Constructed Still Life

In recent years I've thought about larger format painting and a more intuitive approach to composition. I took a canvas I'd painted rather non-objectively in complementary stripes above with a solid field below.  It came to me to draw a bird clinging to a nest. With the background already established it became an exercise in compositional balance. What it became was a gift... a new way to approach narrative work.  "If I Stay explores the dilemma posed by threatening circumstances: to stay with the familiar or to flee to the unknown.  Here, a bird clings to its nest while fire rages all around it.

If I Stay, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 12" x 12"

Larger format paintings followed using larger color field works that I'd abandoned. I was accustomed to setting up a still life in the studio and painting what I saw. Thinking about how to populate those fields with objects that would balance with scale and color was quite freeing. "In all Probability" was the next on my easel. It was built on the investment model called the Efficient Frontier where best long-term yields fall within a graphed parabola. The parabola intersects with the marks of the Golden Mean, both of which are drawn in the background. 

In All Probability, 2016, technique mixte on canvas, 24" x 60"

Next came "Galileo" which had a distinct narrative in mind. It's all about creation and studying it with unbounded curiosity and wonder... looking up, looking down, looking closely. I have imagined that after the world was spoken into existence, the world's first whisper in response was Sanctus, and then the heavens opened up with song. Referenced in this work: Galileops pursuit of scientific truth; the gradual accumulation of knowledge; the Fibonacci Sequence; the music of Schumann and Brahms; and my own painting process of creating images gradually.

Galileo, 2023, technique mixte on canvas, 36" x 36"

It's For The Birds

 Blue Moon Gallery: "It's For The Birds"

March 23 - April 14, 2024; Saturdays & Sundays 1-4pm

Exhibition juror: Scott Jay Marr

18620 Belvidere Road (Route 120 east of 45)

Grayslake, IL 60030

CAIRN: All Our Hopes

Juror comments:

"Truly Sacred.  A reminder of the miracle of life and creation.  How precious... life is... And the hope of tomorrow.  Youth... and the potential of greatness.  Meticulously painted.  Tenderly conceived.  Simply outstanding."

Link: Blue Moon Gallery It's For The Birds 

CAIRN: All Our Hopes
Honorable Mention
(Sold opening night)

CAIRN: When Morning Gilds the Skies

CAIRN Series

My Cairn Series paintings reference ancient cairns which were erected to mark sacred sites. In the Old Testament the tribes of Israel marked sites of God’s provision with stacked rocks to form altars.  Whenever they encountered the altars, they would recite the story and give thanks. The idea of heavenly creatures lighting on earthly sacred sites inspired me to work on imagery that would lend reverence to birds.

CAIRN: When Morning Gilds the Skies
Oil on canvas panel, 2024, 6" x 4"
Private collection, Santa Cruz, CA

CAIRN: Waiting
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: All Our Hopes
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"
Private collection

CAIRN: Remembering
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"
Private collection, Elmhurst, IL

CAIRN: Seek Wisdom
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: Adrian's Bluejay
Oil on linen panel, 2025, 10" x 8"
Private collection, Libertyville, IL

CAIRN: Caleb's Report
Oil on canvas panel, 2025, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: Witness
Oil on canvas panel, 2025, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: Abundance
Oil on canvas panel, 2025, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: Psalm of Lament
Oil on canvas panel, 2025, 6" x 4"
Private collection, Lake Forest, IL

Ravenna, Italy

October 2019: Two weeks in Ravenna studying mosaics with Luciana Notturni

Click for video

Atelier 830

I recently took a class in Technique Mixte - a method of painting similar to that of Jan Van Eyck and the early Flemish masters.  It features the precision of tempera with the blending quality of oil.  Steve Jones taught the class and we met twice a week in the beautiful David Adler designed estate at 830 Green Bay Road, Lake Forest, IL.  The estate is currently being lovingly restored by Adrian and Nancy Smith.  It was the perfect venue for creativity.

Here are some photos of our class:

Our class (back row): Chi Chi, Janice, Julianna, Polly, Lori, Steve, Jane and (front row) Nancy and Martha.  Photo credit: Corinne Stagen Photography

Julianna

Janice

Lori

Polly

Nancy

Martha

Chi Chi

Jane

The drawing is fixed and ready for imprimatura

Imprimatura demo

Martha is holding her breath!

Finishing up the imprimatura

Underpainting in whites and umbers is complete.

Demo in color glazing

First hit of color glaze.

Drawing with Cretacolor Nero pencil.

After the imprimatura.  Working in whites and umbers.

First hit of color glazing.

More color glazing.

Steve does a demo in our classroom.

Our Atelier 830 painting studio

Changes... Before and After

Sometimes things need to change.  The first image was derived from thoughts on the Efficient Frontier, a reference to finance calculations and the Golden Mean.  It never quite gelled and last year it morphed into "In All Probability."  It became more subtle and incorporated elements of still life.  It played with balance and scale.  It allowed me to build still life on the canvas instead of carefully staging all the elements on a table.  And it became a new trajectory for my work.

I have enjoyed the playfulness and freedom this approach allows and have started another using an older canvas and breathing new life into it.

This "before and after" is a bit more dramatic in its transition.  I reworked the background into more subtle bands of color and added objects one by one, always cognizant of balance.  The objects in the new work reference the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  It's not finished, but is well on its way.

 

January 21, 2018 update 

Detail

February 4 update

Finished

A 35th Anniversary Celebration: Ann & Jim

This painting began a year ago in Colorado where I met Ann and Jim.  He learned that I was a painter and put his subtle request on a post-it note asking if I might do a painting for their anniversary.  It was nearly a year in the making and was revealed to Ann today, just after the solar eclipse!
Happy Anniversary, Ann and Jim!  I hope you enjoy this painting "from this day forward!"

Ann and Jim: 35th Anniversary, 2017, technique mixte on linen, 30" x 40"

Small But Mighty

Christopher Art Gallery
Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL
January 3-26, 2017
Opening Reception Thursday, January 12, 4:30-7:00 pm

This piece will be exhibited in Small But Mighty.
Exhibition juror: Aron Packer

Nest, 2014, oil on panel, 10" x 18"