Tag Archives: abstract

Posts prior to RFM

Blue Jupiter

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Blue Jupiter, 2015
Blue Jupiter, 2015

In preparing for the upcoming show I found two small tabletops lying around that I had purchased months ago from Lowe’s for experiments with something other than traditional canvas. For me, the most obvious thing they could represent would be planets, particularly with NASA’s latest exploratory expeditions being so prominent in recent headlines.  After contemplating what could be done with the smallest tabletop, I thought that the wood grain could represent the bands around Jupiter.  There is also a small defect in the wood in almost the same location as the Jupiter’s famed red spot.  Therefore I decided to mask the defect with red latex.  I used a yardstick to approximate Jupiter’s band and it worked fairly well.  To bring out the red spot, I made the rest of the planet various tones of blue. I used white and shades of brown to enliven the work  “Blue Jupiter” is fifteen inches in diameter. .

Posts prior to RFM

Pop

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Pop, 2015
Pop, 2015

This work is 16″ x 20″ and made with acrylic and latex.  I wanted to experiment with yellow and shades of brown.  The name represents the sound and not soda or someone’s dad.   I put three lines at the bottom of the work running, theoretically, from left to the right, where the top line explodes. The “explosion, stretches back to the left to attract the viewer’s eye to the top left corner, in order to keep the eye moving around the canvas.   “Pop” was the first painting I made for this show.

Posts prior to RFM

Winter Violence

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Winter Violence, 2015
Winter Violence, 2015

I have been preparing for my upcoming show in Farmington and I have spent a good portion of the day creating new works, of which “Winter Violence” is the first I shall publish here.  It is a small work, 16″ x 20″, and done mostly with acrylic and latex on a canvas purchased from Hobby Lobby. I wanted to experiment with white and therefore did not prepare the canvas in any way other than to take off the plastic wrapper.  I chose mostly variations of yellow and gold to make the work bright. The title was Rohrshach moment being the first thing that popped into my head. I may change the title later. My only concern is the same as when I wear anything white:  getting it dirty.   I took the photo of it near sunset and the white appears gray vs. bright white.  I will have to re-take the photo when opportunity permits.

Posts prior to RFM

Foxfire

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Foxfire
Foxfire

This is a small digital work I created one evening while toying with Photoshop.  I used dark blue and black background to emphasize distance.  Then I risked straining the eyes of the viewer by using red balls, whose edges I darkened gradually to increase the three-dimensional effect.  It’s a simple work, but one I find intriguing even though I created it.

Posts prior to RFM

Symphony in Red

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Symphony in Red
Symphony in Red

This is one of my earliest works where I was learning to develop a color strategy.  I kept the texture rough by using palette knives.  I made the yellow lines by dribbling paint from a sample of indoor house paint I obtained at a local paint store.  I like dribbling paint, because it adds an element of randomness.  I attempt to stir the emotions and intellect by using a combination of irregular (usually) shapes and colors.  All my painting is very subjective.  I decide what colors and shapes to use based on how they make me “feel” for lack of a better term.  For example, some shapes give me the impression of being more or less violent while others may seem more or less peaceful.   The same is true of colors.  Some seem more peaceful or sedate than others.  I choose the name of the work on a similar basis or sometimes at random–like a Rorshach test–I just use the first word that pops into my mind as the title.  Often I use musical terms like symphony or concerto in the title, because those works are also a combination of subjective artistic elements flowing together to create a whole.