Checking In

It has been quite a while since my last entry. I am currently working on a large figurative painting for Mardi Gras 2006. I intend to complete one of these each year to celebrate Mardi Gras in general and the Galveston version of the feast in particular.

The image to the left is my first Mardi Gras painting Mardi Gras 2005. I will submit an work in process for the new painting later in the week.

Bayou City Arts Festival

I went to the Bayou City Arts Festival today in downtown Houston. The weather was perfect, and the art was great. It is always an inspiration to see such a volume of really good artwork.

Changing Completed Paintings

I just finished making some changes to a painting that I "completed" a couple of years ago. The standard logic warns against doing this because you are going against your initial determination that the painting is finished. I have many paintings that I have completed, but not to my satisfaction. Typically it is a compositional problem. A little time and enough thought will usually allow me to work through the solution, and then I can finish the painting to my satisfaction.

The Third Sorrowful Mystery

This is the first in a series of Rosary Mysteries. The intent is for them to be abstract images that assist in meditation and prayer. I will probably increase the contrast on this a little and then it will be complete. For those of you interested in the mysteries, here is a link -
Rosary Mysteries.

Hurricane Katrina

The photos and reports are so awful! What a tragedy.

Meditative Art

I reported in an earlier post that I was going to begin a series of painting based on fabric folds and textures - sort of a representation abstraction. I still may do that, but I have begun a new project that I plan to devote most of my time and energy to. I am going to begin a series of abstract images based on the Mysteries of the Rosary. Hopefully they help the viewer reflect on the mysteries while in prayer or meditation. My first painting will be titled The Crowning with Thorns, and I should be able to post a photo within the next week or so.

Painting Surfaces

I am in the process of stretching and preparing a new canvas. I am planning on using it for a portrait of my son who will be finishing basic training at Fort Benning, GA this week. I generally use stretched canvas or wood panel for oil paintings. The canvas works better for brush work, but I prefer wood panels for thick, impasto paintings - especially when using painting knives. I generally prepare the surface with acrylic gesso, and I am very fussy about the application. Paintings executed on a surface that has been prepared properly should last hundreds of years.

Mythology in Artwork

A subject area that has always interested me in art is mythology. Several of my paintings relate to myths, either present or past. This painting relates to the story of Echo and Narcissus. It has an updated story board composition rather than the typical pastoral scenes of the 17th century painters. I have also used the golden mean as a compositional device to illustrate the myth that such mathematical excersizes were used extensively by artists.

Attic Space

This is a sample of a recent paining. It is oil on stretched canvas. Most of my work is in oil, although I do occaisonally work in pen and ink, or colored pencil. I dabble a little in abstract images, but most of my work is representational.

I am going to begin a series of abstracted shapes in various colored fabrics. The idea is to do a detailed representational work of an ambigous subject. Color, value, and texture will be the dominant features of the artwork.