When you paint full-time, it becomes natural to alternate between working very intensely for a few months followed by doing almost no painting for a month or two. It fits well with the cycle of art fairs and shows where you first need to produce things to sell, then you need to do framing and any show preparation. When the show is over there's always plenty of admin work to do.
And so it was that I spent almost no time in the studio in July and early August. Yet here I am starting the scramble anew, getting ready for the next show season.
In this latest batch of paintings I've continued to explore my immediate surroundings. There are the first in a series of 15 or 16 works that I plan to do for my next show.
Horizon, 6x12, oil on hemp panel. 2018
It's often easier to design work to fit an elongated landscape format than it is to make it work with a standard size like 9x12. The limited height forces you to choose between concentrating on either the sky or the land (or sea, in this case).
This is a re-paint of one I did when we first moved to Seattle. The elongated format is a much better choice than the 9x12 of the original.
Saffron Cloaked. 8x10, oil on hemp panel, 2018.
The abstract idea behind this piece is that the negative shape of the sky is similar to the shape of the trees and ground. If you look at it upside down, you'll get the idea.
Foggy Morning. 5x10, oil on hemp panel. 2018 . This did not photograph well!
This is a re-work of an idea that has been living in the studio for two years. This is the fourth attempt, I think, and the first one that will go on sale.
It turns out that fog enshrouded trees are very difficult to paint. Who knew?
Sentinels. 6x12, oil on hemp panel. 2018
This last and most recent painting was based on some reference materials I collected last winter. I tried a few different techniques, including things like contrasting opaque lights against transparent darks, temperature variation in the trees and a loose abstraction in the foreground.
Note how the letterbox format made it easy to create negative spaces in the upper half of the image.