Sambo on Deck

Sambo on Deck
15x22" watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb.

Sammy on holiday at Edisto Beach, one his favorite hanging out spots.

Joyu #2

Joyu Lee #2
22x30" watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb.
This is the second attempt at Joyu playing cello. I'm thinking that I may ask her for some more reference shots in either natural light or directed light, would be much more interesting. I'm sorta faking the reference shots I have - taken in that damn industrial lighting I have in the classroom. I'm afraid to ask, lest she think I'm obsessing here!

Joyu Lee

Watercolor  15x22" on 140il. Kilimanjaro

This is a new friend Joyu who I met in my class this semester, as she was assisting a diverse learning student. A more generous soul would be hard to find. It just so happens that she has played the cello in orchestras all over the world and she agreed to model for the latest addition to my musician series (that is slowly taking shape). My source was drawing and photography with composition as my main concern. You might can tell that this is rather tightly composed, I'm wondering if too much so - but as for now I'm pleased. I think Joyu is pleased too, but she is so sweet she wouldn't say otherwise. She is going to give this to her parents in Taiwan.

Edisto in May - Continued

Thought I'd break up this post as I was uploading enough images that Blogger was beginning to show some weary signs on my old Mac laptop. So here are a few more images and then I will quit - I promise.

Hannah's Bathingsuit

9x12 Kilimanjaro wc sketchbook

Deck chairs, well the ones that are not plastic anyway, are fun to draw and paint. This has become a series of sorts too - my daughter's drying beachwear on a deck chair.

Edisto Morning - 9x12

When I saw the live oaks and palm fronds reflecting in my morning coffee I couldn't resist.

The Turquoise House - 9x12 wc sketch

A quick sketch where i wanted to capture more light effects. Another view from the porch.

Early Morning Light - 9x12" wc

Yet another view from the porch. The dappled light was everywhere, a magnificent spring morning.

Young Man Fishing - 9x12" wc

What fun this was to do - the wind was blowing as I sat in the sand dunes trying to hold my sketchbook flat. I wanted to do some sketches of people on this visit but only managed this one - next time I will do a lot more I hope.

Edisto Island in May

Ahhh..finally the semester is over and we hit Edisto for 10 days. What bliss. Good friends and good food. They had some wahoo in at Edisto seafood and we had a grill that worked! As  usual we had the watercolor sketching supplies so I was able to pull off a few between beach walks and cooking and chatting:

 

Ken's New Vase

12x16" Kilimanjaro wc block

Ken bought a new vase from the gallery that Ann is now showing her work, With These Hands Gallery on Edisto Island. This was the new challenge for this visit. Ken picked some wildflowers from the yard and its surrounds. I love the Coral Bean blossoms - hard to recreate the intensity of coral pink.

Presbyterian Church on Edisto Island

12x16" Kilimanjaro wc block

This is the beautiful Presbyterian Church , built in 1830 - Ken and I sat and painted one overcast morning.

 

Porch Rocker

12x16 (ish) Moleskin wc sketchbook

 From the deck of Palm Tree, the house we stayed in for the first time. This house was magnificently set in a grove of cabbage palms and live oaks drenched in spanish moss. Did I mention a functioning grill?

The One and Only Still Life

12x16 (almost) Moleskin wc sketchbook

It now seems as I have started a series of still lifes that include either wine or beer bottles. One night on an after dinner stroll on the beach I found this Sharkeye moonsnail shell. The Oleander was in full bloom - this sprig of yellow Oleander came from the corner of the house and was so tall that we could see the blooms from the bedroom window.

Palm Tree Deck View

9x12 Kilimanjaro wc sketchbook

What a view - eh? I was always trying to capture the light - what light we had on occasion, as tropical storm Alberto was doing a jig out on the Atlantic just off shore - made for some dramatic skies and at times some fun surf to play in.

Mixed Media Collage

Too Many Leaves, 22x30" Mixed media collage, January 2012

This is the first of two pieces I've completed this year with two more in the working. As mentioned below I regained my stability in the studio at the end of last year by beginning a new series of mixed media on paper. This piece and the second are currently on exhibit, and I failed to get a picture of the second due to poor time management I suppose. I will get a picture of it when I get it back in a few weeks. These pieces are collages using interesting papers that I made without any specific intentions in mind. They are still lifes, and in the tradition of still life each object juxtaposed within the composition have a symbolic meaning. A student the previous semester posted messages throughout the school that they no longer wanted to see art that had leaves, flowers, personal meanings, etc. in them which caused a wonderful flurry of conversations within the art student body as you might imagine. I started both new pieces with flowers and leaves as subject matter. For me the titles had double meaning - as with this one, "Too Many Leaves" also refers to the passing of both my parents.

Nags Head - Mixed Media with objects (2007)

This piece I did a long time ago but I happen to be in the process of framing it for the house. This has been a favored piece from a series where I was using found objects and responding to them with other media within a composition. I had it stapled to the wall of my studio for a long time and I decided to frame it proper, which will take spacers, etc.

It Certainly Has Been Awhile - Edisto Island Spring Break - March 2012

Sunrise on the morning we left Edisto and returned to Boone. You never really do leave Edisto - we plan to be back in a couple of months. Peace.

Sand Quarters View - March 2012

Hannah's Dress - March 2012

Edisto Still Life - March 2012

It Certainly Has Been Awhile - Sketchbook images from last Thanksgiving, November 2011

Candle and Cup Still Life - November 2011

New Castle Still Life - November 2011

Olive Oil Still Life - November 2011

Yellow Tail Still Life - November, 2011

Here are more sketchbook images from Thanksgiving, when my watercolor buddy Ken is with us for the holiday. By now I was working in the studio when I could, but had focused entirely on non-objective mixed media collages.

It Certainly Has Been Awhile - Sketchbook from last May, 2011

Tabby Gardner's Shed , Botany Bay, Edisto Island SC - May 2011

Sand Quarters Back Porch, Edisto Beach, SC - May 2011

Palmetto Beer Still Life - May 2011

The view from Edings Street, Edisto Beach, SC - May 2011

Well 2011 was almost a nothing year for me. My father took ill then by about this time last year he passed on to reunite with the cosmos once again. My studio production went to nearly zero. It's funny how such an event that no one can escape affects people so differently. Some close friends assured me that I should be in the studio producing away, as that was the proper way to deal with it all. I could see their point of course, but I had no powers, no will (if you will). It was all I could do to maintain a semblance of normal life for those who count in my life. I did do some sketchbook work here and there, which you see above. I ended the year by returning to my old stand-by, non-objective, mixed media collage work. Watercolor was just too hard; I lost the Zen it requires. I will start posting my mixed media here too as I complete them - my first two images are currently on exhibit and I only took a picture of the first one (poor time management). So enough of all that, here are some sketchbook stuff from this past year:

Fall 2010 ASU Painters

This is a nod to the best painting class ever. I want to thank you guys for a very memorable semester. Best discussions, most committment - you make me proud. Now get back to work! G.

So while the turkey's cooking...

The Fish
12x16" moleskin watercolor sketchbook

Ken is here and we have been painting away - taking breaks to bake bread or to put the turkey on! This is what holidays are all about I'm sure. I'd like to wish everybody a great thankful holiday. Peace.

Just Back from Edisto Island

I don't know if there is anything better than to be on Edisto Island in October when the weather is so incredible. I did some sketching and took some really good photos of marshes, churches and my favorite sweetgrass basket weaver, Lillian Howard. I hope to have some WC's posted soon as a result of this trip! Happy Autumn to all! G.

A Late Summer Morning

A Late Summer Morning
12x16" watercolor

I'm finding it difficult to finish paintings any more - but here is one that has taken me a little while to do. The lowering light situation afforded by the season has really been noticeable this year. We put up some new bamboo blinds in the living room and it has made some dramatic changes in our living space. I just couldn't help but do this image as I captured it with my camera a few weeks back.

New Page - A Visual Life History

A really old piece of my Junkbox series I just scanned. I've started this new page on this here blog that has given me reason to take photos of really old stuff and to start this project of scanning old slides of work I did through the years. It is a lot self indulgent - but also a lot of fun. I have become obsessed! It is a work in progress and will be finished some day I suppose - but now I'm sorta savoring the memories...

Parkway Outing

So after a really long day of meetings (during which I'm writing a possible new page to this here blog - my visual life history) as this Fall semester is about to start, and I'm down stairs in the studio looking through some really old drawings and paintings and old (old) slides when my favorite little missy comes down and says lets do something! So we go on a quick outing to the parkway and take pictures - we'll do this again the next time we get bored.

The Beauty of Edisto Island

Edisto Beach, SC
12x16" watercolor

OK - so this will be the last post of the highlights of my painting this summer. All the others are posted on my Flickr Photostream (click on the right to see them ifin ya want). This painting is obviously based on a photo. Originally miss Hannah is walking one of our dogs - who is omitted in this composition - which now I think makes this painting look odd (the way her wrist bends to hide her hand in forshortening - without the benefit of a dog somewhere in the image to let one know why it looks this way)...

Botany Bay, Edisto Island

Ken at Botany Bay
12x16" watercolor

This May we explored Botany Bay for the first time. A former plantation of thousands of acres, it is now a state park. I just couldn't resist painting my friend Ken on the beach with all the sea shells (that are not to be collected) - and trees that are still making a stand versus the encroaching ocean. You can even buy T-shirts now with these trees depicted on them - rather iconic of this park.

Hurricane House Edisto

Hurricane House Sunroom
12x16" watercolor

This is everyone's favorite room at Hurricane House. No doubt in my mind.

Pink Number two

Pink Number 2
12x16" watercolor

This past May - Pink tells me that she doesn't like my first attempt at her portrait (showed her a print). I asked if I could try again and she looks at me like "why bother"? But - here is a second attempt. I'm thinking of showing her this one in October - but I'm afraid she might start to thinking that I'm stalking her or something

Long Time No Post

Mom and Me
15x22" watercolor on Kilamanjaro white 140 lb.

Did you ever get stuck on a piece? That's what has happened to me. I decided to do a piece of my mom and me based on this tiny photo that originally included my three brothers in it (that facebook retro-you image thingy that we all did back in January made me think of it) . In the reference photo I am about one and a half - originally she was holding the newborn KB - my only younger brother in her lap in her right arm. It was one of my absolute favorite photos of my mom - who went on to bring to this world three girls beyond the scope that my source photo indicates. This was a photo that just began to hint at the indescribable person who my mother was, or the relationship with her that I developed in her lifetime. I had a difficult time with this piece - not only that the over-exposed nature of the tiny photo gave little to no information when you are expanding the image to half-sheet size...but I couldn't help myself. It's been over five years since my mother's passing and I just got stuck - I couldn't finish this piece - like I didn't know how to.

So I resorted to what I usually do during the winter and began a lot of reading. It's easier and my studio space is cool during the winter. That's the only excuses that I can offer - but now I find that I am itching to be back into my studio routine again. It's a glorious spring out there so here I go.