Dealing with Symmetry 101

"Un Pecho de Aguacate" is a 4x5 inch oil on canvas -- $30 -- is a study of symmetry. Had these been two identically shaped avocados, then I would have had to do something different. But two elements are at work here to make this composition work with moderate success. The first is the combined teardrop shapes of the fruit remind the viewer of other shapes such as two balloons tied to a wall or taped to a birthday table or even shapes from the human body.

The second element is the slight curvature of one of the fruits neck toward the other helps create a circular movement. This in turn with the irregular curves of the fruit moving out and around, helps the viewer's eye move from the top, around the bottoms of the fruit, up the leftside and back across the top of the two fruits – that was the intent and I'm sure people will debate its success or not.

To see more of my work or to contact me, go to http://www.avonwaters.com/

Controlling color by mixing

This 5x5 inch oil on canvas, "Red Tomato" is a good example of modern still life. When I lived in San Francisco in the early 1990s, I had the opportunity to see a Wayne Theibold retrospective show. Theibold made the modern still life famous with his use of contracting color and complementary color in reflected highlights along with the impasto or heavy application of paint.

This painting has the blue background laid in with a palette knife. I've controlled the contrast and center of interest by controlling the purity of color. By mixing white and a touch of yellow and violet with the background, the color becomes muted just enough so that the pure shades of red right out of the tube contrast very distinctly with the background.

You will see many food still lifes on the internet and in contemporary shows. This is Theibold's legacy – taking the simple object and placing it in a field of color.

To see more of my work see www.avonwaters.com

What size painting do I need?

This oil on canvas, "Onion braid" is on a 2x3 inch canvas. This is the smallest size I've ever painted. Because it is on canvas and not on a flat panel, the detail must be impressionistic – there's just too much texture from the canvas to do much detail that other styles of painting might allow in such small sizes.

As an artist, I pick the size of a canvas by the style in which I want to paint and by the shape of the composition that I might be painting. By that I mean I might be looking at a subject and seeing it would look good on a strong horizontal or vertical, so I pick a canvas I have on hand that would fit the vision I have for a subject. As for the style. I like to paint more abstractly on canvases 16x20 and impressionistic on canvases smaller. For me, the larger canvases offer a chance to explore the intersection of planes of different color and use broad strokes. If I were to make impressionistic paintings that large, then I would have to create the image using many small strokes – much too tedious for my tastes.

As for what size is right for someone buying a painting; I think any size is right. It's a matter of what space you have to fill. Small paintings in narrow spaces between doors and walls or windows are great, especially if stacked on top of one another. Larger paintings can become centerpieces in walls over larger furniture. Almost anything goes now days – just watch the TV shows. You see small New York apartments with the walls covered almost solid with photographs and art of all sizes. It used to be that a painting was thought to have to be hung centered on a wall with no pictures above, below or beside it. That's pretty much out the window now days.

Which is better: painting outside or in studio

This 9x12 oil on canvas was painted from a photograph in the studio. "Rocky Run" is a creek that only runs full when there has been a heavy rain. It goes deep into the woods of the Mississenwa Recreation Area in Indiana and starts as a dry limestone rock bed. Few streams in this flat part of Indiana have the ruggedness to look like a Montana fly fishing stream. I have been out to the stream three times this year after a rain to see if there was any water in it and not until one day this fall did it have enough water to make it interesting.

Usually I paint in Plein Air on location but sometimes I will paint from a photograph such as this painting. Is one better than the other? Each has its advantages and disadvantages. In this case, the weekend was rainy and wet and I wanted to paint a landscape, so painting from a photograph became an option. In the studio, a painting can also be developed more slowly and "fiddled with" over the course of several weeks, months or even years for some artists. Although this one was done in a few hours, I had the option of coming back to it.

Working outside, you must work quicker and record the light and color that is fleeting. It is harder in this respect and the brush strokes are usually looser outside due to the speed of the process. Some people say Plein Air paintings appear unfinished. But outside, some say the colors are brighter and fresher. The shadows also don't appear in finished works as dark as they can sometimes when a painting is from a photograph. Bottom line is, if you like the painting – it really doesn't matter if it was painted from a photo or from life.

It's rained so much that I haven't had enough light to photography the small still lifes I painted last week, so be patient – this week will be light on the number of postings. See my other paintings at www.avonwaters.com.

Still life: a way to study color

This painting is available on an eBay auction for seven days, click here.

"An apple for the teacher" is a 5x5 oil on canvas. Another still life and in the same vein as the last – or at least near the kitchen.

This is a study on complementary color. The background has a tinge of green. As I said in the last post, still life can give an artist the chance to experiment and study objects or in the case color combinations. By mixing a green the challenge is to make the green recede away from the red apple. Because red and green are opposites, if the color of the green is not toned down or grayed, then the two colors will visually vibrate. While this can be a fun effect, in this application it would make the focus the vibration and not the object of the painting – the apple.

Another basic principal is that warm colors come forward and cool colors recede. In this case the yellow-green is the warm color and under some circumstances it could come forward and make the apple appear as though it were in a cut-out hole within the space. Again, the challenge was to use color in an unconventional way.

To see more of my work see www.avonwaters.com.

Still life: an artist's option when the sun goes down

This painting is available on an eBay auction for seven days, click here.

"Morning Coffee" is a 3x7 inch oil on canvas. Due to the season and the short days, there isn't enough daylight to do much painting outside during the week once I get home. It has been years since I painted still lifes. My love of still life developed when I lived in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1990s. I met many California artists and visited a retrospective show of Wayne Theibold whose still lifes used bright color and complementary color highlights. All used still life among their many other subjects. For me, still life is a pleasant break from my favorite subject -- landscapes. But still life is a great way to also hone the skills of shadow and refection.

The California colors, lavenders and yellows are hinted in this small canvas. This cup and saucer were unusual because the saucer was so much deeper than most; it allowed for the reflections and shadows to have more shape.



Still life has been a staple of many artists for centuries. The Dutch, about 400 years ago took still life to the limits with minute details and their recording of reflections – almost mirror like reflections in fruit and glass.

To see more of my work see www.avonwaters.com

Using Expressive Color

This painting is for sale at www.artmajeur.com/avon.

"Dead Trees Standing" is a 20x24 oil on canvas painted in the Indiana Mississenwa State Recreation area. This scene caught my eye several times this fall but the light wasn't right for the vision I had. After the leaves all fell, the orange yellow and red leaves on the ground reflected back into the trees and gave them a distinctive redish cast. The grassy field in the foreground reflected a pale yellow light. In the grassy plain were dead trees with grey-blue trunks denuded of bark. They were trees that drowned about three years ago after beavers built a dam and flooded the area.

The colors are exaggerated. Artists must make decisions on every painting they do. Most of the landscapes in Indiana wooded areas have little color after the leaves fall. The reality is, the colors are there and one of the decisions an artist must make is to paint to scene and its colors as they are, or does the artist make other decisions.

It has always been my opinions that if you want to recreate the colors in the original scene, use a camera. Although there is a certain skill need to do realism or a painting that looks like a photo as is done in photo realism, there is also a skill to use any style of art such as impressionism, abstraction or expressionism. I merely have chosen to use abstract expressionistic techniques to exaggerate colors to create emotional response from the viewer.

Color is exciting. And as an artist, when I combine certain colors such as reds, oranges and yellows – the painting takes on a different life than it would if I merely recorded what I saw. Artists usually change what they see, no matter what style they use. Many will eliminate the number of trees, or cars on the street, or cut things out so there is a focal point – it's all part of the development of a composition that will interest the viewer.

Checkout my other paintings at www.avonwaters.com