More Stick Handlin'....Part One

Noted the shifted locations and structure in the composition of the middle ground and background houses. More change to follow!

Towels take away distracting edges... and provide lighter values!

Random brush stroke application... looking for general shapes ...

Note that the hand is at the end of the twig! It's not a pencil ! Accidental dripping counts as a bonus!

Note the fanciful and lilting quality of the lines produced by the twig styluses.

Centering the central image against the sienna edges. Note the almost haphazard application of the sienna strokes... and the roughness of the drawing... very uncommitted and loosely structured!

All methods of applying medium to the canvas can be seen here in their raw states. The first inkling of the finger painting adventure is here as well !

Yes... your eyes read correctly! My pointer is my blunt "nib" for dexterously blending in larger dark areas. Quick... effective tool for roughing in without reserve. Washes off fairly easily with soap... water and a tooth brush for nails! Latex glove works for the "faint of heart!"

This is the final foundation from which I will begin adding paint. Though it is a cacophanous collection of drips and splotches... knitted together by strangely drawn lines... there exists a central image .... of a huddled, broken down fish house structures and modest homes... centre stage... emerging from the inky darkness... ready to "speak." Details such as windows... doors, etc. are just markers to give positioning and reference points.

At this juncture... if one was too befuddled or unhappy with what was there in front of you... areas and flaws could be easily corrected with a brush of choice and white gesso... returning the area back to the original canvas state. However... I choose to proceed as it stands. Oil paint covers a host of mistakes! That is why I choose to use it as my primary medium... it's forgiving!


GETTING STARTED:

Well... my cold was not quite finished with me! I guess my Algonquin "fix"... didn't fix my cold! Had a pretty miserable week... but I guess this bout has everyone on the ropes for at least two rounds! In any event... head's completely empty, I'm sure... two boxes of Kleenex later!

I stepped up Wednesday morning to the blank 20x24 inch canvas that I had placed there two weeks ago now... to begin my two piece project for my Nova Scotian Gallery rep.... and decided to follow along using my "stick-to -play" technique to encourage creative thought and energy. I am pulling out all of the stoppers on this one... not to make it a presentation piece... but rather to act as a demonstration and invitation to follow along and discover how structure and direction can emerge... without being forced... from what in the beginning seems like pure chaos.

I first chose to reinterpret photo of a smaller sketch that I had completed en plein air almost a decade ago when I lived in Nova Scotia. That bothers me some... because I favour first hand contact with my subjects. This particular place, Bush Island... joined by a small causeway to the South Shore was a place I loved to paint because it was remote from mainland traffic. Much of this isolated village has changed... the "turquoisy" Cape house now a ghost... vanished forever. Heavens knows about the rest! When new money moves in... the Past moves out... no hint of remorse or conscience! That's today's world!

You will note that I get around merely copying... by rethinking and developing a thumbnail to rebuild and experiment with new structure for the piece. This adds a degree of newness and energy for me. You will note other changes perhaps ... as the process continues. My sticks... and my manner of applying both burnt sienna acrylic and ink to the surface... deter me from becoming "cute" and falling into my normal method of painting.

This Part One stage will carry us through the lay in and structural focus part of planning and execution. I have no set plan in mind... but will just let let the process and "Flow" take me where it wants. This segment then... is what I refer to as "Imagineering." Painting begins with an "Idea"... and this expands and develops independently... and on its own. I will really try to operate completely outside of usual safe zone of preparation and development. This really is stick handlin'... a rush... end-to-end.... Let's see what happens! Where to go from here???? More looking and thinking... and hopefully... "Seeing" a new path!

Stay tuned!....

Good Painting to All !

Never Give Up... the Ship

It is always discouraging for "Me" as an artist when patrons do not seem to see the good qualities "I" see... or feel for a piece of work I feel pleased with. It is... I suppose like having your child undervalued when you know the potential and the good spirit of that child.

This week I had the good fortune to see such a plein air painting I had valued(which I had painted back in 1998, while living in Nova Scotia) be chosen along with three others by an art dealer... whose tastes and knowledge of painting I admire and trust. He immediately recognized the very same qualities in the work that I had tried to create... and had been satisfied with in the final work.He was excited by it... and was more than pleased to buy it.

That two hour plein air sketch had been exhibited in a couple of good galleries in Nova Scotia and in Ontario... but had failed to interest, or catch the eye of a prospective buyer.The argument... complaint...or reason for its lack of appeal was the "grey quality of the day" it depicted. I never could quite buy those reasons... simply because it really did depict the day as I had experienced it... and the very barren and bleak landscape that is found around Stonehurst North. I had "nailed it"... in my own mind.

"I" am not writing this post to laud the quality of the art.. or "ME" the artist. "I" write only to encourage any other artists who might read this blog NOT to be discouraged from expressing themselves ... or to judge a work as a failure... simply because it doesn't sell quickly... or satisfy the objectives of the "critics". This applies as well to the rejection we ALL have received in entering juried shows,in approaching galleries to represent you and the like. Such rejection can being paralyzing to your creative energies and self-confidence.Always remember the reason that "You" (should have) created the work in the first place- was to please your Self and to gain new knowledge!

In looking at this plein air panel... now over ten years passed... it still gives "Me" personal pleasure and satisfaction to see the spontaneous,expressive, confident brushwork... and the good solid range of values that allow this work to possess and exude the "grey quality of that (18th) day" of January in 1998. It gives "Me" personal pleasure if for no other reason... that my impression of that lovely winter day... now lost forever in Time to everyone else... can still be enjoyed by my dealer friend... and by "Me" in my memory. That's the real value for any piece of art...by anyone.

The lesson I think is clear:

"Be true unto thy Self"! The joy and the reward is in act of painting!

Good painting to All!