What I'm up to...
This video is a nice sample of the last several months of work. Fun times...and big plans ahead.
Aegean Waters
A 79-Piece Painting
This one was a bit different than my standard pieces in that it is a painting that fits together like a puzzle (see photos below). There are 76 pieces to this, each cut out, textured, covered with aluminum leaf, painted, assembled and glued to my panel, then resined. Though the Aegean is far from North Carolina, the colors in this artwork are reminiscent of the golden sunsets and aquamarine waters.
Final Assembly
The Red Planet
"The Red Planet"
Gold and Red
Every now and then, I feel like I have just a bit too much fun. I don't feel guilty about that mind you! The latest bit of fun involves this commissioned art piece (yet to be formally named). This abstract oil painting is destined for a home that will be part of Asheville, North Carolina's 2016 Parade of Homes this autumn (and Joy and I have been invited to be there shamelessly handing out business cards). Anyway, the video (below) was actually taken from a helicopter 10,000 feet above the surface of an alien planet. Just kidding. It's just me playing with my camera. Cheers!
Puzzling and Playing
"The first assembly"
Assembling a Painting
This is the beginnings of a new "intarsia" piece I'm working on. Each piece (there are 76 of them) is cut out, texturized, painted and then assembled and resined. The photo above shows the first actual assembly of the piece before the first layer of paint was applied. Photos below are just a couple to show what they look like with the first layer of paint. They will get several more layers of paint...so stay tuned.
First layer of paint
First layer of paint
Hominy Valley
"Hominy Valley" (16" x 26")
Local North Carolina Scenes
Some of our favorite hiking trails in western North Carolina are just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, southeast of Mt. Pisgah. Waterfalls, streams, amazing vistas and BLUEBERRIES are what make this part of the Blue Ridge landscape so special. The fastest route to the top of the Parkway here is on the back side of Mt. Pisgah. Gradually making your way through rolling hills and Hominy Valley, (a beautiful place filled with wildflowers) you approach the hulking mountain (our local landmark). Many such drives through Hominy Valley have inspired this oil painting. I hope you enjoy it and next time you're in Asheville and feel like exploring, come by the studio and I'll pull out a map and point you in the right direction.
Fishy Art
Underwater Art
This project, featuring a school of tropical fish swimming amongst giant kelp was the most intricate, detailed painting I've done using this technique. Finished this time with satin varnish rather than gloss resin, it's new home will be in Georgetown, SC.
Hyatt Ridge (26" x 16")
Hyatt Ridge
Last October, my kids were visiting Asheville and one of the days, we ran over to the Bryson City area to go hiking. As we entered Smoky Mountains National Park (on the "Road to Nowhere"), we got to the end of the road (in the middle of...nowhere) and parked the car. After walking through an old abandoned auto tunnel (they ran out of money in the Depression and simply stopped the road project) we started on the trail. The place was silent except for the sound of the wind in the trees and the "crunch" of leaves underfoot. Talk about a source of inspiration. How could I not paint this? This was a perfect day. This painting is my attempt to capture that day last autumn.
"Broad River in October"
Constructing a Painting
This piece, "Broad River in October" is so reminiscent of Autumn. In "constructing" this piece, I used more texture than I usually do, but that created very rich and dimensional results I'm very happy with.
Beginnings II
Makoto Fujimura
"In the Beginning"
“It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to." Jean-Luc Godard
In thinking about my development as a painter, it's a bit like looking at a large pot of stew simmering on the stove: I see chunks of potato, and (oh!) there's a carrot...but what's that red lump? Oh yes, I remember..." There are so many elements that have come together and are still coming together (I'm not dead yet!) to inform and shape what I do. That's what is challenging and really fun about creativity, and I hope I never, ever loose it...that childlike sense of curiosity and awe I feel at seeing something new. And of those sources of inspiration, some of them really stand out and have radically shaped what you do.
One of those sources for me is Makoto Fujimura. Fujimura’s work is represented by Artrue International and has been exhibited at galleries around the world, including Dillon Gallery in New York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts Museum, Bentley Gallery in Arizona, Gallery Exit and Oxford House at Taikoo Place in Hong Kong, and Vienna’s Belvedere Museum. (He's a busy guy.)
His work is really mesmerizing to me. And like the Orthodox icons that got me started painting on metal, he paints on gold leaf using hand-ground pigments and centuries-old Japanese techniques. He paints with amazing color -- sometimes subtle, sometimes intense, but what's cool is that he's taken something ancient and made it new and this encouraged me to do the same (but I obviously went in a very different direction). What I love about his pieces is that though they are abstract and are beautiful in their execution, they mean something. He is so adept at combining deep, spiritual meaning into a piece, and it's fascinating to study his art and try to figure out the meaning (before I cheat and look at the title). His art doesn't just "take you somewhere else" but makes you think and feel. I really like that.
When I began my own technique several years ago, I tried to take on that symbolism in my work, and believe me, it's not at all easy. My first series was a group of seven large art pieces based on the first week of Creation (each painting symbolizing what happened on that day per the account in the Book of Genesis). Encouraged by the results, I tackled Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, carefully listening over and over again to each of the four movements and trying to figure out how to illustrate a four part piece of music with a set of four paintings. Very challenging. All that was a wonderful experiment, but I eventually ended up returning to abstract and landscape art...but now with new "tools in my tool belt" so to speak.
So the work I do now, though also painted on metallic leaf, is nothing like Mako's work and you'd probably never guess he has influenced me so greatly, but the idea that art can emotionally draw you in and make you deeply think -- that came from Mako Fujimura. So...thank you Mako!
Appalachian Panorama
Those "Special" Places
There are few more beautiful places than at the top of the Appalachians. Several years ago, we visited a place called Max Patch (about an hours drive west of Asheville) and it feels like the top of the world. It's definitely one of those North Carolina landscapes you never forget. On a clear day, I think you could see nearly a hundred miles in every direction. This oil painting (sold even before completed!) was painted to be installed above a door as "entrance art" and was based on memories of the many times we've hiked to the top of that bald and enjoyed a picnic dinner, glass of wine and Pim's (you have to have Pim's for dessert when you eat a picnic dinner at the top of Max Patch).
