My Art

Mt. Sinai

2009-03-05T18:57:00.001-08:00

Mt. Sinai, originally uploaded by Jeff..

This is the initial under painting for Mt. Sinai. The under painting is like a skeleton structure that is developed before I begin to apply my thick impasto layers. Sometimes the under painting can be just as interesting as the final painting itself. It usually has fresh crisp line work and a rich pure color scheme, as I build up layers to complete the final painting it's hard to preserve the vivid originality of the sketch. In this case I like the deep colors and hard contrasting lines I've laid down and am hoping as I build up paint layers those colors hold true and the painting doesn't look too over worked.

Mt. Sinai

2009-03-03T20:31:00.001-08:00

Mt. Sinai, originally uploaded by Jeff..

In stark contrast to the placid seascape of my last painting Mt Sinai will be filled with stormy color and physical disturbance not unlike what i started to achieve in the Tower Of Babel painting. I want to improve on the stylistic contrasting colors and loose automatic line work. I really like the concept of what the biblical Mt Sinai stood for. The idea of a place where God makes his physical presence known to man, a place filled with turmoil and disruption from the energy that is spontaneously emitted as the super natural comes into contact with the natural. It's not my intention to make a painting about deep themes or metaphor or be overly representative. My true objective is to continue to develop an artistic technique and progress a design aesthetic. That being said I can't help but think that recent political issues haven't directed my style and subject matter. Unilateralism, Isolationism, the promotion of torture, warmongering, self righteous political dogma, the restriction of freedom and all with the backing of the Christian church has contributed heavily to how my art is expressed.

Winter Shoal

2009-02-05T19:07:00.001-08:00

Winter Shoal, originally uploaded by Jeff..

I finally managed to finish this agonizing landscape which has been sitting on my easel for what feels like and probably has been months. What had me stuck was my uncertainty of how to finish it. The painting went through a number of transformations before it finally became this somewhat tranquil vista. The colors were once much more contrasting and stark but I went back in and reworked the tones to bring them all back inline with one another. The final additions that convinced me the painting may be finished was the layers of whitecaps and waves across the water and shore. This gave this somewhat static scene some movement and more interest at least to me.

Presently I'm working on sketches for a mountain landscape loosely based on Mt Sinai. Should prove to be a much more bold brilliant and active.

Happy New Year Everyone

2009-01-01T10:13:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

Welcome to 2009.
Here's to a more successful and productive New Year.
Cheers.

Staring at the blank page

2008-12-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

I’m in a slump. Tied down tight. I’m in a struggle with me, myself and eye. (sic) A writer’s block some call it. I know it for a fact because I had a full week off work and I purposely avoided my studio. It was dark and there was nothing in there and nothing can be an awfully scary thing. Intellectually I understand that writer’s block is really the fear of failure but that doesn’t make it any easier to shake. I won't go into the other fears that just seem to worsen the syndrome.

I just read a quote by Samuel Beckett. Maybe it will help.
It reads,

Fail. Fail again. Fail better.

Be back soon.

Retro Fan4

2008-09-07T15:04:00.001-07:00

Retro Fan4
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

I have been spending some of my free time this weekend working on a set of photos to send to a stock agency. I should know by the end of the week if they have accepted any. I'm hopeful one or two will get accepted but who knows editors and art critiques can be so fickle. They have promised to give a detailed rational for why the photos may be rejected which could help with future submissions.
I continue to work on a large scale painting from the Summer Shoals series. Sometimes when I look at the progress i get this so what feeling which is the death of a painting but then there are times when I see the possibilities. I'm hoping for the possibilities because if not I'll have wasted lots of time and paint.

(The first casualty of war is the truth)

2008-08-04T18:14:00.001-07:00

(The first casualty of war is the truth)
Originally uploaded by Instrumental Illness

Sorry but this is off topic.

I came across this photo as i was surfing through flickr. It is not mine but to be sure I would be very proud to call it my own.

A thought occurred to me as I was looking at this photo and reading some of the captions, the grave stones appear to look like soldiers standing in formation on a parade field. Individuals forced into conformity by a war.

Yet each stone represents a very unique human being who had distinctive God given talents that were taken from us too early never to be fully realized. And all we have left are these cold imitative stones in lock step frozen in a perpetual march.

Creativity laughs at conformity and says I have a better way and there will be a way where there was no way and I will bring it into existence.

Creativity brings about hope and possibilities and design.

Creativity can stop wars, develop renewable energy, feed the hungry, provide affordable health care, share hope, ensure freedom, land a man on mars and creativity can make zucchini bread which is what I'm going to go do.

Now it's your turn, go be creative.

SummerShoal1

2008-07-19T12:04:00.001-07:00

SummerShoal1
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

It's small, really small only 5 inches by 5 inches. The hardest part was trying to decide what size brush to use. This is one of a series of three paintings I produced in about half a day. I found it very interesting to work on such a small scale because the painting came together pretty quickly and each brush stroke became extremely important. This was actually the second painting in the series and is quite different from the remaining two, heavier strokes more abstract and emotional. I like this painting the best of the three but my wife thinks it's the least successful. One of the coolest outcomes of developing artwork is the many different perspectives you get. Everyone perceives each piece differently and in fact this may be the least successful of the three but you see I carry all the baggage that comes with creating it so I can't be so objective. Go check out the other two paintings on my flickr site here
and here.

Sandbar Sketch

2008-06-09T18:50:00.001-07:00

Sand Bar Sketch
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

Just got back from Florida where I bought a set of Van Gough Oil pastels.
I've been using them to sketch out some ideas for a set of very small oil paintings about 5X5. The subject matter is sandbars but I'm really experimenting with color. I've always liked the pinks blues and greens of typical beach landscape. What you normally find in this type of landscape is very bright pure even rich colors I'll be trying to put a unique spin on this by steering the colors to a more monotone range and keep them somewhat desaturated. The ultimate goal is to create a somber and pensive expression to what is traditionally a uplifting care free subject.

Crown Of Thorns

2008-03-03T20:23:00.001-08:00

Crown Of Thorns
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

This is a pen and ink drawing I did for last week's Nexus Church service. The illustration depicts a crown of thorns and it is one of a series based on the character of Christ. I consider this more of a sketch than a finished drawing and the beginning of maybe a number of drawings or prints. They are visual descriptors for the character of Christ. As you can see from my last post I did change the style quite a bit from my last illustration. I see these sketches more as concepts and will decide the final style once I complete all the drawings for the series and then render them all in a single style. Maybe.

Nexus Church Sketch

2008-02-12T07:48:00.001-08:00

Nexus Church Sketch
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

I needed to knock out a graphic to be used as presentation fodder for our Nexus Church Service last Sunday. The sermon series is based on the characteristics of Christ, a very broad subject with many possibilities. Needless to say I found it extremely difficult to sum up Christ’s character into a single image so I began to research icons of the early church to help generate some ideas.
The dove beat the fish by about 2 to 1.
Just drawing an ascending dove wasn’t enough for me though I felt I needed to also communicate the infinite dynamics and the immeasurability of Christ’s personality. Paul said we now only see “as if we are looking through a smoky mirror” meaning, I think, our understanding of Christ here on earth will be somewhat transcendental and ephemeral.
I chose to draw in a real loose fashion almost a scribbling allowing the density of the lines to define the image so you are never quite sure where the edge is.
A little hard camera angle and a slight bit of Photoshop trickery adds to the ambiance, enjoy.

Babel Close Up 2

2008-02-02T14:07:00.001-08:00

Babel Close Up 2
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

I just finished the Tower Of Babel painting. It took a couple of weeks to get my bearings on how I wanted to finish it. The painting started off looking a little too illustrative and playful almost like a Dr. Sues illustration. So after a bit of contemplation I built up the reds and the blacks to give it more of an edgy dark look. The lime green is intended to make the tower itself feel a little creepy or eerie looking.
I was completely surprised when I was finished because the dark eerie qualities really happened in the last hour or so of painting. I had reached a point of frustration and had to choose either to give up or do something drastic that might trash the painting. As I first started adding the black I thought I had ruined the whole painting so I just got aggressive with the color and brush strokes which really brought the painting to life.
The tower leans slightly to the left because of how the drawing was constructed to achieve the upward winding movement. Though this was not intentional it adds to the mystery of the painting...I hope.
You can view the whole painting here and some more close-ups here.

Flight

2007-12-31T08:27:00.001-08:00

Flight
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

Welcome to my last post of the year. Yesterday in our Nexus church service we discussed the ongoing difficulties this country is having with illegal immigration. Our discussion didn’t focus on the political arguments but was more about the human tragedy that surrounds this issue and how Christians can respond. I found that when you start putting faces and stories on the people who are actually trying to get in this country illegally it becomes harder to dismiss them with some blanket political point of view.
The original idea for this artwork was inspired by the story of Jesus, Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt and was used as a holding slide for the church service. Joseph was warned in a dream that his family was in great peril and should immediately escape to Egypt to avoid the wrath of King Herod.
I quickly pulled together this abstract night scene in Photoshop and pulled in a previous illustration of a bird in flight that I have used before in a logo design.
I actually think the background has some potential and could be developed into an abstract painting. I particularly like the square moon.
Take a look here If would like to learn more about the personal struggles of immigrants as they try to reach the U.S. and see how some people are trying to help.

2007 Christmas Wish

2007-12-18T08:20:00.001-08:00

2007 Christmas Wish
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

Here's hoping for a more peaceful year.

Tower Of Babel

2007-11-27T08:40:00.001-08:00

Tower Of Babel
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

I will be starting a new painting soon and I have chosen the Tower Of Babel as the subject. This is a sketch I did last week for a Nexus Church service on the same subject. The sketch depicts the beginning of the destruction of the tower. As the story goes in Genesis 11 the people of Babylon came together as one people unified speaking one language for the purpose of making a name for them selves. They would build an amazing structure that would ultimately reach to Heaven. When God saw what they were doing I guess he didn’t like the idea you know the people were being so industrious and all. So he decided to destroy the tower and scatter the people all over the earth causing them to be separated and speak in many different languages. This is why all the people in the South have such a funny accent… :-)
Anyway I thought the subject would be a great allegory for our time. I let the viewer apply his/her own interpretation on what this might mean to him/her.

Yet another Nexus illustration

2007-10-31T10:14:00.001-07:00

Slide3
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

I was under the gun, again and necessity being the mother of invention I began to doodle. The theme is love matters from the relationship matters series for Nexus Church. The expression evolved from the thought that genuine love is integrated throughout our whole life and for most of us this would be realized as an internal manifestation but occasionally love surfaces and expresses itself outwardly and like breathing this should happen very naturally.
The basis for the message was covenant love or biblical love if you will. Covenant love basically is love based on commitment not emotions. I'm looking for more reference when I find it I will post it here.

Family Matters

2007-10-16T07:57:00.001-07:00

Family Matters
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

Working through the Nexus church slides this week I needed to quickly develop an image that would capture the idea of family and relationships. I relied on the ubiquitous family tree applied my "house" illustration style and shazam, it was finished. More to come

Shadow Play 2

2007-09-18T19:36:00.001-07:00

Shadow Play 2
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

This was a happy little accident I discovered as I was shooting some found objects in direct sunlight. I was working on a Nexus Church project based on the creation story. I wanted to place small natural items like leaves, sticks, plants and rocks on a white canvas and take photos of them. I was planning on using the photos as background for text slides in a PowerPoint presentation. As I was shooting I discovered that the shadows being cast by the plants on the canvas were much more interesting then the plants themselves. So I picked up the canvas and started taking shadow photos of all kinds of vegetation. I dragged the jpeg files of the shadows into Photoshop and did some simple color manipulation. I think the results are pretty cool you can see the rest of the photo series here.

Drought3

2007-08-31T18:36:00.001-07:00

Drought3
Originally uploaded by Jeff.

And may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls
This drought has dried

Jonah Wailed

2007-04-14T10:36:00.001-07:00

Jonah Wailed
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

Contrary to my last post, Jonah Wailed was accepted into the GHAE exhibit. It will be on display at the Fitton Center for the arts in Hamilton Ohio from April 29 - June 15.
I'm relieved and excited.

Easter Morning

2007-04-11T20:30:00.001-07:00

Easter Morning
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

Time passes so fast. Its been almost three months since I have posted an entry. I never planned to be away for so long. I have a number of projects running at the same time and work has been very demanding the blog just got lost in the shuffle.
I entered two paintings in a local juried exhibition last weekend and was hoping for some good news today but it just didn't come. I guess I didn't make into the show, major major disappointment.
Time to reevaluate.
In the mean time here is a photo I took a week or so ago as the sun was rising. It's titled Easter morning, I loved how the sun was igniting the yellow in the forsythia bush against the green grass. The digital "film" did not quite pick up the same color saturation as my eyes did. I'm not much of a photographer either so that probably had something to do with it.
I need to start another painting. sketches to come.

Portrait retouched

2007-01-17T08:03:00.001-08:00

Portrait retouched
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

I can't just let this one go. I have applied some adjustments in photoshop. My intentions are to discover what I might need to do with the original drawing to get it to a better place. Currently I'm flattening the tones, adjusting the lips and slightly adjusting the jaw.

Portrait

2007-01-15T19:25:00.001-08:00

Portrait
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

I had tons of trouble with this project. The main problem I had to overcome was a very small photograph as reference material. I was making most of this drawing up. It was much like playing fill in the blanks.
The original drawing looks much more like Cyndi than this photo reproduction. The camera doesn't see all the subtle detail and tonal range. Even so for all the work I put into this I'm pretty disappointed in the results.
I struggled so much with the mouth, the nose and just simple composition. I have discovered that my drawing skills need plenty of work. Thats all I have to say about this because the more I write the more frustrated I get. On to the next project.

Photographs that inspire.

2007-01-12T08:17:00.001-08:00

Cayennes
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

Let me be clear, though I spend much of my professional life directing photography, I'm not a photographer and I'm not trying to be one.
Like a monkey with a camera I will occasionally capture a decent shot.
I personally like the purity of an unplanned on the fly capture that builds a narrative. The light of the sun and simplicity are two of my favorite elements.
My cheap little camera doesn't do me any favors but it's all I have.
I love the creativity and community that FLICKR.com inspires and I enjoy being part of it. Take a look here to see some of my best attempts at creating art through the lens of a camera.

Portrait

2007-01-09T15:45:00.001-08:00

Portrait
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

When I’m busy it’s unfortunate but the blog is the first to suffer neglect in my succession of priorities. I am drawing though and that is what’s most important. Currently I’m working on a portrait of my wife a project that has been germinating in my mind for some time.
Portraits are difficult. On the one hand the likeness must be easily discerned or you just have a figural expression. On the other hand if the portrait is such a perfect representation of the subject why not just take a photograph?
A stylistic treatment and a sense of emotion must be present in any portrait. Projecting personality and depth of meaning is how to achieve a truly great portrait. Otherwise you are just showing off your drawing skill a novelty that will quickly erode.
So where am I in this endeavor? I think somewhere in between. Maybe a little closer to the pictorial representation than the expressive but I need the practice to improve my drawing skill. Note that when you draw a portrait of someone who is an important part of your life you experience much emotion, thoughts and remembrances and hopefully those contemplations and emotions wind up on the paper. I hope I hope. For now back to my drawing.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

Peace,Love and Grace
Merry Christmas

Cyndi at Fort Desoto

2006-12-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

FortDesoto
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

Well I finally finished this pig. It was a very interesting experience working on two paintings at the same time. Difficult in that I had to develop both sides of the painting at the same time. All the colors, tones and strokes needed to match so that as the eye moves across the boards you get continuity. Because my easel is so small I had to do this with the pieces lying side by side on the floor, which was a bit awkward and a little back breaking. Take a look here and here to see the individual paintings.
I am continuing to experiment with pointillism as a technique along with an impasto type of paint application. You can see that there is very little variance in the brush strokes the majority of shape is achieved through shifting of color and tones. Color and the shadows formed by the thickness of paint are extremely important in setting the overall tone. My intention was to capture the experience and emotion of the moment any realistic representation of an actual place is secondary. On the surface the painting is about an idealistic place not a real one.
Ok what next? I really don't know I guess I'll have to think about it.

bluebird

2006-11-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

bluebird
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

I was working on an identity project yesterday for my wife's cottage business and stumbled onto an interesting illustration. As I was resizing a bluebird sketch on the copy machine some of the ambient lines took on a landscape look and feel. I scanned the drawing into Photoshop and did some manipulation and added some color. Maybe it has potential for a painting. The Xerox photoshop style has some potential too.

Intimidated by the blank page.

2006-11-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

Intimidated by the blank page.
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

As I finish my next painting I have a few thoughts about the process of creating. For me the act of creating is just something I have to do. It happens to be the most frustrating and at the same time most rewarding thing I do. But my biggest hurdle has been defeating the blank page or just getting started. That empty void staring back at me has always been a huge struggle for me to overcome. I find myself procrastinating every time I begin a new work. I’ll get a cup of coffee, take the dog out, clean my studio, run out to get more paint, wash my brushes, take a walk part of the problem stems from the fact that I think every time I lay a brush to canvas it must be this perfect stroke instead of just letting the process happen. What I should do is learn from the process and not take the act of creating so seriously and allow myself to fail. Failing shouldn’t be such a surprise to me either since I do so much of it. I always learn from failing so I guess I should embrace it not avoid it. Easier said than done. This procrastination can be stifling and keeps me from being proficient and this is why I am still working on the same painting I started over a month ago. I envy the real artists that can just turn out painting after painting like breathing. Check this out. For me it’s more like drowning always struggling for a breath and finally pulling myself onto the shore exhausted and needing a month to recover before I dive back in. It’s always been that way for me and probably always will.

What inspires me.

2006-10-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Originally uploaded by Initaval.

Happy New Year! Wow another year gone by so fast. Oh wait it’s not New Years yet…so Merry Christmas then! It’s not Christmas either? Well I was just in Home Depot and they had all their Christmas displays up wouldn’t that make it the Christmas season? It certainly doesn’t help that we‘ve already had our first big snow for the year.

Given that it’s not Halloween yet does it make anyone else sick to their stomachs to see twinkling lights and tinsel while the leaves are just beginning to turn? What’s going on, besides anxious marketers pushing the envelope to win those big Christmas bucks? I was talking with my brother earlier today and we had a short discussion on how most humans, that’s us, aren’t satisfied to live in the present. We have a tendency to live in the past or the future and not for today. This tendency will most likely keep growing the more technical and complicated our world becomes. But all wisdom says live in the present. You cannot rewrite your past and you are not assured of any future. One day at a time. You know “give us this day our daily bread and forgive our trespasses…” It doesn’t say “give us everything we need for all time and erase all our past so we don’t have to deal with anything…”

So what does this have to do with art if anything? Simple, it’s about great inspiration. Not only is the past and future great inspiration for our ideas seeing our past or future in our today provides for some real interesting dichotomies and apexes of creativity. What? Taking objects from the past and placing them into our present or future is an a-one first class ticket to creativity. For instance a painting of a horse and buggy in the country can be quite tranquil and refreshing for some. But place that same horse and buggy on a freeway say in LA at rush hour and you get a whole new story that provokes thought and makes a societal statement.

Net net art should communicate, teach, provoke, inspire and perpetuate more art and If we didn’t have some future in our present or tinsel on our pumpkins we would never have great works of art like “A Nightmare Before Christmas”.

New art to come I promise.

Pattern2

2006-09-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

Pattern2
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

A few weeks ago I spent some time working with a church start-up group to help them create a new identity. After a few rounds of back and fourth we arrived at a great solution that was distinctive, iconic and perfectly positioned. This isn't it, but it is one of the concepts that were being considered.
The mark is a combination of multiple circles and a Roman cross that communicates interconnectivity of our spiritual lives and our connections to one another.
I recently saw the potential for the Celtic knot inspired logo to be used within a graphic pattern. So I spent a couple hours exploring a possibility. The finished design could be described as a funky mod fabric pattern. The excercise was anything but exuastive but I'm sastified with the current solution.
I discovered as I was working the simpler designs were working the best. I was tempted to create a complicated multlayer pattern but found that they just looked thoughtless and busy proving out the age-old adage more is less. More pattern fun to come.

North Beach Fort Desoto

2006-09-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

North Beach Fort Desoto
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

The last few weeks I have been traveling allot and busy with some home projects. House maintenance, I hate it. Unfortunately my artwork and blog has suffered.
I'm posting this photo from our July vacation one because I believe it could make a great painting and two it's a quick way to get a post on my blog. I'm really interested in testing the color possibilities of this photo. I see the water being loaded with greens, blues, magentas and yellows. I think I can enhance the color experience as well as diddle some with my painterly technique. I'm really disappointed in my lack of proficiency this summer and am anxious to get back to painting. Hopefully I will be up and running soon. I'm going to experiment with a larger format on this piece to see how I might need to adjust technique but also, if it's successful, have a painting for my office wall. Sketches to come.

Sanddollar7

2006-08-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sanddollar7
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

This is the latest of the mandalic inspired T- shirt designs. This one might be my favorite. Each ring of pictographs is well defined with shape and color and gives the illusion of movement. If you stare at it long enough some of the white symbols seem to sparkle. The blue, white, pink and grey color combination helps to create order and radiates off the black background. Sometime in the near future when I find the time I will put this design on a T-shirt and possibly encircle it with type then post it into the TikiTimes design shop.

Long Key State Park

2006-08-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Long Key State Park
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

While I'm contemplating my next painting I thought I would post some inspiration material. Last week I was in Miami directing a photoshoot and had an opportunity to take a ride down US 1 and see what I might discover. With just a few hours before I needed to be at the airport I hopped into a rental car and tried to see how far down the Keys I could get before I had to come back and make my plane. I made it as far as Long Key State Park. I only had about twenty minutes in the park to explore and take some photos. I was running around the park frantically looking for anything that could inspire my next painting. I shot about 100 photos in that twenty minutes and some of them actually turned out pretty good. I have to say the park was gorgeous and worth every second it took to drive down. There were beautiful shots everywhere I turned. I wish I had the time to really finesse or make sure I was getting good shots it was literally point click and move on. I did manage to take a few good pictures and some of them may even end up in a painting. You can see the best of the lot here. Hopefully I will have another chance at exploring this area of Florida soon I really love it.

New T-Shirt Design

2006-07-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

New T-Shirt Design
Originally uploaded by Jeff..

I just finished and posted this new design in my TikiTimes studio shop. I think the simplicity of color plays well with the intricate line work. The typography is intended to compliment the graphics and sort of lose its readability. The words are more of a visual element than a communication element they read "peace lovepeacelove...". The design is reminding me of henna tattoos that I have found online. I think I'll do some more research on these as I believe they could help inspire some new directions.

TikiTimes T-Shirt design

2006-07-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

TikiTimes T-Shirt design
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

I spent yesterday and today developing this new T-shirt design. It was inspired by my original Sand Dollar art I posted here earlier. I liked experimenting with the shapes and colors and think it has a nice laid-back lifestyle feel to it but with some spiritual depth... ummm but maybe not. Brown, blue and pink is defiantly becoming one of my favorite color combinations. I like the contrast you take away from seeing the feminine blues and pinks paired with the masculine brown. This execution is primarily and purposely feminine. Right now I think the colors are much too pure and could use a little more complexity to them. I think I'll try a more masculine version and keep experimenting with upping the details in the Sand Dollar designs. If you care the new design is in the "TikiTimes Design Shop."

cloud

2006-07-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

cloud
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Let me see I believe it has been just about six months since I started this painting. Sometimes I think one never really finishes a painting one just gets sick and tired of working on the #@!%ing thing, so with that, I declare that SoulCloud is finished.
I love the final color, light and texture. I discovered allot about laying down paint and building up color with this painting. Creating a deep rich tonal range is a highly difficult endeavor especially if you are looking for the complexity of color I want.
I have heard of and seen paintings where artists have laid down multiple color layers in just one sitting but I have always found I need to let the paint dry before applying another color. The more I paint the more I learn. I realize I have a long way to go before achieving the dramatic results I’m seeking but I believe I have made progress with this execution.

SeaFoam

2006-06-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

SeaFoam
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Is it doodles on a napkin or a whole new form of art? For me I hope it can become a whole new direction in creating art. I was doodling in a meeting at my desk yesterday and began to see some themes coming through in the drawing. The more I looked at the swirls and symbols the more it reminded me of the ocean. I know that sounds a little crazy but look in the center of the design. I see a "Sand dollar"surrounded by waves and bits and pieces of shells. The original drawing was in blue ink so I had to scan it pull it into photoshop and do some color manipulations. I'm really jazzed by the results even if it's just a doodle.

Palm Sketch

2006-06-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Palm
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

I was fooling around sketching today trying to see if I could discover a new idea for a painting or just get inspired and this was the final result. The drawing is nothing really special but because I haven't posted for a while I thought I would show it. I followed some of the same techniques I used when creating the NightWaves sketch multi layer tone on tone with a real loose sketchy line. Maybe with some refinements I might find something worthy of painting. I still have Soul Cloud on my easel but I can't seem to get motivated to finish it. I think my Muse went on vacation.

Playing with the camera.

2006-04-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Vase3
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

For the past couple weeks I have been out of town and busy working on my house so I really haven't had much of an opportunity to work on my art. Wednesday I arrived home from Florida fresh from a photoshoot. I was walking into our bedroom and found sunlight streaming in through the window and throwing interesting shadows against the wall and table. I thought what a great opportunity to grab some cool pics. We have an arrangement of dried roses in our room in a Baleek vase. The colors in the roses, wall, vase and table just seemed to fuse and intermix and compliment each other in the light. I was jones'n to do something creative so I placed the vase on the table grabbed my camera and started clicking.
I like how the embossed rose on the vase mirrors the dried roses. I also like the unintentional cross shadow thrown from the window against the wall. The light seems soft, moody and dramatic all at the same time.
Next up. I need to design some stained glass for our basement bathroom window. I would like the window to have a water theme maybe something like "this.".

Via Crucis Installation

2006-04-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Via Crucis Installation
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

This past Saturday we completed and installed our "Via Crucis" project at St. Elizabeth’s. I was so happy to see that we were able to set up and complete the project pretty much as we had concepted it. It's funny though regardless of how meticulous you might be in planning for all the contingencies for a project like this you always seem to miss something. When we arrived we discovered that the space we were allotted was different than what we had planned for so we had to improvise a little. Also, when installing the panels we found the floor to be anything but level but with some crafty engineering and some spit and tape we made do. The bright spot you see glowing on one of the panels in the photograph is a mini Maglight mounted on a microphone stand illuminating the face of Mary.

The table sitting in front of the panels holds a sign written by my friend Debbie that reads:

"Jesus Meets His Mother

Jesus, you feel so alone as you looked out on all the angry, mocking faces. You see your mother. She is suffering with you. She is the face of compassion.
God, when I’m suffering help me find the one, compassionate face in the crowd and for those suffering, help me to be that compassionate face in the crowd.
God, grant my church the grace to be the face of compassion to a suffering world.
In the redemptive name of Jesus, Amen. "

Thanks again to Debbie, Chuck and the "Vineyard Central" for allowing me to participate in this event I found it to be very fulfilling.

Also thanks to Debbie, Chuck, Dad, and Cyndi for all their help in concepting, constructing and installing.

Finally thanks to all the anonymous faces I used on our panels and here is to hoping no one recognizes himself or herself and sues my pants off...

St. Elizabeth's Norwood Ohio

2006-04-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

St. Elizabeth's Norwood Ohio
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

As we were setting up our instillation for Via Crucis I took a moment to walk around the church, "St. Elizabeth’s" in Norwood Ohio, and grab some shots of the remarkable stained glass that surrounds the sanctuary.
The view is both inspirational and sad at the same time. The church is in such disrepair. Immediately as you walk through the sanctuary doors you see the dichotomy, richly colored stained glass drenching shafts of red, blue, and yellow light across the floor along side falling plaster, exposed substructure and sub flooring, water stains and the occasional piles of sculpted cherub body parts.
Being raised a Baptist in a not so affluent suburb all I can remember about church structures are cinder block walls with institutional gray paint and the occasional metal folding chairs and tables.
St. Elizabeth's at one time must have been the crown jewel of this Norwood neighborhood. Now both the local community and the church need a revival of spirit and hope. My prayer is that The Vineyard Central is successful with this awesome task they have taken on for themselves. And if they are successful and the church and community does thrive again I will count it as allot of sweat equity and yet another nameless working of God.
Click on the above photo to see more stained glass from St. Elizabeth's.

Via Crucis

2006-04-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

Via Crucis
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Through some friends of mine I've been given a great opportunity. I have been invited to participate in an interactive art experience, "Via Crucis", based on the traditional "stations of the cross". The exhibition involves multiple groups of designers, artist and individuals coming together from many different denominations and backgrounds to recreate through whatever medium and means they wish their own interpretation of each cross station. Each station will be a unique experience. I would expect you will find thought provoking traditional and contemporary expressions of spiritual and social issues from multiple view points to experience, meditate on and pray about.
The exhibition is being presented by the "Vineyard Central" an "emergent church" in Norwood Ohio and will take place in "St. Elizabeth’s". The exhibition runs from April 9-15 and includes a benefit concert to fight child prostitution in India by the band "Aradhna".
My friends and I have volunteered to create station # 4 Jesus sees his mother.
Here is a general outline of our working concept sure to mature as we develop and explore our exhibit.

“JESUS SEES HIS MOTHER”

Our concept for the “station” of Jesus seeing his mother is a monolithic or iconic wall -- perhaps 10’ wide by 8-10’ tall, of nothing but angry expressions (eyes and faces of people), with angry colors like reds, yellows, greens, etc., and everywhere you look, all you see is anger, jealousy, negativism, and mockery. Except, somewhere amongst the crowd of angry masses, you see one expression with compassion, love, and understanding. This one would be in softer, muted colors and would represent Mary. The object would be that people would have to search among the “masses” to discover the one and only face of hope.

The pictures would number in the hundreds; I haven’t quite got the scale. But the first impression would be almost like repulsion -- it’s so ugly, you don’t want to search for that hope.

Larger themes that people may connect with the mural:

o The church’s role in the world.
o The power of love in overwhelming circumstances.
o Identifying with the suffering of Christ.

Here are links to the photographer and designer who created the image and flyer above.
Flyer design - "www.elizabethherron.com"
Cover photo - "www.juliannaboehm.com"

On My Easel

2006-02-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

OnTheCanvas
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Soul Clouds.
I’m in the first stages of this painting's development. What you're seeing is the base layer of color structure that outlines placement of shapes and objects and sets initial color hues.
I'm making minor adjustments to the cloud size and the horizon line in the end the cloud will have a larger impression and there won’t be such a hard transition along the horizon.
I think the brush strokes are a little too short so I will probably lengthen them as I continue to apply more color.
When finished the painting will have a deeper more complex tonal range.
The canvas itself wraps around to the back of the stretchers this allows me to paint the sides of the canvas which gives the painting a more contemporary look and allows it to be hung without a frame. Hopefully I will make quick progress on this piece. If all goes well I should be finished with this in about a month.

The Curtains Breath

2006-01-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

The Curtains Breath
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

As I begin a new painting I thought I would post some older work. This particular piece is about twenty years old. Yikes just saying that seems odd and makes me feel ancient. Twenty years, students attending college now weren’t even born then!
The medium is simply pen and ink on paper. The technique involves using short strokes with a pen and building one-layer of scratches over another until you achieve the desirable shade. There are really no actual lines forming the couch, chairs or window just variations of light and dark.
The style suggests motion, implies movement and the idea of constant transition. Overall it feels moody. I was probably brooding when I drew this. It sort of reminds me of the band "Coldplay" .
I see many mistakes that I would change now given the chance. Overall I would simplify the details and I would change the perspective of the chairs they seem a little out of whack. If you’re looking for some truly surprising pen and ink work look-up"Edward Gorey" he is an amazing artist who has always produced evocative and engaging imagery. You will probably know him best as the man who created the opening animation sequence for PBS’s Mystery.

Soul Cloud

2006-01-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

Soul Cloud
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

So I spent some time on monday working through this sketch. Its been in my mind for awhile. I have seen this image a number times in a number of locations not the least of which has been in my head. I tried to draw it a few times including a black and white version with a hotel in the foreground which winded up looking as weird as it sounds.
This sketch is really close to how I would like to paint it. I love the color combinations and line work. I may explore the line direction of the area that suggest falling rain because right now it sort of looks like the stem of a mushroom.
I have a canvas that is a little more horizontal then this sketch which I'll probably use for the finished painting this should give it a stronger panoramic look.
Well I need to get started on the new piece we'll see how long this one takes me to finish. Hopefully it will be less than three months.

Jonah Wailed

2006-01-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

Jonah Wailed
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Well I finally finished it.
The colors you see are not exactly accurate. The original painting looks a little richer and not so electric. There are a couple of mistakes but over all I think I’m satisfied with the results.
I hate the fish. The original drawing of the fish is so much better. It is much more fluid and free flowing where the fish in the painting is awkward and stiff. Some of the transitions in the waves are a little unfinished.
You can't see it in this photograph but the ocean in the painting is much more dark and rich than the waves and really sets off the kaleidoscope of colors throughout the waves. These vibrant colors really add important meaning to the painting.
I won't bore people with my thoughts on what the composition is really about but just let everyone apply their own meaning.
For the last couple of weeks as I applied the finishing touches to this piece I got to thinking more and more about what or who might have influenced the way I have been painting and "Peter Max" came to mind.
I remembered as a child one day my father had come home from work and gave me this book of paper airplanes. It might have been for my birthday. The book was made of heavy cardboard and you could punch pieces out of it and build a plane that really flew. Peter Max designed the book. The planes were bright, colorful, pop art-ish, and with Beatlesque type illustrations. Though I don't try to emulate this style of art I do find inspiration from it and not just the tactical parts of it but also the spirit of it too.
One last word on the paintings expression even though the painting depicts a desperate moment of imminent defeat that "reality" is very transient. It is mostly about hope.
Ok time to move on. I have no idea what I’ll be working on next. I will post some possibilities soon.

Hydrangea

2006-01-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

Hydrangea
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Earlier in 2005, I took a stab at a classic genre.
This was my second attempt at painting a traditional still life setup of flowers. My first attempt withered away about half way through as my frustration level grew trying to realistically render the individual petals and leaves of the Hydrangeas. They were fake flowers by the way. It was the painting that did the withering not the flowers. You would think painting a bouquet of fake flowers would be easier since half the work of reducing the plant to its most basic forms and colors is already done for you. Flowers are hard to paint even the fake ones. After contemplating the blobs and smears of my first failed attempt I realized I had to try a whole new approach. I decided to use an outlining technique. Working with what is essentially just drawing with paint I forced myself to think in terms of simple flower shapes and structures instead of individual petals and leaves. Once I had finished drawing the hard dark outlines I worked inside these lines filling in the details sort of like a child would work as they draw in a coloring book. My favorite part of the painting is the leaves. I like how they are simple, flowing, suggest movement and still hold the basic structure of a leaf. I really hate the golden rod thingies in the top of the painting I never really could resolve them.
Also the composition is a little too big for the canvas. The plan was for the whole arrangement to be contained within the canvas but I drew the pitcher too big. I think little kids do this allot when they draw don't they? Still I don't think the painting suffers too much for it.
I’m making lots of headway on my current painting and should be finished with it this weekend. I also contacted a local gallery. They said they were not accepting any more work right now but maybe I should try back in February. Sure sounds like I really impressed them doesn’t it?

angel

2005-12-17T18:06:00.000-08:00

angel
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

I know it's been a long time since I have posted anything I'm still working on a painting and hopefully I will be finished with it by tomorrow. I'm going to spend all day working on it and will post photos tomorrow night.
We have been spending allot of our free time getting our home ready for Christmas. This is a photo of our nativity that sits just above our fireplace. We set candles around the base of the figures to give them this dramatic lighting. I love its simplicity.

My Palette 2

2005-11-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

My Palette 2
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted something, well over a month. Work is really keeping me busy in fact it's driving me crazy but I have still managed to spare some time to paint. Jonah’s Last Look 2 is just about three quarters of the way finished but it may be a few more weeks before I can get around to posting the final painting.
In the mean time I thought I would show some photos of my palette.
The surface paint you’re seeing on the palette is dry and is about a week old from my most recent session working on Jonah’s Last Look 2. The paint is about a half inch thick and is built up from about five or six projects over about a year. As I work I mix similar colors close to each other and just let the paint keep building up. I'm not stingy when it comes to mixing paint I use allot and lay it on the canvas thick. I love how the light catches the thick paint and creates a shadow that appears to look like variations of color across the thick surface of the artwork. White is the main pigment I use when I form my colors so you don't see very many pure hues on the palette just a few small dabs of basic colors. I use these small dabs to create base colors then keep adding white until I find the right tint. Most of my paintings are heavily tinted so a little color goes a long way.
The palette changes with every painting but almost always contains allot of blue.
I rarely use any mixing medium because it just makes the paint thinner and I like it thick. The only time I use thin paint is when I'm underpainting.

NightWavesSketch

2005-09-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

NightWavesSketch
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

This is a digitally altered version of one of my preliminary sketches for the NightWaves painting. The original was drawn on newsprint with a graphite pencil. It was maybe a thirty-second sketch.
I took a photo of the drawing and downloaded the image into Adobe Photoshop. I added a few enhancements to it and wa-la instant art.
I think it looks kind of edgy and moody.
I may try doing this with a more polished drawing. I like how it has the appearance of a "Lithograph"

RedHot

2005-09-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

RedHot
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Ooooh sizzle baby sizzle. What a painting this would make.
Look at all those red-hot chili peppers popping off all that cool green grass and leaves.
I have been waiting for the last three weeks for my peppers to turn. I new when they did the color would be fiery. I took this photo this afternoon right after a passing thunderstorm.
Searching the web I found this recipe.

24 small hot red peppers, seeded and sliced lengthwise
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, halved
1 tablespoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
2 whole cloves
1 1/2 cups white vinegar

So now I think I'm going to go and try to make my own version of some Louisiana hot sauce.

SummerEnds

2005-09-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

SummerEnds
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Well summer is over and I'm finished with this friggin painting. I'm really not sure what I want to say about it. My vision for the painting looked a little different then where it actually ended up but that always happens.
I built allot of color on color. I tried to give a different texture to what was happening inside the glass to make it look more like water. I broke up the color with small short strokes and used somewhat disparate color parings to create a refractive look to the glass. The flowers just kept evolving. The one thing I don't like is how the flowers seem to recede into the painting. I tried pretty hard to have them pop off the board but they still seem to just blend into the rest of the colors. The further you step back from the painting the more you see a pixilation effect and the colors start blending together. The paint came off the brush pretty severely which eliminated any chance to build in any high detail but that's ok it makes for quick work and that is much more to my liking. I would get so frustrated if I had to capture every detail in the glass or flowers. I would much rather show and create emotion then render details.

So does it feel like summer? Does evoke innocence?

Some technical things. The actual color is much stronger then in the photo. Also this is the first time I have ever painted on a wood board. I really like how I didn't have to deal with the texture of the canvas and how smooth the paint laid down.
I had an illustrator professor once tell me that when you believe you are finished with a piece of art you're really only about halfway done. So now’s the time for some contemplating. Maybe I'll discover what's lacking.
Next up Jonah’s Last Look 2.

Jonah 2 sketch

2005-09-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Jonah 2 sketch
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

In parallel with the summer clovers painting, I have been working on a second jonah's last look concept. I have posted my original sketch for the idea. I had sketched this out about a month ago and am currently working on a version that is oil on a wood board the same medium I am using for the clover painting.
I felt the need to add a human element to this painting. Something to show the futility of Jonah's struggle to save himself. I have added a hand reaching to grasp the tail of a fish as if in some way that will save Jonah from drowning. There is some obvious irony in the fact that ultimately it is a giant fish that swallows Jonah and vomits him out onto the shore. I wonder what laying in a pile of fish vomit is like? Anyway, I think you get the picture.
The lines are fluid always showing motion, the hand gesture reveals someone in the last moments of a hopeless struggle and the fish is as proud and oblivious to the man's struggle as a fish can be.
There are many many places to go with the meaning of imagery like this political, personal and spiritual. The biblical story was based on a man running from God's calling. I think we all can relate and apply this struggle to or own lives in one form or fashion. In the end Jonah realized that following the path that God had laid out for him was the only true road to take. A lesson I have to be constantly reminded of. Thank God Jonah went through this turmoil because now all I have to do is just read the story.
FYI in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina I have added links to some of my favorite charities. Also here is one of my favorite prayers; Father, help them.
I have a great love for the South, God bless New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

sunday tomato 3

2005-08-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

sunday tomato 3
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

sunday tomato 1

2005-08-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

sunday tomato 1
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

sunday tomato 2

2005-08-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

sunday tomato 2
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Aren't tomatoes great! They are sooooo iconic. Their form is clearly based in one of most elementary geometric shapes known to man, add a red that is strong, fiery and passionate and you have the makings of a very expressive graphic image and some pretty good spaghetti sauce too!
On Sunday morning I was making coffee and my eye was drawn to a couple of tomatoes ripening on our windowsill next to the kitchen sink. I couldn't resist the inspiration to create tomato art. So I began taking pictures. Like the current clover flower painting that I have been working on for the last couple weeks these tomato photos evoke a sense of Summer, simplicity and child like innocence. But what I really like most of all is how silly they look.
Hopefully sometime soon I will get back to work and finish the clover painting.

SummerSketch

2005-07-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

SummerSketch
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

I spent some time last weekend making sketches. I was trying to discover the basic shape that would make up the petals and flowers for my next painting. What started working really well was this banana like shape. I found that if I clustered them together and arranged them in a cylinder I start getting this impression of a clover flower. And if I would tilt this basic cylinder shape along a horizontal and vertical axis then filled the cylinder with banana shapes having the shapes follow a natural perspective, "foreshortening"
as needed, the flowers would take on a realistic three-dimensional form. Are you following this? I'm not sure if I am either. But it does seem to give me a great clover flower look. We'll see what it looks like as I try to replicate this technique into a painting.

spiritwind

2005-07-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

spiritwind
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Using the same color scheme and painting style as Romans 1: 20 I revisited the subject matter. I added more of a purposeful movement in the sky, tree and wave to illustrate the effects of the wind. I also pushed the colors a little by adding a greater tonal range. I'm not sure I like the bright green and grey on the tree trunk though. They seem to be a little off palette. Also looking back I would have added more dimension to the movement in the sky. One more shot at this painting and I may just get it right.

Next subject for painting

2005-06-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Next subject for painting
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Ok so I took a three-month break and now I need to get back into it. I have a project still in limbo I need to finish but over the last three months many ideas have been running through my head. This latest subject was inspired by an Elton John song believe it or not. The line from the song was " treasures children always seem to find “. That line and the song take me back to my childhood. It caused me to remember a time in the summer when neighborhood friends would sit in the grass and make clover chains. We would have competitions to see who could make the longest chain. Lately I have had some repetitive themes rolling through my head, Innocence, Purity, and Simplicity.
It really doesn't take allot of effort on my part to understand why. The world we see in the news is just so evil (for lack of a better word). You hear stories about war, children being abducted, political lines becoming chasms; road rage and selfish attitudes are everywhere. I just come home wanting to take a shower to wash all the dirt off. So the new painting will be about much more than just a glass of clover flowers. The challenge will be what can I manipulate in the painting to make more of a statement about innocence. Even though we are exposed to allot of dirt and yes create allot of dirt of our own I believe one of God’s gift to us is to allow Him to make us clean again. That’s what this painting is really going to be about…if it ever gets finished.
Not to ignore the practical side this will also be an exercise in technique God knows I need the practice. Here's hoping I finish another painting soon.
P.S. the photo is mine I shot it on my desk at work.

Inspiration

2005-02-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

What inspires me? I look to a number of resources for direct inspiration that may lead me to start developing a piece of artwork. Sometimes it may be a passing photo or a story, or just my own imagination that brings an idea to mind. But what really motivates me to put an image on a piece of paper is hard to really nail down. I know there are a number of things that get my brain juices flowing but a couple of themes routinely rise to the top.
I am a designer by trade. I employ my efforts day by day manipulating colors, images, copy, shapes, and lines to create an ongoing relationship with consumers. I believe what I do is create visual stories slices of life that define and enhance a brands presence in the mind of an individual not a massive audience. Though my client’s like to look at the big picture a broad brushstroke of people and what may entice the majority of them to make a purchase decision. I do my best work if I remember that I am speaking to an individual. You place yourself in the character of a brand and you imagine your having a conversation with another person. That is a little simplistic but it gets to the heart of my point of view when I create original artwork.
I’m very interested in communicating with the casual observer of my artwork. No matter how long they may engage with my art I would like for them to walk away with a new thought or memorable experience. Of course this means that there has to be something meaningful and memorable about the painting that sparks the observer’s interest which is always a difficult proposition. My best bet is to make the painting visually interesting first and then create a story. My most recent paintings concentrate on creating a visual interest and less on establishing a deeper meaning. I have a long way to go before my painting style is unique and differentiating mostly at this point I would be happy if someone is able to pick up the intended ambiance.
Lately I’ve been experimenting with technique in addition to subject matter to create this ambiance. I really enjoy using paint as a sculpting tool to give the effects of a relief sculpture. When the paint lifts off the canvas it creates a texture that reacts to different lighting situations by providing many shadow and color transitions and helps the painting come to life. Also just having a painting that interacts with space as well as light creates something a little more tangible than just a two dimensional piece of art capturing a moment in time. Now you have a solidified three-dimensional work of art that acts like a sculpture but has the color, composition and visual attraction of a painting.
I’m really jazzed by the ambiance that ocean and costal subjects can create. I know this is not an original subject but it has been giving me inspiration to paint. I have been trying to put my own personal spin on these subjects and that’s where Jonah’s Last Look came from. It’s just not productive for me to create artwork for beauty’s sake I would get board really fast so I have to add some sort of twist that will hold my attention long enough to finish a painting.
Moving forward I would like to push further the development of a unique original style. I think it is really important to look fresh and have a style that is attractive yet one of a kind. Some artist who have been influencing how I paint are "Vincent van Gogh" for his strong lyrical paintings and linear techniques, "Paul Gauguin" for his island venues and finally "Murray Tinkelman" for his total obsession with his line work.
Well I think this is enough rambling for now later I want to capture how the current design trend of inspired simplicity affects how I approach my current work. This weekend I will be working on a new seascape and with luck I will be posting it here relatively soon.

My Sister's Pond

2005-02-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

My Sister's Pond
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

This is a fairly old sketch I created it while I was at my sister's farm on a sunny fall day. Most of the leaves had already fallen from the trees but as you looked back through the skeleton of branches you could see some clumps of leaves holding on to dear life not wanting to give up the ghost. The fallen leaves on the ground appeared to have a purple tint strongly contrasting with the bright orange and red leaves that remained in the trees. Those last few leaves were really giving off tons of bright color too emphasized even more by the angle of the sun.
When I first started painting the sketch I was trying to capture a realistic interpretation of the scene. But sense I'm not much of a realistic painter I found myself getting frustrated with trying to paint this way. The painting took less then three hours to paint but most of the look and feel was created in last twenty minutes when I finally got fed up with myself trying to be a realist and started adding allot of loose expressive brushstrokes. Though there is not allot of real craftsmanship to the painting I do like how the color turned out. Even with all the frustration it was still one of the most fun times I've had painting.

Cottage2

2005-02-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

Cottage2
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

This is a painting I created for my wife this past Christmas. She was inspired by an illustration of a cottage she really liked on a postcard and asked me to create a painting from it. I took the opportunity to experiment with style a little by mixing traditional brush techniques and a pseudo pointillism style. Most of the flowers, shrubs and greenery are constructed with points of color while the house and trees are made up of traditional flat brushstrokes. You can see I painted the trees first because of how their style looks completely different from the rest of the painting. The painting took a number of weeks to complete as I patiently laid several layers of paint over top of each other.

NightWaves

2005-02-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

NightWaves
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

This is the final version of NightWaves. I have added depth in the waves and sky. See earlier post for more details.

Romans 1:20

2005-02-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

Romans 1:20
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

I finished this painting tonight. It was an experiment in color that turned out much better than I thought it might. I was trying to construct a color palette that I might be able to use in my next version of "Jonah's last look". I really think these colors work much better. I like their subtlety and how much they compliment each other. I like how they allow for expression in the brushstrokes without looking like they are so forced. I had a couple of frustrations with trying to make the brush I was using deliver the right amount of paint on the canvas. I didn't like the inconsistency as I laid the paint down it just seemed to glob on the bristles I'll have to do some research to find a new kind of brush that might help me control the paint better.
Looking at the painting it purposely lacks any strong central subject matter that leaves the viewer with a sense of emptiness and kind of thinking "so what". But consider the title and you'll have much more to think about.

Cottage

2005-01-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

Cottage
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

I thought I would post one of my older paintings. This painting was completed about four years ago. Amazing to me it only took a few hours over a couple of days to complete. The painting is based on a watercolor illustration I saw on a calendar. I wasn't trying to make a exact copy I was just use the image to experiment with a loose brushstroke technique. If you look at the painting closely you'll see very little detail. Much of the painting is composed of large swashes of color. Actually where I tried to add detail is where I came across the most difficulty. The trees against the house were hard to render and in the end never got fully resolved.
I did use a palette knife to add some thicker areas in the foreground but the majority of the painting was created with a medium sized hard flat bristle brush. I used the same flat brush for the whole painting never changing to a smaller size. I think this added to the overall consistent look and feel of the finished piece. I created another cottage painting earlier this year that has much more detail I may post it here later. Currently I am working on a seascape now and as soon as I can get my camera working I'll be posting it.

Jonah's Last Look

2005-01-27T20:09:00.000-08:00

Jonah's Last Look
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Ok, this is my first attempt at creating an oil painting for the Jonah's Last Look concept (see previous posts). Overall the painting is ok but I know I could have done a much better job. Part of my reservations with this painting is that overall it just doesn't hold together well. The biggest outage is too much indecisiveness in some of the color choices. Also the line work in the waves appear extremely forced and overworked and finally the texture strategy has the wrong priority.
When I first started applying the color to the canvas I was using more of muted palette but as I progressed through the painting the colors began to brighten up and become more pure. You can see how the ocean area takes on a brighter richer look than the waves. There should be a marked difference between the waves and the ocean but I think in retrospect I would have allowed just the texture to create that difference without having added a hue change. All I needed to do was muddy the color of the ocean a bit. I'm also getting a spiral overload. There is way too much of a good thing happening. It's like eating two tons of cotton candy. By eliminating half of the outline work especially in the waves on the right side the composition would have been much more pleasant to look at. It's the old More Is Less principle rearing its ugly head again.
And the spirals themselves just lack craftsmanship. Some adept drafting skills would have come in handy here.
Finally, the waves in the foreground have a paint texture that is flat and the ocean's texture is really thick. I believe that should be reversed the waves should have the deepest highest raised texture.

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

2005-01-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

I was doing a little and I want to emphasize LITTLE research today and I came across a painting by Katsushika Hokusai that really intrigued me. The artist’s name wasn’t familiar to me (no surprise there) but the painting was very familiar. The painting
"The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" is from a set of woodcuts called "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" 1823-1829 10x15 in. and is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
What was so cool was the highly graphic nature of the woodcut it's simplicity but also how the line work being simple was still very inspired. The more you look at it the more the story unfolds. Sort of hidden in the great wave are two boats that follow the contour lines of the waves and you can see the seamen bowing, crouching or (what I would be doing) praying for dear life! And if that wasn’t enough if you look real closely in the background you’ll see what appears to be another wave but in fact is a mountain. I assume it is Mount Fuji. Cool!
I see allot of unintentional similarities in this painting and my concept for "Jonah’s Last Look" a raging sea, the desperate life threatening situation and a symbol of stability or safety in the background.
I also discovered that impressionists Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Toulouse-lautrec enthusiastically collected and were profoundly influenced by Hokusai’s woodcuts.

Sketch1

2005-01-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

Sketch1
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Yet another sketch for "Jonah's Last Look". I want to reemphasize that these drawings and subsequent painting was done a couple weeks before the tsunami. I just find the coincidence odd.

Sketch2

2005-01-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

Sketch2
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Another sketch for "Jonah's Last Look".

Sketch3

2005-01-22T13:09:00.000-08:00

Sketch3
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

This is a sketch I drew for a series of paintings I am currently working on. The paintings are inspired by the story of Jonah. I just recently completed the first of hopefully several paintings of the series. Since I like the sketches so much more than the painting I thought I would post them here first. The sketches have really helped me develop a good sense of composition and movement. I was attempting to plan out direction of the brushstrokes and the priority of the water, land and sky.
I call the paintings Jonah's Last look. Jonah is a Bible character who asked to be tossed from a ship in an attempt to pacify God's anger and subsequently calm a storm that was threatening to destroy the ship and the crew. The point of view of the painting is after he has been thrown from the ship and before the whale swallows him, which is a whole different look/story.
Unfortunately my first attempt at the painting did not turn out so well. I'll post the finished painting later and included some of my thoughts on how I might improve upon it.

SeaLilly

2005-01-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

SeaLilly
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

SeaLilly is a painting I developed mostly without any reference. I did use an image of a lilly to capture the shape of the flower head and some of the petal color breaks. The basic layout was inspired from a potted lilly that was sitting in our kitchen last winter. In the middle of winter this lilly decided it wanted to spontaneously bloom. Everyday I walked by it It was totally screaming paint me. I thought that if I paint this bright orange flower against a background of a blue ocean and sky that it would help me keep my mind off the crappy winter weather.
My original vision for the painting was totally different from how the painting finally turned out. I did allot of experimenting with movement in the leaves and water. The colors in the ocean were a total fabrication I played allot with different shades of blue, green and purple trying to discover what worked best against the green leaves.
If you look closely at the leaves you can see a texture. The texture is due to an under painting. Originally I create the leaf shapes with heavy short brushstrokes and multiple tones of bright spring green. I didn't like the result so I used a pallet knife to draw new color over the original brushstrokes. The result was a more continuous tone effect.
Since it's winter time again and the weather sucks I'll probably try another version of this painting. I want to try a version that adds more leaves and flowers and exaggerates the movement.

IMG_1939

2005-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

IMG_1939
Originally uploaded by Ponycar.

Painting Night Waves

2005-01-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

I started this painting over the Christmas holiday. I have been playing around allot lately with spirals and waves. This original concept actually started when I was in a meeting going over a project and instead of concentrating on what I was supposed to be doing I began doodling waves on a page.
About fifteen years ago or so I had created a music tape from a local NPR program called nightwaves. The tape had contained some really cool progressive music and I liked the tape so much I created artwork for the cover of the cassette case. One might think because of the subject matter the painting has something to do with the recent tsunami tragedy but it absolutely does not. Ironically though I had started the major work on the painting just a few days before the tsunami occurred.
The painting is more about shapes, movement and color than anything else. Deep down though it also has much of it’s inspiration from an area in Florida I visit all the time, at least once a year. I have a tendency to romanticize the area especially this time of year since I live in Ohio where it is always cold and gray. We most likely wont see the sun here until maybe April or so.
The colors I am using are bright deep and rich. I am contrasting the dark blues and purples with the bright white and yellow highlights. I try very hard not to mix the colors on the canvas. I want the subtle difference in colors to lay next to each other on the canvas and be mixed by the eye. I am also testing how I can use hard lines to define the basic shapes and use the negative space to create areas of multiple shades and textures. Sort of like using crayons in a coloring book.
Another technique I really like to use is building thick layers of paint so that the shadow of the light as it shines across the surface creates even more colors and variations in tone that in reality do not exist. It is almost like the light effects you will find in bas relief sculptures. The photo your seeing (If I am able to upload it correctly ) is the painting about halfway completed. I will be adding some more thoughts on this painting as it progresses.