I knew that I wouldn’t have much time to paint today. We’re going down south tomorrow and I had a full day. Knowing this, before I started my chores, I sat down and thought about the essence of the landscapes I have been painting. I’m not sure if all landscapes fit this formula, but mine […]
Yesterday I introduced the idea of more than one point of interest in a composition. I referred to the late work of Paul Klee in light of two articles by David Sylvester reprinted as Late Klee, Klee I and Klee II (pages 35-47) in About Modern Art: Critical Essays 1948-1997 (Henry Holt and Company New York, 1997). […]
Paul Klee is one of my favorite artists. I found a couple of articles in David Sylvester’s book, About Modern Art: Critical Essays 1948-1997 (Henry Hold and Company, New York 1997) that have given me more insight into Klee’s later work (1937-1940). Sylvester describes these compositions as pictures without a focal point. Sylvester references two works […]
“When Robots Attack” is the name of today’s composition, not a post mortem on mechanized warfare. I didn’t intend to paint the likeness of a robot. At the very least, after I painted a watery yellow and green orb, I thought I would use the drips to create tentacle-like projections. I used acrylic inks to enhance some of the drip tracings, […]
I prepared the ground for Abstract 101516 by layering colors over a pre-washed sheet of 140 pound Arches paper. I used a heavy marker to create the first free-form design. Then I used oil-based pens for the more delicate shapes and the cross hatching. The three-lobed form inspired the placement of the eyes. I chose […]
Things are getting worse. Getting her up is harder. Her feet don’t work. She has to stay in bed. Cousin J is here to help. He loves her. He wraps his arms around her and muscles her into position when she slides down. She’s not talking any more. Back aches. It’s hard to move, let […]
Today, it was a struggle to find a subject to draw or paint. I had a dentist’s appointment and was in no mood. However, when I finally sat down at the desk where I paint, I noticed the sketch of my wife, I did last night. I got out the big paper and decided to […]
Emotions can be so complicated. Sometimes they can be portrayed with simple lines.
Today’s watercolor experiment: It started as a sunset. I took a photograph of one of those wonderful pink, orange and dark blue cloud sunsets the other day as part of my ‘cloud bank’ series of photos. I thought I would paint a beautiful sunset today. Somehow the essence of cloudiness did not make its way […]
I painted another portrait of Mike today. Mike is my older brother who is autistic, low functioning and nonverbal. Mike was home during my early childhood, but was institutionalized when I was about 10 years old. Now he is in a geriatric group home. I haven’t seen him in a while but oddly, he still […]
