Come Spring

Come Spring   Watercolor   17.5 x 24

is an expression that implies jobs and tasks that will be undertaken once the winter weather clears...that which is yet to be.  Earlier in my artistic career, I swore that I would never paint a barn.  For me, those barns painted during the 70's and 80's reached a kitsch level...way too sweet, way too charming.  Never say never.  As I drove along shooting references for a landscape painting, the subjects that most appealed to me were both buildings and animals.  The bare landscape just doesn't do it for me.  Maybe just too much green, as was spoken earlier on by Georgia O'Keefe.  I wanted my own barn to be more current, at least as current as an old barn can possibly be.  It is somehow comforting, a symbol of the everlasting, of the work that sustains us. 

This is my offering to the subject of "spring landscape".

Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge. (Winston Churchill)

New Recipe::Old Recipe

Old Recipe

New Recipe   watercolor/mixed on paper   27.5 x 18

Beginning a new painting is often like trying out a new recipe.  Which pan?  (oops...too small) Which order would best accomplish the goal?  Which spices...more of?  less of?  And, oh, the mountain of pots and pans at the finish!  For me, it takes more than one "go" at a new recipe to feel comfortable in the making.  With a painting, those options are limited...especially with watercolor.  I had a vision, in this case, of how I thought the painting would look.  My sketch proved to be erroneous, in that I saw the cookware as a lighter value...the background a darker.  As I painted, and continued to paint, the reflections and all of the colors therein, the cookware took a turn to the dark.  My dark background continued to confuse.  It seemed fine up close.  But distance turned it all into a muddle.  I prefer a stronger value differentiation in order for the work to be read at a distance, as well as to simplify the shapes.  Woe is me.  This painting hung in my dining room for over a month.  During that time, my patient husband hung and removed the work for further study and further work several times.  I was not happy.  My final answer involved printing relief ink over top.  I had reversed the values from my initial sketch.  Topsy turvy!  And so, I guess that lesson for me is to remain flexible, to veer from the initial notion in order to achieve the look that first sparked my brain.

A painting is never finished.  It simply stops in interesting places.

Phil Gardner

Onion Afterthought

Onion Afterthought   Watercolor on Khadi   10 x 14

For me, a still life painting is a way to get back to basics without an overload of emotional attachment.  We can learn about value patterns and their linkage.  And there is no one to offend.  And, for me, the still life work is a bit of an offshoot of my other life in the kitchen.  The onion, for example.  Its amazing flavor is the basis for many great meals.  The variety abounds.  And, given the abundance of options at the market today, we can experience the marvels of leeks and shallots.  Visually, they are expansive in color, shape and texture.  This kept my interest in this work which was painted on Khadi paper.  Khadi provides an interesting texture to the paint which should probably be considered in selected appropriate subject matters.  I am happy with this work and am thrilled with both the color and the shapes of the leek leaves.  And, I guess that the rich dark backgrounds seem appropriate for the richness and strength of the subject matter.

Grilled, fried, sliced, diced and painted....an epicurean delight.