Meaning

A college painting instructor told me that abstract/non-objective work does not need to have any meaning, and I have learned to appreciate the energy of a work of art. But - for me I think I still need a meaning, whether it be an image that I see in the painting or the concept that I was working with. Maybe that is the conceptual approach to non-objective art, not just energy but also the thought. Some works go quickly and some take forever; this one which I call "Everything Under the Sun" went quickly, and I think I am satisfied with it and it is finished.

Working with a Grid, Again

I am working with a grid again and am planning to add a third painting to this diptych to make a triptych. I call these paintings "Just Fun" which is what they are. I like working this way, and I like working with 12 x 12" canvas and making a triptych 12 x 36"; so it is "just fun" for me.

Painting from Photo

Here is the painting I am doing with the previous photo as inspiration. I loved the scene that had almost no visible horizon line but I didn't want the painting to be quite as dark as the photo so I lightened it up and added a little color.

Another Photo to Paint

Here is another photo that I took at the beach last week. It was first thing in the morning, and there was really no visible horizon line. It is, not unusual for it to be very cloudy and overcast at the beach in the early morning, soon to burn off when the sun starts coming out. Since I have been working on a series of Horizons in my paintings, I thought this was a perfect addition - a barely visible horizon line. Also, I loved the bright white spot on the water. I will post a picture of the painting when done.

Working with a photograph

Since I most often take a lot of photographs of places that I love, and I use them as inspiration for my paintings, I decided to post a few of my photograps and talk about how I will use them to do paintings. This photo is of one of my favorite places - the beach - and one of my favorite subjects - waters edge. I have cropped this photo down to a square format and will emphasize the curve of the water at low tide. I will try to do this painting soon and post the result.

Horizon

Here is a new painting that is part of a series of "Horizons" that I have been working with. I thought that since I like to work with landscapes and abstract I could combine those two into abstract landscapes. This is looking like water to me, how about you? I would love some comments.

AARP class exercise

This painting, Square Dance 3, is the result of an exercise given by Steven Aimone to the AARP online class that he is doing. We started with a set of directions to follow, then we could develope the drawing/painting in any way we wanted. I was surprised to see that I ended up with a landscape design which I have been using in my most recent paintings. This was all done without any thought or direction at to how to adjust or finish the painting. I was just reacting to what was happening on the paper. I am actually rather pleased with how this turned out. I think the freedom of covering-up and repainting or drawing-into leads to some interesting work.