New painting in progress-- I thought I'd photograph it at the end of each session because I'm always fascinated with the layers and evolution of a painting. This is an oil on linen and is 50x60" which is a very large piece for me. In the beginning of a painting, I usually have no idea where it's going; no plans, nothing. I just get out the paint and see what happens. When I talk to people about a finished piece I usually tell a story of all the phases it's gone through..."You should have seen the painting underneath this one-- it was so frustrating and I couldn't figure out where to go next so I just covered it with a new painting!"

Well, I'll try to document all phases of this one. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I can already see myself painting over this.

Current phase after the 3rd sitting:

Departure, Oil and Graphite on panel, 18" x 18", July 2013

Don't Make Me Repeat Myself, Oil on cradled panel, 20" x 20", April 2013

Sometimes, All That is Left is the Anvil, Oil on cradled panel, 20" x 20", June 2013

Transpose, Oil on canvas, 20" x 20", June 2013

I went back to the farm on the 4th to see the progress of the clay pizza oven...it's coming right along!! Fully modeled and the opening has been carved out with some wooden supports to keep the shape while it completely dries.  It looks as though they've lit a few small fires in it to dry the inside at the same rate as the outside.  I can almost taste the pizza!!

Pizza Oven I, Acrylic & Ink on Instant Film, 3x3"

Apex, Acrylic & Ink on Instant Film, 3x3"

Continued with another painted instant film image of the barn.  After a great artist's meeting at the Harlow tonight, I've been inspired to attempt some larger versions of these pieces.  I love the intimate size of these current ones but think it would be nice to work in a slightly larger size, as well.

Kabobs

Also wanted to share these images of some of the meat I've been enjoying from Wholesome Holmstead.  I picked up a package of kabob meat and we had more than enough for 4 people.  SO tasty!!  We put onions and red peppers on for 3 of us and, for mine, I put granny smith apples and broccoli.  YUM!!

We've been barbecueing every night with meat and chicken from the farm (and the bacon...OH THE BACON!!)

Kim's painting of the WH sign

Kim and I had planned on going back to the farm on June 23rd to help them build their pizza oven...but nature had other plans! Heavy rain was in the forecast so the farm rescheduled for the following week.  But we figured we would get a few hours in before the droplets started so we packed the car and headed to a shady spot in the grass.   It turned out to be very hot before the rain started but we stuck it out for a couple hours to paint.

Kim wanted to paint the Wholesome Holmstead sign that sits at the opening to the driveway at the farm stand.  This is the first piece she made- mixed media on paper, 9x12"

Just Like Home,  Acrylic & Casein, 10" x 10"

I'm still fascinated with all the structures on the land.  This time I focused on the silhouette of the house.  The structure and layout of this building is really similar to my house, which used to be a farm back in the day.  I think that's why I'm so drawn to it.  This is a smaller painting (10x10") that I had started in the studio for a different purpose but it just wasn't jiving.  So I decided to take it along and paint on top of it.  This piece ties in my painting with the monotype imagery I've been working on.

To take a break from the paint and explore the farm some more, I walked towards the area where the pizza oven was going to be.  Behind it, I found one of the red barns that I love so much and leaning up against it was a beautiful wooden apple ladder.  It appears to be old and I imagine it's been used on the farm for decades...maybe just my imagination but I like to think that!  I had some old Polaroid cameras with me but the experimental film inside of them just wasn't capturing what I was seeing through the lens.  TTV was the next best thing so I made an intricate set up of a milk crate and cameras stacked on top of each other to steady the image.

When I got back to the studio I monkeyed around with the instant film images that were not developed correctly.  Some were too light to be anything or had thick blue lines through them or patches of undeveloped film.  (I've been using Impossible Film and some are breathtaking in the experimentation yet others are frustrating.)  Taking some ink and acrylic to the film, I recaptured the images and, in some cases, re-imagined what was there.

"Talked Into It" casein & wax pastel on arches watercolor paper mounted on cradled board 6 x 6", available here

The Tree Is the Real Thing
Encaustic & Mixed Media on wood
24" x 24"
April 2010

title from the quote: "Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."
-Abraham Lincoln

I'm hoping that in this new year I will allow myself more time to paint and focus on my work. I've been accepted to a new show in February and am creating some new small works for it. I have some plans to create large pieces and get my work out into the public eye a bit more. Here's to 2010!

While I was painting my last few oil paintings, I had this canvas on the side of my easel as a way to work out the random ideas in my head and also as a way to use up the excess paint on my palette. I really hate to be wasteful with paint (it costs so much!) so in an effort to squeeze every cent of worth out of my paint, I usually create something that's a bit of a departure. And quite freeing, too!

A few months ago I completed a series of ten paintings and immediately installed them in the Freeport Square Gallery in Freeport, Maine. The series is entitled "Mummies of the Civil War" and features prominent officers on each side of the fence. There are 5 Union men and 5 Confederate men, each molded into their own mummified form, to be preserved in their history for eternity.

Two of my encaustic paintings are hanging at the Freeport Square Gallery in Freeport, ME. Both of my black & white Ghosts of the Past paintings for their B&W show. The gallery is absolutely beautiful and we also had the chance to see a live concert there last night- very cool!

Intro to Encaustic Painting - Saturday June 20th, 10am - 2pm