Hello my friends

Well another week has rolled around and as usual I've been busy painting.  The weather here in Florida has been plagued with cold fronts moving through so cloudy and chilly which is not the norm for this time of year.  Needless to say I've been spending a lot of time in front of the easel!!

Here are some highlights of the week:

Palm Cove Surf

9 x 12

Every once in a while I need to throw paint with wild abandonment in order to keep and progress my loose semi abstract style.  This piece was done very, very, very quickly with a big brush and really no planned colors or composition.

I started with a 3 minute sketch with my brush in tones of gray.  This helps cut down on the glare from the white canvas and allows me to judge values much better.

I started a series of semi abstract pastures/fields - here are the first two

Green Pasture - Green Sky

12 x 18

Semi Abstract

Wheat Pasture - Wheat Sky

12 x 18

Tasmania Surf

6 x 18

Apollo Bay - Victoria Australia

9 x 12

This was done using only a palette knife

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post and the good Lord willing I'll be back in about a week with some more pieces.

Enjoy life - stay happy and get into each day with a big smile and lots of gusto!!!

JR  :>)

Paintings of the week

Yo my friends,

Another cloudy - windy - chilly day in Punta Gorda FL.  It's starting to get BORING!!!  Weather is suppose to be back into the low 80's come the weekend.  :>)  I'm A so happy :>)

While on our RV journey we met a fellow named Steve Conrad and his wife Evin.  Steve is quite a good photographer and I've use several of his photos for my paintings.

http://puppypaths.blogspot.com/

This is a painting of his photo of a sunset in the Florida Keys:

Sunset - Florida Keys

9 x 18

I've started down a new path of course in addition to the existing paths and series I'm working on.  I like to make painting interesting - I have lots of fun painting so I'm open to try new things.

The next 2 paintings are in a way I guess a style change but yet I would still consider it within the realm of my semi-abstract - loose - painterly style.

I AM TREE No. I

12 x 24

I actually wanted this painting to sort of "shock" the viewer with both the sudden splash of color as well as the complimentary color of green to highlight and push the tree forward

I AM TREE No. II

12 x 18

This painting is done in more of a painterly style and has complimentary color as well.  The purple makes the yellow trees jump out into the foreground and the couple of splashes of red at ground level augments the green grass

Distant Mesas

6 x 12

This piece was done very quickly with palette knife only - this does border on abstract :>)

This painting is part of the "Solitude" series and it is also a "mindscape" meaning it is a vision in my mind that represents Solitude.

Solitude No. VI - Quiet Surroundings

Hope you enjoyed this blog posting and remember if any questions feel free to email me - link is at the beginning of my blog.

Also don't forget my 20% sale is still going on in my ESTY store -

CHECK IT OUT

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ACRYLICPAINT

I should return in a week or so and until then - enjoy life - smile - appreciate what you have and most of all LAUGH!!!

JR     :>)

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Hello my blog friends,

May 2014 be a very happy, healthy and prosperous year for all you folks and I thank you for your blog support.

I've been working on a new series which I call "SOLITUDE."  These are mostly landscapes that I conjure up in my mind as well as weaving in actual scenes from the Gulf Coast of Florida where we live and other places we have visited.

These are what I call "Mindscapes" 

SOLITUDE NO. IV

AFTER THE SNOW

8 X 18

SOLITUDE NO V

SASKATCHEWAN WINTER

6 X 18

I also started a series - Gulf of Mexico in the Abstract

GULF OF MEXICO IN THE ABSTRACT

NO. III

8 X 10

My Holiday sale on my ETSY shop will continue through the month of January - so if the spirit moves you - click on the link below and check it out.  Lots of new paintings in the store as I've been working very hard.  :>)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ACRYLICPAINT

I hope you enjoyed this posting and I look forward to sending more your way during 2014.

SMILE AND ENJOY LIFE

JR     :>)

Christmas 2013 Blog Post

Merry Christmas Blog Buddies.

I did not know if I would get a chance to put up a blog post during the Christmas Holiday but alas I found some time.

I've started three new series:

Hardscapes
Solitude
Gulf of Mexico in the Abstract

Some painters like to make an issue out of "hard edges" & "soft edges."  I guess there should be a balance of each in a painting - I however paint until it looks right to my eyes.  Edges of an object that is in the distance needs to have edges softer than those closer up.  However this can be controlled IMHO by color &, size - (lighter color and smaller size.)  So I don't pay much attention to the distribution of "edges."  Seems like overkill to me for my semi abstract painterly style and is a constant interruption and distraction in the enjoyment of my painting process.

Depending on what you are painting, "edges" can be important for instance in a portrait they are very important - in a landscape - me thinkith not so important.

I know painters who spend hours going back into a painting for the sole purpose of softening and hardening edges ------ YIKES!!!!!

Following is what I call a "Hardscape" in that the entire canvas is covered with paint - no white of the painting surface showing through as in my "Softscapes."


9 x 12 - single canvas sheet - this painting has "splatter" to provide the compliments to green (red) and blue (orange shade)

Hardscape No. I

9 x 12 

Solitude No. I

8 x 18

Heavy Linen Paper - Dry Brush 

 Alla Prima

Solitude No. II

6 x 18 

Heavy Linen Paper

Dry Brush - Alla Prima

Gulf of Mexico in the Abstract No. I

9 x 12 

Dry Brush

Alla Prima

Hope you enjoyed this posting and that all you folks have a very Happy Holiday Season

JR      :>)

Softscapes Continued

Yo my friends,

I've continued on with my "Softscape" series having done 5 more of them.  I'm having lots of fun with these and at the same time fortifying the theory of "loose painterly painting" in that "Less is More."

I'm a firm believer in that theory as well as "Let the viewer finish portions of the painting."  I feel if a painting has so much detail that the viewer only has the function of "looking" at the painting - the painting will very quickly become very boring and the viewer will move onto the next piece exhibited.

So the next two in sequence are:

Softscape No. III

9 x 12

Music has a great influence on my painting in that the type of music has a direct effect on the outcome of the painting both with the colors and the form.

This was painted to a Maranda Lambert CD so the colors are bright,  bold and the form is loose and bouncy. 

Softscape No. IV

9 x 12

This one has minimal color but yet I think it presents itself quite well and allows the viewer to tell themselves a story as to what kind of weather there is.

I normally work with bright- bold color but at times my mood is subdued perhaps by the music I'm playing at the time or by the weather outside my studio.

This was painted while listening to a "Little Big Town" album and some of their "soft passages" are found in this painting.

Check out my ETSY shop as I've added lots of paintings for my 

HOLIDAY 20 % off SALE

Just left click on the following link 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ACRYLICPAINT

I perhaps will not post next week as the Holiday Season is upon us so I wish you and yours a very happy and healthy Holiday Season.

JR    :>)

Softscapes

Hello my friends.

Softscapes are paintings that I use very light touches of the brush to the painting surface and also leave some of the white of the painting surface showing through. The result is what appears to be sort of an older aged painting with a fine art appearance.

Softscapes is a term that I made up and quite honestly most of the scenes that I paint in this softscape manner are also "mindscapes" - that is to say the scene is a conglomeration of scenes I have seen and scenes in my mind.  I combine these scenes into what I term a mindscape.

I use a "dry brush" technique for most of my paintings which means the brush is never more than just barely damp - not wet but damp.  Most of my paintings are done "alla prima" -- In One Sitting.  I paint very quickly and the average time I spend on a painting is 1 1/2 hours to 15 minutes depending of size and complexity.

SOFTSCAPE No. I

9 x 12

SOFTSCAPE No. II

6 x 18

Holiday Sales have been going quite well on my Etsy Shop - check it out and if you see something you like send me an email and we can talk about it.  You need to contact me via email in order to receive the discount. 

EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 4, 2013 THROUGH JANUARY AS PART OF A

 HOLIDAY SALE - ALL PRICES WILL BE DISCOUNTED BY 20% AT THE

 TIME OF PURCHASE

START YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING EARLY!!!!!!!!

Original Acrylic art work by award winning artist JR Secor. 


All paintings are ORIGINAL - NO PRINTS

Paintings are unframed, unmounted, unmatted

Only Professional acid free materials are use.

 I wish all you folks a very Happy Holiday Season.

Enjoy life every day and live well.

Hope you enjoyed this presentation.

JR      :>)

The Progression of Autumn

Yo my friends,

I love color and texture which is why most of my paintings have bold - bright color and lots of brush work or palette knife work has a lot of visible texture to it.  I more often then not throw caution to the wind and favor the side of spontaneity.

I did a painting 12 x 18 and my DW (darling wife) thought the sky was too active/busy.  I will admit that I went a bit overboard with my color and texture so she suggested that I eliminate some of the sky.  Sooooooo I cut off the top 6 inches of sky ( painting was on linen paper ) - long story even longer - the "chopped down" painting looked much better and I was happy with the results of eliminating the top 6 inches.  Welllllll - the story continues - I took the 6 inches of cut off sky and turned it into a painting which I call "The Progression of Autumn"  It is 6 x 18

I hope you enjoy this painting and remember I'm having a 20% sale on my Etsy Shop - so check it out ( Link below ) and contact me if you see something you like or if you have some questions.

JR    :>)

Check out my ETSY shop as I've added lots of paintings up there to kick off my HOLIDAY 20 % off SALE

Just left click on the following link - then click on the 

"go to link shown"

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ACRYLICPAINT