Shadows and Shape as inspiration

Shadows and shapes inspire
"Barn on curve" -- $165; if you wish to purchase this painting, see http://www.avonwaters.com/ contact us.

This 12x16 oil on canvas is a study I've wanted to start for a while – barns. Indiana and the Midwest are full of barns of all different shapes and sizes. I've been doing woodlands and still am inspired the shapes created by the shadows cast by the tree trunks and the shapes of intersecting planes where the ground meets the woods or the sky meets the tops of trees.

But when I saw the interesting shadow cast by the overhang of the roof on this barn, I had to try and do something. At one point I had ¾ of the barn on the canvas and wiped it off. By zooming my point of view in closer and letting the barn take up the right third of the canvas, I felt the shape of the barn then became a kind of visual anagram to the shadow and the negative space the barn created against the trees and sliver of forground.

I will be in the woods most of the summer but I'm sure I'll revisit structures more this year if I find the shadows that inspire.

Every painting experiments with something

"The greening of spring" -- $165 To purchase this painting, go to http://www.avonwaters.com/ contact us.

This 12x16 oil plein air on canvas was inspired by one of the few warm days on a weekend walk to the local state recreation area and reservoir.

It is my first landscape since returning from Bogotá, Colombia and it was inspired by the contrast of the light and shadows on the bright green grass. Seems like in the spring, the grass has a very unique green. Even the green in the lawns is never the same after the grass has been cut the first time and that is what I wanted to try to capture here.

For me, what keeps me painting are the problems each painting presents and the little experiments I can do in them. This one had more experiments than I normally try. Often, if I experiment too much, and things don't go well, disaster strikes -- I got lucky this time.

I also wanted to continue trying to translate the bright abstract colors that I do in my 20x24 and larger pieces, into the smaller canvases – I think I'm making the transition. Up until now, they have only had hints at the expressionist and abstractness that I seek.

The thick impasto paint is also an attempt to carry through with ideas I have about breaking up broad areas with interesting elements. I find if I focus on the spaces between the objects of interest, the painting is more interesting – it's the negative space that creates the interest for the objects.

Brush work

"Clouds Marching," 22x36 oil on canvas -- $600
This is a little more yellow and orange than the painting really is. This became a study of not only clouds but on how I used my smaller brushes on large paintings. Up until now, I had used small brushes sparingly and concentrated on using large brushes and contrasted the layers of paint so the large strokes showed.

Here, I wanted to try to duplicate to a small extent what I have been doing on smaller canvases using heavy paint and the palette knife. By doing so, I could add more interest in the broad areas of color that until now had been much smoother.

I accomplished this in the clouds by loading a small brush and dragging it almost parallel across the canvas instead of using it as one might use a paintbrush, perpendicular.

Learning curve less each time.

“Yellow Church” 6x8 oil on panel – SOLD

This is a poor image with little color and is too dark. When I return, I´ll replace it with one that better represents the work.

This yellow church in the old colonial part of the city of Bogota made me think of Van Gogh’s yellow house. This is the third and probably the final painting I will get to do while in Colombia.

Compared to the previous two pictures, this one I found myself getting used to the different brushes and tolos than I usually use. Doing cityscapes is also very different than doing the landscapes I am used to doing. I think I want to try this in a larger size and use brighter colors, now that I am used to painting this structure.

When I moved to Indiana from California, I remember how difficult it was to learn to use the new light and colors. Compared to California, Indiana was very green and I had to learn how to deal with all the green. In Colombia, the process is much the same -- now I am having to learn how to handle shapes instead of broad plains of color intersecting on a flat Indiana landscape.

The good thing is, I notice the learning curve this time is less than when I moved from California.

Different perspective

“Iglesias de Monserrate” 6x8 oil on panel, SOLD

This is my second attempt at painting in the different light and with different tools than I am used to using in Indiana. With this one I became more free with the paint.

I worked from a picture because I wanted a different persective than most people see this church. It sits about 1500 feet strait up a mountain and is used as a way of knowing where one is when in the city of Bogota. If you look up and the church is to your left, you are in south Bogota, to your right, you are in the north.

By using a photo, I was able to zoom in and place the church on the top of the mountain and make it the focal point, not the enourmous mountain below it.

New light, new color, new place

"South Bogota Barrios" $75 -- SOLD
This is the first time I have attempted to paint when traveling a long distance. I found that a new place with new light and different terrain -- in this case mountains -- I was much more reserved in my approach to the subject.

It required me to solve new problems that my subjects in the woods of the Midwest do not present. Here I had to figure out a way to paint the thousands of homes and still give a hint that they are homes. The majority of homes are red tile with a few that have color. In a small 6x8 inch oil on panel, using an impressionistic style, I decided to treat the mass of homes a mass of color, and only hint at the vertical and angular roofs for the homes in the foreground.

I also used a few splaces of color for the few homes that were painted blue. This appears loose, but the reality is it felt very tight to paint and I hesitated much more than ususal as I struggled to solve more problems than usual in a single painting.

Canvas verses smooth painting surfaces

5x7 oil on canvas
$20 "Flag with pencils"
To purchase this painting, see Contact Us at http://www.avonwaters.com/.
I'm not flag waving patriot. Interestingly enough, it wasn't until recent history that the display of the American flag became so popular. A historical look at its use shows that today it is displayed more than in the past.

This study uses local color and is a little more realistic than I usually paint. I had some 5x7 canvases that I wanted to use. I'm not sure I like canvas when it is used on small pieces – I think I prefer smooth panels for smaller pieces. To me, the canvas texture is too large for the subject. On larger pieces I don't mind using thin paint and having the texture show through, but here I think it distracts from the subject.