When I paint, I frequently have a “wow” moment, when a two dimensional work starts to emerge from the paper and appear three dimensional. While this is something that is hard to describe, it is very satisfying. Michaelangelo is reported to have said that his sculptures already existed inside the marble; his job was merely to dig in until he found them. With two-dimensional art, giving a subject form is an additive process rather than the subtractive process of sculpture. It requires the correct application of perspective, strong shade and shadow, and a basic understanding of the underlying structure. My painting time seems to be broken down into 1/3 paint application and 2/3 standing back to gauge what’s happening. It seems that each brush stroke changes the relationships among various components. There is a constant “push-pull”. It’s important that I stay alert to how each part of a painting works relative to all the other parts. I am a relatively new painter. The advantage to that is that improvements come in larger steps in the beginning. However, I’m now entering that stage in my painting life where the learning curve is beginning to flatten. The timing is good as I am now able to devote more days and hours to my paintings. I hope that this will help me to keep that learning curve pointed in the right direction.
Beginning in the year 2000, my wife and I began taking self-guided three-week European trips every other year. The more we travel, the longer our list of future destinations becomes. We have now agreed that we need to make travelling an annual event. These trips have had a profound effect on our outlook toward the way humans inhabit Mother Earth. But our stated mantra for travelling is “Art for Travel, Travel for Art”. I do pen and ink sketches at each café stop, and take many hundreds of photos. Many of these digital images are not your typical travel shots. I am drawn to interesting light/shadow shapes, odd juxtapositions of old and new, interesting faces and, of course, all café scenes.
I then spend the next year or two in my studio selecting photos, making adjustments, and producing my watercolors.
Life is good!
While each painting is different, and approached differently, below is an abbreviated sample of my typical work procedure.
We were in Bucharest, Romania in May of 2010. This is the vibrant, if gritty, national capitol. We passed this little flower stand, and I was attracted by the brilliant light.
DEMONSTRATION
