Blue Forest

"Blue Forest" 16 x 24

Paintings always look different when you walk away and return. Blue Forest is no exception. I painted it very fast, in Mendocino. Then when I took it out of the shipping carton yesterday I spent a few more hours on it, thought it was finished. Got the brushes out again this morning, and noticed that it's time to walk away. Now that I look at it here, there's a few things I want to fix. Aha! Another never-ending painting!

About eight years ago I did a series of still lifes that started with wrinkled tissue paper varnished onto watercolor paper. It provided a nice texture. This was one of those paintings, well, just a start, really. It had the tissue and a background color and that's it. So this practically painted itself in the beginning, since I used folds of the tissue as the tree trunks and limbs. The rest was basically negative painting. Now I've added additional colors, more trees, and a better composition, although not great. I probably should put it away and get back to commissions. I'm starting to obsess.
This is a photo of one of the sheep that lived at the place we stayed in Mendocino,CA. One of three. Sweet!

Appreciating Texture

Columns in the National Cathedral, Washington DC

In Washington last weekend most of my time was spent with my camera around my neck. It's really too heavy to carry around like that, but I only had a few days and didn't want to miss anything. One benefit to that is that my level of awareness is increased so that I notice the beauty of ordinary objects. The above photo is of stone columns in the National Cathedral, taken from the balcony. They are color-washed by light fromthe stained glass windows.

Crushed roses in the street

Another kind of texture that caught my eye -- crushed roses. I liked the play of hot pink against the wet gray asphalt.

In the museums I was mesmerized by Jasper John's encaustics, each stroke thick with light and shadow. Same with Ryland's white paintings, rich oil paint liberally applied.

Today I am in the studio, working on the painting above. It's for corporate offices of a international hotel company, for the vice president's office. The background is a redwood color, the swirls are metallic in various shades. I'm waiting for approval from the designer now.