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.

Ski Hill

...a June morning.....the ski slopes in green.

4" x 4" acrylic collage painting on paper, external paper size 5" x 5", now listed on Etsy.

Wild Mustard

Painted yesterday...and I ran out of time so only one image was made yesterday. Something about the interaction of colours and viewing the scene from afar was appealing. The strong yellow of the wayward mustard...leftovers from last year or wild seed, combined with the fresh green and the heavy, somewhat overcast sky, spoke of a special quality of spring that seems to move so quickly. It was very pleasant making this. In my favourite pieces there is usually a fine balance between abstraction and a certain kind of realism. I like to be able to feel myself in the picture...to walk on the grass...to breath the air. It's something I aim for but it doesn't always happen even if the picture might have other redeeming qualities. The ease of decision making is important to me. I agonize over too much and I don't want to agonize over pictures.....when the flow from decision to decision happens almost automatically the experience of picture making becomes more memorable and self-sustaining.

5" x 5" acrylic collage painting on acid-free matte board, external card size, 6" x 6", now listed in my Etsy shop.
SOLD

April Sky

Only a while ago in April, my closest field looked like this, and now it is a very lush green. I would like to keep up with painting daily changes in the landscape but that is never possible. Suffice to know that nature does not really repeat and fascinating and endless surprises are available to anyone who simply looks.

4" x 4" acrylic collage painting on paper, external paper size 5" x 5", now listed on Etsy.

East Hill

.....on another day my walking route might have taken me about a mile east, over this big hill. If it's cold out, I'll take the hill....more likely to be sun in that direction.

4" x 4" acrylic collage painting, 5" x 5" paper size, now listed on Etsy.

March 25th, 2009

This was made on March 25th. It's a collage painting on gessoed single ply matteboard....one of the first of the recent images in which I was considering the motif almost as emblem. It went very quickly and easily...and it's always very enjoyable when the very last step in the paintings is as fresh as the first step. Here, the last thing was the darker blots of grey in the sky.

8" x 10", soon to be listed on Etsy.

Crest

....coming home from an auction.....looking far off into the distance at the crest of a range.

4" x 4" acrylic collage painting on paper, soon to be listed on Etsy.

Clearings

Another image based on the idea mentioned yesterday.......paint only the few simple shapes that define a motif you find striking in the landscape. This worked to a degree only.....because even when I hone in on those few shapes it seems there are at least a few further complications that need attending to. The initial aim was to make the image so simple as to be iconic. This is not quite it, but I do find it satisfying to isolate those few things that make the very strong initial impression.

4" x 4" acrylic collage on paper, listed now on Etsy.

Windbreak

The brevity of this says something about how motifs work on my mind and eye. Usually a combination of 4-5 things together makes a special feeling....like a combination of notes or chords in a song create a distinctive appeal. Casting my eye to the property line as I return from a walk...the light turns the field pink....a strong shadow cuts through the middle and a few little evergreens peek through. A bit of snow patch at lower right, and a strong, brave line of evergreens with a vivid blue backdrop....this arrangement clicked the button that said 'paint this'. No telling what the arrangement might be, and what impresses on one day might not cause the same reaction the next. It's all a bit mysterious.

Acrylic collage painting on paper, image size 4" x 4", external paper size 6" x 6", soon to be listed on Etsy.

Summer Storm

This 4" x 4" series continues. Working on very small scale encourages all sorts of experimentation. You can do anything and risk anything because it goes quickly and the investment is not large....try new composition methods, new colour arrangements, new paint sequences. I liked how the cloud mass moves in on the right....white paint was smeared beneath before the top shape was glued. It's a little thing, but I never did that before. I remember the sense of quickly fading light as a new bank of clouds moved in after a summer storm.....little bits of brighter green flashed to the eye in the foreground...I don't know what that little building is on the chick-a-biddies' property....it may be an outhouse, but it sure isn't discreetly positioned.

4" x 4" acrylic collage painting on paper, paper size 5" x 5", soon to be listed on Etsy.

Remembering August

Sometimes, when I don't want to deal with the day that's here, I'll think back to another one....the horse pasture across the way.

4" x 4" image size, 6" x 6" paper size, acrylic collage painting, listed on Etsy.

?Spring?

From a few days ago....today it snowed again so the world did not look like this. Normally it is a bittersweet feeling to track the last patches of snow in spring...and I quite often make paintings about these last bits. Here it was the snow patch in combination with the birch trees that created the motif. But right now I'm not feeling so bittersweet about the passing of winter.....she just needed to deliver one last snow storm on April 6th!

Collage painting on paper, image size 4" x 4", listed on Etsy.

Economy

I don't like to waste. The things that I appreciate in the work done are not always visible to others. The blue of the sky was a waste piece of paper, folded and ready to throw out, before it was rescued and turned a perfect blue for this arrangement. The 1000s of little image impressions, seen, appreciated, and mentally set, are not complete until they are fixed in time, perhaps with a little picture like this. My hill, my piece of waste blue,.....waste no more....and likely to survive longer than I ever will. This is one of the reasons why art makes sense.

Acrylic collage painting on paper, image size 4" x 4", external paper size 6" x 6". Soon to be listed on Etsy.