Late October Pieces

The top one was made today.....a very windy day after the night storm. It's a collage painting that started with the blue sky and simple white collaged on top. The bottom piece is all painted....no collage....on heavy Whatman paper. I alternate mostly between these two methods. I am thinking that I may make some, not that many, but some...larger pieces on paper, to the largest size of 22 x 30 inches.

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Trout Pond, Overcast

 

.... a little sanctuary near the village, public land with 2 trout ponds, forests, hills, and streams,....I enjoyed all my time there through the years. Acrylic collage painting on archival paper 9.5 x 13.75 inches, image size 7.75 x 10.25 inches.

These collages often start with one piece of paper, or sometimes 2 colours together that start to create a mood that was pervasive at the site. In this case, those 2 piece were the grey of the sky and the not quite fully dark green/black of the trees. I was hoping from the start that I wouldn't need to cover up too much of the grey, and am glad I was able to keep most of it. You never really know what will remain in the picture. In the attempt to get everything working together in a beautiful balance, anything might have to be sacrificed....

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Farm at Dusk (Sold)

The leaves are mostly off the trees...the sweet smell of moldering foliage in the dampness of evening. I often walk by this farm...it'll be cold and dark by the time I get home. Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Somerset paper 7.5 x 11 inches.

Here's a useful tip for those who work with water soluble paints, acrylic, watercolour, opaque watercolour. I made this on Somerset paper and there was a very watery undercoat of pink to start. This paper, though fairly thick, and archival, buckled a lot in the drying process. Not a problem!....when this happens, I wait for the piece to fully dry (at least overnight, so that the acrylic not only dries but cures a bit). I spray the back of the piece with distilled water, and with a fairly large housepainter's brush, I brush it into the paper. Repeat in 5 minutes after all the water soaks into the paper. Next I put the piece in between flat boards, with absorbent paper beneath and above it. Now put a pile of heavy books on top of your boards. Leave your painting there for a few days. Check to see how the paper is drying, and replace the absorbent paper with other sheets so that the painting paper fully dries. All the wrinkles are gone!

www.harrystooshinoff.com

Trout Spot

Acrylic collage painting on Somerset paper 7.5 x 11 inches.

I'll take a moment to briefly explain why these pictures range from fairly representational, even realist in some cases....to fairly abstract and even nonrepresentational in other instances. Here is an example of a piece that is not very realistic.

Sometimes the intention is to record how the world looks. There are many reasons for this, and there is much that is endlessly fascinating in the way the world arranges its visual effects on a minute-to-minute basis....there is Never a shortage of wonders to look at in the world, and one does Not need to go far to prove this. Look at the corner of your desk, look outside your window, look at the ground, go for a walk and point your face into any little bit of visual complexity. You will not run out of ideas based on visual observation in your entire lifetime as a painter, and to paint the appearance of the world is a laudable goal for an artist.

But.....just as one writer said of Monet, "...he is just an eye, but what an eye!" At times an artist will turn to a Different intention.....so there are times when I sit down to paint and do Not wish to record only what I see. Sometimes there are memories, images in the mind's eye, that ask to surface as well. Sometimes there may be only a sensation, a feeling, a reaction to some event, that asks if a visual equivalent is possible, in relation to itself. So abstraction and semi abstraction are useful directions to deal with these impulses. As well, recognize that there is a great deal of historical convention on which all of this rests. While there Is inventiveness in each piece, there is also much to borrow from. But whatever the painting ends up looking like, in my case, it is always About something in my life and world.....it is not without associations.

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Interview on Savvy Painter Podcast

Thank you, Antrese Wood, for all the hard work, thought, and interest you put into the Savvy Painter podcast interviews! I've listened to many of the conversations you have in your list, but your interview with me reminds me that there are many more sessions that I still want to listen to at the Savvy Painter. If you're interested in art, take a look at some of Antrese' lineup!

Savvy Painter Podcast

Home Way....Day's End (Sold)

Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Whatman paper, 10 x 13.75 inches, image size 8.5 x 12 inches....the somber days of October, but very beautiful if you're out near nightfall....

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Night Rain

Acrylic collage painting on Somerset paper 7.5 x 11 inches. I'm using a bit of a new technique for me here.....in the sky some of the grey is painted on, over the collaged paper, and then partly wiped off with a wet rag. That helps one grey transition into the other more easily. It also lends more sureness to the fairly intuitive mark making that goes into each passage, since something can be wiped off completely in one second if it doesn't seem right. The wet rag and pail of water are always right beside me when doing collages, so I can always wash my hands and wipe clean the gluing surface....

www.harrystooshinoff.com    
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Nightfall, October 13 (Sold)

 ....the quick changing minutes before dark. Acrylic collage painting on archival paper 7.5 x 11 inches. The collages are very different from the paintings, because in the collages the first mood is made by placing the first 3 or so colours. This is different than painting the colours in because the colours can be chosen AND changed in a second. I have 1000s of these colours beside me. The mood of the work ends up subtly different in the collages.

www.harrystooshinoff.com  

Thanksgiving Collages

 

Acrylic collage paintings on archival paper 7.5 x 11 inches. The paintings feel much different and are done differently than the collages. When I start a work one of the first questions is 'should this be a collage or a painting'. As well, sometimes there is much paint added after the pieces are glued, and sometimes there is nothing added. Those ideas are there at the start. The collages also tend to be a little smaller. One of the key beliefs in the collages is that it should be possible to create all that is necessary through the interaction of 5-10 colours and shapes. So it follows that there should be no extras in the work...only essentials. Both the collage and painting processes allow and encourage both adding and subtracting. The final arrangement can be discovered either through putting on, or taking away.

 

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Climb at Dusk (Sold)

 ...into October....the weather has changed, with frost just around the corner. Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Whatman paper 10.25 x 13.75 inches, image size 8.75 x 12.25 inches.

"....Or else he could elect an art class. He'd never taken one - art hadn't even been offered at the academy - how hard could it be? During the summer he'd often studied Sarah's drawing of Ikey Lubin's and even wondered what role it might've played in pulling him, against his better judgment, into Lynch World. Would he have enjoyed Ikey's as much if he hadn't seen it through her eyes? He liked the idea of getting people to see things as he did without them even being aware of what he'd done. Now THAT would be a trick worth knowing." 'Bridge of Sighs', Richard Russo

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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.

 

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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....

 

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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.

 

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...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