Winter in the Adirondack

Winter in the Adirondack   watercolor   18.75 x 11

Our assignment:  a snow scene.  And that is good.  Because we, here in Northeast Ohio, have been looking at it for several months now.  (And being a winter-lover, I, for one, am not complaining at all).  While winter landscapes are often fairly easily rendered in watercolor, the genre doesn't excite me much.  Too many little shapes.  I decided to paint one of our patio chairs.  This painting took layers and layers to complete....the snow in the center of the chair with very few, the background and chair surround with more.  While I really like to get to the point as soon as possible, that notion goes out the door until the desired atmosphere is achieved.  I wanted a gauzy feel, yet solid....a sort of richness that occurs when pigment is layered.  Although I spent a good amount of time on the drawing, it took meandering in paint to work my way into a rhythm that suited me.

The walls at Rockne's restaurant in Kent are covered with movie press photos.  This one reminds me of the one for The Shining....Jack Nicholson seated in a snowy Adirondack chair looking like his usual crazy self.

Sinkside...a tribute to Marc Folly

Sinkside   watercolor   10.5 x 8

Our challenge in class was dishes and kitchen utensils in an arrangement of sorts...we dove head-first into ellipses broken up by the straight linear qualities of the utensils.  We, in our class, have been quite taken with the work of French watercolorist Marc Folly.  Ah.........the glories of the internet.  I am no exception.  His work has a fresh abstract quality that is easily admired.  He works at creating paths of light through the work....real light as well as patterned light that functions as a beautiful rhythm, leading the eye as well as the imagination.  Interestingly, an artist friend dropped off a few older copies of The French-publication The Art of Watercolour.  This lovely magazine is beefy and chock full of information minus the advertising.  As luck would have it, I happened on an article about Marc Folly and his process.....wow..........a complete surprise!  He spends lots of time on the pre-painting drawing; he begins with strong darks; and he is not afraid to scrub out!  As an oil painter as well, I saw the art-making possibilities for any medium.  "Sinkside" is my tribute to Marc Folly...and a way for me to channel his methodology.

Our chapeaux are off to Marc Folly!  (And let us not forget the "u" in watercolour!)

P.S. Please visit the work of Helen Strom of Paris who responded to this post.

Tapper

Tapper   oil on canvas   48 x 24 x 1.5

Tapper is what I hope to be the beginning of a series of vertical figure paintings of people....just people....those who inspire and who "do the daily" in an interesting way.  One of my favorite artists of all times is Tyrone Geter who, in a former life, taught at The University of Akron.  Clippings of his work still hang on my inspiration bulletin board.  For me, the work goes beyond the visual.  His telling is big...very very big.  My own stories will probably not be like his.  The soulfulness of his work is built in, the African heritage with its strong values and intense patterning.  But I hope to achieve a strong feeling of the stories I have yet to tell...that is my wish.

Tapper was inspired by some photos in our family album.  I see a hesitancy in her stance.  

Wish me luck.  Wish me hard but good work.

The Enigma of the Candy Cane

Canes in a Jam Jar   watercolor   9 x 6

We claim to love candy canes.  Pre-holiday treat displays feature stacks and stacks of canes, all manner of flavors, sizes and shapes.  They make a beautiful statement on the buffet or on the tree.  It seems, however, that we really don't eat them.  The post-holiday reduced section at all retail stores features the same stacks and stacks.  Long after all the goodies at our house have been consumed, crumbs of cookies gobbled up to the finish, the lone jar of canes remains.  When our watercolor class started up at the art center, treats that no one eats at home start to show up in the kitchenette.....PLEASE, PLEASE, won't someone eat these canes?  So when we grabbed up objects to paint that first evening, I went for the canes...they are visually interesting, lovely really.  This work was completed in watercolor.  A whitish gouache wash was put in the background....it covered errant strokes that I found distracting and added to the feel of the season.  The lovely pattern on the jar lid was underplayed to shift attention to the canes themselves.

So....what's up with candy canes?

Self-Definition

Vintage Vinegar Jar   watercolor   11.5 x 8

as an artist is difficult to come by.  Long ago, I read somewhere that it takes 500 + paintings in order to find one's style, one's place in the painting spectrum.  In the beginning, we are just trying to "get it right".  It takes plenty of brush yielding to attain the freedom to own your work....to make it your own.  Contemporary galleries often desire work that is incredibly specialized....the painter repeating the same forms over and over with slight variances, in order for collectors to be able to recognize THE WORK.  I am a naysayer.  While I enjoy figurative work immensely, I also enjoy painting all kinds of things...even a landscape or two now and then.  In this case, I found this vintage vinegar jar at our local art center where shelves are filled with all manner of interesting objets, all ripe for the painting.  I enjoyed this little exercise.  I like to think that it is my manner of application, my stroke-making, my individual hand, that defines my work.  My life.  My decision.  My self-definition. 

I can paint whatever stirs something in me.  Yeah!