Arrested by Art

16x20 oil on linen

My final version. Comments were about half and half on the floor... but I felt like it needed to be darker. It is true to my initial "wow" reaction to the scene. A very kind follower gave me the info on the painting too. It is "Black & White" by Franz Kline. Part of his decade+ long series of them... so who knows where this one falls in the line.

As a side note, I would own this piece or such like it. I love abstract art - the action paintings or the color fields. Its so expressive, duh. I think also that its is actually difficult to create and something so very far from what I do that I would rather own it, than representational works. I can DO those... I can't do this. Probably has to do with being too miserly with paint. And too much of a perfectionista.

TOMORROW - Moses Botkin Monthly Challenge paintings!!

Black & White

16x20 oil on linen

Ok - Ben (hubby) came in and said this looked like the guy was under arrest. So, I am not sure this is the best pose. But I loved the art ...

Let me back up (sorry, its late). I took my daughter to the Blanton Museum of Art today downtown - its part of UT. Nice building, fairly recently built. They have an exhibit of Matisse prints right now. The painting depicted above, part of their permanent collection, I cannot find on the Blanton website. In fact, I am really annoyed that they have so little of their collection online.
So, if you can identify the art, let me know. Else I will go down again next week and get the details on it.



Anna enjoys abstract expressionist work. It is her favorite to create and to look at (and she is quite talented, if I do say so myself. Isn't she wonderful?). We didn't spend long in the Matisse exhibit, but went upstairs to the American and Contemporary galleries where she did a little sketching. I sketched a bit in the Matisse exhibit. And have a painting to share with you from that tomorrow.

We had a lovely day and I came home with some good ideas. And I remembered to use more paint and to loosen up. But... back to the painting I created... does it look like he is ready to have his rights read? Should I have made the floor dark as it is in real life?

Sketcher

10x10 oil on panel

This painting will be available at Tidewater Gallery next week.

This feels somehow "different" from my usual work. But I like the muted palette and the almost silhouetted man sketching the statue before him. It feels very quiet. I could use some quiet. You have no idea.

Pick Up Artist

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $6.50 s/h - sold

Back to the easel today and I wanted to get back to these smaller works too. School has begun and I have my days to devote to painting again. I have to say though that the longish break was good for me. I think that when one focuses too much on artwork, you lose focus of what is important in art work. I.e. - the joy. So once again I am vowing to not take myself too seriously.

The above image is from the Met and features a Toulouse Lautrec painting - The Englishman (William Tom Warrener) at the Moulin Rouge, 1892.

One Man Show

8x12 oil on panel

Ask Castle Gallery about this painting

A group of women chatting, women on the walls and one gentleman perusing the artwork. Is he waiting for his wife to finish her chat? Is he alone and truly cares about the art? Is he bored? Is he inspired? That is what I want my viewers to decide for themselves.

The more I think about what I wrote on Saturday, about the paintings having that fresh look, (unfinished) the more I realize that is what the public didn't like about the work at that time. They thought it was incomplete and haphazard. The Salon at that time always valued art that had been labored over and was very intense. Monet's sunrise "impression" was like a study and was decried for the most part.
Now many artists embrace that simplicity of stroke and spontaneity as they seek to loosen up and paint their impressions.

Casual Observer

7x5 oil on panel
sold

This was painted yesterday after my "loosening up" exercises. I like it. I feel like I got the brushwork loose and gestural and got enough color notes to make it interesting, though its rather a tonal painting.

Meditative Mood

12x16 oil on panel

This is the "larger piece" I mentioned doing yesterday. I seriously thought it was going to be very bad but I just kept smearing paint on and pushing myself to continue and in the end, I really like the look of it. Its colorful but balanced, the brushwork looks spontaneous and fresh and I managed to capture the mood and tell a story too.

Meditating Marilyn

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $12 s/h - sold

This young man had a comfy seat in the Harn Museum of Art (Univ. of Florida) to contemplate a wall of Marilyns by Warhol. The red and green version is really quite garish!

I found a neat site that has some info about Warhol's prints and an interactive Marilyn that you can color.

Musing - Studio Sale

14x11 oil on linen panel
$175 + $11 s/h (unframed) - sold

My studio renovation continues and I am realizing that I have quite a few paintings that need homes. So following a very successful artist friend's lead (if V....Vaughan can do it, so can I basically!), I am going to offer some "older" works at discounted prices.
And so first up is a man viewing the painting "Three Marys at the Tomb" at the Blanton in Austin. This was painted either end of last year or early this year. And its not as garish as this image makes it appear.
I am going to continue to offer up some older works, including some landscapes. Something very few see from me anymore!