Will there be anything else, Madam?

Christmas Eve, Early Darkness

 

Acrylic collage on archival Whatman paper, 8 x 10, image size 6.5 x 8.5 inches. This is a little way into a series which aims at being a bit more automatic, although this is about image 5 or 6 into the series and the latter ones have more deliberation than the first ones.

How To Make a Collage!

How to make a collage....

 -dig around for a piece of painted paper, but don't dig too long or you'll drive yourself crazy
-cut or tear the paper.....put big pieces down first....the first 2 pieces cover the whole image size
-paint on the glue, apply immediately to the surface, place typing paper on top and rub, quickly turn typing paper over and rub again, so that you rub out any glue that squeezed out....don't let your hand touch the collage....much
-put your hand in the water bucket every so often, and dry off with gnarly old towel (old is good!), so that you don't stick to your coffee cup
-proceed until you are happy with your collage.....and always be happy.
-stare at your finished collage until you suck the life out of it....at this point you have to make something else....and repeat, forever....
-save the bigger pieces of cut up leftover collage paper, but the smaller pieces have to go in the garbage.....or you will surely drive yourself crazy! (but those smaller leftover pieces also look soooo nice....)
-always clean up after every session (things can get very STRANGE very quickly)

Early Winter (both SOLD)

 

Both are 8 x 10 inches, on matte board, gessoed both sides.

November Snow.....(both SOLD)

 

2 recent works. The drawing is of November snow, though it seems like it would be deep winter. The painting shows the last bits of snow after a quick one day melt.

November 7, Garden Hill

 

 

November....strange, quiet, surprising, in both colour and mood.....

November 9, Light Fall

 

......the light goes quickly in November.....at 4:00 evening is not far off....
8 x 10 inches, acrylic and pencil on matte board, gessoed both sides.

Lookout, November 2 (SOLD)

 

From high ground, looking onto the valleys below....8 x 8 inches, acrylic and pencil on matte board, gessoed both sides.

Garden Hill, November 1

 

8 x 8 inches, acrylic and  pencil on matte board gessoed both sides.....overcast, wet days of fall...with a light covering of snow that didn't stay.

Hallowe'en Rain, Lost Dog Hill (SOLD)

11 x 15 pencils on paper....a steady, persistent rain as October turns.....

Millbrook Run. (SOLD)

 

This short series continues....drawing pencils on paper, 11 x 15 inches.

Overcast, Lost Dog Hill (SOLD)

 

Pencil on paper, 11 x 15 inches, 2b, 4b, 7b pencils.

Dusk, October Fields

11 x 15 inches, 2b, 4b, and 7b pencil on heavy paper.

Nightfall, October (SOLD)

A bittersweet time....the dark days come. I often get home so late that I'm walking in the dark or near dark. A favourite location.....the distant view at dusk reveals lights off in the distance, suggested here by the 2 specks of white. I like coming to the collages every so often. They provide a break in the type of thinking involved in the paintings....

Rolling In (SOLD)

2 b, 4b, 7b pencils....an interesting process for my AP students to try. Keep the pencil moving, hatch, scribble, line, hold the pencil by the tip, look for line variety, layer and over layer in varying directions, create connection between parts, balance black/white/grey, use the eraser as a technique......

Pencil Drawing, 11 x 15 inches.

Every so often, one of these pencil drawings gets made....usually with 2b, 4b, and 7b pencils.

10

 

Forgive me, dear blog, for not telling you more....I have not forgotten you. This road to the hill.....I'll soon be walking it in the dark....the dark days are coming, and I often get home late. I should make more paintings of night...I have made very few....

Artists on Art Magazine

https://www.facebook.com/ArtistsOnArtMagazine

I'm featured in the fall issue of Artists on Art Magazine. There is an article and many photos.  I'm in the company of an assortment of very interesting and skilled contemporary artists. Many thanks to Ryan Mellody.

Climb (SOLD)

 

....a sweet, gentle evening....all quiet but with clouds performing all sorts of quick formations. Acrylic and pencil on matte board, gessoed both sides, 8 x 8 inches.

Group Show, Metaphysics of Presence....with image links.

http://qartsalon.com/current-exhibitions.html

Q art salon now has a few preview images from this show. Think about artists who work both representationally and abstractly, and see no inherent conflict between the two.

Group Show at Q Art Salon, Santa Ana, California.

https://www.facebook.com/QArtSalon/photos/a.416521418367704.105857.386027824750397/857428380943670/?type=1&theater

This should be a very interesting group show. There are many artists that I respect in the lineup. The general idea is how artists use both abstract and representational concerns in their images. The show opens October 4th. If you are in the area, please check it out.

On Gratitude Hill (SOLD)

 

On a bright August morning....sit and listen....we are not gone yet.

Whisper Road (SOLD)

If you go for an hour walk and look around you will see hundreds of things of note. So many that it doesn't even seem possible to comment on them all or reference them in paintings.  You look at something, and the image combines with another thought or sentiment running through your head, and the whole mood and meaning of what you are seeing changes. You look at the sky and note a motif....walk 10 paces forward, look again in a slightly different direction and something equally interesting presents itself,...and so it seems that very few things are actually noticed, and very few things are actually painted. There are a million more things to be done with landscape in painting.

Evening on 10

A good thing about working small is that it encourages all sorts of experiments. This collage was strange in its beginnings and remained that way to the end....but everything can be indulged because it's always about trying to get closer. Such odd eccentricities show up....like that green dot lower right....almost like punctuation at the end of a sentence.

Richardson's Lookout, July 27 (SOLD)

The hill is the highest point in this area. With some regularity I wander up there and make drawings that become paintings. You can see for miles in every direction. Lake Ontario is a half hour drive south and on a clear day it's visible from the top of the hill. Acrylic and pencil on unprimed archival single ply matte board. (SOLD)

New York Optimist

http://thenewyorkoptimist.com/HarryStooshinoff_July27_2014.html

Many thanks to John Sebastian for featuring my work in the current issue of the New York Optimist.

Incoming, Cty Rd. 10

As the series progresses, over many years, there are subtle changes in both the process and approach. This one is very noticeably different from the one before in a few significant ways.

Evening, Coyote Hill

8 x 8 inches, matte board gessoed both sides, acrylic.......walking on county Rd. 10.

Morning Stop

...the green was so vivid, and the trees were almost black.....8 x 10 inches, acrylic on matte board, gessoed both sides.

Paddocks...

 

....not the exact same location...but very close to each other. 8 x 10 inches, and 8 x 8 inches.

3 collages made today.

 

3 small collages, on single ply matte board,  with acrylic painted papers, made today. Every few days, I need to switch the methodology a degree. Nothing is abandoned, but everything needs to be continually refreshed.

Kestrel Place

 ....on my usual walk to this field with a distant view....some new companions. 2 kestrels sound their territorial alarm when I come within a short distance of this place. They have been dive bombing me regularly, sometimes coming quite close....I can hear the air of their wings as they pull out of the dive at the last second. Acrylic and pencil on matte board gessoed both sides, 8 x 8 inches.

Whisper

...sometimes you sense something...rather than see it. Acrylic and pencil on matte board primed both sides, 8 x 8 inches.

Bobby's Field, July 7

Bobby's Field, July 7.
The crops are growing quickly. Beautiful rain is falling now, but it looked like this earlier. Acrylic and pencil on matte board gessoed both sides, 8 x 8 inches. I like how these small works rely on touch. The whole thing always seems to be a series of touches....how you touch the paint or pencil.

A few more shadowboxes....

I thought of this too late but I should have used plexiglass rather than glass so that these could be easily shipped to my online buyers. As well, I've added a sheet of Masonite on the back behind the foam core to give stability and firmness to the back inner seam.

 

These 2 pieces are currently at www.impresariomarket.ca , email info@impresariomarket.ca    It's a cool little art shop in Cobourg, Ontario, 37 King Street West...right on the main street. Look in if you in the area!

Morning Near Ida

 ...many of these roads are wonderful to travel. You never know where you will end up, and you find some beautiful properties...even better if you find a Saturday garage sale with some rare books. These hills are always enchanting....in this case the sliver of light green on the distant hill was compelling. Acrylic on matteboard gessoed both sides, 8 x 8 inches.

Little Trailer (SOLD)

 ....the shock of some white in the fresh green of early summer....yesterday the trailer was there...today it's gone. Acrylic collage painting on unprimed single ply matte board, 8 x 9.5 inches.

Rice lake Morning, North Shore

Rice Lake in the glorious, still early days of summer! 9.5 x 10.5 inches, acrylic on single ply matte board.

Morning Light, 2 versions

Sometimes they are a bit more abstract, sometimes a bit more realistic, or closely matching a visual reality....it matters not. It's all part of the same thing. You live and you receive sensations...you notice things.....so many in a day....and in some ways these sensations ARE the day. The picture making is one way to reference something that has gone on that seems worth noting. The picture is not a record, or an equivalent, but there is a relationship between the experience and the making. It seems important to not say too much and box yourself in......or at least it is an advantage to be able to get out of your own box. The process loses its charm if there isn't constant reinvention.

The sketch on the bottom was left purposely vague, to reference only the sensation noted here...the light on the road and the coolness of the shadow in the trees....the freshness of the summer sky. I made 2 painted versions.....This short series might continue today.

Echo

Play time means play time! The collages are often a chance to rethink initial guidelines. Any rule or rule of thumb may be broken. Some ideas may be harder than others to discard. Space will always be suggested, for example...not really interested in giving that up. The image may or may not resemble visual reality.

Acrylic collage on single ply matte board, 7.5 x 9.25 inches.

 I like to get a bit of alternation going in the style or process so I don't 'settle in' too much. I might do another collage tomorrow or maybe a painting.....I'll decide on the morning walk. The collages are more open ended, and therefore feel liberating, so I usually do more than just one....usually 2 or 3 in a row.

June End, Evening at Garden Hill

Diagramed last night....a very hot and hazy evening, and painted today. I stopped to make this drawing but I was on my way to Richardson's Lookout...high ground which is very close by...you can see for miles in 3 directions. This painting is 8 x 8 inches, acrylic and pencil on matte board gessoed both sides.