4/26/10

Amato's "Secondary Colors" reception



Last Friday evening was Amato's "Secondary Colors" show and I wanted to share Amato's reception through a video I made of the soire'. There were more people attending the reception than I had originally predicted, although sometimes my predictions are a bit ambitious, this time around I was being overly cautious. I was certainly proven wrong! And to top it off, there were many new faces, which is always a treat! Karen, the gallery owner had a wine steward serve up the spirits with compliments of chocolate and strawberries. Art sales were good too, which is a strong indicator that the economy is inching forward in a positive direction. The show ends on May 23rd.

4/19/10

Gallery Opening at Amato's this Friday!

Roadside Morning...revisited. 12x9"

"Roadside Morning" 12x9" Pastel on sanded paper

This little piece has been waiting for a frame for some time. So, I bought a bunch of frames through an artist friend who gets them wholesale and now it's got a frame! But after taking a second look at this piece, I just had to rework it a bit. Call it noodling, fussing, or picky... it's telephone lines and skyline was needing a tad bit more attention! I'm calling it good and finishing it off with it's frame and some of that AR glass that I've recut from the accident (see last post).

4/13/10

Floating Idle, 34x36"

"Floating Idle" 34x36", Pastel on sanded paper

Today was not a good day. It all starts with this piece, above, which is a spectacular painting. This photo does no justice to it. The problem is, it is large, hard to handle, heavy, and it seems to have a small case of bad luck. Before I tell you my bad day story, let me share some background. Once it was in a show and was the showcase piece. As I stood there proudly next to my piece, I noticed for the first time ever that it had a huge smudge across a ducks bill. Augh! OK, blame it on my framer! On another occasion, it was hanging (by two hooks) in our family room and it fell to the hardwood floor and smashed the glass...entirely missing my son by a foot. The frame and the painting were still intact so I bought new glass for it and called it good.

Because of it's size, the large piece of protective glass has a lot of glaring reflections on it. After all, it is, well, just glass over a painting. Yuck! So recently, I made the investment of purchasing some Anti-Reflective glass to make the piece more visible. The only thing is that AR glass is very expensive, close to the cost of Museum glass but without the UV qualities. I have a show coming up next week and decided it was time to invest in it. Today I was delivering the painting to the gallery when the piece fell over and torqued the frame. Logic told me that glass doesn't bend, and so the AR glass broke into pieces!

I think that some paintings just have their own personalities, and this one does for sure!
As I write this post, it sits in my garage with the shards of glass hanging in the frame over the exposed pastel painting. My first thought is to possibly cut the painting into smaller pieces and reframe them, making a little series and also easier to handle. My gut tells me to do this, but the impact of the size and beauty will be lost! My second thought is, maybe it's time to move over to oils!

Unfortunately, it won't be in the upcoming "Secondary Colors" show at Amato's Gallery (event posted to the right). Until then, c'est la vie!

4/11/10

Spring at Jenkins, 9x12"



A couple of weeks ago, the weather was just perfect for a plein air day, so me and my painting buddy went out and stretched our outdoor muscles for a couple of hours. We went to a local plein air favorite called The Jenkin's Estate. Not familiar with what type of trees these are, but they had a lot of grey-ish moss on the upper branches.  I've read that moss on trees is a good indication of the quality of clean air.

4/7/10

Evening Reflection, a video chronicle


Here's some instant art for your enjoyment! It's really interesting to see the art process at full throttle. You can tell by the change in clothing that I'm wearing that it was created over the course of about 5 days. Sometimes a painting session will last from about a 1/2 hour to anywhere around 2 hours. Enjoy!

4/3/10

Evening Reflection, 24x24

"Evening Reflection", 24x24" Pastel on sanded paper SOLD

A small study is all it took for me to work this one out. Originally, I didn't want to part with the study because I was so drawn to the peaceful mood and coloring. Making a larger version of a smaller study has always been a challenge for me and I think I was pretty successful with my attempt this time around. It's signed and ready for framing for an upcoming show at Amato's on April 23 (see events sidebar). I can now part with the study knowing that it now has a "family" member! Originally created from my mind, no reference photo, nor from memory. Just plain ol' creativity at it's best.

"Work In Progress" video to be posted soon!