Getting nearer and nearer to completion, this painting is destined for an art fair in Seattle at the end of July.
Work in Progress
From work in progress
Finishing Touch
I just put the finishing touch on this commission, and then it’s on to the next one.
Calling It In
Here is a glimpse at another recently finished painting — one of several for my upcoming solo exhibition in Los Angeles. The show will run from February 26 – March 26, 2022, at the George Billis Gallery LA.
My last exhibition in Los Angeles was at the same time of year in 2020. All this time and careful planning went into preparing for the show, and within a few weeks, the world entered its first global lock-down experience. The gallery doors were shut, and the paintings hung quietly by themselves without anyone seeing them.
What will 2022 bring? It’s anyone’s guess.
Wind-Up Wildlife
After a few decades of collecting objects and trinkets used as subjects for paintings, one ends up with shelves full of things that never made the cut. I was talking about this with my daughter, and I asked if there was one thing I should paint that I never have, what it would be. She immediately told me to paint these two wind-up toys I’ve had for years and years.
Here’s a glimpse of them just finished on the easel.
These wind-up rabbit and bird toys have waited patiently while all the clocks and telephones get painted repeatedly. I’m sharing these here on my blog long before sharing them on any social media. They’ll be part of my upcoming solo exhibition in Los Angeles in late February 2022.
Early Morning Light
Sitting in my studio in the early summer morning, the painting I am working on was soaking up the light, so I quickly took a photo.
The colour of the painting was entirely dictated by the shifting tones in the light, a cool to warm gradation was passing over the surface of the three foot width of the painting.
These paintings are built up of thin layers of paint, even the large amount of white you see. As the light changes throughout the day and the year, I like to see how the paintings themselves seem to change as the light bounces around the room and off the painting’s surface. The mood of the work can be entirely dependent on the space they are in and the angles they are viewed and even the time of day.
I’m almost done with this piece. Then I’ll be focussing on a somewhat complicated commission.
Work in Progress
I listen to radio, podcasts and audiobooks while I work. I have done so for over a decade. I have noticed that when I look back at past paintings, I can instantly recall what I was listening to. This is not true for all paintings because not everything I hear makes an indelible mark. But some things have significance, and they signal a turning point or an idea that has substance and holds.
Fact: if you pose your hand holding a brush up to your painting, more people will stop and look at the image when they’re scrolling through on their phones. My hand in the photo does a few things; it offers a sense of scale and offers the sense of a human being behind the work you are looking at.
A work in progress. On we go.
I’m putting the finishing touches on this painting on what is a very optimistic day.
There have been so many setbacks for everyone, especially in this last year. But it is beginning to feel like we are turning a corner and things will again move forward.
These primary readers from the 40s, 50s, and 60s are sending me the signals. On we go!
Yin & Yang
This painting is the yin to the yang of the painting I shared yesterday.
It crossed my mind while I was painting these that they were taking a very long time to complete. It didn’t seem to matter.
Along with the white clocks, this piece will be showing at the George Billis Gallery in New York City this September.
Lock-Down Project
Just put the finishing touches on this lock-down project.
Well, to be honest it was going to happen pandemic or no pandemic. I have to say that being able to focus on the tiny details of this painting has been a great way to stay grounded and focused in reality while so much seems to spin out of control.
Psychological Experiment
As they write the books on this era in the future it would be interesting to know what they’ll figure we got right and what we got wrong. It’s almost like we are in the midst of a planet-sized psychological experiment.
Just finished this piece and I’m on to the next.
