to get my subject matter together.  And right now I'm working on a commission for another winter scene.  Want to do some more kids at play type and maybe add some cats.  I have ready models for that.  Out the window of my studio I can see the little chameleons running along the sill.  Such fun.  But don't think they're great subjects for art.  They're really cute when they blow out their throat that is bright red.  But the garden is in full bloom now and hence the flowers.  Well, I'll see what tomorrow brings.

Gulf Sunset.

I call this one "Home before Dark" because the birds seemed to be hurrying home.  It is from a scene
at Dauphine Island in Alabama, and is part of my beach paintings I did this summer.

Bird of Paradise

This is not a painting.  It's just the first bloom this year on our Paradise.  We have wanted one ever since we were in Australia and have finally got one to bloom.  Actually we had a bloom last year but this year we will have at least 2.  This is the first in 2014.

R & R

Took some time off to think about where I wanted to go on my paintings.  Decided to change subjects for awhile to refresh.  Have done a couple of florals.  Let me know what you think.

This is from my garden, "Roses of Sharon".  I usually call them Altheas but my friends told me that name was too prosaic for the painting.

This next one is also a view of the garden coming around the corner from the back.  It is not as nice nor interesting as the althea.  I don't know if it is the subject or the composition.  Haven't even named it yet.  Actually, I can't decide if it deserves one.

Painting of the girls at the beach has been sold.

Fun at the beach? 10x8 oil on canvas.

Painted this today.  Haven't named it yet.  Any suggestios?

Finished paintings

These were taken by a bad photographer.