You Looking at Me?

Here is a painting I have been working on for a few months. I think it is just about finished. I took the reference photo at a small French Bistro in Denver called Z-Cuisine. Excellent food, by the way. I had thought about cropping the second table out of the piece, but then decided I liked the second table and the fact that there are three different scenarios among the 4 people visible. The man looking up is viewing an art piece that is the chandelier. This painting is 30" x 20" and I wondering if I should submit it to a National Juried show. I still have not heard back on whether my "red truck" painting has been accepted into the Paint America show. They keep moving the date back as to when the list will be published.

Springs to Life in a new form

Here is another painting from 2002 that I figured would be good practice for me. I borrowed the second orchid from a good friend of mine last weekend. She was kind enough to let me know she had some in bloom if I wanted to borrow one to paint. The original painting is an oncidium of some kind, and that was painted in my "plant portrait" phase. I was trying at the time to mix organic objects with graphic shapes. They were not very succesful. I did not have a photo reference for the oncidium, but from the graphics I put in I tried to think back to the lighting situation and put the new plant in a similar place. I kept the background fairly graphic but with softer edges. If nothing else, I did enjoy myself.

Mangos Transformed

Here is an interesting revamping of a painting I did in 2002. As I have mentioned before, often times, just to get painting, I will go through my old paintings and pull out something to work on. A few weeks ago, I had two mangos that needed to be painted before eating. I grabbed this old painting, found the same plate, and added an apple to the set up. A similar, yet totally transformed composition. I see now that I forgot to put the gold rim on the new version. Not sure it needs it, though.

Alley Scene off Harvard Gulch in Denver

Friday was such a warm and sunny Colorado winter day, I grabbed my every ready back pack of gear and headed out to enjoy. I picked this alley for its purple and red/orange color as well as the light/dark patterns. Not all alleys are created equal. It had been a month since I have been out to paint and just getting outside rejuvenates my soul. This painting is a bit more abstract than I normally paint, but I sure did enjoy myself. It is 14 x11 inches and it took me 1.5 hours. I thought I had overworked it and spent way too long on it, as the light had changed so dramatically. But 1.5 hours is not that long, it is just the days are shorter. The last few things I went over I feel I should have left alone and that is I put in more patterns in the trees, and I liked them better as simple shapes. I also did not get the light burnt sienna color in for the light side of the electrical poles. This was a gessoed panel, which is slicker than working on canvas.

Painting from Hell or Gurgy sur L'Yonne street scene

I did not do as much to this as one would think given the difference in how the two were photographed. (DEC 31 post) Kevin asked if I had the photo reference with me, which I did not, but I did have the sketch from the original idea I had worked out. I had totally forgotten about the sketch it has been so long since I worked on this painting. What Kevin suggested I do was to paint from the sketch, as it was great. His critique then came from the sketch and its center of interest of the clump of vegetation almost dead center. So in essence, darken the building that is in the left corner and lighten the white building; darken the roof of the white building and simplify the plane facing the viewer. I also added the light "triangles" to the vegetation along the edge of all the buildings beginning with the left corner. I tried to lighten the building dead center that is integral to the vegetation, but I did not like it, but looking at the sketch next to the painting, I see that I still should think about that. Or darken the building with the two windows...that would make the other building appear lighter. Silly me, I thought the white house was the center of interest.

Piqued my interest

Today I did take brush in hand to paint our new kitchen, something that was not in the contract for our remodel. Not that there is much wall left, but there was plenty to keep two of us busy for 3-4 hours each. There is still some more to be done, but now the walls look fresh to match everything else, and we were both done for the day. And we start the new year fresh.

I found an interesting description in the Denver Post last weekend. It was an article about a new and upcoming artist who is considered a rising star on the Denver Art scene - Emerging Artist of the Year: "solo exhibition of paintings at Rule Gallery that exuded an alluring sense of emotional detachment and mystery."

I don't find emotional detachment alluring. In a previous article earlier in the year on the exhibit itself, this young artist was likened to Edward Hopper. I have been thinking about this wording all week trying to put my finger on why it bothers me so; I know the critic was seeing it as a positive. I just don't see it as a positive. Why would emotional detachment be alluring? Why would you be emotionally detached from life when life draws us to be more alive? And why was the word "alluring" used? If you use the words exuded and alluring, that would indicate an emotional attachment, would it not?

I wrote this on January one, and it is now January16. This whole question still is swimming around in my wee brain; is it because I equate this reviewers choice of words to be indicative of a larger piece that is going on in our culture and in our world that I find it so disturbing?