September Ends (both images Sold)

Both are acrylics on umprimed Whatman paper 10 x 13.75 inches.....final light during the last few days of September.

Visit me on FB if you have any curiousity about my painting. People often ask interesting questions about my work on FB....I post everything I list there and often stay a while to make comments. The following was one of my responses to a question posted today:

...I know that I need the painting to make a certain surprising design logic that is compelling,.....and I know that I need the work to reflect my world in some direct way. That gives me a large area to move in, and all sorts of invention can take place within those parameters....but I don't try to be original. I just try to make a strong picture that deserves to exist, at least for a little while. But certain kinds of originality will happen as a result of wrestling with that basic problem....that's inevitable.

www.harrystooshinoff.com  

September 20, 7:00 p.m. (Sold)

 ......sweet summer end...a beautiful, cool evening. Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Whatman paper, 10.25 x 13.75 inches, image size 8.75 x 12 inches.

There are all sorts of planning and decision making in painting, but I always welcome the things that happen without direct planning, as the result of process, that seem right and 'wished on'. In this case, that bit of brighter blue at top center of the sky activated that area in a way that added extra life.......

 

www.harrystooshinoff.com 

Self with Glasses

Every so often I do a self portrait while looking in the mirror. As with the landscapes, these works are as much about process as they are about the subject. This one came easily....there is usually much more overpainting than in this case.

 

www.harrystooshinoff.com

 



Process.....White Flock

 



 I neutralize the palette colour by brushing over it at the end of a work session...there are some advantages for us acrylic painters...things dry quickly! You can see the tooth on the nice Whatman paper which I am really liking at the moment. The colours on my palette will vary to some degree with each painting. I also mix paint on a variety of plastic caps. The scratching through has become pretty important in some pictures, mostly because it offers a easily obtainable scale difference. There is big and small, and we see them both. It also offers the excitement of line and mark...

Acrylic and pencil on umprimed Whatman paper 10 x 13.75 inches, image size 8.5 x 12 inches. The soil stays moist on an overcast day, good for picking worms....the gull flock settles in at the plowed part of the field.....

Any scratching through has to be done while the paint is wet,...with acrylic that needs to be within the few minutes after the paint is applied. But pencil will also do some interesting line and mark things, if the paint is too dry for a scratchthrough....

the under colour will also vary, although I use pink a lot. It can be any variety of warm...but it usually IS warm, because the majority of colours in the finished work will be cool, so the warm wash offers an immediate tension and contrast.

www.harrystooshinoff.com 

 

 

Process....

 ...one of the methods I use....this piece completely from memory of a place I visit every day. I have a number of methods that are used over time....no one method is used for very long. There is a portion of road that seems very mysterious and always alters my mood. 2 little diagrams to start, then under wash, and at the end, how I use up the left over paint to make collage papers. I am starting to get a great collection of these papers....so many that I can't even get to most of them. The colours, created without intention, are always fascinating. I love my painted papers, perhaps  because they are so loose, and made with such ease.....

www.harrystooshinoff.com     

Shelter Valley Heatwave

Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Whatman paper, 10 x 13.75 inches, image size 8 x 11.5 inches. This was done en plein air, but beyond that, location is an important factor in the work, which leads me to think that it might be interesting to seek out a few temporary work areas.....perhaps a few weeks in each spot...

www.harrystooshinoff.com 

Shelter Valley Folk Festival....Today's Crop...

 

Still melting in the heat but I was happy to complete 2 pictures, from invention and memory.....thinking of a cool evening in the darker one. It was an excellent festival!

www.harrystooshinoff.com  



Shelter Valley Folk Festival.....Day 2....

 ....made a painting of the tents across from me during a slow period....perhaps 1:00 pm....I worked standing.....I lifted the curtain walls of the tent off the ground a bit, to create some draft, but it was still crazy hot....

 

www.harrystooshinoff.com   

Shelter Valley Folk Festival....day 1...

 

....that's a lot of art per square inch! ....
Shelter Valley Folk Festival.....hot enough to peel paint off a Sherman tank, but I got water and iced tea...back for more tomorrow and Sunday.

 

www.harrystooshinoff.com  

...Shelter Valley Folk Festival........

Shelter Valley Folk Fest.....sea of tents.....

...the day before....I went in to figure out how to make the best use of my tent....think I've got it worked out. Hot days! ...there will be 3 white walls to the tent, so I hope it won't be 'pass out' hot. I'll post some pictures tomorrow of my tent full of art! The festival is on this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

It was nice watching and listening to the volunteers putting up the tents. They worked so well together! ...don't know how they did it in this crazy heat! ....for the most part, I had the shade of the tent above, but they were working out in the open sun......

www.harrystooshinoff.com

See me at Shelter Valley Folk Festival!

I will be showing many pieces, about 10 framed pieces, 4 shown here, done up in the shadow box method I favour,.....and perhaps about 150+ pieces in plastic sleeves as shown here. Come and check out my tent!  Plenty of good food, music, and art this weekend September 4 - 6 just outside Grafton, Ontario.

I will be painting in my tent, as people spend the weekend at the festival, and would welcome doing a few portraits, if anyone wants to sit for about an hour and a bit...

www.harrystooshinoff.com