Saturday, September 25, 2010

Some works in progress

Here are a couple works in progress:

A very quick study of a barn in Kentucky, which I'd like to develop into a finished painting.

And the still life I started a while back getting closer to finished.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Walls Gallery, OPA Exhibition

Walls Gallery is preparing for the upcoming Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional Exhibition, opening October 15th. Check out their website for sneak peaks, and scroll down to see their video.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Road Trip

I just got back from a road trip to Chattanooga to drop off some paintings at The Gallery for a show opening October 15th, featuring, among others, paintings from my trip to Alaska. On the way, there were some beautiful landscapes. Here is a study of a cornfield in Indiana:

Oil on panel, the first time I've painted on panel in several years, as I usually paint on canvas. I had great fun experimenting with the surface of the panel instead of canvas.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Starting over, again.

I have been studio-less for about three weeks now, although, frankly, it seems much longer. And while it was my decision to give up my old studio, after a year filled with more loss, illness and trauma than I thought possible to survive seemingly all at once, I can't say it felt like I had much of a choice. Not to say the year didn't also include exciting adventures, a fair amount of joy, and wonderful people whom I now miss dearly, but I'd hazard a guess that those had little to do with the exhaustion I felt to the very core. I couldn't imagine staying where I was any longer and, it seems, things that cannot be imagined cease to be possibilities.

So now I am living with my parents, and not having a studio poses its own problems, as I function only slightly better without painting than I would without breathing. And painting Sebbie almost always makes me happy. My lack of studio is also complicated by a lack of easel and lack of decent palette, both of which I had had on loan while I remained at my old studio. Luckily, though, I am very stubborn, and today I finally contrived a way to set up a still life without the proper anything. Here is my set up:

I have clamped a box to the side of a bookcase to hold my canvas, and moved the books aside to make room for a box with a set up. Not a proper studio, as such, but enough to keep me happy for the moment.

Here is day one's block in. I also got the added pleasure of painting over the start of a painting I'd wiped out about a year ago and haven't had the heart to go back to. To new beginnings indeed.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

National Small Oil Painting Exhibition

This weekend was the opening of the National Small Oil Painting Exhibition at the Wichita Center for the Arts.