Old and Sold

"Goodbye," oil on panel 20x16, 2008 (private collection)

Once in a while it's important to go back and review one's work with an eye to how everything fits together. Just this week while engaged in one of those reviews I chanced across "Goodbye," a figurative work from well over a decade ago. Exhibited at an annual exhibition and sale in Des Moines, it was a work that seemed to come together on its own. 

Almost any painter, writer, or otherwise who is making things can tell you that sometimes they make something that almost paints or writes or composes itself. That was the case with this one. It started conventionally enough from a reference snapshot of a rainy street. That accounts for the limited palette, which I chose almost instinctively. Another feature of this one is the value pattern of very dark foreground figures against a lighter background. While I was painting this at some point the figure in the far background showed up and the couple on the left under a single umbrella did too, with the body language as you see it. None of these effects reached the level of conscious, verbal thought. They simply came off my paintbrushes. 

This was my first exhibition in a local women's club show and sale. Someone liked it and took it home.
 

Food as a Subject

"Breakfast," oil on panel, 9x12

Food has been a subject for painters since at least the 16th century. During the high Renaissance, many painters produced complex paintings of banquet tables groaning with a feast, or huge bouquets of flowers that couldn't be blooming at the same times. The sub-genre of vanitas paintings is a great example of still life from the times, featuring bubbles, skulls, snuffed candles and all manner of visual metaphors for the end of life. 

Still life remains an interesting genre, though considerably less popular these days, and food still figures in its content. These days a still life might contain wine glasses and bottles, vegetables, or whatever, but unlike the days of Cezanne the results seem less popular. 

"Morning Coffee," oil on panel, 6x8

Over the years my own work has included quite a lot of still life. Quite a few years ago one of my exercises was to paint small, quick studies of common objects--still life in other words. Most of those works were small at 6x8 or less so that I could finish them in a short time. The idea behind those works was simply daily practice, regardless. "Morning Coffee" is an example.

"Marcee's Burger," oil on panel, 11x14

 

But food in still life also invaded my larger works. For example, "Marcee's Burger" is a celebration of our daughter's conquest of cooking. Until she made the hamburger in the work above she hadn't successfully done much cooking. 

Painting still life is a good way to work on shapes and color without the problem of a moving subject (like a person).

The Cold Blue of Winter

If you're familiar with the concept of temperature as it pertains to color, then you know that yellows and some reds are considered "warm" and blues, violets and some greens are considered "cool." When I think of the way the world looks during most of the year, the general temperature is warm. Spring is all yellows and yellow-greens, giving way to darker but still warm greens as summer comes in. Summer is a mix of greens--mostly warm but there is a mix of blue-greens (shadows, evergreens) that an artist would call "cool". Fall is a riot of warms--reds, yellows, oranges--fading into duller, browner hues. 

Winter, on the other hand, is almost all blues, violets, blue-greys and so on. Winter is a cold, blue season. 

"Raccoon River, Winter," ink and wc on paper, about 3.5x10

The watercolor above is a reasonably true representation of how winter looks these days.

Antique Cars

There is a dealer in vintage and antique automobiles and trucks here in Des Moines. They occupy a former new car dealership downtown, with a large outside lot along one side. Just across the street is one of the rare groves of trees one sees in our cities, where I've happily spent time sketching antique autos and trucks parked in that lot. These little sketches are commonly drawn lightly with graphite then painted. Emphasis and outlines are usually added afterwards, using a technical pen. 

"Veterans," wc and ink on paper, about 4x8

"The Blue Truck," wc and ink on paper, 4x8

"Two Antiques, wc and ink

"Three Old Ones," wc and ink

 

Digitalia

A digital item--computer program, or image, for example--is called a digitalium in certain places. In my case the term is applied to a series of digital drawings of mine that I post twice a week to Daily Digitalia, another of my blogs. You can link to it from the main page of this one. If you enjoy drawing you'll find many kinds, including a lot of figure studies plus heads and faces, leavened with an occasional landscape or other sort of subject.

Hand study, after daVinci

"Marty"

"

"1935 Bugatti"

"Classical"

New York Scene

Although it's been since before the pandemic that I've visited, Manhattan and it's buildings continue to fascinate and lure me. 

This scrap of an old sketchbook page reminded me how much I've missed the Big Apple. Soon, I hope...sooon.

Iowa Land

Although many people who haven't been to Iowa believe the land here is flat, in truth this state has quite variable terrain. The northern part is indeed flat, where the Wisconsin glacier tens of thousands of years ago crushed the rolling hills. But the western border, the Missouri River valley, has great bluffs of loess (an unusual kind of soil), and the southern counties from roughlyt Council Bluffs east to the Mississippi are hilly. 

"Toward Coon Rapids," oil on canvas, 18x24

In "Toward Coon Rapids" the land looks like rolling folds of a blanket--a verdant, undulating cover of the earth.

Downstream

Winter can be dark and grim or bright and sunny, both metaphorically and in reality. This year has been no exception but lately the weather had moderated. Grey skies sometimes but sunshine too; brutal cold but a few days above 50 degrees. Of course, most days have been studio days, but as the sun comes back and days lengthen the outdoors will beckon. 

Meantime, this is an image of Druid Hill Creek about a half mile downstream from my home studio. It flows through a few acres of woods before emptying into Grays Lake, another place that I've painted many times. This one is a studio work based on many references.

"Downstream, Druid Hill Creek," oil on panel

Four Views

Opening Thursday, January 5 at The Cellar at La Poste in Perry, Iowa, I have the privilege of exhibiting with three talented artists, all of whom have spent time as Artist in Residence at the Whiterock Conservancy, an Iowa non-profit that is carefully restoring the soil and landscape while educating the public. The conservancy has a third mission of recreation, supplying glorious places to hike and cycle, even float the Middle Raccoon River. 

"Middle Raccoon," oil on panel, 11x14

In our exhibition, Four Views of Whiterock the glories of the conservancy can be seen from differing viewpoints and with differing visions and methods. We think the show will help people understand and visit as the days progress. 

Four Views of Whiterock runs through the end of February 2023.