A silly little quick sketch – was meant to be a dragonfly, but just decided to stay a bug. Hey, I’m not all moody ol’ Norway over here!
As simple as it is, there are some nice moves in the bloom – – –
I spend most of the making of my pictures trying to adjust to things I sort of wish hadn’t happened. That’s just how it goes when so much of what I’m doing both sets up – and is at the mercy of – happenstance.
So, when a picture like this spills out, so perfectly, as if it was already lined up and just waiting, I’m taken completely by surprise. Looking at it now, I can kinda figure out the moves in there, but do you think I’ve been able to get any of that incredible liquidy, organic mountain texture to show up in my other work yet? Yeah, keep dreamin’!
Here are close ups of both of the sheets:
An owl gone totally nuts. Is he even an owl anymore? Doesn’t matter – he’s still keeping his cool! Did him SIX years ago and just came across him again. It looks like I even used my electric toothbrush to make some of those marks!
TAKE A CLOSE LOOK – CLICK THE IMAGE!
Soooooo many more of these are coming – AND they’re getting bigger, more daring and, well, just plain more everything! Some (like this one) are brooding, but others you will soon see are as light and bright as the sharp northern air.
At this point in my ink slinging, I’m painting with it, but also hand and press printing it, scrapping it in, smearing it on – – – it’s a free for all. I’m astonished at how much more there is to mark making that just picking up a brush!
And I’m pleased at how much my paper can be manipulated and abused – while still holding together (sometimes barely). For instance, just look at the water across the bottom of this picture. I wrinkled and crinkled the heck out of it, then used the texture to pick up additional ink. I also did some sanding to add highlights to the high points. Painter, sculptor, what the heck am I?
Here is a closer view of each sheet:
CLICK THIS FIRST IMAGE – IT’S WORTH SEEING LARGER!
I’m just beginning to process and upload a whole lot of Norway work. Have you realized I’m doing multiple views of the same peak? So many moods to capture! This one is particularly pleasing in it’s abstraction.
You can see hi-res versions of all my Norway pictures by CLICKING HERE.
Kinda different from my mountain paintings, right? I took this photo last week on a brilliantly sunny day, when I played hooky and went fishing up a local creek that’s full of brook trout.
The only way I can get a picture like this is to try to control the fish by holding the line with one hand while I put the camera down near the water and blindly click away! I can’t see what I’m taking, so I get lots of blurry photos, and plenty where fish aren’t even in frame. But if I’m lucky (and I sure was that day), there are gems like this one too. I especially like how the only part of that little guy that’s in focus is the bit of his side that breaks the water’s surface!
Below are two more from the same day and the first is of the same fish. Brook trout are almost to pretty to believe! And the best part is that every one I caught was released. I’m gonna have to go play hooky again soon!
A young man I helped raise, told me when he saw this picture that he’s afraid of that peak! He’s a damned fine mountain climber and a Green Beret to boot, so he’s tougher than hell. I’m thinking he just gave my painting high praise!
Here’s a detail view:
This was my first picture of this particular Norwegian split mountain. It’s really well known over there and I should tell you more about that, but I’m in a rush this morning so it’ll have to wait. Will do it in the next day or few.
I especially like how jam packed with texture this picture is. You can get lost in it – here are close ups, so you can wander a bit – – –
With fussing and fingers crossed, I did manage good image captures of some new Norwegian Mountain pictures! I’m quite proud of these – soon they’ll be up on the website.
I showed you a snapshot of this one while it was in the making, but now you can really see how hard I work that paper. CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE IT BIGGER. Here’s a detail view too:
Sorry I haven’t been posting – blame rhythm of living issues + tech trouble. It’s sorting out, but I must get a new scanner, so I can’t show you my new Norway pictures yet. Am aching to.
Meanwhile, I’ve been continually adding flower pictures to this website. A whole lot more are coming, but already, there’s SO MUCH TO SEE – FIND THEM HERE!
I’ve finished 21 Norwegian mountain pictures, and probably as many more are in various stages of completion. Some won’t make it, but others – like these two I’ve taken quick snapshots of – just might. I had given up on both, and the one below actually lived on my floor for a bit. I’m surprised I didn’t walk over it!
For some reason, I began messing with it again today. Now, it may have real promise, although I’m not sure why. I’m operating out in front of my ability to truly assess what I’m doing – so I’m confused and uncomfortable. And hopeful too.
Oh, and yes, I KNOW the mountain above looks a little like it might be wearing a lacie bra. Maybe I’ll change that. Or not. Tomorrow’s going to be interesting – we’ll see how things stand after the next hard push.
Just because I LOVE her!
A big ol’ bloom again, I know, but with story: while painting it, I became so disillusioned that I tossed it like a frisbee into the corner. Do you see all those dripping marks going upwards? Thats when they happened! I pitch a lot of losers onto the floor, but this is the only time it ever resulted in such wonderful and unexpected marks!
A few days later, while cleaning up a bit, I rediscovered this picture, and I changed my mind completely. I don’t know why I hated it so, but I was wrong – it’s a good one. There are some quite wonderful mark/texture combinations going on in there!
The funniest part is that I’ve tried making intentional “frisbee” marks but can’t get them to work right!
Here are close ups for you:
I can’t believe I started painting flowers four years ago. Seems like only moments have passed, but there were enough of them to have done almost 350 pictures!
It all started when I decided to paint the irises in my derelict garden. Soon enough they’ll be blooming once more, and I think I may do it again. My hand is much looser now and I’m a lot more daring in my mark making. I wonder how this will go?
As you know, I’ve been posting one of my flower pictures every day, for my Sweetie, who has been on a month-long work trip far, far away. She returns this coming Wednesday, and guess what? The wisteria that has gone wild in the trees and saplings around our house is blooming right beside where we set up our hammock! It didn’t do that last year. I took this photo for Reidun, just in case the show is over before she gets home.
AND here’s purple perplexity: Reidun has been working via remote on her office computer, which is so darned cool. But, some weirdness happens: when I emailed her this snapshot of a painting I was working on . . .
. . . this is how it looked after bouncing from me – to her computer – and then on to Australia!
Life is full of noggin-scratchers! I love my life of sharing them with my beautiful bride, who will be home soon!
Can you tell that I like big, splashy blooms with lots of bold and black in ’em? I keep choosing another – and then still another – to show you! Maybe the next one ought to be a different – I wonder which one it’ll be?
There are a lot of reasons why I like this picture, but it’s too nice a day to go into all of that! Enjoy your morning flower on this morning in sunshine!
First off, click this image and take a good look, then I’ll tell you about it – – –
Oh, am I confused! There are some incredible things happening in there, but this is the back of one of my pictures!
Okay, maybe third of this image is the result of ink (in various dilutions) having been forced clear through from the front – remember I’m using a printing press quite a bit, so I can create lots of pressure. The rest of this picture is what I did trying to complete the incredibly ethereal (and unexpected) surprise I discovered when I first turned my paper over!
Clearly, there are some things I still must attend to (like the white spot on the shoreline under the big, black mark. That’s a hole that must be mended. Easy enough, but tweaking this picture the rest of the way will be agonizing. I’m not sure how to do it.
So, I’m running away tomorrow! I’m gonna go fishing, and I might do it Wednesday too. Yep, screw art, it’s time to play hooky.
When I paint, I don’t start with any underdrawing – and usually have no plan other than to make some kind of first mark and then go from there. Very improvisational. I LIKE working this way – it’s free and uncertain – ideas pop in without my expecting them to. If I get a good one, it can change from one picture to the next.
Wanna see what I mean? Let’s take a look by first revisiting two blooms I’ve already shown you. In this one, bold brushstrokes outline the petals around the edges of the bloom – it’s very straight forward:
In this next one, those big black marks are beginning to wander away from their first purpose! They still sort of establish the outside edges of the flower, but aren’t they also about what surrounds the flower – almost background? And notice how within the liquidy gray in the middle, you can begin to see the shapes of pointed petals.
And here is the picture we were heading towards – – – now, the petals that were just beginning to make their appearance in the last picture, have become their own bloom, while the big outside marks have drifted off into surrounding space! From even a short distance, all of these paintings would look very similar, but now you can see that they’re not so at all!
Here’s a closer look just for the heck of it!
It’s a pretty enthusiastic bloom, right? I wanted some big, bold ones that you could climb right into (visually), and ended up with several that were quite nice.
