Three Squares

Every once in a while, I cover a canvas with equal sized squares and paint that. The initial inspiration was a painting that I saw in my grandmother's house a few years ago. I made one for Newmie which is hanging in his house! Then I made one for the house in Florida, and then three small ones there. Recently, I made three more canvases, all 12 inches by 12 inches, but started to look at this idea differently. The first was the usual random selection of color, but the second was made with a strategy which envisioned a change, beginning in the middle and then working out. The resulting painting, which I call, "Machine," has life to it and struck me as pointing the way to a different form of abstraction. The third, building on this idea, was an attempt, using the squares to express my deep sadness at the recent death of my mother.

Southern Squares





Machine





Underneath

Eve and Mike's Iris

Eve and Mike have asked me to paint a smaller version of a painting that I did of two small irises. The original painting is about five feet high and the new painting will be 3 feet. Here is a photo of the original:







This photo was the original inspiration for the painting:







These irises are very small, only about six inches high. A five foot painting of a six inch flower conveys the monumentality that it deserves! It will be interesting and fun to revisit this friend.

I've finally gotten underway with the painting! The canvas is stretched and I've attached corner supports on the back of the painting to keep it from warping. Next, I made a basic grid to help locate the picture on the canvas. Using that, I sketched in the picture, making changes as I went along to respond to the smaller size of the picture.




This has given me the chance to revisit an old friend!! I have made two versions of this painting, and in this third version, I am going to try to resolve one composition issue that the two previous paintings had: the lower left corner of the painting had an iris bud in it in the original version of the painting. I felt that it tended to change the internal balance of the picture from what I wanted. In the second version, I emptied that corner and placed the third "bud" in the lower right side instead. Now, I'm back to the original version, but I'm planning to fix the balance issue by making the bud smaller. Ve vill see vat ve vill see!!!

Next step was to start filling in the dark areas of the painting.



This allows the picture to take shape quickly and commits the painting, to some degree, to this composition.

The darks went in well, so I moved on to the "greens." I thought it would help to make all the greens and go for the color contrasts in the original. I can see that the very light green/blue in the foreground was a complex color and I made several attempts to mix colors to get at the intensity, if not the exact hue.



The greens appear to be going on brighter than the original, but I like how the contrasts are turning out. Once the main green colors were put on, I could then do the smaller contrasting ones. I like how this is developing.



The background colors are in and the foliage is essentially finished (might need to adjust after the flowers are filled in). I started on the flowers by making the lower left bud and the leaves under the main flowers. I also kept working on the contrasts with the viny stems which travel across the painting horizontally.



I've started filling in the background purples in the lower of the two irises. Trying to decide how much of the detail from the original should be included. I'm inclined to try to simplify these somewhat because the painting is a lot smaller, but some of the lines are dramatic and should be included.



The painting is finally covered with a layer of oil paint everywhere. Time for the first "dining room" critique. This is because the dining room is the best spot in my house for viewing a painting from a distance. Looking at the painting from this vantage point, I can see that the upper flower is too light so have to fix that. Also, there is an unintended straight line at the bottom of the lower flower which needs to be fixed. Otherwise, the painting is moving along nicely (but we'll see...)




Went ahead and corrected the vertical line, somewhat and increased the color in the upper flower. Also continued working up the detailing in both flowers. I think I'll be doing these smaller adjustments for a while, but don't foresee any major changes. I'm going to let the painting rest for several days and then come back to it and have another look.



Trying to increase the contrasts within the flowers. The top flower is a little light, so I want to add some color. Also, the bottom flower needs to be darker so that the lighter greens will show. Starting in on that.



The strip of green in the lower flower is too skunky looking, so have to break into it. Also, I'm starting to wade into the painting over all to correct the feathery edges and better define all the colors and forms. This involves remixing virtually all the colors so that the edges are worked without changing the color.

Waded in and got the edge corrections finished fairly quickly. The painting is basically complete now, although I might, in a fit of hysteria, wade back in and "fix" a few minor details. I'm very happy with the outcome. This project gave me a chance to revisit an old friend and resolve one of the composition issues which reappeared through two other versions of the subject. Now, I just want to let the painting dry and then I'll attach a wood frame.



Finally made it to Worcester to deliver the painting to Eve and Mike. Here they are with the painting installed!

Nola and Bob's Orchard

Nola and Bob asked me to do a painting for them. Their inspiration was a beautiful photo that Nola had made of the apple orchard in bloom at Five Rivers. I agreed to the commission with two provisos: they weren't allowed to accept the final product if they didn't like it, and the resulting painting would probably not look that much like the photo (but it would be based on the photo). Looking at the photo, I could see its pleasing symmetry. However, I could also see something else: the four trees representing a portrait of Nola and Bob's family. I would be thinking of them as I put the painting together. Here's Nola's photo: There were several problems from the view of a painting: I have a lot of trouble with using pink in significant quantities. There was a problem of depth. There was a bit of a gap in the center. I hadn't done any kind of realistic landscape since the old guache paintings of years ago. But, of course I decided to move ahead anyway.

I did some image research on the web to see how successful painters dealt with apple orchards. I learned that Van Gogh put in the structure of the trees first and then added the flowers. Also, there were very few pink flowering apple trees that I could find and most of the paintings used white. Ok, so the research was helpful but not definitive. I went on to do a preliminary sketch: Based on the sketch, I realized that I wanted to emphasize the shading so as to highlight the sunny day. Also, I could see that the trees needed to be varied in size to increase the interest. There was also the issue of how much sky, much grass, and the size and location of the trees to worry about. The sketch certainly didn't solve any of these issues.

I also decided that I needed to do two quick test paintings to check out the color issues and see if somehow miraculously, I have gotten better at making pink colors work. Two small 12"x12" paintings were done which certainly didn't increase my confidence level:

The first, a total failure was no help. However, the second pointed a way to minimize the pink while providing the illusion of pinkness, and also gave me some thoughts about ways to handle the shadowing and grass. Next step was to actually stretch the canvas and get underway. Here is the stretched and primed canvas with a pencil sketch of the picture on it:
Time to get going, with all doubts intact! Sky went in easily. I decided not to decide about clouds until the end, to make sure they didn't detract from the focus on the trees. Some big issues arose instantly, after the decision was made on the basic color of the shadows. Color of the tree trunks needed to move from black/grey to something less reflective of the shadows, such as purple (which wouldn't work with pink flowers, now would it???).

I added cyan blue and blue purple to the tree trunks to break up the black colors.

Stepping back, I wonder now whether the trees aren't too far in the background. If I move the trees, I have to move the shadows as well which could make things messier. I wonder whether the painting will be too green.

I decided to go with light blues in the apple tree flowers, rather than pinks, and to use the pink (more to purple) as highlights rather than the main color in the trees. This then would reduce the major colors in the painting to green, with some blue and then a little pink. Feeling a little better about the color. In fact, major relief is here!! Of course, all this might change. In the next session, I decided to step away from worrying about the trees for now and to work on filling in the rest of the canvas. I was trying to get a sense of rolling terrain, to vary the greens as much as possible and to just fill in canvas. I did a test run of a possible flower color on one of the trees (yuck). I also did a test of the white flowered trees. I figured out that it would help to have a background color, say light green for the white flowers because they really are light green in the photo, then impose the white on top. First crack at that, not too bad. I also see that the trunks are very dark, as are the shadows.

In the next session, I did more of the foreground, and added some grey/purple areas to reflect the grays and purples in the trees (which were going to be light blue, but never mind). Weird, but I think that will work. I erased the test flowers on the left and started in on the sky. Still avoiding the tree flower problem. Thinking also about the diagonal green line through the shadow which is smack dab in the enter of the picture. I'm thinking of keeping it, but changing the shape. Also fooling around again with the tree trunk colors. Not decided yet on that. I did a bunch of work on the sky (not happy not happy not happy) and the foreground. I'm thinking that it needs a bluer sky and some clouds to enhance the fantasy. There should be more contrast in the foreground to reflect the brown grasses (light pink in my world), in the last go round, about a month from now!!

Finished the background trees (hah!!) because they needed to be settled before the foreground flowers could be done (well not really, I could add them in after, but it would be much harder).

Went off to the art store to get some different reds for the trees. Did a test run of the new colors and started to break into the tree tops with blues and background colors. That way, they won't look like solid masses. Still fiddling with the trunk colors. The more I do, the more I'm beginning to prefer the black for that. This means remixing that color. Maybe, the two trees on the left are too close in size? Tomorrow... How you know you might be going in the right direction (this is funny): I have to post the photos for the blog on flickr first. When I do that, the photos show up on my photo page and all my contacts see them. After I've put them into the blog, I bury them at the end of the photo library, which has over a 1,000 photos. This way, no one will see the pictures of incomplete paintings. Well, when I went into flickr this morning I saw that the most recent iteration of the painting had been "favorited" by one of my contacts. This means they imported it onto their own site and are storing it there. This is good-- someone likes the painting. This is bad-- it's not the finished product. Oh well.

I've been putting off filling in the flowers. Not just because it's complicated (it is), but because of uncertainty about the color. I'm wading in to get the basic colors established: the smaller trees are lighter than the larger ones on the right. This is good. I would have varied these colors to give some dynamism to the color even if that hadn't been the case. Filling in includes incorporating colors of the background trees, the sky, and then the background trees with also sky colors inside. I'm hoping this will not create needless business, but actually capture how you can see through trees to the background and sky. I'm trying to get away from the solid masses of flowers which don't exist in nature really, anyway, to something more open.

Looking at the colors of the flowers, I'm wondering if there's too much pink here. also, I noticed that one of the branches on a front tree was actually a tree trunk from a tree behind. Easy to fix, and now the background is making some sense. I also added another tree trunk to the left, to give the idea of an orchard more depth.

Still dabbling away at all those flowers. The photo must have been taken at the very peak of flowering because I can't see any on the ground. Things are going slower because I want to individualize the blossoms. No masses of color here, just dab dab dab. Makes the canvas jump around on top of all that flowing ground color. Or something like that. Big questions on breaking up the pink colors a little more. I might try to introduce some grayer versions of the pinks to vary things or not... Also, I'm wondering about how yellow the background greens are.

Yellow, pink, yellow, pink. Might need to barge in and change that a little. Did some work on lightening and texturing the dark shadows under the trees. Next step is to finish dabbing in the flowers, fixing the sky and clouds, and then let the painting dry for a few days. After that, I'll bring it upstairs for a first critique. Issues always seem to be highlighted in the dining room. I don't know why.

Ok, so I think that extra trunk, even though there is one there in the photo, is very distracting. Have to try to push it back and maybe even take it out. But, today is rest day. That paint has to dry more. Also looking at the shadows which need to be smaller, perhaps. The tree on the far right needs attention. Still deciding whether the tree in the far back needs to be taller, or whether the horizon should come all the way down as far as it does. Vee shall see vat vee shall see....

I've done a bunch of editing, although, overall, the painting probably doesn't look that much different. Pushed back one of the background trees, edited one on the far right and finished, for now, the flowers. I can see that the trees on the left are a little light, so after the dining room evaluation, I'll think about toning them up. Did some more on the sky and clouds. I think it still needs to be a darker.



I had my friend Nancy come look at the painting. First off, and I should have known this, these are crabapples so that would explain all the white flowered apple trees I found on google images. Here I thought it was an artistic choice! Silly me. Now I see that there probably are some apple trees, and these are the ones in the painting that are white. Ok. Good to have that clear.

Nancy made several suggestions that I decided not to follow up on, but the session did help me clarify what I did want to do next. I scraped most of the paint off the lighter colored trees as it was building up too much. When I did that, I could see larger clumps which points the way to getting out of the dab dab dab business and allowing some smoother clumping to take place. Of course, I have no idea what the color of the clumps should be, only that this is too light.

Mental note: do not, repeat, do not allow the trees to look like pink broccoli.

I added more color to the foreground to cut into all that green green green and to mark the beginning of the orchard "space." I also darkened the sky, which I think really helped quite a lot. On to the dining room for the dining room critique.



Looking at the painting from far away (in the kitchen), a few things come to mind. I'm wondering if I shouldn't get rid of the clouds at the top of the painting and just keep the ones at the horizon. Or, perhaps, modify the upper clouds so they don't stand out quite so much. Also, the second tree from the left is leaning. Since as far as I know I hand't intended to have any of the trees lean like that, I'm considering straightening it. But, I do like the dancing quality that it has so not sure. Should I make all the trees dance? heh heh heh.

I'm going to let it dry for a week or so, then wade back in. At least, that's the plan. I've been known to go at a painting while in the dining room critique!

Ok, so back to work! I attacked the painting while in the dining room, then took it downstairs for some more work.



I left for the week feeling that the painting was going in the right direction still.

When I came back, I marched down to the basement and attacked!! The main purpose of these changes were to defeat the broccoli look to the flowers and also to break up the green areas. I also wanted to darken the sky further and blot out more of the clouds. With Nola's able input, I changed the color of the tree trunks which I think really helps a lot and also worked on the splashes of light between the trees. Still have to figure out the color for the tree on the far right.



So this version isn't going in the right direction. I see that the pink colors in the two left trees just don't look good and there is a general heaviness about the trees that I don't like. After a few days of freaking out, I decided to white out one of the trees and also to white out the branches in all but the white tree. I think this will provide a better way to break up the color across the painting and give something interesting to look at beside the flowers. Now I need to let this dry and give time for the paint to rest (oh sure...)



After several days of agonizing about the color, I started searching back through the art files, looking for some inspiration and a way to push the painting forward. For a brief while, I thought of changing the color scheme into pink/orange/salmon colors to contrast with the sky as a way of punching up the painting. With this in mind, I pulled out an older painting which had some of the same blues and greens and began to mix and then place some of the new colors on it. The old painting is much improved, actually and I'm glad I did that. However, returning to the landscape, I didn't think a radical change should be done before trying one more time to fix the purple/red/pink idea.

So, although I vowed to leave the darn thing alone, I waded back in this morning and made several changes. First, I changed a lot of the back ground trees using aqua and viridian green which I think go well with the purple ideas. I also did a viridian wash over the two small trees (which didn't look too good at first), and then covered with some light purple. This also didn't look good. However, as I wiped out some of the purple, the pinks and viridian wash took over and looked pretty good. We'll see if these colors hold. I also straightened the white tree significantly as it was listing to the left and not in a nice way. I lightened all the trunks using viridian, which I think was needed.

Next step, I decided to unite the middle section of the painting with the foreground by extending the middle path. As it comes forward, it also needed to widen to fix the perspective. I thought this improved the composition issues. Now that the path comes farther forward, it gives me the opportunity to put more into the foreground without distracting from the main subject (which would be the trees). Stu thought this would help. He also suggested lightening and brightening the sky. I'll think about that tomorrow. The thought of wading back into the sky.... again?????But working on the path will help to shape it a little better too.

So there's a lot more to do, but I feel like the painting has come out of nightmare land where it was just yesterday and has more potential at this point. I have felt all along like there was something good there, but that I had to really work to get it going. I hope all this optimism lasts at least until tomorrow night....



After several days of ambivalence I moved in on the painting yesterday morning and today and I think that it is actually very close to completion. I have been trying to differentiate the four center trees, to add background colors that look nice with the purples, and unite the foreground and middle ground into some kind of a cohesive whole. As I look at the painting, fewer and fewer things come to mind that I should do. Sometimes, that's the only way I know that I've finished a painting.

I like where it got to today, but now the paint must rest to see if any underlying colors barge back in and have to be dealt with. I estimate the waiting should be at least a week. Then we will just have to figure out if that's that!



Ok, so that was premature enthusiasm for finishitude. Went back to work on the foreground, which was too solid, and on one of the trees. I see now that the tree trunks aren't bright enough and if I brighten them up a little, it will uplift the whole painting. So that can't be done until the gray colors dry or they'll just muck up everything. I do think that this is very close, now, and with that change the painting will really be finished (hah!!) I want to make those changes and then allow a long break to bring objectivity back.

I did more work on the second tree which has been so problematic all along. As I look back through the photos, I see that I have changed the color from reddish, to purple, to reddish, to purple! Now it will stay purple! I did some work to break up the solid masses of flowers. I also painted the tree trunks a grey green color and now will take a break from the painting and review when I get back.



Actually, I can't wait to come back and look at this painting after a pause. I know I'll see things I don't see today, but at least as of today, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Not so fast, tiger!! After a two week hiatus, I look again and that purple tree and that white tree bother me sooo much that I waded back in (yes, yet again) and I redid both of them. The painting is now closer to the original picture and I am going to stop right here. Time to let it dry and let time go by so it can set the final colors become apparent. With all that paint on it, it will take a while to dry.



The painting is home at Bob and Nola's house. Sitting in their warm family room and also viewing the painting in it's appointed spot, I was struck by how well it fit in their home, both in terms of the subject, and the colors. I know I was thinking about their family while I made the painting, but it's interesting to see how the painting somehow ended up fitting in well. Here is my favorite photo of the painting:

Building the Bad Girl Steps And Bad Boy Island Annex

I view the patio and step construction projects that I do as my art. I planned out the "Good Girl Steps" which are intended to lead to the "Bad Boy Island II" patio much as I would a drawing: as a series of rectangles aligned to move down to the gate in the fence and over to the patio there. Building the steps presents a series of problems to be solved: how to make the steps go down gradually and in the intended direction, how to keep the supports from yielding to the outward, downward, and inward pressures which would otherwise cause them to collapse. I am taking pictures of the project as it moves along and intend to use this blog post to record the development of Good Girl Steps.

Here is an early view of the demolition of the plants which were in the area to be taken up by the steps and the patio. Eight 60 gallon barrels of material were removed from the site.


I began the project by creating the steps (GGS) leading to the fence. I decided to make each step individually to allow them to to be created "organically." The stairway path would also develop over time. I outlined the first step with support boards and leveled the ground inside the supports. Leveling the supports and keeping them in place was the first major issue for the project and I decided to use a combination of gravel and fence supports to keep the boards in place. I then began to lay the pavers on the gravel and sand base. I decided to use a "mosaic" of rock and paver fragments to fill the irregular shapes in the corners of the steps and then to lay out the rest of the pavers vertically. The rock mosaic will reappear throughout the project and that decision would continue to influence the shaping of both the steps and the patio.





This shows the completion of the first step and layout for the second.





Here are the first two completed steps and the layout for the third. There will be a fourth step to the fence. At this point, I realized that the ground drops away dramatically down to the fence and therefore I brought in several bags of top soil to build up the embankment beside the second, third, and fourth steps. In addition, soil was added to the sides of the supports to "shore up" the plantings to either side.

Work proceeded along with the development of the fourth step and the side step to the patio. I decided to layout the patio in a sun burst pattern and also decided that the side step could be triangular. The height of the patio had to reflect the height of the bottom of the fence at both the highest and lowest part of the site. To do this, I decided to adjust the height of the patio to reflect the lowest point, and to level the area by removing topsoil from the highest point to the lowest. I also decided to keep the patio two inches or so below the under side of the fence. I recessed it about a foot from the fence for air circulation. The above photo reflects these decisions. After the Good Girl Steps were completed, I began laying the patio. Each section of the sun burst was leveled and worked independently. Stones were embedded and cobblestones were chopped to form the mosaics enabling all the angles. Here is a view of the completed patio. Next year, I plan to complete the area under the gate and out into the yard. Some of the layout for that project has been made. See you next year!!

Orchids

I never fail to visit Selby Garden in Sarasota at least once while I'm in Florida. The orchid house is one of my favorite places to view and photograph flowers. I have been working on a series of paintings of the orchids. Here are some of the paintings (so far). I'm planning to use photographs of the paintings to create a set of greeting cards. I would like to get better images of the paintings next time I'm in Florida, but these will have to do for now.

The paintings are all 18" x 24".


White Orchids





Purple Orchid





Slipper Orchids





Red Orchids





Orchid Cascade