Boreas Sanctus
October 6th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex Greenbelt
Oil on Canvas, 14 x 18 in
(sold)
As usual after a time away from my paints, I was a little colour-happy in this one, but it was a colour-happy day in a colour-happy season so I think it’s alright. There is a blade of marsh grass stuck to the wet paint on the right, to be taken out when dry.
September 8th, 2012
Oil on Canvas, 12 x 24 in
Essex Greenbelt, Essex MA
(sold)
I was frustrated with this the entire day, and the day changed so often (weather / skywise) that I re-painted it several times over. I thought I’d try using a brush for a change, be as precise as I could – and I was frustrated for a long time that it didn’t look like what I imagined I was doing. Then came a dramatic change to the sky and I returned to my knife and pulled it together. I realized my frustration with this painting was like a person struggling to use his best English, and being mystified as to why his English wasn’t communicating effectively, and then eventually realizing this was because he actually doesn’t speak english at all, but French.
July 21st, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex Greenbelt, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in
If you’ve noticed I’ve been quiet of late about my most recent work, it’s because I’ve been quietly getting sick of what I’ve been doing. I endeavored a difficult vista this week in hopes that it would give me a new way of seeing things, a new way of showing them. I have a feeling that this one may be more appealing to me when I’ve forgotten what the scene I was painting REALLY looked like, and I can just see the painting as it is, and not as what it isn’t. The only other thing relevant to mention about this one is that when I started it I had Johnny Cash’s version of “I see a darkness” running through my head; and by the time I was finishing the chorus had blended with another memory, and the combination ran thus: “I see a darkness, oh no I see a darkness – and Lo, into the darkness there came a great Light”
July 14th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 16 x 12 in
(sold)
July 7th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 22 in
(sold)
I painted this while sadly contemplating Ray Allen’s decision to leave Boston (Celtics) for the Miami Heat. Now every time I see it I see Ray in that tree, standing alone, trying to make the right choice… I do wish him the best of everything but championship titles.
“There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”
June 30th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 12 x 16 in,
(sold)
This one is a few tweaks shy of being done if not overdone. The weather was beautiful and although the fields would have been gorgeous to paint, I have been trying to use my Saturdays to struggle with subject I find difficult. A few months back I declared war on all deciduous trees, but shortly thereafter recanted, realizing that “tout comprendre, c’est tout pardonner.” In other words, because I find them so difficult, I should be that much more vested in trying to paint them. As I said before, painting a tree is not a study in painting an object, but a study in observing a relationship, and rendering it as sincerely as possible – which is difficult when you have to grapple with so many different value scales in one place. Anyway, this was an attempt I’ll call 3/4 successful.
June 23rd, 2012
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 inches
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
(There’s glare on the bottom of painting in the photo, esp. left hand side, that I’ll need to retake to correct.) It was a beautiful day in Essex and I had brought three new knives to try out. None were exactly like the late great one, but one was very close, and that’s what I ended up using. It wasn’t long before I stopped noticing a difference, which I suppose is a good sign. I found this bush which for some reason was turning already (to fall colours). It’s reddish pinkish organge was really striking against the trees in the distance, which looked inky blue. All colours were ablaze; which is why I chose this view to paint.
June 16th, 2012
Cogswell’s Grant, Essex
Oil on Wood, 18 x 24 in
This was a tragic day* for me; I broke my beloved knife. Rather than having a collection of knifes that each do something different, I opted to have one knife that I had used for so long and knew so well I could do anything I wanted with it. Anything, that is, except step on it. I think it must’ve been weakening for weeks because it was in a pile of mown grass I dropped + stepped on it/ broke it. I have actually been paranoid for months now that it might break, or that I might lose it – because I love it so much! And the gods punish you for loving “objects” too much. I’ve already ordered 6 similar looking ones to try and find a stand in. I tried to finish this painting with another knife I had. What made my favorite knife so wonderful was it’s bounce, it’s springiness – the sub knife just didn’t cut it. It’s spirit was willing but it’s flex was weak. I just decided to stop and let this stand as my knife’s last work. RIP.
* – Also, later in the day I found and pulled out a tick from my leg – and three months of feeling increasingly crappy later, I learned I have Lyme Disease. Oh ill fated day!!
June 9th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Wood, 18 x 24 in
(sold)
It was a hot and bright day when I painted this, and so much staring at the sky and land had really made it hard to see. I felt this was a disaster and I was really struggling, feeling about 3 more hours from its disappointing completion, when David Curtis arrived to give me his critique. To my shock and disbelief, he had only good things to say about this, even as it stood, and advised me to stop working on it; it was done, and among my best yet. I doubted his judgment – he’d been out in the sun all day too, afterall, maybe it had momentarily addled his brain? But as for the suggestion that I stop, I was all for it. I did. The painting is growing on me, like a beneficent fungus.
May 26th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Wood, 24 x 18 in
(sold)
Last week and this week I chose subjects that are challenging to me – all this close vegetation and the sky through an umbrella of trees present a huge tangle of relationships of light and shadow, colour and contrast, and warmth and cold (tones.) I like this one better than last week’s. Last week I got a lot of compliments from passers by as I worked, this week, not so. As I say too often, probably, if you really want to hit a high note of beauty, you have to have the courage to wade deep through lots of ugly to get there. This was really ugly for a long time as it slowly came into itself, but I feel like, for me, it made it through to the other side. (See this beside the photo I took of the composition before I started painting – scroll to the bottom of “Matching Scene to Painting.”)