Three pieces for Shades of Gray

I entered these three pencil (8B graphite for those of you who have to know everything)drawings in a show and had all three accepted. Ever wonder how things are chosen? For example, sometimes you enter three or four and only two are accepted -- why? Sometimes it's a very popular show and many artists enter and they will only give you space for two of yours. In this case, this show is not as popular as the one I am in now (I got 3 of 4 accepted in that one) and with less entrants I got them all in. So if you don't get any in don't always think it's that you aren't good enough. The gallery will probably give space to their regulars and you may be unknown to them and get turned away. Hey, it's happened to me. About these works: Farmer's Bank, about 15" X 15" was done from a photo. I just immediately saw this as a black and white work rather than an oil painting. I found this in Smith's Grove, Kentucky as I also did the middle painting, Old Barn. I just didn't know what else to call it --- I don't think it was a tobacco barn, but it isn't the traditional cow or horse barn. I was not able to get close to it, so a photo had to suffice. The last work was a train station still in use located in Coumbus, Wisconsin. You may never have heard of Columbus, Wisconsin, but once upon a time there was a large brewery there with the owner's mansion also. The train station was built in 1907. I was coming home from Minnesota early one morning and remembered seeing this station. I drove up and the shadows over the tracks made the look of the painting. Here's another issue: what does the artist see in a scene that make the artist want to paint or draw it? Usually for me it is the color and what will eventually be the interesting brushwork I will use to set the scene off. In this case it was the contrast of the dark shadows setting off the bright sun on the building. Actually, working on those shadows on the grass and rails was much more interesting than the building itself. Yes, sometimes it is the building -- I've done several -- I like the look of old stations, houses and commercial buildings of the past. (Secret life of the Artist)

The irony of it all

I've posted both of these two paintings before, but I was holding them for the Farms & Barns show at the Next Picture Show Gallery which is held every year in September (usually). Since it costs me an arm and a leg in gas money to get out there I don't attend the opening of every show I'm in, but like Ted Williams said once "I feel hitterish". For you non-baseball fans, that means he knew he was going to get a hit and somehow I felt like I was going to get one of the awards. So when the winners were announced, there I was holding the 2nd place certificate and the check that goes along with it. Sales there are spotty, although I did sell two at the last show, so a winners check adds a little needed money. Painting on the left is "Hills and Horses" 18" X 36" and the award winner on the right is "Farmhouse at Pumpkin Patch" 22" X 28". Here's the interesting story: Last year I did a one day portrait workshop there at the gallery. One of my students had three paintings in the Farms & Barns show. Who takes the Best of Show award -- she does. Ah, well, it was a really nice painting...and what's the old saying?? -- the student who doesn't surpass his master, etc, etc. The next show out there will be the Shades of Gray and I've entered three drawings...we'll see how many of them get in. That will be the entry for next time.

Fresh Paint -- plein air in Amana, Iowa

I happened to come across an ad for a plein air festival on Facebook. It's held in Amana, Iowa sponsored by Catiri's Art Oasis. Since Amana is only four hours by car from me, I considered it quite a good thing and sent in my fee ahead of time. Over the Labor Day weekend I was with about a dozen others -- although I considered myself an outsider, I think they were all from Iowa. That being said, off I went into the streets to paint. The first two paintings are the old abandoned building and the red brick house you see pictured. I did these two 8" X 10". I realized that it was quite hot, but being involved in painting I can pretty much ignore my own inconvenience. I had lunch and then moved on to Lily Lake, which is just west outside the center of town. It's a large lake (well, not that large) with lily pads over much of the surface of the water. There I did an 11" X 14" on linen. That one took me a bit longer, close to two hours. It looked something like the last painting (a 6" X 8") pictured. Anyway, I did five paintings on the first day and just after finishing my painting at Lily Lake, I stood up in the sunshine and experienced such a blast of heat that I realized I should stop there. I packed up, put things away in the car and when I drove off, I noticed the temperature readout was 103 degrees. Record setting. The second day I did another five paintings and two on the last day. I left two paintings with the gallery for their sale and luckily I sold one of them that day. It was a 6" X 8" study of a tree and shadows. I had to leave the festival early --- the motel I stayed in had the worst mattress on the bed and after three nights on that thing my back was hurting really bad. So, a good experience -- Catiri's was an excellent host for the gathering and Amana is a nice place to visit, although it turns into a tourist haunt for the weekend, which can complicate matters for parking, etc. Friday was a lot better. I've never done an actual sponsored paint out like this before. I constantly worry about my skills eroding because I am not always active painting, but the two I left in Iowa were two of the best I've ever done. Now the irony --- I forgot to take a picture of them. In my haste to get them ready to hang I forgot to get the camera out and get a picture.

Been a while, man!

I know, it's been a while. I haven't put anything up here on the blog because I've been busy with other things. However, I did put up this painting which is called "Lee County Flashmob". When I was in Lee County doing some painting I came across this little herd of beef which followed me around like a pack of dogs. I had started this and put it down for almost a year in disgust, only to take it up and finish it. Sometimes these paintings take a lot of extra thinking and work to solve the problems within them. It wasn't that the animals were hard to do, although they are, it was the balance in the painting...getting the sky, the barn and the ground colors right. So, besides that, I won a ribbon for a still life and also sold two still life paintings at The Next Picture Show Gallery in the "Raw and Cooked" show. (Still waiting for the check!!!) This is part of the group of still life paintings I did under Melody Boggs' tutelage in North Carolina. Another thing.....I am going to be part of the Amana Plein Air Festival in Amana, Iowa later this month (Aug.). I've never done that before, so I am looking forward to three days of outdoor painting. Here's another thing about the Lee County Flashmob painting --- I was gonig to put that one in the Farms & Barns show this September, but a friend wanted to buy it. How to resolve this???? I will sell her the small one and I have set about doing a much larger one which I will show next year. I ran into the same thing I had in the small one ---- that is, I have stopped working on it because it has reached the stage that I hate it. But one day during the fall or winter I will take it up and finish the painting to my liking. And isn't that the whole point of it all ----- if you aren't finishing a painting to the degree that pleases you the painter, what are you painting for?

What's in your basement?

While I was in the basement looking for something I came across this painting, a portrait done when I was a student. It's about 18" X 24" and still framed. When you are a student in art school it sometimes takes a long time before you produce something of quality. Sure, I did a lot of portraits before this one, but would I show them to you ---- no!! In fact, most of the time we would do our daily portrait and just wash them off the canvas with turpentine and paint on that same canvas the next day. Every once in a while you would do something a step ahead and this is one of those, so I saved it. OK, well maybe the basement isn't the best place for it, but so be it, covered in dust and spider webs. Secondly is the smaller painting, an 8" X 10" plein air painting done about 20 years ago. It turned out well. It's never been shown and now the frame is stained, but it was a step ahead in plein air work for me at the time. We can only imagine how many of the paintings of Rembrandt, Rubens and the like were hidden in the basement, a closet, under the bed and brought out years later to hang in the museum.

Hills and Horses

So, no entries on this blog for a while. Trying to make actual money, that's why. I guess I'm one of those goofy artists that paints what he wants and has to look elsewhere for money. In the meantime I have had two of my paintings accepted into the "Horizontal Grandeur" show in Morris, Minnesota, at the Stevens County Historical Society Museum. http://www.stevenshistorymuseum.com/index.php/?page_id=269 I am one of the few to have two paintings accepted. I drove these two paintings up to Morris, MN and it took me 9 hours -- each way. I didn't like the idea of shipping a 36" X 48" painting, or making a crate for it either. So I got to see a lot of countryside and take some pictures that may result in a painting or two in the future. I planned my trip back going through Columbus, Wisconsin --- there is an old train station there that I saw on another trip through the town that I wanted to photograph and possibly paint. About the painting above -- it's called "Hills and Horses" for the obvious reason, but it's a painting about the land that the glaciers missed in western Wisconsin. This is a ranch/farm on the north end of Mineral Point. The painting is "18 X 36", done to the size of the frame which I got for free (actually I had to move something rather heavy for a friend of mine). I tried to keep it brushy and loose and have the brushwork flow with the shapes of the ground it was following. My favorite part, I guess, is the tree, which I consider the best one I've ever done, shape and color-wise. I tried to get that "standing in the shade -- looking out into bright sun" look. This is a hard one in that it has so much of its weight on the left, hopefully balanced by the objects on the right. This will be an entry for the Barns & Farms show this fall, hopefully get accepted.

The Secret Life of the Artist #10

Since I don't always keep track of the entries, I'm calling this "#10" if it is or not. I have two pictures, kind of unrelated, posted. One, the landscape I did of the south road from Mineral Point, Wisconsin has been accepted into the "Horizontal Grandeur" show at the Stevens County Museum in Morris, Minnesota this summer and fall. It's a show that goes on for several months. There are 69 pieces by only 51 artists, which means I was one of the few that had two pieces accepted. They also took a painting I did called "October Fields" which won an award at another show. Never heard of this show until I somehow saw it posted on Facebook. Luckily it not only fits my kind of work, but since I am living in a "Prairie" state, I can enter the show. Finally, the other picture. Why is there a picture of a pocket watch on the page? I have been rather busy over the last couple weeks actually earning some money by doing my watch repair thing. I got started through a friend, but we were getting started by buying junk watches and getting them running. I am still at the mercy of the number of junk watches I still have that aren't running. I am self taught and can't do every possible type of repair, so it's a boon when I do get something decent, clean it up and am able to sell. Despite that, I am working on a larger version of a painting of a group of cattle I did a while ago. I plan to get out for some plein air painting also.