Bungalow 1

Bungalow 1, oil on gessobord, 5x7 inches

I am a lover of the bungalow, whether from the Arts and Craft movement or the more readily available Builder bungalows.  It was a style started by the Greene brothers in California, emphasizing simple, yet well-crafted features like butler's pantries, dormer windows, large front porches for additional living space, and beautiful natural floors and woodwork throughout the house. They were usually two bedrooms and one bathroom, served medium to large families; small by today's McMansion standards. And entire neighborhoods of them are beautiful! I have lived in one for 17 years. Now they make great subject matter for painting, so for today and the next 3 postings, be looking for my small bungalow series.

Sky High

Sky High, Oil on Ampersand gessobord, 6x6 inches

sold

With all the color on the trees currently, does it seem strange to see my painting of bare winter?  It was the sky in this photo that I wanted to paint, and I think it unintentionally ended up looking like one of David Hockney's swimming pool painting from the 70s. Not a bad comparison :-)

A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It, Oil on Canvas, 10"x20"

I decided a few weeks ago to incrementally work on a "bigger" canvas, while simultaneously continuing my daily painting in smaller scale;  and 10x20 is huge to me right now!  This painting, of the waterfront park in Louisville, was painted from a photo taken on a cold, bare day.  I do believe I bestowed much more color and life onto the scene than existed on this particular New Year's Day.  It was much more difficult to paint this scale again than I expected.  I became overly conscientious of scale and I tightened back up with the brush, painting very slowly and in layers. This just tells me to keep working both big and little, as there is value as a painter in both. And...despite not feeling completely satisfied with it, I decided to post it.

House Behind There

House Behind There, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 

6x6 inches

A fun and quick painting I did of one of my favorite subjects, conical cedars. I used this as a warm-up and am happy with the loose quality it has. This is also the "sister" painting to Orderly, from October 13.  The trees had brilliant light the day I was out walking and the leaves had just started to fall.  

Reflections

Reflections, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 6x6 inches

I wanted to try to paint a scene of rocks and reflections in water. I've been looking at some work of such scenes by other artists lately, and I am apt to say things like "I would never be able to do that" or "that looks so hard".  I decided to jump in with two feet (no pun intended) and do it anyway. I  am happy with the albeit abstract results, but you get the gist. Let me know what you think.

Autumn Embers

Autumn Embers, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 6x8 inches

Louisville has an incredible park system that was designed by the great Frederick Law Olmstead. The individual parks were named for tribes of Native Americans.  Large tracts of land were designated over 100 years ago to be developed  and were connected by a Parkway system.  When I returned to the 'ville after living in Chicago 25 years ago, I made a silent declaration to myself that I would never live more that 2 miles from an Olmstead park (that was a 4 mile+ run total) and to this day I've kept my promise.  The parks are the best place to watch the leaves as they begin performing. I took the photo for this painting rounding an uphill bend. The leaves were on fire.  They seem to be turning fast this year, so give yourself a gift and go watch the leaves turn :-)

Rainy Day Outing

Rainy Day Outing, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 6x6 inches
SOLD

I was on my lunch break heading back to work in my car when I drove by this spot of color amid a sea of grey.  I had to drive around the block 3 times before I found her and parked to take a quick snapshot.  I did this painting on Sunday, when my room was actually filled with light for the first time in about 5 days.  I think because of that, it doesn't really look like a rainy day. 

Striations

Striations, oil on gessobord, 5x7 inches

I talked to a very interesting painter recently whom I met  at a regional art show.  He is from farmville midwestern town USA, that I will leave nameless.  He paints en plein air and his primary subject matter was the farm, which, despite being cliqued for anyone in academia, (I once had an art professor tell our class "NO BARNS") he paints to bring attention to the ever-dying landscape of american life.  His paintings were very Rothko-like....colors moody, abstract-like forms representing flat plains.  He himself, a former professor had left academia, unsatisfied with where it was taking him.  But he had his painting, and he was happy. I snapped a few highway shots on the way to Nashville last weekend and lo and behold, a barn!  I have a different perspective on painting in academia too, but it's come from years on the other side.  And now I too am just happy to paint.

Happy Old Soul

Happy Old Soul, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5x7 inches

I went to a wonderful artist's lecture by Ying Kit Chan last night, the chairman of the Art Department at University of Louisville.  He was presenting a new body of work that has taken him to China, the Gulf of Mexico (due to the oil disaster of '10) and back to Louisville.  His show contains themes of sustainability, anthropological concepts, Buddhist ideas amongst many. It was a very thoughtful body of work.  I had come in contact with the work of Ying Kit when I was taking post-bacaulareate painting classes at U of L about 25 years ago. Although I never took his classes I was very familiar with his work at the time, and it had a profound  influence on my drawings.  
This painting coincidently reminds me of my work  I was doing at the time, in my painting class. So my universes just re-collided in a happy sort of way :-).  The building itself has been meticulously maintained during it's life and looked very handsome with the setting sun giving it a hint of pastel color on the day it posed for me.

Under the Wire

Under the Wire, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5x7 inches

When I'm the passenger in a car, as I was this past weekend when my son drove to Nashville, I get to daydream and watch the swoop or line pattern of the telephone wires. Can you imagine if all the wires on the globe were strung together how far they would travel? My guess is Pluto...

Glenn Campbell sang that beautiful song written by the great Jimmy Webb, "Wichita Lineman" that depicted such a lonely haunting soul, searching for any connection through those wires.  In some strange, inanimate way I've always found them a beautiful addition to our vast American landscape.

Site Seer

Site Seer, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5x7 inches

I was lamenting to my son the other day that I feel like my momentum has been declining. I'm not sure if it's lack of energy because of putting more hours in at work (probably)  or the lack of daylight (definitely).  Anyway, I definitely have been feeling like a (concrete) block has descended upon me. My son gave me some simple but helpful advice...change up on what you are painting...grab some fruit, paint a random still  life, etc.  I did shift focus and paint a scene of something that is near and dear to my heart, spending time in a museum, taking it all in, slowing down, calming your brain.  I believe this is the first interior I have posted.
Luckily for my mental state, I will be traveling to Chicago at the end of the month to visit the School of the Art Institute with my two teen artists, and I will schedule time to see my favorite Chagall and Van Gogh's bedroom.  Food for the soul.

Au Cep de Vigne

Au Cep de Vigne, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5x7 inches

The translation of "au cep de Vigne" is simply "vine" by most translation apps, but it is really more like "from the vine" or "vine stock".  I choose to add my own interpretation and imagine it being a roundabout way of getting to the end result - "wine" :-).   This was painted from another photo of my sister's farewell tour of Europe before returning to the U.S.   The building is a hotel/restaurant near Stasbourg, France in the Alsace grape growing region, near the German border.  Natural window decorations are common throughout Europe in the old old cities and easy to miss if you are used to looking down. So, when you go to Europe get used to looking up!

I had multiple problems with this one including straight lines!  Also,  the colors I painted with are true to the historic structure, thus making the photo of the painting run very hot. I rarely manipulate the images I take, but this one had to be cooled down.   

Orderly

Orderly, oil on Ampersand gessobord, 6x6inches

I was taking a quick walk at work to clear my head last week and saw this little scene across the street. It seemed like everything was in it's place, i's dotted, t's crossed, unlike what I trying to rid my head of at the moment.  I took a few quick photos from different views and decided to paint this one.  I love the contrasting cedar trees in a row with the rose bush demanding attention, and the criss-crossing power lines overhead. I think I'm seeing more power lines in my painting future.  At least subconsciously :-)

Waterlilies at night

Waterlilies at Night, oil on canvas, 10x10 inches

The entire time I was painting Waterlilies at Night, I kept muttering sarcastically to myself, "well this is interesting".  I went back to canvas for this one, and for many reasons it slowed me down.  I started out by sketching circles all over the canvas according to the photograph, and it actually made me dizzy! And, as I got more in-depth with the painting, I couldn't figure out if the lilies looked more like green fortune cookies or pac-men :-)

The photo from which I worked had been taken after sunset in a backyard pond. My son won a College Scholarship from the local St. James Art Festival, and the artists were given a nice reception in the backyard of an historic building that houses the foundation offices.  The waterlilies caught my attention as we were walking out, and I snapped a few quick photos.  

Using various tints and shades of the same color does not come easy for me so this subject matter gave me good practice and I have to say, overall it WAS an interesting process.

Underfoot

Underfoot, oil on gessobord, 5x7 inches

Sometimes the ground under the trees deserves a second look.  The trees in this area of the globe had to take a backseat to the fiery golden needles that had dropped from these pines. Lesson learned:  Look up, look down, look all around :-)

Blue Lake

Blue Lake, oil on gessobord, 5x7 inches

A picture of a very moody lake, painted when i was a little...moody. Maybe it was the super "blood moon" yesterday morning. Regardless, I am behind on painting which beyond not having a painting to post each day, makes me regret not having had the mental or physical energy to paint. I need to clear out time and space to paint henceforth. And go back to the forest

Green Lake

Green Lake, oil on gessobord, 5x7 inches

I have been exploring painting forest and natural scenes for a couple weeks now, and it's not getting any easier.  But, it is very exciting and definitely works your brain's ability to see and abstract space and depth with color.  I do hope to continue because I'm a nature lover but also because I hope to improve my painting.

Shadow Webs

Shadow Webs, oil on gessobord, 6x6 inches

There are unlimited possibilities for shadows in a forest, as I have been fortunate lately to find and attempt to paint. Often I even find shadows within the shadows.  These turned out looking like a large spider web.  I'm glad I didn't meet that spider!  

Shadows

Shadows, oil on gessobords (diptych), 7x10 inches

I have a memory from my early high school art class from when  we were learning the color wheel. The teacher was explaining that certain colors on the spectrum are used to oppose each other (thus opposites on the actual wheel) in certain situations, for contrast.  I was intrigued by this, because it brought to light the fact that my humble artist eye had always sought out contrasting visuals.  Later I would bring this into discussion regarding black and white photography, trying to convince an old friend that the best b/w work comes from high contrasted light....she disagreed.  Oh well, you can't win 'em all. 

This painting, Shadows, doesn't necessarily support color contrast (the colors are more triadic when using the color wheel), but light contrast.  I actually pulled my car over in the middle of a busy street because the light was so striking,  and I hiked up and down to photograph this entire hillside.  When I later viewed the image, one gessobord just wasn't going to do it, so I used two. 

This is also one of the few times I have attempted to tweak the color on my computer because of how difficult it is to photograph these colors.  I'm sorry to say, I don't feel like the  image above is a good representation of the actual paintings, but I'm not sure if I can get a better image without professional lights or photoshop.

Bernheim Lake

Bernheim Lake, oil on gessobord, 6x6 inches

This is fresh off the easel, painted just this morning.  Hopefully I won't look at it at some point and feel the need to tweak.  I started using solvent-free oil paints for this painting, by M. Graham company, and am loving the buttery feel and purity of these paints.  So as a test, I went back to an older, symmetrical photo from last winter of the lake. Wish I was there right now!

Deck seat over the Vineyard

Deck seat over the Vineyard, oil on gessobord, 6x8 inches

sold

I painted this of my brother-in-law's deck overlooking a field of grapevines near Napa. It's is a place for me that allows complete decompression from the real world, and definitely a world away from Louisville. The best thing about it? It's the serene, natural mental environment that demands a glass of wine. 

Over the Rhine

Over the Rhine, oil on gessobord, 6x6 inches

When I was a child, there were more soulful, pre-20th century buildings similar to this all over Louisville, mostly in downtown and the neighborhoods surrounding the old city.  Sadly, a large percentage of them were torn down in the 1970s to make way for newer structures (some of which have already been torn down as well) as part of the city's Urban Renewal movement. Many buildings that were salvaged were abandoned over time for various reasons and the owners refused to renovate them. Their structures decayed, often times the building collapsed and the facades were saved. A weird twist to saving a bit of history. 

Fire escapes always added an interesting, zig-zaggy, non-architectural element to the facade or rear...some visual movement to compositional order.  

I am always thankful to find cities who were not renewal-happy. I took this photo in the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, where FEW buildings were torn down at all.  I am happy that it has been placed in the hands of a wonderful revitalization effort that is keeping with the integrity of the original neighborhood. 

The painting looks as if it were a quick sketch, but the architectural composition was very demanding, took a bit of time to paint and fun to bring to life.