Country Living

 

I love walking these roads in the evenings.The roadsides are well treed...I hear the wind move through the foliage and all kinds of little animal life in the hedges. The crows are always squacking about something or other. The light seems to change by the minute, and there are open views as well as more crowded-in areas where there's less breeze....you can smell the summer growth. And I love being away from everything, and still hearing human life on the edge. I'm far up in the hills, and I can hear single cars winding down the road miles away. It makes me happy knowing they're there. I can hear cars coming from either direction for 15 seconds before I see them...tractors, ATVs and motorbikes I can hear for way longer before they pass. Often, on weekends, I can hear the rock band practicing, next to the horse farm and chickabiddy's....it's nice hearing them from this distance, but I wonder what Boris the horse farmer thinks...they are right across the road from him. I like stopping and talking to Sally the pretty young mare with the star on her forehead...she likes me and always looks up and approaches the fence when I get close....her horse buddies follow her. I keep meaning to bring them cut up apple bits. Recently I've seen a pair of coyotes ranging in the fields, close to the hedgerows, crossing at 10....they like being out the same time I am....getting close to dark...but not quite....

Visit me here:
paintbox.etsy.com
www.harrystooshinoff.com

To Lake Ontario, On Location, June 25

To Lake Ontario

Painted from the front seat of may car.

 a very beautiful and gently unsettled evening....it started off almost perfectly clear, but within 20 minutes came a variety of quick showers. The sky was repainted right at the end. Acrylic, pencil, on thin gessoed panel 7.75 x 8 inches. I always like the idea that every single little touch is important...there is an energy to the quality of mark that often shouldn't be tampered with. I like that the lowest part of the grey cloud is the first big brushstroke that went in...and it wasn't touched afterward....

I like this spot...one day I walked right around the whole field. just north of Port Hope, Ontario...above the lake, the land is hilly and beautiful. Here, I'm about 2 minutes north of Garden Hill.


 Visit me here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintbox
www.harrystooshinoff.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuHuLWsq7LQVYbd616Wzz2Q

Rock and Hillock

Rock and Hillock
Hanging out in the graveyard on a warm October day.....scraped ground....early stages of a new housing development. Acrylic on thin gessoed masonite panel 8 x 8 inches.

Visit me here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintbox...
www.harrystooshinoff.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuHuLWsq7LQVYbd616Wzz2Q

August 1, Sky Over Lost Dog Hill

Visit me here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintbox
www.harrystooshinoff.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuHuLWsq7LQVYbd616Wzz2Q

August 1, Sky Over Lost Dog Hill (Sold) ....despite beautiful evening skies, the extreme heat and drought continue. Acrylic on heavy, umprimed Somerset paper 11 x 15 inches, image size 9 x 13 inches.

From the Churchyard

 

From the Churchyard

...I sometimes stop at the churchyard at the top of the hill. I can see for miles in a number of directions, and it's interesting to walk through the graveyard and read the aging headstones. I sit on the big boulder with an inscription that says there's a time capsule buried beneath...and drink my coffee. Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Whatman paper 10 x 13.75 inches, image size 8.75 x 12 inches.

 

Visit me here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintbox
www.harrystooshinoff.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuHuLWsq7LQVYbd616Wzz2Q

May Rain

May Rain
........a very wet Saturday morning. It's a very pleasant thing, to stop, and look at the rain. Acrylic on unprimed Whatman paper 10 x 13.5 inches, image size 9 x 12 inches.

www.harrystooshinoff.com  

Found Paintings

'To Lake Ontario' and 'July Blue'
 I found 7 works from 16 years ago, in a box in my storage area. I always had trouble keeping track of inventory in galleries (one of the reasons I’m glad I no longer have to deal with them much). I was happy to see these pieces again. I’ll show them here and in my shop. Acrylic on thin gessoed plywood panel, 8 x 10 inches. These are the first 2..........beautiful summer days of years gone by......

www.harrystooshinoff.com   

Dusk, Home Gate

Dusk, Home Gate (Sold)
....almost dark upon my return. Acrylic collage painting on thin gessoed birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches.

I have a strange relationship with the collage stage of these works. I like to work quickly, and yet the collage process is rather slow and methodical. It allows me to deliberate in a way that I don't find annoying. It is akin to laying bricks, or building something out of wood....one piece gets added to another and you can see tangible progress. And this stage also feels very different than the laying on of paint that comes afterward. It's an odd combination that mystifies me a bit......

www.harrystooshinoff.com    

A February Cold Spell.....

 

 Acrylic collage paintings on gessoed birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches. Into a very cold spell for a while, but it's getting a bit warmer now. On very severe winter days I go out for only about an hour.

 

www.harrystooshinoff.com

Back Garden, January

Back Garden, January (reserved)
....looking out my window at the end of January. Acrylic collage painting on Stonehenge paper 10 x 13 inches, image size 8.75 x 10 inches. There were so many things in the garden, even on a snowy overcast day,.....I left a lot of them out. I think there might be a short series of winter garden pictures from the window....

www.harrystooshinoff.com    

Sunday Morning

 

Sunday Morning (Sold), acrylic collage painting on cradled, gessoed birch panel 8 x 10 inches. I will try to get make more morning pictures before spring comes. It's a different sensation...... being out in the morning rather than afternoon or evening, which is more my norm.

 

www.harrystooshinoff.com

January 20, 4:00 p.m.

January 20, 4:00 p.m. (Sold)
Overcast, with a heavy sky, but still very pleasant for deep January. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed, cradled birch panel 8 x 10 inches. This is the 2nd painting made on these cradled panels. I'm enjoying them. I made a 3rd one today, and might do 3 or 4 more. I can never tell in advance what the surface will be for the next day. I do know that when I feel a certain resistance or reservation, usually having something to do with a process becoming habitual, I tend to pull back and switch the support and size for that day. But all things are returned to.

www.harrystooshinoff.com  

The Dark Days.....

 

...from yesterday and the day before. The top one,  Lake Ontario, December 16, is done from a 1-minute diagram made at a bit of shoreline I like to visit periodically. The bottom one, The Dark Time, is made with no actual reference in front of me, but refers to general impressions that come from walking in the dark during these last, shortest days of the year. There is minimal paint work on top of the collage in the bottom piece, and that is a general aim in many of these, but the paint will continue to be applied on top of the collage until the piece is somehow resolved.

 

www.harrystooshinoff.com

Lost Dog Hill, November 29

 ...cold and quiet.....the first snow came and went....the hill a constant companion. Acrylic collage painting on paper, 8 x 11.25 inches, image size 7 x 10.25 inches.

I never get tired of painting this hill..... and there are certain days when no other subject will do.

www.harrystooshinoff.com     

10 Saved Acres, From Afar (Sold)

 ...into early winter....but the first snow has melted. Acrylic collage painting on thin birch panel, 7.5 x 12 inches.

This was painted yesterday on American Thanksgiving Day. Today it is raining all day, so this mood continues.

www.harrystooshinoff

November Pasture (Sold)

A severe cut in the sky...rain ahead...pasture lands next to the forest. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed, thin birch panel 9 x 12 inches.

Because habituation takes place in all things, diminishing the intensity of experience, I search constantly for ways to keep the process fresh. These new panel paintings were one such thing. Now that I have made perhaps 5-6 of them in a row, the process has to be mixed again. After this work came a collage painting on paper. The expectations I put on myself are different with each of these little shifts in method. This is all very important because it keeps me wanting to make work each day....

www.harrystooshinoff.com  

November Dusk, Horsefarm (Sold)

 Standing near the intersection just as the light fades. Acrylic on birch panel laminated with archival paper, 7.75 x 12 inches. The panels are cut, sanded, gessoed, and in this case the paper is then laminated on top, for a very soft, receptive surface. Panels made in this way take a good deal of time and effort to prepare, but I really like the intimacy of this surface. The paint mostly rides on top of a gessoed panel, but paper partly absorbs the paint.....especially paper that has not been covered with gesso.

Here's how I laminate archival paper to panel:   First I trace the the plate onto the paper, then I trim it with a razor and metal ruler edge. Then I apply a strong layer of glue to the paper (Yes paste in this case), then I apply the paper to board, then roll with a brayer...or in this case I used a rolling pin because I couldn`t find a brayer. Rolling with a brayer will make sure the glue is even under the paper. After this step is done I put the board under many heavy art books to apply even pressure.

It also helps to roll with a brayer on the edges of the board, to make sure that the paper is completely glued to the board (you don`t want the paper unsticking in places). You may have to retouch in one or two places after the pressure stage with books is done, in case the paper is unsticking in a corner or edge....just a little touch of glue and keep pressing to make sure nothing at all is lifting.

This is also how I prepare panels for encaustic painting....

If you use a bulkier glue like Lepages, or other white glues, apply the glue as evenly as possible so that you don't have unsightly bumps after it has all dried. Plenty of rolling with the brayer and lots of hand pressure, right after you put the paper on, will help with this. Let the excess glue squeeze over the edges, and pick it up with your finger to tidy.

Paintings I produce every day, are immediately listed to my Etsy site and my website.


https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintbox
www.harrystooshinoff.com    

Path (Sold)

Acrylic on gessoed thin birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches. I love the intensity of these evening skies in November...it all changes so quickly. This is slightly different format....a longer rectangle....I liked how that affected the outcome.

www.harrystooshinoff.com   
https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintbox  

Horse Farm, Dusk

This is a smaller panel painting, 8 x 10 inches, on gessoed Masonite. The birch panels seem a softer, more receptive surface, but I was happy with how the mood of this turned out. I'm usually happy with the result if the process takes over and there is no frustration with the decision making....the 'flow' was good here.  I'll do a few more on panels, and then return to paper. Paper remains the most receptive and intimate surface for me, but the panels do have certain advantages...the lack of any buckling due to vapour content, is one.

www.harrystooshinoff.com   
https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintbox        

Garden Hill, Indian Summer (Sold)

 

9 x 12 inches, acrylic on gessoed, thin birch panel. I like small panels, but I must like paper a lot better because almost everything I do is on paper. I like panels for encaustic painting, which I've also been meaning to get back to. I like that panels can be displayed easily....they can be more simply framed, or just leaned up on a shelf. I also loved doing a previous series in which I laminated paper onto panel first, and then gessoed the whole thing. The surfaces of those were beautiful to paint on, but there was a fair amount of work that went into the preparation of each panel.

I always love watching the mark making that happens all through each piece. More and more, I tell myself that the sequence of little decisions, how each mark fits into the thing beside it, how the paint sits, how the colour creates interactions with neighbours, is really what the whole thing is about. There are no extras. Each part fits. And of course, understand that every mark made is like a mark made in the dark.....I really don't know how it will fit in advance. What I try to see and do is believe in each mark....closely watch it happen as the picture is made. This is just a way of saying that marks can't be made randomly and carelessly. Every 'touch' made will add up to a picture....so every 'touch' is important.....as important as every other....

Don't feel you have to figure everything out in advance. Figure some things out in advance, but a lot of things will be figured out in the process of making....

This is a view of Garden Hill, 15 minutes north of Port Hope.....a view that I pass very often.

www.harrystooshinoff.com