It's been six weeks since my last post mainly because I've been too busy with other aspects of the business to stop and talk about it. I was part of a group show called "Moscow at the Palomar" that took place July 26-31 at the Hotel Palomar in Dallas. The show was created to feature the Russian artists being brought to the US by Artfest, but they also wanted to include the work of some of the American artists associated with the company. Between that event, rounding out my portfolio once again for another presentation to the Russian market, and trying to work out the logistics of exhibiting at the State Fair of Texas, July wound up being a busy month.
Let's take a look at what I've painted over the last five weeks.
As a follow up to the Tiger Woods painting I did entitled "Reading the Break", I completed this 16"x20" of Tiger entitled "Drive". The title is so appropriate. Not only is Tiger known for his long drives off the tee, but he is also arguably the most driven golfer ever. He epitomizes intensity, focus and the pursuit of perfection. Artistically I followed a style similar to the previous Tiger painting. The painting is built in thin layers over a tan base with the most detail being given to the focus of the composition. The work has elicited very positive feedback from those that have viewed the work in person.
A couple of years back I started the series of landscapes you see on my website. The first landscape was a painting I called "Proclamation". With each passing month I grew more and more disappointed with the outcome of the piece and so I decided to do something I never do and that is go back to a finished work and put more work into it. It's challenging as an artist to know when to stop work or press on. Sometimes you can work right past understated beauty and wind up with fantastically detailed piece that doesn't work. In this case the painting needed the tweaking.
While meeting and greeting with the folks at the gallery last week I spent some time speaking with Jack Weis. Jack is one of those veteran guys that has had his hands in just about everything: movies, professional football, Indy racing. In talking with Jack it turns out he had helped run the Mecom Racing Team back in the sixties. The team had great success with drivers Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill, the latter winning at Indianapolis in 1966. On a whim I decided to paint an ode to that event. "Indy '66" represents that Hill-piloted car crossing the bricks in Indy to take the checkered flag. Hill was killed in a plane crash in the UK in 1975. His son Damon won the F1 series championship in the mid-'90s.
I've been continuing to work on pieces in the Americana genre to hopefully appeal to the Russian audience. That has led me to continue my series of Harley-Davidson and Southwest landscape paintings. I'm also starting work on a series of cityscapes which we'll talk more about further down the page. But here is the latest Harley titled "Texas Pause". It actually combines the two themes I mentioned (Harley-Davidson and Southwest landscape). The result is pretty compelling. The landscape is certainly dramatic and the softail is beautiful. I think it tugs on the right heart strings for the Harley fan.
The painting I get the most positive feedback on is the landscape titled "Reaped". It is taken from a photo I took of a harvested corn field near my home on a summer afternoon after a storm had passed. For some reason people make an emotional connection with these bails of hay. They are evocative of something in their childhood or where they feel home is. As a follow up, I recently completed a painting titled "Memorial". Same theme, but a totally different painting. Why call the painting "Memorial"? Perhaps I should let the viewer try to piece that together, but I'll go ahead and share that insight. I look at these two paintings and see the literal and the metaphor. Metaphorically, these are graveyards or battlefields with the casualties of war. Where there were once green stalks reaching high towards the sun there are now dead remnants dotting an open field. The storm has passed, the reaper has come and these bails are memorials to those that sacrificed.
As a follow up to one of my favorite landscapes titled "Fury", this past week I completed a second tornado painting titled "Rage". I believe these speak for themselves.
Recently I hit a huge canvas sale at a local art supply store. I knew I would need plenty of 16"x20"s for the fair and I can always use 30"x40"s, but I also found these 12"x40" canvases that sparked my imagination. Since they were sitting upright, I immediately thought skyscrapers and have set out to paint a series of New York's most famous. I bought four canvases and only came up with three ideas to start with. I kept scratching my head about it until one afternoon last week when I saw beautiful light and clouds out the window just after dinner. I took a drive a couple of blocks down the street to where the pastures begin and started capturing reference photos for a panoramic landscape I call "Almost Home". I love the light in the work and the scene is so evocative of where I call home.
I did get that series of skyscrapers started and the first to roll off the line is the Empire State Building. It is a sunset scene from the perspective of Rockefeller center looking south at sunset. I call it "Empire Sunset". I was able to once again use thin layers to emulate the warm light of this scene. My wife adores New York and I'm afraid this painting will need to be pried from her hands.
So that's about it. There are a number of business opportunities in the works, but it's probably most prudent to wait until later to discuss those details. I'll post more as things firm up.
