The Summer Show

click image to enlarge

My show opening is just around the corner and I am feverishly working in the studio to finish up the final pieces. It looks like there will be 32 paintings when it's all said and done which is astounding considering that my solo shows are usually comprised of 12-15 paintings. The ads that my dealer has placed have started appearing in the magazines and we have begun framing. When it gets to this stage it sort of feels like a rocket launch that is finally getting ready to happen. I mean, after months/years of hard work and preparation all systems are go and the countdown begins (we're at one month to go). So I better get back to the easel because with one month to go I still have two months of work to get done!!!

Getting my 2nd wind.....or is it my 3rd or 4th? (I've lost count)

"THE DRIFTER"

oil on panel, 8"x 10"

     Last weekend I took a breather for a couple of days and did this little shell piece. I am so entrenched in the studio right now getting ready for my show that about the only way to get a beach walk in is to paint one! Although these little shell paintings are seemingly simple, they are packed with intense natural characteristics that make them the unique objects that they are (just click on the image to see what I mean). Still, they are subjects that require very little emotional investment from me and they allow me to just paint them. So while I prepare for the final CRUSH of work getting ready for my show, this indeed may be the only way to get in a walk on the beach. But like I said, with all the amazing natural details, these little shells are certainly no "walk in the park" to paint.

THE STORM

"SEA STORM"

oil on canvas, 12"x16"

     Well, contrary to my previous entry where I stated that I would not post this image before my show I decided why wait? I mean, what if a witch swoops down one night (or a bruja if this witch is Spanish) and snatches me away and thus endeth my blogging? So considering that, I thought I'd go ahead and post it. The setting for this piece is Beaufort Inlet near where Blackbeard's flagship the Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground about a mile directly offshore. The scene depicts a coastal storm we had a couple of years ago during the winter. It was one of those low pressure systems that "bomb" as they say and intensify very quickly. When the forecasters call for a "coastal storm" they are just that. You can go about 20 miles inland and it's like there's no storm at all while at the coast it'll be blowing to beat the band. That's the hold this place has over me. It's like the sea is a world unto itself and in my opinion if an artist wants to really paint it they have to live with it, live in "that world". In fact I pretty much see everything through the lens of the sea ( I also believe our beloved Andrew Wyeth did likewise, even though he did a great deal of inland subject matter, it all had a salty sea-weathered quality to it).

     So if this bruja comes and steals me away to Spain where my career began, then I got this entry posted and I'll still be painting the sea.........

......and I'll even have some currency to spend at that place the bruja takes me!

ENTERING "NO MAN'S LAND", or better yet "NO MAN'S SEA"!

     Tomorrow I begin work on what will be the most ferocious storm at sea painting I've ever attempted. So tonight I have been assembling a few tools of the trade that will call to the muse and aid in the creation of this perilous scene.

Some of the necessary ingredients depicted above are:

Music of Capt. Tobias Hume (several selections), of course Wagner's THE FLYING DUTCHMAN,

some of my favorite heavy seas brushes, and a really good Chard.

     Being that there will be so many paintings in my upcoming show it has been necessary for me to have several paintings in the works at one time. Usually there have been 6-8 paintings in various stages of creation at any given time, however this storm piece will demand that I stay "in character" for the duration of its creation. So, for the next couple of weeks I'll push everything else aside and work on this one piece 'til the storm's over. After that I'll happily get back to more of my sunny and sublime (if you will) type of work. But for now all hell has broken loose at sea and I'm riding it out until it's over.

Wish me luck.....

     I'll post an image of this piece later this summer after the show opens. I'm keeping many of the works from public view until then. There have to be some surprises right?

The Frame Game

"SEASIDE SPARROWS"

     Although my upcoming show is still 3 months away, it is time to begin the process of framing. Actually some of the frames were selected months ago even before the paintings for them were even started. My "philosophy" regarding frame selection is first, DO NO HARM to the painting. I think the frame should always enhance the image but never dominate nor detract. Usually (for me at least) the frame should be just that, a frame that completes the painting and perhaps be an extension of the feeling the artist wants to communicate. Then there are some exceptions where the frame can be almost an equal partner in the communication of the painting. Case in point is the painting pictured above. It's for my show and is titled "SEASIDE SPARROWS". I wanted to express a feeling so utterly light and beach-like with this painting and I knew the frame had to be of a driftwood type. It helps create the feeling of a quiet and contemplative moment at the beach in a way that a more austere or "serious" frame could never do and why would I choose anything else for this painting? This frame utterly completes the statement for me.

     On the other hand, I do often use more traditional frames especially 19th century reproductions and/or adaptations of these moldings. below are a few corners that I'm considering for pieces for the show.....

This is a Hackman frame that I've used a lot. They are one of my favorite custom frame makers and do a special finish for me. My dealer here in North Carolina also has a fantastic in-house framer that works for him and they do about 70-80% of my framing. Although I really like to handle the framing stage, it is very convenient to take a painting to my dealer and let them do it. I've never been disappointed.

Below are a couple more paintings for the show that I'm keeping somewhat under wraps, but here's a snippet with some frame corners. 

Another Hackman frame.

And Hackman again (told you I like the traditional look).

Hanging on a wall in the studio is a frame from Troy Stafford that is awaiting its occupant. Troy is very well known to artists working today. He has established himself as one of the top frame makers in the country, a reputation well deserved.

And here's my latest beauty from Hackman that I can't wait to use!

     

     It's funny, I get almost as excited about the frames as I do the paintings that go in them. Perhaps I should reverse my "philosophy" about framing to say that the painting should do no harm to the frame!!!

What's in a title?

"FAR AWAY"

oil on canvas, 16"x 12"

     When it comes to titling my work I let the process happen by itself. I never force it. To me the title of a painting is the artist's chance to cross over a bit into the literary realm and express perhaps some additional feeling about the work or the motivation that went into its creation. Often for me a title comes before the creation of a painting and becomes a vital part of the creative process in producing the work. A title can also "flavor" a work and can influence the perception of the viewer (I think of Andrew Wyeth's work in this case almost all of which was titled so brilliantly by his wife Betsy and boy did she know what she was doing!). In the case of the painting above which I finished a few weeks ago and is part my show this summer, the title for this piece came to me as I was photographing this scene out at Cape Lookout. The location is actually at the same little building as the image I posted a couple of entries ago titled "And Then There Was Light". As I mentioned it was a magical morning out at "The Cape" (all locals call their own Cape "The Cape" whether it's Cape Cod, Cape Canaveral or Cape Lookout....it's always just "The Cape") and I was the ONLY person out there this particular morning. I set this little scene up, put the camera up to my eye and as I began shooting, the isolation of this place hit me. This sensation was heightened by the limited view I had while looking through the view finder of the camera. So when I began shooting, all I could see was what you see in the painting and all I could hear was the sound of laughing gulls and grass bugs and then it hit me. I felt a million miles away and my title came drifting in on that feeling at that moment. Mind you, Cape Lookout is an isolated place on one of North Carolina's most pristine and uninhabited barrier islands so it is a place in the off season where one can truly get away from the world and although it is situated fairly close to the mainland there are only 2 ways one can get there. You can either go by boat or you can sit back wherever you are when things get too tough or you just need to escape for a moment, close your eyes, and drift to this place far, far away.

The sea breeze effect.....

"CUMULONIMBUS"

oil on canvas, 8"x 14"

     Another piece just off the easel and headed for my show this summer. This painting harkens back to one of my earliest passions when my wife and I first moved to the coast. That is the weather. In fact I was (and still am actually) a bit of a weather nut. One of the first things I did when we moved to the coast, lo these many years ago, was to get my National Weather Service certification as an advanced weather spotter. If you want to learn about the sky and how to identify particular storm features, there is no better way (other than going to school for meteorology) than to go through this training program at the NWS. As a realist painter I am compelled to paint things as I see them, but the dimension beyond seeing is understanding and becoming a storm spotter instilled in me an understanding of the dynamics of storm systems and more importantly their physical structures. Over the past several years I have painted a few thunderheads (or "Cumulonimbus" clouds in weather speak) and I put a lot of emphasis on trying to get the "structure" of the cloud as I know it to be. No two clouds are ever the same but after years of observing them and indeed painting them, there are certain things that most of these lions of the sky have in common due to the unerring process of nature. 

     The painting pictured above depicts a storm I witnessed last summer while crossing the Pamlico Sound one afternoon on the way to Ocracoke Island. The view is to the west'ard and looking across the vast expanse of the sound toward the mainland. The storm is the result of the coastal weather phenomenon called a sea breeze. This occurs mainly in the hot summer months during the peak heating of the afternoon when the very warm air over the inland areas rises and the cooler air over the ocean rushes in to replace the warm inland air which has risen. The result for us at the coast is that fabulous cool ocean breeze that kicks up about 2pm every afternoon, and the result for those living inland is a line of thunderstorms that form at that point where the sea breeze collides with the hot inland air mass. 

     Several years ago I did another painting depicting the sea breeze effect and actually titled it such. Below is a picture of that early piece.......

"THE SEABREEZE EFFECT"

oil on canvas, 38"x 60"

     The scale of the above painting added to the power of the subject matter. This was a very popular painting when it debuted in my solo exhibition "Forever" in 2000. 

      In my last solo show 2 years ago I concentrated on still life and trompe l'oeil work. Now for my upcoming exhibition I am going back to more scenic type work with an emphasis once again on the wind and the weather and it is very exciting! 

And then there was Light

"MORNING AT THE CAPE"

oil on canvas, 16"x 18"

     Just finished this bright and cheery slice of summertime sunshine and as you can see it is quite a contrast from the previous image I posted. This sort of contrast is reflective of what I call the "chiaroscuro of life" meaning the way life can sometimes be dark and dreary and other times bright and cheery. This sort of life experience is certainly translatable into imagery when living by the sea. The "dark to light" transitions here are ever-present when compounded by the element of the sea and its dramatic nature.

     The setting for this painting is the south facing window sill of the summer kitchen beside the keepers quarters at the Cape Lookout lighthouse. I was there one early morning late last summer after all the tourist had left for the season and it was one of those magical times when I was the only one there. Usually there are numerous whelk shells scattered about the place left there by beachcombers so I gathered a few and set them up on this window ledge. The way the warm early morning sun raked across the shells was beautifully balanced by the cool blue shadows cast by the brilliant deep blue morning sky. Although this painting is predominantly "white" I can tell you that there is very little if any pure white in the piece. The photograph of the painting really doesn't pick up the rainbow of color that I experienced there and thus put in the painting. This work will be in my upcoming show so if you go you will see what I'm talking about.

     Once again I'd like to touch on the subject of light in my painting. As I mentioned in a post several months ago, that is perhaps the single most asked about quality of my work by both artists and collectors....."How do you get that sunlight!" Well as I stated earlier the light would not exist without the shadows so perhaps my ability to render convincing shadows accounts for some of it. BUT, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW HOW I GET THE SUNLIGHT IN THERE THEN PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SHOW YOU AS THE SECRET IS CONTAINED WITHIN.......

     I begin with my crystal clear glass cup which I keep at the edge of my taboret next to the easel.

     Into this crystal crucible I pour a precious portion of the honey-golden liquid light (which dries virtually colorless, so it's not the color that does it). This is the medium I paint with and VOILA!!! Look at how the glass explodes with sunshine. The cup literally takes on an energy

and when I dip my ISABEY SABLES (pinceaux fins from France) into this elixir supreme the sun shines brilliantly.

Croyez-vous en magie?

I do!

The Dark Side of the Sea....(updated)

"THE SEA CAPTAINS"

oil on panel, 8"x 10"

     An update to the previous post.....This is the finished painting showing the inscriptions on the headstones (which have degraded over the years) as well as other adjustments made since the last post. I didn't want to leave this piece in an unfinished state on this blog. For my next posting in a few days you may need sunglasses. 

The Dark Side of the Sea......

"THE SEA CAPTAINS"

(work in progress)

oil on panel, 8"x 10"

     This is a small piece I'm currently working on for my show this summer. I am close to completing it having only the carved inscriptions left to paint and some grass around the base of the stones. As I worked on it today, we were shrouded in a heavy sea fog and I could hear at regular intervals the ship's horn of the large dredge that was working our inlet just offshore. It was a perfect backdrop for working on these headstones. This painting depicts two graves that are located near the historic village on Portsmouth Island (which is the small deserted island just across the inlet from Ocracoke Island at the southern tip of the Outer Banks in North Carolina). The headstones mark the graves of two sea captains that perished in separate shipwrecks, one in 1810 and the other in 1821. The captains were both from New England and their headstones were made up there and shipped down to Portsmouth. I wanted to paint these because they are every bit as much a part of the sea as the water, or the boats, or the beach, etc. etc. When one paints the sea, it is not just the pretty things, or the beautiful waves, or the lighthouses or the sunshine. To paint the sea, I mean to really paint The Sea you have to feel it all! Throughout my career, I have embraced all that the sea is and have absorbed it with a passion which has manifested in some paintings that deal with the darker, more destructive nature of the sea. Below is one such example.....

"AFTER THE STORM"

oil on canvas, 22"x 34"

2008

     The subject in this painting is a tragic, tragic story. The painting depicts the wreckage of a shrimp trawler that was lost at sea during a horrible winter storm. The crew were out fishing in the storm trying to earn extra money in a boat that was rotted to the core. All four men perished in the wreck and the boat was thought to have been lost at sea. Later, in the summer of the same year after a hurricane came roaring through, the trawler wreckage washed up on Cape Point at Cape Lookout, NC. A few weeks later another storm washed the wreck back to sea and it was never seen again. This is one of two paintings I did of this wreck. If you look closely, you'll see four seagulls flying overhead. It was my way of paying tribute to the four crewmen lost.

     A lot of people only associate the sea with fun in the sun and the waves and I admit being an artist who loves to paint the bright, the breezy and the beautiful. But when I'm moved to paint that "darker side" of the sea, it stirs a deeper strata in my spirit and my passion for this place reaches a depth as deep as the sea itself.