Wow people, here we are again. Another year over..
It has been an amazing year for Linda and I, and we want to express our deepest heartfelt appreciation to our family, galleries, collectors and friends. Thank you for making 2017 such a wonderful year!
May 2018 bring you happiness, good heath, peace and prosperity.
Enjoy the Holidays!
And to my loving wife, Linda there is no words that can
express my appreciation and love for you.
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OA Gallery is the premier St. Louis gallery showcasing
exceptional, contemporary, representational artwork by over thirty regionally
and nationally recognized and award
winning artists.
OA Gallery is located in beautiful downtown Kirkwood, MO
directly across the street from the train station.
From my painting excursions into the Illinois river bottoms
along the Mississippi, visits along the Ohio in Paducah, KY and to our recent
trip to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I have been told that one who spends his leisure
time on or along a river is called a River Rat. I’ve been called worse things.
The name Mississippi is derived from the Native American
peoples Ojibwe word "Misi-ziibi," meaning "Great River".
The longest river in North America, it is the third longest
river in the world at nearly 2,400 miles. It reaches from the Canadian border
and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River is an important area
of the wet lands with a massive ecosystem and environment that covers ten
states, two Canadian provenience's and creates the third largest water shed in
the world.
The Mississippi River has been a focal point in American
history, from Native American tribes who flourished along its banks, through European explorers, the American Civil War, the Great Mississippi Flood of
1927.
Western settlers and traders called it the “wall” because
of the difficulty of crossing her, it being the biggest barrier to western expansion.
For decades man has tried to tame her.
Anyone who follows my work or my blogs knows that
most of my landscapes and waterscapes come from our exploration of the local lakes by kayak. Linda and I paddle the lakes in the Shawnee National Forrest area often and have grown
especially fond of Cedar Lake. It has some of the most beautiful, secluded and
peaceful areas to paddle.
The Lake has become a muse for my plein air work and it is
one of those places you can go a thousand times and never tire of. The lake is
large enough to turn into a good vigorous paddle or you can just slowly explore
the necks and fingers. Either way you can always find an adventure along its
banks.
More important is that it has grown to hold a special place
in our hearts.
There is a communion with nature when you are quietly
floating on the surface of the lake, and it gives us sustenance. “Fuel for the
soul”, as sappy as it sounds is a real thing or it can be. Those moments are real when we
stop and just see, and feel and be present.
The lake has given awareness and inspiration, a connection
to the spirit of the land that I may never have known if I never stopped to pay
attention and experience the moment.
And when I close my eyes and imagine I see
the lake in my mind’s eye, as I have painted it.
The Girl in the Red Kayak
Oil on panel, 11 x 14 inches
"Gratitude is the heart's memory." (French Proverb)
This has been a busy spring, lots of art activities going
on, exhibitions and shows in several local communities which I am participating
in. So it’s been a lot of framing and organizing of work, between that and the
turbulent weather we are having here, there has not been much brush time.
Did get this little study done, I like these long views across the plowed fields, very typical Southern Illinois scenery this time of
year. It is also a pretty good metaphor for me to keep in mind, when placing
your work out there to exhibit you need to see the long view. Like
everybody else I get impatient about the goals I want to achieve, I tell myself
my skills need to be at this level, my sales at that and so on and on. The reality is that with all of this stuff, - the
journey to success is not a sprint, but a marathon.
This is one of those paintings that has been percolating
for a while, I have done a couple oil studies and sketches at this location.
And even though I have some good references I think the source of this painting
or concept has been painted in my head several times. I think anyone that
visits this spot and stands where I worked, would recognize the place from the
painting. However, this piece is more of a memory painting of several
experiences of this scene during the fall. I wanted to paint that crisp air of
early fall, the mood of the transitional season and hopefully the essence of
the land.
There are a lot of videos online about Kinkaid Lake, it's a big sport fishing destination. I found this interesting drone footage
video filmed at Kinkaid Lake Paul Ice boat ramps from Eric Ripley. His drone hovers
right over my painting spot and gives a great birds eye view of why this lake
is so popular.
I paint what I see as I find it in nature, mostly. I never
paint it exactly, I pick and choose elements I like, move a tree here or there,
add more interest to the clouds. Do some rearranging and compose some harmony
out of all the chaos to make visual sense to me.
What I always strive to do is stay true to the original idea,
in it is the source of inspiration.
Without inspiration you are just making marks. No matter what
embellishments I may add or take away in a painting, they must support the original
concept. What is the painting about, is it the sky? If that is the inspiration,
then everything supports that idea. When you know what to emphasize in a scene
you understand what elements to manipulate to better communicate the feelings
you have about a particular place or time. When its about the mood or feeling of
a place then your choices should speak to that connection. That relation is
certainly the hardest concept to focus on and express in a painting.
This becomes the artist-muse relationship, that goal to
capture something illusive, intuitive, private, visceral or complex. It becomes a
creative force of its own having the power of moving the intellect or emotions.
I am not certain how many sketches and paintings from Cedar Lake I have done; I just know I am not finished.
“I'm not in control of my muse. My muse does all the work.”
Ray Bradbury
Nearly all of my work begins with some type of preliminary
sketch, either a thumbnail drawing in a sketchbook or oil study in my Pochade
Box. Lately I have been spending a great deal of time sketching, gathering
information outdoors and drawing from my imagination. Creating small rough
abstract sketches to work out composition and design elements.
Mainly I am using pen and ink with watercolor. I like the
ink because you don’t fiddle with it as much as say a pencil sketch, you just
have to lay it down with some speed and confidence. It is very permanent mark
making and you simply/humbly live with what you put down and move along. Over
that I wash in some color, do some crosshatching and try to capture the value
and mass pattern. I call them my scribbles; and that is what they are, quick
notations of design ideas based on nature.
They are exercises in capturing what I see in front of me
from direct observation (the Art of Seeing) but also it is about the simple
pleasure of drawing.
I look for a strong arrangement of dark and light patterns,
the Japanese use the word Notan which means the "dark-light"
harmony. But a notan is also as much
about shape/form, positive/negative, figure/ground relationships. It is why it
is such a strong abstract design tool. I like to think of it as being the
ying-yang of composition. Ever walk into a gallery full of art and be
instantly attracted to a particular piece, drawn to it from across the room?
Our eyes are drawn to the strong arrangements of shapes and patterns. As
you learn to use this design tool you will recognize it in paintings and
drawings of master artists.
Slow down mentally and take a long look at your subject,
carefully choose the center of interest or theme of the piece, what it is
about, what has drawn you to this motif and design outwards from that point.
Simplify and edit down the elements by making them subordinate to that central
idea. That is the key to good composition.
It is fun working out compositions and concepts, playing
with the elements and ideas based on the anatomy of the landscape. Let them
evolve and "brainstorm" many studies, before you know it you will
have sketchbooks full of Composition Thumbnails which are a library of knowledge
and imagination to work from.
“Even in front of nature one must compose.” ~ Edgar Degas
Color Studies:
Last Light, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in, Jim Serrett
Over the Horizon, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in, Jim Serrett
