Effortless Breath

Effortless Breath
Watercolor on Fabriano rough paper
5 x 7", archival mat & backing to 11 x 14"
$100
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You can see Crest, the sketch I made for this at Studies and Sketches. Although I didn't intend it, this reminds me a lot of William Blake.

To my thinking, one of the reasons we're in such hot water on the planet is because we think of nature as "the environment" — something outside of ourselves — or as a "resource" or collection of resources at our disposal. Really, we are of the earth, not on it and until we get that through our thick skulls, I'm not sure if we can adapt. But it might not be a matter of getting an idea throiugh a thick skull. It really might be a matter of the human species making an evolutionary leap of the spirit. Stranger things have happened. And anything is possible. Alan Watts gave a great talk on this once that I have never been able to relocate. Eckart Tolle describes this eloquently in his chapter on Nature in Stillness Speaks.

I think this is a good piece to leave up while I take a pause for reflection. I'm going to teach a workshop and go on retreat. I'll be back in a week or two.

You can browse through the first five plus months here — you'll find categories (that I hope to clean up a bit) in the sidebar. You can also browse My Great Day blog where I'm leaving the Scherzando from Mahler's 3rd Symphony up for a listen.

Please feel free to leave a comment or email me if you like.

Rush to Rain

Rush to Rain
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
4 1/4 x 6 1/4", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
$100
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I'd originally titled this "Rush to April" but thought that was too specific. Still, this has an April feel and April rains bring May flowers.

Awakening

Awakening
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
4 1/4 x 6 1/4", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
$100
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A quick preliminary study can be found here.

Mud and Ochre

Mud and Ochre
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
4 1/4 x 6 1/14", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
$100
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There's a heavy feeling just before Spring when you think that Winter might last forever, but know better.

You can find a development of yesterday's drawing (and the basis for this painting) over at my studies blog.

Untravelled

Untravelled
Watercolor on hot press Lana paper
4 x 6", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
$85
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I almost threw this painting away and then discovered that I loved it. Although it's not based on anything specific, it did emerge from the Degas studies.

The road theme may persist. I grew up within earshot of the train whistle along the Philadelphia Main Line. A daily reminder of the expanse that lay beyond my little world. I spent most of my high school years watching musicians come in for a week to perform at The Main Point and then go back out on the road. A mysterious, romantic and alluring way of life that in some respects, I've followed myself.

But the theme means the metaphor, too. The way, the path, the opening, the longing for whatever might be just around the next bend or beyond the far horizon. And of course, the desire of the spirit to find it's way through the landscape of human existence. Not to mention the Tao.

Go see a drawing I made after a Charles Maurin watercolor that will launch the rest of the week here.

after Degas 3

This is my favorite photo of the painting. I was moving it around, trying to get the best light when the setting sun flooded through the studio window giving the wall in the painting a lovely dimensionality.



The finished product in it's formal picture. And I finished the edge of the canvas with a thinned ochre mix.



To see this painting on exhibit, you can go to My Great Day. When it comes down, after a bit of research, I'll see about varnishing it.

Thanks for following along. Next week, back to the watercolors!

after Degas 2

These are the two phases following yesterday's post on this painting. Never once in this process did I lay out an entire palette. Only the colors I thought I'd need for the particular phase I was working. In this phase, I used black. When I first came back and looked at the work, I thought I'd never use black out of the tube again. At the end of it all, I'm not so sure. We'll see....

Here are details of above:





I finished the subsequent phase the night before a dry, sunny day so took the opportunity to set the painting outside to help a little with the drying process.



Details from this phase:





I spent more time on the wall than any other part of the painting. The challenge was to build up the color transitions without making it noticeably thicker than other parts of the painting especially as the section on the opposite side of the flower bed is the most raw part of the entire piece.

Final product tomorrow.

after Degas

...or how I made my first oil painting.

I've been working with watercolor all my life but for the longest time, I've felt that I am restricting my movement with these small paintings and have been wanting to make large gestures. My larger watercolor paintings take as long as a week (sometimes a month!) with varying degrees of satisfaction. It's been inevitable that I venture into oil and thought the best product would be a water soluble brand. After some research, I decided to go with the Lukas Berlin.

If you follow my sketches at all, you may remember that I made a drawing after Degas Landscape in the Orne a while back. The original is pastel 27 x 41 cm (about 10 1/2 x 16"), dated 1885 and is in a private collection.



I temporarily suspended posting at my studies and sketches blog because I started using the sketches in such a way that made me want to wait until the paintings caught up with them. I did say in that particular drawing post that I liked the Orme form so much that I was going to make a big deal out of it. Well, here's the big deal.

I bought a 30 x 40" canvas and, with a sort of general idea of what I was doing, set to work. I've always known the sort of effect that I'd be after when I went to oil — more transparent than impasto, with canvas and layers of underpainting showing through. I love using charcoal but am not crazy about the dust or having to fix it with some ghastly spray so I don't use it much. Still, it was great fun to make the drawing on the canvas.



I think it's hysterical that I didn't even have a proper palette when I started this - just some ceramic bowls and a small plexiglass piece that was thrown in as a bonus once with some supply order. Nor did I have any sense of what brushes would work well although I'd been hanging on to a variety of synthetics for this very day.



Not planning too carefully, I didn't realize I'd mush up all the charcoal with the paint and that the paint would pick it up but I decided that it didn't matter much and somehow worked the charcoal into the underpainting.



Those of you reading this who are experienced oil painters may be grimacing and shaking your heads but I consciously made the decision to find my own way in this process rather than taking a course or following some how-to rule book on oil painting.

For a number of reasons, I mostly worked on this painting at night. I really prefer to only work by daylight. I also must work on strengthening my photographic skills to include better images of large paintings.

My use of this Degas pastel that he made from a drawing on location was completely impulsive but I find it very interesting that Degas educated himself by making copies of paintings in the Louvre and was "an enthusiastic copyist well into middle age."*

I'll be posting on this painting through the remainder of this week. More tomorrow!


*Baumann, Felix; Karabelnik, Marianne, et al. (1994). Degas Portraits. London: Merrell Holberton. ISBN 1-85894-014-1

Secure

Secure
Watercolor on Fabriano cold press paper
5 x 7", archival mat & backing to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

This is the second of the painting made after the Eugène Boudin.

I'm installing a show today at The Frothy Monkey. Will show some pics of the process a bit later on My Great Day.

Traditionalish

Traditionalish
Watercolor on Fabriano cold press paper
5 x 7", archival mat & backing to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I think these colors are good for the occasion.

I am about to install an exhibit and always get thrown off my mark as I'm putting a show together. Nonetheless, I have this to show you — it's one of a few paintings I made after my drawing of Boudin's Saint Valéry-sur-Somme. I'll show another tomorrow.

A little clip about my people is on view at My Great Day.

River Leads, Land Follows

River Leads, Land Follows
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
8 x 12", archival mat & backing to 16 x 20"
$250 framed
to purchase this painting, email me

Through the Ruby Hills

Through the Ruby Hills
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
5 x 7", archival mat & backing to 11 x 14"
$45
to purchase this painting, email me

Today, a favorite poem by Richard Wilbur at My Great Day.

Pink Beyond

Pink Beyond
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
4 x 6", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
$45
to purchase this painting, email me


Read some W.S. Merwin at My Great Day.

Blue Bend

Blue Bend
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
4 x 6", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
SOLD

Developing this week's theme, here's the second entry in the waterway series.

You'll find some words about Poetry on My Great Day.

Waterway

Waterway
Watercolor on Saint Armand paper
4 x 6"
NFS

More thoughts on Impermanence at My Great Day.

Bright Reward

Bright Reward
Watercolor on Indian Village paper
5 x 7", archival mat & backing to 11 x 14"
$45
to purchase this painting, email me

Listen to Spring today at My Great Day.

Road to Summer

Road to Summer
Watercolor on Saint-Armand watercolor paper
4 x 6", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
$75
to purchase this painting, email me


Yes, we're on the road to Summer though Spring is on the way. (I used a little bit of metallic watercolor in this painting as well.)

Read why I've added a link to Dick Blick in my sidebar on My Great Day.

The Easy Way

The Easy Way
Watercolor on Saint-Armand watercolor paper
4 x 6", archival mat & backing to 8 x 10"
SOLD


Enough of the perpendicular path already!

Notes on M. Graham watercolors at My Great Day.

Rising

Rising
Watercolor on Saint-Armand watercolor paper
16 x 22"
$550
to purchase this painting, email me

This is a large watercolor made for an upcoming show. I thought you'd like to see the end result of this particular series of variations. The white value issues in photographs drive me crazy.

I have gone larger over the past year but this is going to be my maximum occasional large watercolor size. I've recently ventured into other ways of expanding my reach.

If you're interested in purchasing this, you can email me. It will be available at end of April.

Read about the Encyclopedia of Life today on My Great Day, then see a copy I made of a Eugène Boudin landscape.

Laden with Gold

Laden with Gold
Watercolor on Saint-Armand watercolor paper
5 x 7", archival mat & backing to 11 x 14"
SOLD


I've laced some Daniel Smith metallic watercolor throughout this. It doesn't really show up in the scan, nor would it very well in a photo. I've added bits of this in a few pieces early on. Sometimes it works very well. Here it really adds a weight to to the look, hence, the title. And the metaphor, eh?

In the late 80's I made a series of large pieces on hand made rice paper with iridescent and opalescent paint and metallic markers. The pieces changed dramatically as they were viewed from different angles.

There's a pencil copy of a Léon Bonnat landscape at Studies and Sketches today and a fine song at My Great Day.