Valley View at Iowa State Park

Acrylic on canvas  16" x 20"

Completed May 26, 2010.

Another in the series of lanscapes painted "en plein aire" this was the second of three paintings done in quick succession in one afternoon. It also features a departure from a style of painting that I had previously done and is more loose and and painterly in approach. The sun was getting lower and the light was changing rapidly - I remember feeling somewhat anxious to finish before the look changed completely. It was a fun pursuit and did not intimidate me as it would have in previous years. I was feeling the work in painting figurative models from life over the previous winter was paying off and I was ready for this challenge.

Midwestern Summer

Acrylic on canvas  20" x 16"

Completed May 26, 2010. This is the first of a series of plein aire paintings completed over a span of just a few months. It was one of those windy spring late afternoons that make me excited about the change of seasons after a long cold winter. I was very interested in taking what I had learned through the winter in doing figurative paintings with a live model in one sitting and applying that to landscapes. I was getting more comfortable with working from life in a short span of time and just letting it happen. This painting was the first of many to come where I would set up and just paint with no reservations about what the finished work would turn out like. I was more concerned with capturing the feel of the wind blowing that tree around and doing so in a more loose fashion. This painting represents a departure from attempting a literal translation and a move towards a more painterly approach. I was surprised and happy with the results of this approach.  

Mena

Acrylic on canvas 20" x 16"

Completed April 13, 2010.

This is another portrait completed in one sitting from a live model. I am finding that these "studies" are somewhat hit or miss in terms of capturing an actual likeness of the model. This one did actually result in more of a hit in terms of likeness. I was more excited by the mood it captured in this case. There is really very little time to get it all correct when working in this fashion. I believe that at some point in chasing all of these attempts it may become more natural to get it all correct in one painting. I plan to continue the chase until it does become a likely result.

2010 Winter Series Pen Barrel Detail

Winter 2010 - This is a closer detail of the transparent layered effect achieved through many layers of acrylic paint. This seasonal series is working out very well and I am now working on ideas for both the spring and summer series for 2011.

2010 Winter Series pen barrel

Winter 2010 Series of 10. The fall series turned and sold very well so this concept of a seasonal series is continued here. This shows the raw blank prior to the encasing in an acrylic block. It will then be turned down on a lathe and polished prior to assembly into both fountain pens and roller ball pens. All of the hardware on the pen will be done in silver with a snowflake at the top of the upper barrel - all adding to the cool colors used for the winter look. Once again, many layers of transparent paint were applied in varying thickness. It has the same sculptural effect of the fall series.

Olive and Tan pen barrel

Summer 2010 - Acrylic on pen barrel blanks. Olive and tan crosshatch pattern. This was another early trial pen to establish a method that would work on the finished product. It turned out well but did not make it as a finished pen due to problems with encasing it in a block of acrylic resin. I will likely re-do this pattern again now that we now have a better method. This is one of my favorite early attempts.

Blue Dot pen barrel

Summer 2010 - Another pattern in the individual series of fountain pen barrels painted this year.

Red Wave Yellow fountain pen and certificate

Summer 2010 - This is another example of an early fountain pen with the certificate that comes with it. These were all done to find out how the colors would appear when finished. This one was titled "Red Wave Yellow" and is the only one of this pattern I have done. It is signed and dated. I was experimenting with a very thick, sculptural, application of paint on the barrel. It does show up in the finished product.

Finished fountain pen 1

Summer 2010 - Acrylic hand painted barrel in a fountain pen. This is an example of the art as it appears in a finished pen. This is one of the very early samples done to see if it would work. I can't remember what I titled this design but it was one of the several individual patterns that I had completed. It turned out much brighter than the raw barrel that was painted. When the original barrel is encased in acrylic resin it makes whatever color used turn out much lighter. Almost as if under water the colors a amplified.  

George Washington pen barrel

Summer 2010 - Acrylic on Ebonite pen barrel. I painted this set of upper and lower barrels as a special commissioned work that was done to be part of a two pen set. Both upper and lower barrels are signed and dated on the opposite side. The other pen was made from the wood of a tree harvested from George Washingtons estate that was planted by him. Both the bust and signature were painted while under a large 20x magnifying lens using very small brushes. Both of these took a considerable amount of time to complete. The bust had an almost 3 dimensional effect when painted on the very dark ebonite. This was a fun project to do but very tiring. It was worth it in the end as I feel it turned out very well. There are plans to put these two pens in a special carved wooden diplay box. The set with the box has not been completed as of this date so I thought I would put show just these until all has been finished.

2010 Fall Series Pen Barrel

Fall 2010 Series of 8 pen barrels - This is a detail of the barrel (upper and lower ) prior to being made into a pen. Each is hand painted in acrylic and then encased in a block of clear acrylic resin. The barrel is then turned down on a lathe and polished to get a finished smooth look. All the hardware on this series was done in gold. I was really going for warm look in these. In all, there is at least 12 layers of paint on each of these to get the transparent layered effect I was going for. There was also a textural effect obtained by layering the colors on individually in a thick coat. The raw barrels ( prior to being encased ) had the look of a pile of fall leaves.

2010 Fall Series Display in Pen Store

Fall 2010 - Display case showing several of the 2010 Fall Series of pens that I had painted. This was the first series that we have done. There were only 8 pens made. Each is signed and numbered. Half of them were made into fountain pens and the other half were made into roller ball pens. This display is in a locked glass case in the center of the store at eye level as you walk in. At the time this photo was taken 3 had already sold. Each pen comes with a signed card indicating that it is an original artwork - a copy of this card is shown above.

Pen Store in Mall

Summer of 2010 - A new opportunity to display art. Through conversations with the pen maker and store owner, we had decided to try samples of original art painting on pen barrels. I produced several trial samples of various patterns painted in differing methods to see which would work best. This is the store front where the final products will be sold. We found a method to produce a pen barrel that could be made into a fountain pen or rollerball pen and would hold up to daily use but still be the actual original artwork. I will show a display of the 2010 fall series of pens in the next post. Note: I had not discussed displaying this information on my blog with the store owner prior to this posting so I decided it would be best to edit out any actual references to the store until I have obtained permission.  

Shoe Study in Burnt Umber

Acrylic on Canvas  11" x 14"

February 24, 2010. A value study primarily, this painting was done using only burnt umber and titanium white. The idea was to capture the still life in 30 minutes and focus only on dark and light. I find it helpful to do this type of exercise occasionally. It seems to re-focus the areas I notice when working on other paintings.  

Quick Portrait from Live Model #2

Acrylic on Canvas 15" x 12"

May 11, 2010. Golden Open Acrylic. A very quick live model painting. This one was noteworthy in that it is the fastest I have ever finished a portrait. We only had 30 minutes for this pose. There were a lot of short cuts taken in the process. I am somewhat surprised in how close it came to being complete. I think I could have gone back and filled in all the details with another 15 minutes. Sometimes it seems that I may be better off not having too much time on a painting - there is less possibility to overwork it.

Quick Portrait from Live Model

Acrylic on Canvas 18" x 16"

February 2, 2010. A more recent example of work done from a live model. This was an attempt to add more of a "painterly" look while still achieving a proper likeness. I am happy with the color in this one. It turned out to have a sort of mood to it - not sure I really planned that part.

St. Patricks Day Dress

Acrylic on Canvas covered board  14" x 18"

March 17, 2009. Live Figure at Bucktown Center for the Arts, Davenport, IA. Our model chose to wear a green dress for St. Patricks Day. I had just joined the group known as " A Fine Line " in January and was attempting to paint live models for the first time. Each night has one pose consisting of 3 - 45 minute sessions. This was one of the first paintings I completed that had a "likeness" of the actual model. There are alot of changes I would make to it now. I find that is easy to say after I am done and have the luxury of a little extra time to evaluate it. 

Bonsai

 Acrylic on Canvas 3.5" x 2.5"

October 2009. Experiment with Golden Open Acrylic paint. This painting was one of those you do while not actually trying to paint something. I had been working with very small stretched canvas' around this time and had just bought some of these new paints. I was planning to use them while painting outside and was hoping they would give me enough working time to do some oil-like effects. I had a very small bonsai tree sitting on my desk and before I really thought about it, I started to paint it. This new paint turned out to be different than the other acrylics I have used. It does give you more time to work. It also dries more transparent and glossy ( with some colors ) than I was accustomed to. Overall, I like the look of it and do plan to use it more often for some types of painting.

Homage to Monet

Acrylic on Arches 140# Cold Press paper  7" x 10"

2001. This was done as an experiment to see how to get a watercolor look when using acrylic paint. I had wanted to be able to combine the look of transparent blending of color in the sky with the more opaque and "oil - like" heavy paint application in the foreground. I happened to have a print of this Monet painting on the wall in front of me at the time, so.. I decided to use it. I think this is the only time I have ever directly tried to copy anothers work. It felt wrong to do it even though I knew this was a time tested method to improve your own work. 

Max

Acrylic on canvas 20" x 20"

This painting was completed on March 1, 2010 and is a commissioned work of an english bulldog puppy. I was sent a group of photo's and this composition was taken from a cropped version of one of these with color choices made by comparing several other photo's. I was happy with how this one turned out. It seemed to elicit smiles and laughter to those who saw it. I was kinda hoping for that effect when I chose this format. It actually turned out to be a very good likeness of Max and the owners were very pleased with the painting.