Evening Light

 

Evening Light

...emerging from the forest into open valley...as the sky opens up a bit. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed thin birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches

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Little Brother

Little Brother
...roadside companions...that I look for every day. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed, cradled birch panel 8 x 10 inches, ready to hang. The panel is cradled, sides painted white, so it can be hung right on the wall with no fuss. It will also stand on its own...on a shelf.

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Ice Field

Ice Field
...rain and warmer weather, plus refreeze, turned the top layer of snow to ice....walk across the field without falling through. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed thin birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches.

I'm almost out of birch panels, so perhaps I'll spend part of tomorrow preparing more. I seldom do one after the other in quick succession. Rather, there will be a painting, followed by a collage, and I'll alternate between panel and paper. The panels generally require more fussing, although that may be just a requirement I'm putting upon them.....

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Lost Dog Hill, December 4

 ....evening, and quiet. Acrylic and pencil on gessoed thin birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches. I thought I was going to do a collage today, but I did this instead. We'll see if the collage gets made tomorrow.

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Alpaca Field

Acrylic on gessoed thin birch panel 5.75 x 9.5 inches. A note on editing and scale....you can keep painting on the same work for a long time and make many changes, but confusion happens naturally and easily if you are not attentive to scale. Very few moves can be made before an area can become filled, confusing, noisy, because there are too many things the same size competing for attention. The solution is to edit drastically. So, if the sky is too confusing, take  out 3/4 of the sky by simplifying, and then continue.  A small will only look small if there is a medium and a large to compare to. Let a picture clearly contrast small, middle, and large pieces.

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Snow Sky

Acrylic on gessoed thin birch panel, 5.75 x 9.5 inches. Although all of these are small, it remains very important to have variations within the sizes. I knew, for example, that this one should not be 9 x 12. I am most free when it feels like I'm mumbling to myself, and the small size somehow allows that to be the case.

These is something about the small scale that makes this all seem like a secret world. I know that may sound silly, especially when I often photograph and list them the same day they are made. Sometimes they are mailed out the very next day, or they sit here for a time, but it all feels like a silent, peaceful writing in a hidden journal....

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November End

 November moves easily into December, with no snow in sight. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed thin birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches. I like these final slivers of light...which seem to last only minutes....

 

Collage on primed panel behaves differently than collage on heavy paper. The panel is less absorbent than paper, so if you're not careful you can trap air bubbles beneath the paper that prevent adhesion in places. I've taken to rolling a heavy rolling pin repeatedly over the first large sheets of paper glued down, and that seems to do the trick.

 

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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.

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First Snow, Garden Hill

 

First Snow, Garden Hill

...a fresh, brilliant day....snow fell during the night. Acrylic collage painting on thin birch panel, 8.5 x 12 inches. This blue had a special quality to it, and again, I was pleased that I didn't mess with it too much in the painting stage. Collaging white paper on top of another glued colour is always beautiful to me also (I often use that for snow...and I love how the white paper gets all accidentally but subtly marked up), but in this case I did paint over much of the white collage paper. I generally do enjoy painting winter a great deal...the structure of the land is more apparent....things are more spare....

 

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Back Acres (Sold)

 

It was a good year for cedars, with very little die-off....the back line is maturing nicely. A brisk, bright afternoon, November 19. Acrylic on archival paper laminated to thin gessoed birch panel, 9 x 12 inches.

Today will be a day for preparing more panels. Cut and sand the panels, keeping some variety with at least 3 different sizes. Sand panels. Gesso panels, preferably to 3 coats front and back. Cut and glue some panels with archival paper.

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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....

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November Stand (Sold)

 ....little stands of trees in the empty fields and even November light. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed thin birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches.

 

At the start of each session, my direction to myself is 'suggest more, describe less'. It is not easy to find the suggestions that satisfy, so there is always a tendency to describe instead. While some description is necessary, it is critical not to say too much.

 

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House in Light (Sold)

  .....winter wheat looking healthy and fresh in the dampness of November.....the distant white house lit by afternoon sunlight. Acrylic collage painting on gessoed thin birch panel 7.5 x 12 inches. I need to start making these a little earlier in the afternoon because the light fades so quickly now. The ideal time to start making the work would be late morning or very early afternoon.

 

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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.


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Remember (Sold)

 ....a special field that always holds my attention. Acrylic on gessoed thin birch panel, 7.5 x 12 inches.

 

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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.

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Sundown, Home Line, November 5 (Sold)

Acrylic on thin, gessoed birch panel, 9 x 12 inches. The last bit of Indian Summer. A new little thing is creeping into the process.....don't stop to ponder or admire anything entered....just keep the next decision going. You can still see how everything is progressing while you are working.....but try not to stop at all. It's difficult to keep hard and fast to this, but more or less is fine....

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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.

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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.

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