Art Sunday - Me for a change

I have another fair the first weekend in December. It is a local fair and I have plenty of paintings to display. And even lots the locals have not seen. I took six paintings down to the gallery to expand my exhibit there and still had plenty of paintings to show at this little fair.

But I was in the mood to paint. I have been mulling over a couple new concepts since the fair in October. I like the question I get frequently (probably based on price/hour economy) which is, "How long does it take you to do a painting?" Where do I start with that accounting? If you start at the moment of inspiration then the following painting took about 40 days. Me and Noah and the rain.



Back Stairs 16 x 20 Mixed Media on Canvas

It was inspired by a photograph of blue stairs against a white wall in a Greek village. Art should always make us see what we might otherwise have missed. I kept going back to those stairs on a Greek Island I have never been to and wondering why it was so familiar. Even after the fair could not get the image out of my mind. I love playing with perspective and so I tried to duplicate the image in a sketch put found myself guided to stairs I have seen in Taos and other little villages in Northern New Mexico. I have no idea where these are beyond inside my mind. And now on a canvas.

Another image that has been in the back of my mind for a couple years is based on a series of photographs I took of the AT&S train station in Raton, NM. It is an interesting Southwest structure which has all sorts of angles in it. Each layer alters 45 degrees and therefor creates a real challenge for perspectives. Lots of time spent on the sketches for this one.



Raton Station 11 x 14 Mixed Media on Canvas

The following is one of those silly little thing artists play with from time to time. The first painting I did of this Pelican is in my permanent collection and hangs in the downstairs bathroom. Several people have wanted to buy it but for really strange reasons I am reluctant to part with it. So while playing around with this new canvas that is 1 1/2 deep and does not require being framed if you paint around the edge (that was done on the two above) I decided to re-do my Pelican (never throw away a sketch). It did not end up like the first. I seem unable to copy even my own work. This one is more colorful.



Pelican 9 x 12 Mixed Media on Canvas

A funny bird the pelican. But here again it is the angles I was drawn too. I guess I am just going through an exploration of angles and perspectives if. Currently working on another in the same vein.