Tuesday, March 17, 2015

PLACITAS - 40"x30" Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 1215 - PLACITAS - 40"x30" Work in Progress (Underpainting) - All color are mixed with MG Underpainting White and applied with distilled turpentne.  Sky:  Thalo Blue, Thalo Green, Dioxazine Purple.  Greens:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Chamisa:  Yellow Ochre, White, Cadmium Yellow, Mars Orange.

SANTUARIO - 60"x50" Work in Progress (Loose Sketch)

Studio No. 1115 - SANTUARIO (Rio Pueblo at Martinez Hacienda, Taos, N.M.) - 60"x50" Work in Progress - Okay, here we go!  This is a very loose sketch - working with distilled turpentine, Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna.  A long way to go before I begin to lay in the underpainting - tighten sketch - have the source material right next to the canvas where I can look at it all day long - imagining the darks in my head - they are the strongest element of the composition. 

Monday, March 16, 2015

PROCESS - A GRID AS A GUIDE

3/16/15 - SANCTUARY -This is a 60"x50" Belgian Linen canvas.  Most often a painting is a long time in the making -- and most of it is painted in my head months, or  sometimes years, before it finds life on a canvas.  A few years ago my traveling buddies, Jerry Walter and Rick Finney, and I were at the Martinez Hacienda early one beautiful fall morning.  The Rio Pueblo was quiet - the scene was serene - another unforgettable moment.  It was preserved in a photograph and for all this time quietly bouncing around in my head, popping up when I least expected it.  Here is what I hope is the beginning of a really good painting (one never knows how things will turn out - hoping to be surprised!).  This is a 60"x50" canvas prepared with three coats of gesso toned with Payne's Grey.  I have blocked out the grid in ten inch squares so that I can put the sketch on with fairly accurate proportions.  Stay tuned! 

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

STUDIO WORK IN PROGRESS - Untitled 30"x24" Original Oil

STUDIO WORK IN PROGRESS (Sketch) - Untitled 30"x24" Original Oil on Linen.  Loose sketch applied to a toned ground with Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and Distilled Turpentine.  This is a little road in the Village of Tesuque late on a February afternoon.  Often I block in six or eight paintings at a time for a couple of very good reasons - this has been part of my process for as long as I can remember.  First of all these sketches are from field trips and stand out from the collected material as the most visually exciting.  I usually compose with my camera (taking many shots of the same subject at different angles) and in the end choose the strongest composition.  The way I paint the canvases are all in various stages of drying so there is a necessary rotation process.  It is possible this routine wouldn't work for a lot of artists, but somehow this process has kept me excited enough to keep painting for many years!

STUDIO WORK IN PROGRESS - WINTERLIGHT (Sketch) 22"x28"

WORK IN PROGRESS (Oil Sketch) - WINTERLIGHT - 22"x28" Orig. Oil on Linen - Loose sketch on "toned ground" with two colors - Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna - applied with distilled turpentine.  This is the view from my studio window one evening when the sun was coming in low - right before sunset.

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

SUENOS DEL RIO - NEW 22"X28" Original Oil - Sold

Studio No. 915 - SUENOS DEL RIO (Dreams of the River, Rio Grande at Pilar, N.M.) - New 22"x28" Original Oil on Belgian Linen - Completed 3/3/15.  Sold