Last Still Life

YO my friends,

One more still life and I will move onto ocean scenes from the Gulf of Mexico where we live and onto the Caribbean where we have spent vacation for many years - 20 to be exact on the island of Aruba - we will also travel to Vieques and Culabra and perhaps to La Paz Mexico where I would love to live as it is a combination of desert and seaside being on the Sea of Cortez.

Canvas panel 10.75 x 14.00 done in a painterly style which I have been working on for several months now and feel as though I have achieved a level that I am happy with but shall continue to develop this style. 

Later my friends

JR        :>)

One More Still Life

Yo,

One more still life??????  Why not!!!!

Done in a painterly style with brush and palette knife - which I find to be an interesting combination done with freedom of strokes.

Antique Water Vessel and Bowls

13.5 x 11.0

Canvas panel

Maybe one more still life and then I move onto Caribbean beaches and Gulf of Mexico beaches.

We live on the Gulf of Mexico so all the beauty of this area is in our back yard which I just love!

LATER

JR       :>)

YO - Another Still Life

Done on 14 x 11 canvas panel - done very quickly with a dry brush technique.

When living in AZ and NM we collected Native American pots and if at all possible purchased directly from the Native American artists on the many pueblos in these areas.

JR     :>

Still Life

Yo -

Felt like a still life - so I used our antique pewter coffee server as the model.

First I painted the canvas panel black - let it dry and put on a 2nd coat.

Next with a small round brush I sketched in the pewter pot and then painted it out.

14 x 11 on canvas panel

"Coffee Time"

In the past I did a lot of still life work but now am more in tune with landscapes.

JR     :>)

Another Painterly Scene

I love the colors of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Very similar colors.  My journey of developing a semi-abstract "painterly" style I feel is moving along quite well - and I'm quite pleased with my progression.  I always like to show movement in my paintings be it a landscape or a seascape.
I feel very strongly about that as the artist must keep the viewer interested or they will say goodbye! :>(

I look at a painting without movement to be a "still life" - when outdoors, 99.9% of the time things are moving ------ so why not show that in a painting?  It can only generate viewer interest and also act as a tool to have the viewer, in their mind, concoct a story from the painting.  There always needs to be some unfinished parts of a painting to allow viewer interaction.

"OK - I'll COME WITH YOU!!"

12 X 24

Hope you enjoyed this seascape.

Later my friends,

JR    :>)

NOT STRESS!!!!

Yo my friends,

I'll be 74 this year and since retiring I have tried to keep stress out of my life - a little bit of stress can be a good think actually so my cardiologist says - I don't know if I believe him!!!  However that said and I just said it - stress seems to enter ones life at a time when one is not feeling stress and all of a sudden BAM stress sneaks into your life and slaps you in the face!!!  :>(

Painting can be very good for stress - depending on the amount of stress, I will create a painting that is very, very, very, very, (you get the idea) loose, semi abstract and painterly in style.  I complete the painting very (3 dittos) quickly with little thought to color choice, composition or content.  The object is to get the paint onto the painting surface as quickly and efficiently as is possible trying to stay to the GOOD side of SLOPPY!!!  :>)  

If the stress is large - I use a palette knife - (my buddy MAC the knife) if not so large I use big brushes and paint like a wild man!!!  :>) 

Stress crept up on me over the weekend so into the studio I went- CHARGE!!!!!!!

First I throw in the sky in a vertical format - why vertical????  A vertical orientation gives a painting strength and shows the artist was in command - perhaps not of his mind but certainly of his painting arm.  Besides which I'm the artist - this is my blog so I can do what I want!!!!  :>)  This piece will have palm trees in it so I leave paint off of the areas where I think palm trees will go, as well as ground cover.

Next I throw in some palm trunks and fronds in a very loose manner not really caring as to their accuracy or shapes - after all this is to release stress!!!!!!  :>)

Next I start to work in the ocean - again very quickly with sweeping strokes powered by gusto.

Now for some "general housekeeping"  tweaks, lights, darks, movement in palm fronds and a tad in the ocean.

Ahhhhhhhh stress is gone and I feel much better.

JR    :>)

Newest Two

Hello Blog Buddies,

Just a quick post to shown my latest two paintings.  We went to Sanibel Island today - about 1 1/2 hours south of us and spent most of the morning on the beach relaxing and collecting shells.  for lunch we went over to Captiva and had a wonderful lunch at the Mucky Duck - right on the beach and the food was FANTASTIC!!!!!

I digress - anywho - my latest two:

Outer Banks - North Carolina 

This is from a photo I took during our RV journey.  Some very beautiful scenery in both North and South Carolina and Charleston S. Carolina was one of our favorite places we visited.  We actually considered staying there and seeing if we wanted to settle down - but ended up in Punta Gorda Florida instead - much warmer winters was the deciding factor.

We lived in N. Scottsdale AZ for 7 years and I have to say again perhaps the happiest years of my life and the best place I've ever lived.  I love the ocean but I'm at my best and feel my best in a dry desert environment - give me a good drought any day :>)

My ideal place is La Paz Mexico on the Baja California Sur it is a desert, cacti and all, surrounded by the Sea of Cortez - we love it there - the best of both worlds.

Sedona Ridge Line

Sedona is a very magical and mystical place - beauty which is rarely seen. - I would compare it to the blue - turquoise waters of the Caribbean which mesmerize me each time I see them.  Sedona has this same "take your breath away" effect on me.

Well, hope you enjoyed this post .

Remember smile at someone - you'll both feel a lot better!

JR      :>)

Cheering up a friend

Yo,

A very good friend and painting buddy of mine is in New England and freezing her butt off!!!  So I decided to do a seascape to try and warm her up.  She and her husband will be coming down to Florida in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping this will give her a needed sunshine fix.

6 x 24 - Chroma Interactive acrylics done very quickly - alla prima - dry brush

DETAIL

JR      :>)

My Last Traditional Still Life

Hello my friends,

Well - this morning I completed my last "traditional" still life.  Doing detail work fires up the arthritis in my painting hand resulting in severe cramps that can last for days.  I started this one and wanted to finish it.

Pinot Noir 2009

24 x 12

In the future I will continue to do still life but they will be done in a semi abstract loose painterly style done with palette knife and brush and have texture.

Following is a demo of this still life style:

When I paint in this loose semi abstract painterly style I mostly use my arm to control the palette knife and brush - it does not involve fine detail with small brushes which is the action that causes my arthritis to flare up.

I first start out by "sketching" in the components of the still life using a medium size brush - this does a couple of things - it tones down the whiteness of the canvas and it gives me a "road map" to go by.

10 X 8 ON SINGLE CANVAS SHEET

Next I start laying in some color using a palette knife and brush.  At this point I want to start creating texture on the surface so I apply a lot of paint.  The brush & palette knife strokes are quick staccato type strokes using the full motion of the arm 

Next with palette knife and brush I start putting in more color to identify the light and dark side of the objects.  The light is coming from the left so the left side of objects will be lighter than the right side.  I also start putting in some of the background.

In the above detail photo you can clearly see the "painterly" portions of the painting - a simple definition of "painterly" would be the very visible and deliberate presence of brush and palette knife strokes.  Over time these visible strokes actually can identify who the painter is.  These strokes become the fingerprints of the painting.

I enjoy painting still life so the loose semi abstract painterly style allows me to continue and to be honest I like the "rusticity" and the imperfect image of them as compare to the "traditional" detail still life.

Next I do some tweaks and add some texture to the vase and the fruit.  I do have to say the things I like best about painting in a "NON-DETAIL" style is the texture, the rusticity and the lack of boring exactness.  The painting to my eyes comes alive and has a personality whereas the detail painting has no life is flat and sometimes boring.

Sooooo we finish this one up:

To my eyes the "looseness and the  painterly strokes bring the painting alive - it now has character it says "HEY LOOK AT ME!!"

It is not flat without dimension - it is not boring and it is not a picture perfect representation of a vase and some fruit - it speaks - it sings and most of all it's FUN to do!!!

Hope you enjoyed this little demo and my explanation regarding my interpretation relative to detail painting and loose painterly painting.

JR     :>)

A Couple Of New Ones

Yo my friends,

Bisbee AZ as well as Jerome AZ have a history of copper mining.  Following is a painting done today of some of the copper hills in Bisbee.

6 x 24 done in a painterly style with loose expressionism especially in the FG

The following piece is a "Mindscape" in that it is a figment of my imagination.  This was painted very quickly using a 2 inch brush in a semi abstract loose style

First The Storm - Then The Clearing

12 x 24

Take care my friends

JR    :>)