what are your focus points when you go into your studio?

I realized that I needed to be more structured when I come into my studio to work on paintings.  It is important to me to continue having discipline when I'm working.

For now shifts in value, temp., and intensity are what I'm focusing on, with a purposeful attention to having a focal point.

I see a difference from one set of paintings to the new body of landscapes I'm currently working on with these few elements of art taking a front spot in the drivers seat.

3/28/2017 working on my artist statement for my new body of landscape paintings...

keep in mind its a work in progress......

Artist Statement for Landscapes 2017

 My most recent body of work it's not just about painting the landscape for its quality of sheer beauty... it represents much more.   My work at its core has always been about a memory--a moment captured in paint not to be forgotten.  The places I paint can seem uninteresting to some, but to me there is an unexplainable moment when I realize I must capture the image that has presented itself. It's not only about the former but also the mechanics of painting  Color has always taken a large role in my paintings.  Shapes. .  these objective and non-objective interests obsessively drive me to paint.

My previous body of work, though more abstract aesthetically, the concept still remains in this new body of (work)  landscape paintings. 

The moment, time is fleeting.

 first with my camera then I transfer the landscape to canvas.  

The more I stop and think about why and how I put paint to canvas the more I realize just what a big influence the patriarchal  members of my family have had upon my interactions with each of them personally.

From a very early age watching my father and grandfathers lay mortar to bricks, a trowel to large slabs of cement and small rubber hand held spatulas loaded with bondo placed upon the curve of a fender

The part color takes in my landscape paintings is to not only capture the colors that are presented to me at the time I take the photograph, but to also capture how the colors made me feel, it is partly what drives me to stop and take in or absorb if you will the colors within the landscape and the feeling that I experienced within that moment. 

Shapes that I find within the landscape are very comforting to me for reasons I cannot yet explain.  They offer to me a sense of grounding or a familiarity to something else that I cannot explain.  It is never really about replication of the landscape. It is something greater.

Static and irrelevant (how others see the landscape?)

They only look for a brief moment at its beauty...the time they spend with it is but a brief fleeting moment....I would argue that the exposure to instant and immediate gratification via electronic devices have left the ability to stop and absorb something as simple as a color of a shadow or the shape of a branch....

As a child taking many trips to our lake as a family we spent many hours surrounded by nature....

also living in the country surrounded by trees and wild life  had a significant influence upon me throughout my life.

I remember being taught by my mother to make "sand trees" with the beach sand immersed in the lake water ....their shape and textures intrigued me.  The castle became unimportant ..this is my first recollection of how key these elements of art shaped me at  a very young age

3/27/2017

6 new paintings finished......

7 in progress....

oh the push and pull of paint....frustrating but when it "clicks" and the layers of paint begin to make sense .... oh how sweet it is!

3/24/17

"Its been a long time since I've heard my own voice..."

Too many things to mention.....good and bad....but non-the-less I'm making memories and I'm back to painting.....

I have a brand new beautiful studio....and inspiration galore.....

I thought it might be good to document my journey.....so I decided to start my blog again.....

I hear one of my most favorite mentors ...Malcolm say..." painting is harrrrrrrd!"  ha ha ha

I have the painting "bug" again....my brain is starting to fire on cylinders that I haven't used in a long time.  It feels good.

Counting Blessings.....