George Skinner Carr

Portrait of "Lama"

2012-01-27T10:47:00.003-05:00

Oil on panel, 12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
This painting was done during an open studio session at the Washington Studio School. For anyone who may not know, an open studio is a gathering of artists who chip in to pay for a model to pose for a few hours. This open studio is unusual in that the model takes the same pose for the entire three hours, and sometimes continues it the following week for another three hours. This is great for painters, since a painting takes longer to make than a drawing.
This model, Lama, is Lebanese. I was most interested in her bold-featured face, even though the pose she took was also very rich and interesting. I gave up on my initial effort after about an hour, so this painting was a two-hour affair.

Picture hanging system

2012-01-26T16:06:00.008-05:00

This neat picture hanging system is sold by Systematic Art. The paintings hang on hooks that can slide up and down a transparent nylon cable, and the cables hook into a wall-mounted track and they, in turn, can slide along the track. In this case I hid the track by incorporating it into a crown moulding. Makes for a nearly invisible, very flexible system.

Gillian, more or less.

2011-12-13T14:13:00.003-05:00

Oil on panel, 12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)

I think this an interesting painting because of the impasto (thick paint application) but it is not a very good portrait (sorry, Gillian!).

Portrait study

2011-11-18T16:48:00.001-05:00

Oil on paper, 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

Molly in Blue

2011-11-11T17:06:00.001-05:00

Oil on paper, 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm)

Portrait of Molly Chang

2011-11-04T16:36:00.000-04:00

Oil on paper, 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

More Portrait Sketches

2011-10-28T17:47:00.006-04:00

"Aussie," oil on paper, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

Oil on paper, 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

Portrait study

2011-10-21T16:56:00.003-04:00

Oil on paper, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

I had only two hours to do this, and could have used more time, but I think it is a pretty lively portrait nonetheless.

Portrait Practise - Color Studies 2

2011-10-07T18:07:00.003-04:00

More color studies. Paintings are 10 by 8 inches, oil on paper.

Portrait Practise - Color Studies

2011-09-30T17:07:00.003-04:00

The goal here is to focus on color, to state strongly the colors you see.

Portrait Practise - Grisaille

2011-09-09T17:55:00.003-04:00

Oil on paper, 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

Oil on paper, 10 x 8 inches (25 x 20 cm)

In a portrait painting class taught by Ed Ahlstrom we are starting by creating grisailles, which are monochromatic paintings made by applying a single layer of dark paint that the artist then rubs through with a brush or rag to bring out the light values of the light gray ground.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be...

2011-09-05T16:42:00.005-04:00

...artists!

Here I am not just not painting, I am un-painting, scraping textured paint off our dining room ceiling. The textured paint was someone's attempt to hide the miserable condition of the plaster in this room as it has existed for the past 90 years or so. Presently, some weeks after this photo was taken, I am in the process of skim-coating the walls and ceiling with multiple layers of new plaster on the way to acheiving smooth, even surfaces on which to hang my paintings (maybe).

The Shingles Scene

2011-07-20T15:28:00.007-04:00

Obviously this is another non-painting post. The architect who designed our rear addition, Paul Treseder, did a wonderful job but the plan did not include a place to hide trash cans. Three years after I made this "trash hutch" the roof started to rot, so now the time has come to redo it, properly this time. One surprising thing about shingles is how many it takes to cover just a small area. Each shingle is quite long but less than a third of the length ends up being visible, with most of its length buried under other overlapping shingles

Front Garden and Driveway

2011-07-16T12:10:00.001-04:00

A Break from Painting

2011-06-27T08:47:00.004-04:00

I had a show last month which did not go well. After joining a cooperative gallery in January and spending large amounts of time on it, such as in creating a website, and paying rent and other expenses, my one chance to recoup my investment was with this show. Since I sold a total of two paintings, the whole effort can be said to have been an unequivocal failure.
So now I am back to catching up on a backlog of yardwork and home repairs, since it does not make sense, from an economic standpoint, for anyone but me to do the work. Below are some photos taken three years ago of some landscaping work I did. Later I will post a video showing how nice it looks now that the plantings are established.

Portrait of a girl

2011-06-21T01:31:00.006-04:00

Oil on board, 12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 41 cm)

This is the beginning of a portrait of a young girl. (Hey, I'm just getting started!)

Back when I was sculpting a lot of busts of different sorts of people I decided that some types were easier to render than others. Qualities in an individual which made the portraiture task easier were age, ugliness, maleness, and ill humor. So that means that the most difficult subject for a portraitist to take on is a lovely, laughing, young woman or girl. The sculptor, Carpeaux (see detail of "La Danse," below) is the only sculptor I can think of who could pull it off.

Two steps back (sigh)

2011-06-20T17:52:00.003-04:00

This painting was better a few steps back I fear. There is an interesting atmospheric effect, though, which if I can reproduce it, might work well in another painting.

House Siblings II, continued

2011-06-17T09:37:00.002-04:00

Progress? Maybe not...

2011-06-15T19:17:00.003-04:00

The orange light in the tree is not working. One thing I have learned, though, is that the correct color painted over a wrong color is usually more complex and richer-looking than if you had found the right color from the get-go. I ain't done yet.

House Siblings II, in progress

2011-06-12T11:33:00.010-04:00

Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)

For the past couple of weeks we have had some help manning the gallery while my show is up. Randy Hadley has spent most of his life working in art galleries and even had his own gallery for a while. As we have bided our time in the gallery waiting for customers, we have talked about painting and Randy's passionate interest in, and knowledge of, painting has come out loud and clear. Now I find that these talks are influencing how I paint, allowing me to work in a more aggressive, exploratory way that will perhaps bring more excitement to my paintings. Compare yesterday's painting (above) to one of the same subject from a few years ago (below).

Oil on board, 9 x 9 inches (23 x 23 cm)

Bretrothed In Frederick, update

2011-06-11T12:33:00.006-04:00

The shoes and ankles of this figure are something I keep returning to because it is such a challenge to model the sculptural forms. At this point they are as good as I can make them. I love the gesture the bride is making: toes pointing in, knees together. This is a charming, uniquely feminine gesture that I have used before (see below).

A Video Tour of My Show

2011-06-03T21:05:00.003-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANhbmLJbcuc

Betrothed in Frederick, nearing completion

2011-06-02T20:37:00.004-04:00

Bretrothed In Frederick, step 2.4

2011-05-22T18:47:00.004-04:00

Betrothed in Frederick, step 2.1

2011-05-20T19:57:00.005-04:00

A nice byproduct of doing this blog is that snapshots of paintings as they evolve are preserved along the way. Soon this particular painting will change to become something very different, yet I think it looks pretty cool right now.

Betrothed in Frederick, step 2

2011-05-17T16:29:00.004-04:00

Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91 cm)

This is the first time that I have worked on a painting from a step ladder. A big problem is that when I step back to get a better look at the canvas, I sometimes forget I am on a ladder (ouch!).
Some painters say one should never start a painting without a vision of what the completed work will look like. This is really good advice, but I have seldom followed it. Well, with this painting I have a vision. The vision is that blue colors in the sky and the blue colors of the shadows of the gown will trickle down, intermingling with the warm earthy reds of the underpainting as they progress down the canvas, less and less so the further down they go, until the invasion of blues is completely diminished and the reds hold their ground unviolated at the very bottom. The idea is to create a warm vs. cool vibration. To make that happen I will have to discipline myself to apply the cool colors only in patches, allowing some of the underpainting to remain visible.

"I Will Remain Here"

2011-05-16T21:07:00.004-04:00

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)

This piece was one I began last fall and have taken up again. The sky has a nice shimmer, I think, thanks to some pthalo turquoise-and-white strokes interspersed amongst the other blues and violets. Pthalo turquoise has an edgy, nervous personality and can breathe life into an image if used judiciously, I find.

West, Towards Home - continued

2011-05-14T16:30:00.007-04:00

Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91 cm)

This image is coming along. Everything is more difficult and slower with a large canvas. Getting the sidewalk to feel as though it is slanting toward the curb has been difficult to acheive, but I think it is working now. Also, at the bottom of the canvas the sidewalk needs to feel as though it is right at the viewer's feet, and from there made to stretch away dramatically into space, sweep by the main figure, and end at the feet of the oncoming pedestrians. When this kind of thing does not work the trapezoidal shape of the sidewalk will be seen as a flat shape on the two-dimensional surface of the canvas, and some means has to be devised to make it "lie down."

Often something like 98% of a painting serves to support just one small area which is the focus of excitement in the composition. In this case the flashes of orange and yellow around the figure's hair is that thrilling focal point. After spending hours and hours filling in the less exciting passages, painting those few strokes of brilliant color is pure joy!

A Highly Clothed Betrothed

2011-05-13T19:15:00.003-04:00

Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

This is a first step for a large painting of a bride in her wedding gown. The way I normally start a painting, by sort of launching into it, doesn't seem to work out that well for these large canvases, so this time I drew up a plan.

Not by accident brides are very sexy creatures. I think the only part of a traditional wedding that I miss from not having had one, is the wedding-night unwrapping!

Red Robe Under a Bright Light

2011-05-06T17:55:00.003-04:00

Oil on paper, 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

Upcoming show

2011-05-05T16:48:00.005-04:00

The big painting, continued

2011-05-03T21:15:00.002-04:00

Getting such a big canvas under control is a challenge. So much real estate to cover!

Pow-wow

2011-05-02T20:58:00.005-04:00

Every once in a while I have to put on my sculptor's hat again, even though I may not want to. These copies of a bust I did for the Washington Redskins football team years ago were ordered by someone in the family of the team's owner, a friend and loyal patron of mine. This little job involved quite a few hours of unrewarding but exacting work. I told my patron that I got into sculpture because I was so good with my hands and I thought my mechanical ability to work with my hands would give me an advantage over other artists. I believe the reason I got to be so handy was because I grew up in a family of three females and a father who was physically disabled, so I ended up doing most of the handyman chores around the house. Isn't it amazing how such chance circumstances steer our lives in various directions, willy-nilly?

The Parasol

2011-04-29T19:52:00.003-04:00

Oil on paper, 20 x 16 in (51 x 41 cm)

West, Towards Home

2011-04-25T15:46:00.004-04:00

This is a large painting- 36 inches by 48 inches. In a few weeks I am having a show in a gallery that has big, white, empty walls.

The Wolfman Returns

2011-04-23T08:29:00.003-04:00

Oil on paper , 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

She looks good...

2011-04-20T09:45:00.000-04:00

Diddy-dum-diddy-doo!

2011-04-18T21:32:00.003-04:00

Still working on this one...

A wolfman sits for his portrait

2011-04-15T16:21:00.002-04:00

Oil on paper, 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

Figure Color Study

2011-04-08T20:24:00.002-04:00

Oil on paper, 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm) With this painting I squeezed out the palette of colors used by Nelson Shanks, 23 colors in all, far more than I usually use. The array of reds at hand, plus phthalo turquoise, saved it from total ho-humness.

Singin' Doo-Wah-Diddy...

2011-04-07T12:21:00.008-04:00

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm) I liked the way this looked in step one- had a kind of lively rythm. I hope that rythm and liveliness will be there in the finished piece.

Little Chiquita - finished!

2011-04-05T12:34:00.004-04:00

Girl at the Fiesta, continued

2011-04-02T13:41:00.003-04:00

Joyous Boy -continued

2011-03-28T12:49:00.002-04:00

Our Joyous Boy

2011-03-26T13:58:00.003-04:00

Oil on board, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

Today the only thing I can only think about is our 15-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever, Chase, who passed away yesterday, so I found an old photo of him to work up a painting from. He never lost his good looks!

La Niña, continued

2011-03-23T11:52:00.003-04:00

This painting was becoming too precious and stiff, so I grabbed a big, wide brush and worked it over, trying to inject a liveliness worthy of its subject.

Nicole 1, in progress

2011-03-23T11:49:00.001-04:00

Oil on paper, 12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 41 cm)

Progress on "La Niña"

2011-03-21T12:33:00.001-04:00

Pretty Girl at the Fiesta

2011-03-19T10:35:00.006-04:00

Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)

I am working from a photo found at the photography blog, thedude.com (thanks for permission to use the image). I started with a layer of transparent red oxide over a white ground, rubbing out the red to bring out the light values.

The White Dress

2011-03-16T16:59:00.001-04:00

Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches (61 x 46 cm)

I can't decide whether this dress still looks white. Let's see ii anybody calls me on the title!

The Electric Gown

2011-03-15T21:05:00.002-04:00

Further evolution of the white dress. I want it to glow with electric blue light.

The White Dress - Evolution of a Painting

2011-03-14T18:04:00.002-04:00

Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches (61 x 46 cm)

On a yellow ground I painted a burnt sienna layer that could be wiped out to define light areas. The goal here is to apply complementary colors as the painting evolves in order to create a vibration amongst the hues.

Now all I need...

2011-03-11T18:04:00.002-05:00

Oil on paper, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

This one has a long title:
"Now All I Need is a Canoe... Oh, and a lake!"

Gallery 322 website is online

2011-03-09T11:47:00.006-05:00

Click here or on the image above to be taken to the site.

At Rest

2011-03-07T08:46:00.002-05:00

Oil on paper, 12 x 14 inches (30.5 x 41 cm)

Keep Yer Socks On

2011-03-04T16:25:00.002-05:00

Oil on paper, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

This model for a figure painting session was worried about her feet getting cold. It has been a very cold winter in Washington, DC this winter, even within a heated painting studio.

DIY Website design

2011-02-15T13:30:00.002-05:00

I have been struggling to create a new website for the art gallery I am now associated with. The way websites are put together has changed radically in the past ten years or so, since the time when I put up my first site, which showcased my sculpture. The craft has moved from the use of "layers" and "tables" to the devillishly complex notion of "Cascading Style Sheets." At this point I have given up hoping to get to know CSS well enough to be able to control everything in a website, and instead I only attempt to arrive at an approximation of my wishes, a "good enough" outcome.

Sleeping Babushka

2011-02-11T16:28:00.004-05:00

Oil on paper, 12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 41 cm)

This was done at a class taught by Ed Ahlstrom, and I will continue with it in a later session. I am finding that Mr. Ahlstrom's priorities regarding the art of painting match my own tastes pretty well, though I am not able to express them as well as he does.

Charcoal Figure Drawings

2011-02-09T10:55:00.002-05:00

Charcoal on paper, 16 x 12 inches each (41 x 30.5 cm each)

The object with these drawings was to describe volume as well as capture gesture.

Naked Babushka

2011-02-04T23:37:00.004-05:00

Oil on panel, 15 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

DIY

2011-01-26T14:03:00.010-05:00

As an artist operating with a narrow profit margin I long ago embraced the concept of "do-it-yourself." When I was sculpting I taught myself everything from how to weld armatures for clay sculptures to how to sew costumes for people who modelled for me.
Pastel paintings have framing requirements that include a sheet of protective glass plus two mats, so now to my list of skills I have added mat cutting. Since I save so much by doing it myself, I splurge on tools, and have acquired a very fine mat cutter that helps me produce precisely-cut mats quickly and easily.
Pastel paintings require a hidden middle mat between the outer mat and the artwork in order to create a gap for pastel dust to sift into, out of sight. After ruining a pastel painting I had labored over, and was very pleased with, by spraying it with fixative, I no longer spray them.

Jo's Toes

2011-01-24T11:52:00.003-05:00

Pastel on paper, 7 x 10 inches (18 x 25 cm)

This portrait is now finished, or so I hereby declare. Not a perfect likeness but I did my best by the little charmer!

Mo' Jo

2011-01-20T20:43:00.002-05:00

I am learning how to model the soft rounded forms of Little Jo's face. The shapes blend so very gradually into one another with nary a helpful wrinkle to define a border. At this point in the development of the piece I think you can begin to tell that this little baby girl is part Chinese.

Progress on "Jo's Toes"

2011-01-19T20:52:00.003-05:00

Pastel on paper, 7 x 10 inches (18 x 25 cm)

This portrait of new arrival to the world "Jo," is a challenge. The photograph I am working from is fabulous and it is my job to somehow add something new and worthwhile to the image. I will never be able to achieve a likeness as good as the photographic portrait, so it is only through color that a different, if not superior, emotional response may be evoked.

A First Layer of Color

2011-01-18T09:47:00.002-05:00

Pastel on paper, 7 x 10 inches (18 x 25 cm)

Walt Bartman sometimes paints "straight from the tube," meaning he doesn't mix colors on the palette after squeezing them out of the tube, the usual approach. When mixing colors on the palette it it is hard to equal the same purity of color of paint squeezed straight from the tube, although theoretically possible. The problem with mixing is that your mixture is likely to get contaminated by pigments smeared on your not-perfectly-clean palette or in your not-perfectly-clean brush.

When you paint with pastels you are ALWAYS painting "straight from the tube," because it is not possiple to mix the pigments on a palette. The type of mixing that occurs is called "optical mixing," the most common illustration of which is offset color printing where tiny dots of color are printed next to one another, blending to create a single color in a viewer's mind. This is an exciting way to deliver color because in a pastel painting the pieces of color can be quite large, forcing the eye to focus on each individually, while at the same time the mind attempts to blend them into one simple shade. Painters call this affect "vibration," and, to some extent, it mimics the excitement we feel as we experience the real world around us.

Girl or Boy?

2011-01-17T09:40:00.004-05:00

Back in the nineties I did a statue involving four figures, each representing a girl or woman at different times of her life. Some viewers gave me grief about the youngest figure because they said the baby girl looked like a baby boy. This made me mad, especially when I had to admit to myself that they were kinda right.
I was reminded of this recently by a post in my niece's blog, where she talks about her baby girl being mistaken for a baby boy, and reports on the science of people's ability to determine gender in babies. Well, I feel somewhat vindicated since the upshot was that people are NOT able accurately to determine a baby's gender- so how dare they pass judgement on my little bronze babe!
That said, if a majority of folks looking at the statue think the baby is a boy, clearly I have not done my job very well. Maybe I should go back and weld some ribbons and bows to her head.

Two Facing Away

2011-01-12T21:43:00.005-05:00

Pastel on paper, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

When I photographed this pastel painting I thought it was finished, but now that I see the photo, the very dark area in the drapery of the left figure, under her derriere, really jumps out at me, so I will go back and lighten the value of that shadow a notch.

Joined a Gallery

2011-01-11T11:05:00.003-05:00

I have joined a group gallery in Frederick, Maryland, which was established by painter and art teacher, Walt Bartman, who lives nearby. This photo was taken by Jackie Jouvenal, one the gallery artists, and she also did the graphic design. My paintings will be included in the February show, which is to feature the human figure.

Back 2 Back, beginning a new 1

2011-01-05T15:09:00.002-05:00

Pastel on paper, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

I think it is easier to come up with more-interesting compositions with more than one figure in the image. Three is probably even better.

Retired and Unattired In Oahu

2010-12-31T20:15:00.004-05:00

Pastel on paper, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

I have made some progress in modeling the figure convincingly with this painting. There is a danger of overzealousness in describing the form such that the body of the figure appears stiff and wooden. Not at that point with this one, methinks.

Beginning a new painting in pastel

2010-12-28T15:29:00.003-05:00

Pastel on paper, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

This subject is one I could continue with for a while. My goal is to do a better job of "modeling" the anatomy of the figure. Modeling means describing the three-dimensional form of something. For instance, the figure's left shoulder blade and hip should feel as though they are jutting out at you, while the trough following the spine in the center of the back should be felt as receding.

Finished painting

2010-12-14T21:02:00.003-05:00

Pastel on paper, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

It was interesting to play with the colors making up the figure. I was trying to make the colors as strong as possible while keeping them in the realm of believability. The orange in the figure's back, created by sunlight bouncing off the ground into this shadowed area, is kind of exciting, I think, and not unconvincing. The cooler reds in the face please me as well. The drapery, however, is less successful.

Squinting

2010-12-13T17:38:00.004-05:00

My sister, Josephine Carr, recently asked me why painters squint while they work, and she quoted my response on her blog, CarrTalk. Above is what a scene might look when you squint really, really, hard, and below is the unaltered scene:

Shore Girl

2010-12-10T15:39:00.003-05:00

Pastel on paper, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

This is an in-progress snapshot. Still groping around trying to discover where to go with it.

A Strong Back 2 (finished)

2010-12-06T16:19:00.001-05:00

Pastel on Pastelbord, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

A Strong Back 2

2010-12-03T10:02:00.005-05:00

Pastel on Pastelbord, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

As I worked on this piece I created video clips at different stages, intending to upload the video to this blog. However, the video file is way too big, so, until I can get up to speed on the video editing software, I will have to continue posting still images.

The Barn is Out Back

2010-11-22T13:12:00.006-05:00

Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches (61 x 51 cm)

After more work at the site, this painting is now finished. A critique by Walt Bartman led me to the understanding that, rather than to the chimney against the sky, the eye really wants to travel to the space beyond the building where there is a sunlit tree, a red barn, and more sky, so this is the area where I created more interest.

Frieze of Trees- work in progress

2010-11-15T16:18:00.003-05:00

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)

Before I began as a painter I would look at a painting like this one and wonder what kind of a kooky person could look at a real life landscape and come up with such wacky colors. Now I understand that one can be driven to extremes in the effort to record one's vision of real space and the brilliant energy of light, when one's only tool is paint smeared over a flat surface.

Old Car Out to Pasture

2010-11-10T15:33:00.004-05:00

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)

This painting needs some more work. The subject is difficult because every part of the scene is washed by strong sunlight, with no shadowed areas with which to contrast the brightly lit parts. I like the theme, though, with the car forever hopeless of charging up the hill confronting it. By the way, the car seems to be a circa 1960 Peugeot 403:

Hazards of outdoor painting #4: Wind

2010-11-08T16:06:00.006-05:00

Today I started a new painting at the Kepharts' Farm and things were going well until the wind started picking up and I found myself holding the easel down with one hand while painting with the other. Near the end of the session a big gust got the better of me and snatched the painting away, slapping it onto the ground face up, simultaneously toppling the easel and dumping my can of paint thinner onto the painting. Well, teacher Walt Bartman says the resulting runny, smeared image ain't bad at all, so I guess Mother Nature gave me a little help this time!

I am calling the painting "I Will Stay Here." Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)

Updated painting

2010-11-04T17:26:00.004-04:00

Against the Firmament (work in progress)

2010-11-03T15:03:00.001-04:00

Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches (61 x 51 cm)

Smooth River Above the Falls

2010-11-01T17:42:00.002-04:00

Oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm)

Riverbank Trees in Fall

2010-10-27T17:37:00.002-04:00

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm)

Field, Clouds, Barn

2010-10-25T20:40:00.004-04:00

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)

A new take on a scene from a couple weeks ago. I think this may become a favorite subject, but next time I want to get a clearer dichotomy: dark land (including barn) and bright (but somber) sky.

Reflective Grays

2010-10-20T17:25:00.004-04:00

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm)

This painting fell over on its face on the way home in the car, smearing the heavy impasto of paint I had applied. Amazingly enough, it was no worse for the experience, and maybe better! I did do some further work on it back in the studio, though.

A Strong Back

2010-10-19T17:13:00.004-04:00

Pastel on paper, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

Yellow on the Other Side

2010-10-18T15:32:00.001-04:00

Pastel on paper, 11 x 14 inches (28 x 36 cm)

A Back in Pastels (in progress)

2010-10-17T11:04:00.002-04:00

Pastel on paper, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

Using Margaret Dyer's technique to create a pastel painting using a photo as a reference.

Click Here for Water

2010-10-11T17:03:00.002-04:00

Oil on panel, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30.5 cm)

Blessed by Blue

2010-10-06T14:42:00.003-04:00

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)

The grass and trees remain green, but today we received a foretaste of autumn.

Top 10 Paintings from My Show

2010-10-05T10:09:00.005-04:00

During my show about ten days ago I passed out to visitors a sheet with thumbnail images of all the paintings and with a small graphic beside each allowing them to easily rank the painting on a scale of 1 to 10, according to which paintings they would be likeliest to buy. This gave me some feedback about what kind of thing people like in my paintings, more than would I get from looking at which paintings ultimately sold (eleven out of forty-two sold).

Even though I have not finished the ranking, a number of preferences have emerged which will influence my future work. People prefer:

Larger-size paintings
Clothed figures over landscapes
Landscapes over still life

Folks seem not to want nude figures for their homes, and in fact even though the largest paintings in the collection were top-ranked, the exception was one large nude. Some people really liked the still life paintings but the score was brought down by those who did not like them at all. There was more consistency amongst the landscapes, with most people agreeing that they liked the best among them. I was shocked that my self portrait came in first, especially since I almost did not include it in the show, thinking it unlikely to sell (which indeed it did not).

This was an interesting exercise. Without doing this survey, but looking only at sales, I never would have known that people liked my large paintings. The larger paintings were more expensive, and that is why they went unsold.

A Start on a Banana Tree

2010-09-29T19:43:00.004-04:00

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (41 x 51 cm)

I am hoping to come back on a sunny day to paint this plant. Today was gray and drizzly.

Red Sneaks

2010-09-28T20:08:00.003-04:00

Oil on panel12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 23 cm)

Fellow painter Joan is clearly fond of the color red!

Canal View

2010-09-21T16:17:00.003-04:00

Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches (51 x 72 cm)

This is an old painting from a while back that I just reworked. It is different than it was and maybe better.

Sunlight and Shadows

2010-09-20T15:02:00.001-04:00

Oil on panel, 10 x 8 inches (25 x 20 cm)

Display: A Former Sculptor

2010-09-18T16:13:00.003-04:00

For my art show next weekend, "A Former Sculptor Sees the Light" I have put together a small display showing some of what I did formerly as a sculptor. On the bench are maquettes, or small-scale models, and behind them are photos of the resulting monumental sculptures. In one case the arrangement is reversed, with the maquette behind (a relief section) and the photo in front.

1 Day, 2 Paintings

2010-09-11T17:45:00.005-04:00

Brookeville Saturday Morning
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 23 cm), oil on panel

Indian Summer at Oakley Cabin
12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm), oil on canvas

Today there was a Paint-Out in the town of Olney. I went a little north to the old town of Brookeville where I painted these two scenes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. A fun way to spend a beautiful, warm, sunny day.

Upcoming Show

2010-08-31T13:28:00.006-04:00

This show is mostly paintings but will also include a few small sculpture maquettes (three-dimensional small-scale sketches), each with a photo of the finished monumental work, from my career as a sculptor. The idea for the sculpture display is to provide an additional reason for folks to come by!

Hours: Saturday, September 25, 12-8 PM: Sunday September 26, 12-5 PM. Reception Saturday, 6-8 PM

Location: Yellow Barn Studio & Gallery, Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD 20812

All Dressed in White

2010-08-19T10:07:00.005-04:00

Pastel on paper, 26 x 20 inches (66 x 51 cm)

One notable feature of Margaret Dyer's method of working with pastels is that colors are invented by the artist rather than taken from nature. This makes it possible to work from photographs by sidestepping what is normally one of the biggest drawbacks of working from photos: the absence of good, or even adequate, color information.