Monday, January 27, 2020

A Few New in 2020

Behold, yet more paintings for the "Make Mine Abstract!" show at the Oliver Art Center in Frankfort.  Even though no visitors are allowed to enter the galleries at this time, the show is up and can be viewed in this Virtual Tour.  Most of the paintings I have in the show are in this blog - in this post and others.  More will be added soon . . .
and the next day - voila! - here are four more.


"Dream Painting 2-Transformation"    36 x 40    acrylic, oil, colored pencil, pastel and marble dust
on canvas  Sold
Like "Dream Painting 1" a few paintings below, this one is from the dream of seeing my paintings in a large, beautiful room.  Unlike the first one, this one has "waves" breaking upon a starry night sky instead of a beach.  My paintings always happily surprise me with the way they turn out.

 
"Mistfall"    16 x 12    oil on canvas
This one is not abstract enough from my point of view to be in the "Make Mine Abstract" show and I had so many paintings already.  So this one is hanging on the walls of our house, which are rather bare right now with all those other paintings at the Oliver Art Center.  Knowing me, I am sure it won't be long before new paintings are everywhere.

 
"Turbulence"    14 x 24    oil, acrylic, pastel, colored pencil and marble dust on canvas
Like so many of my recent paintings, this one is inspired by the lovely spring waters spreading over the sand as they try to make their way from the cliffs to the lake.  I discovered in this painting how I could use a tiny pointed thing (a large safety pin in this case) and scratch tiny lines into the marble dust areas.  They may be too fine to see in the photo. 

"Gravitational Waves in a Spiral Galaxy"    36 x 30    oil, acrylic, colored pencil, pastel and 
marble dust on canvas  Sold
This painting began as a glowing moon with a large, translucent rainbow ring around it in a very dark night sky.  Then it turned into what it is, which is way more interesting, I think!

"Putting Some Curve in the Straight"    12 x 12    colored pencil and oil on canvas   Sold
This drawing/painting is an experiment in taking a realistic building and making it abstract.  I also wanted to try to use a different color palette - more oranges and yellows and less blues.

"Dream Painting 1"    24 x 36    colored pencil, pastel and marble dust on canvas   Sold
I had a dream that I was standing in a room - large, beautiful, full of light and with paintings covering the walls.  A voice very emphatically said, "Look at these", meaning the paintings.  I did and realized they were all mine.  So, I have been re-creating the dream's paintings in this reality.  

"Keep Spiraling On"    12 x 16    colored pencil and pastel on canvas   Sold
A spiral shape and many intricate lines, hints of starry space showing through here and there - some of my favorite things.  One of the ideas I had while working on this painting is that the spiral is an energy field moving/flowing through space and dimensions.  

"Once Upon an Interior"    22 x 32    oil, acrylic, colored pencil on canvas   Changed
This began as a realistic art gallery interior and morphed into an abstract version of that reality with the idea of outer space moving into and around the gallery spaces.  I wanted to keep the architectural elements but abstract them enough so that the painting could be in the OAC abstract show.


"Into the Earth Plane"   22 x 46   
oil, acrylic, pastel, colored pencil, rock powder on canvas
Both this painting and the next one ("Arrival On Wings") are a different color idea for me.  The overall lightness and pinks/oranges are inspired by rocks at Point Betsie.  I like the way this one turned out, with the geometric planes and detailed line drawings, but I do not know where the ideas came from!  Maybe it was a "draw something and work with it" kind of thing.  There are many ideas that come into my mind and/or flow from my heart through my hands that I do not know the origin of.  I am always curious about that.


"Arrival On Wings"   24 x 36   
oil, acrylic, pastel, colored pencil, marble dust and rock powder on canvas
The rock powder is a gift from my grandson, Will.  He was having a great time smashing stones to smithereens and I told him that I could use the powdery stuff in my paintings.  He was very happy about that idea and carefully sifted the smaller particles into a container for me.
As this painting took form it first had flying saucers coming in for a landing, then it looked like a cityscape with fire.  As more colors and textures were added the feeling became more like a peaceful visitation of some sort.

"Current Creations"   24 x 30   oil, acrylic, pastel, colored pencil on polyester satin on canvas
I was drawing an intricate abstract scene on the canvas layer, as I like to do, and was very annoyed by the grain of the canvas.  So, I glued a layer of satin onto the canvas with acrylic medium.  The satin is very translucent so much of the underneath drawing and some colors showed through.  More lines, colors and highlights were added to the satin layer, which is much smoother than the canvas.  It feels to me like a swift flow of water creating interesting shapes and swirls.

"The Lizard Game"   18 x 42   oil, acrylic, pastel, colored pencil on polyester satin on canvas
The satin was applied in the same way and for the same reason as described for the "Current Creations" painting above.  The Lizard Game is a special, very intriguing game that our Grandson, Will, plays with his Grampa Joe.  Will makes up the rules and changes them on a whim.  

"Mind Springs"   16 x 20   colored pencil and pastel on canvas
Just after I began this painting we went to the Lake Michigan beach at Frankfort.  There are many small springs coming out of the steep cliff along the shore.  They form charming waterfalls and lovely sculptural designs in the sand, which I always love to see and study.  That's the inspiration for the lines and color.