Urban Landscape Trio B Squared Wine Bar

The trio of  Cityscapes are complete.   They might need a little more positioning, but for now...at least they are up.

My wonderful wife Lecia and buddy Zach helped position the paintings

I hung the final of the three Urban Landscapes I did for the B2 Wine bar in the Pearl. 
This little gem in the Pearl District just opened this month.  My  wonderful wife Lecia and  my good friend  and golf guru Zach Welch gave me a hand in the positioning.  Now I just have to move the lighting a little more to center.  I have one more to do for the wine bar, but according to Zach, there has been interest shown in the center painting already, so with a little luck I could be doing even more. 
The coffee shop B2 Coffee Haus, which is located a few doors up in the same building features 8 of my watercolor paintings as well.  I'm not going to lie about this.  When I went in to hang this third painting, I was stilll very pleased with how the other small painting came out.  Usually there will be something that I want to change about a painting, but this one still suited my eye.
Of course you can always get better, and I will.  However it is necessary to be satisfied with a result.  That's what keeps me going.  That and being able to see my work somewhere other than in my painting space.
  I have been wanting to paint  more, but time hasn't allowed it lately.  This makes for some frustrating days.  Hopefully this will change soon. When faced with such a small amount of time and so many choices of what to do,  the brain will often choose to do nothing.  That's the battle I'm facing now.  I have so many ideas, but I know I don't have time to do even one full painting, so I end up not even getting started on one.

Busy Saturday

I'm pretty tired, but I felt the need to post this paintng.  This is the larger painting I've been working on. Seeing it online seems to help me decide where I need to make corrections.  I ran out of natural light to photograph this so it didn;t come out very clear.  I was careful to prepare the lines in this one, yet I still struggled to make it work.  Finally after piddling around with it I decided to go bold and try whatever happened to fall on the canvas.  That;s when I made the most progress.  Sometimes being too deliberate handcuffs me. I will try to get a better photo tomorrow.  

B Squared Coffed Haus and Wine Bar

Getting Closer:  After a couple of days of scrambling to get 7 paintings framed, I am finally ready to hang them at the B Squared Coffee Haus.  I have to remember that unless I paint in specific sizes, I will have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to get my paintings framed.   I had to crop some of these paintings in order to get them to fit in the pre-made wood frames.  Luckily, the only frame color I needed was black, since my supplier carries that and natural wood.  I haven't looked into other frame shops much, but I am pretty loyal to the I've Been Framed Art supply and framing store.  They cater to the working and aspiring artist and their prices and helpfulness can't be beat.    More later...

I painted a large version of the Summer Lightning Painting for the B Squared Coffee Haus. I'm in the process of mounting it on Gator Board.  Trying to figure out how I can hang this.  I wasn't able to find cradle board to fit the 22 X 42 size on short notice. 

My mat cutter served me well for all of these paintngs.  I was able to cut them to very specific sizes to fit the pre-made frames. 

Library "Study"?

Woodstock Library from the Lawn

 Our neighborhood (Woodstock) Library is a modern icon. When I decided to paint it, I was concerned that the art of the architecture would overtake the art of the painting.  It has a lot of very nice designs (not visible here) that are etched into the panels along the front.  I'm drawn to certain buildings, usually older ones because of the historical value they hold.  I wanted to paint something important in the neighborhood for our local organization Southeast Uplift.  Since the Lutz Tavern is not exactly an acceptable representation of a neighborhood...I really like how that one came out, though.
The Library was rebuilt in....2000 I believe, and even though the new building itself has a short history, the Library history is there.
This was intended to be a loose rendering of the building but as I progressed through, I had to tighten the lines a little.  I wanted to include a library goer in the final painting, and this would be from an angle looking opposite this, but I was pleasantly surprised how this one came out. I spent considerably more time on this than I originally planned, trying to work out the reflections in the windows, the grass in front and the trees that are beginning to bud.  I still plan on painting the nice lady that I photographed in my reference photo.  She asked to remain anonymous, so I won't mention her name when I paint her.  Anyway, I think this painting came out better than I thought it would, so I might just choose this one to submit if the next one doesn't work.  Sometimes the study offers more interest to the viewer.  I will have to see.
I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention the other neighborhood Icon in this painting.   The Joinery

Happy Birthday to Adrianne!

Not much to say here.  I liked the photo my daughter took of her and her new adopted dog.  The challenge was trying to get the close up view of the dog to look identifiable.  A lot of pencil strokes later...  In fact many more than I anticipated having to do I got the look I was after, but I might have to tinker once I study it for a bit.  I just finished this and you know how it is.  I'll see something that isn't right and need to go back in.

It's been bothering me that I haven't done a finished watercolor yet.  I want to get that done today, but time isn't on my side.

Is this the one?.....

I am desperately hoping this is the one that works....late for work.  More later

Ongoing Struggle

This has begun to resemble a self portrait.

I'm still struggling to get this current project done.  It has hampered my ability to paint freely because of the time constraints.  The timing of this project was unfortunate, because my schedule had changed and I got very busy.  Add to the fact that I haven't done a commission in a very long time and, well...  maybe the expression of angst in this attempt is a reflection of my own in getting this finished.  It was supposed to be a smile. Oh, and not to mention I thought I had it nailed down awhile ago and had to completely retool.  I keep coming back to certain images no matter how I try.

Night Light Painting: On the agenda.

Photo: Woodstock Park, Saturday evening.

  It's so difficult to focus on one topic when I'm busy with work.  I've decided to start jotting down some of these ideas in my blog if I don't have time to paint in the morning .
I'm thinking about creating a series of night paintings.   I want to get back to painting scenes that include people, even if I have to add them into a photo.  I took this awhile back and will need to adjust how it is framed up since the focal point is right in the middle.  The thing I enjoy about night paintings is all the ambient light and subtle colors that are there, but cannot necessarily be seen in a photo.  A lot of artistic freedom can be exercised . 

Taking the guess work out...

I wanted to move forward with my latest project.  I sat down to get some paint on the paper at the very least ..  What started as an exercise ended up a finished painting.  I was very pleased with this result.  One problem.  I skipped a crucial step in the process.  Working out the details with the client.  Although they liked this painting, it was not the style they had in mind.  Nevertheless I was happy that I was able to get a painting done.  And this gives me confidence to move forward. 

Commission

This is part of a sketch I did for the commission.  I am going to be focusing on finishing this in the next week.
Some of my family might recognize the person in the reference photo. 

MOVING FORWARD: Lecia and Adrianne at Sauvies Island

First I have to say that this photo doesn't show the entire piece, but in order to get the details to show, I had to leave out part of the sky.  (I purposely avoided cutting the landscape in half in the actual drawing).
This last Tuesday I underwent surgery to repair my hernia.  I knew I would have the opportunity to get a fair amount of drawing and painting done.  So I took on another watercolor on Wednesday. It did not go well.  I was disappointed in my effort,  so much so that I didn't even want to post it.  This gave me cause to evaluate my ability to construct and execute paintings satisfactorily.  So on Friday I looked up a photo I had been wanting to paint from the moment I saw it. ...The photo for this drawingwas taken by my daughter Grace at Sauvies Island last year.  Grace has been able to capture some great scenes on camera, and I think this is one of her best.  In fact, both of my daughters have a very good eye for photography and I have added some of their photos to my list of potential pieces. (I am going to use a clause in my personal creative contract here that allows me to use anything my immediate family has photographed as  reference material). anyway...
I decided to literally go back to the drawing board in order to re-establish my  fundamentals. The first effort was Charlie Neal.  A good start, but not entirely satisfactory.  And now about this drawing.

Pursuits.

"Technical skill is not critical to being authentic, although it may help to more easily say what you mean with your artwork. More importantly, I value being comfortable with line, composition and color. The formal elements of all artworks can be a huge distraction when a painter doesn't use them with intention and ease."  Casey Klahn.  Pastel artist and teacher.  
The above statement reflects my personal goal as a painter.  This has been my philosophy since I picked up the brushes again last October.  Shy away from no challenge.  Learn and build from each painting.  Focus is essential when facing a technical challenge. When I reach a level of comfort with my ability I can move forward with freedom and confidence.  No undertaking will be too daunting.

"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

Thoreau