Abstract Art with Ben Darrah

WIP or just process? (32" X 45)

Monday evenings are taken up with a trek to our local community college to join in Ben Darrah's abstract art class. We are using acrylics, loose canvas and found materials. Ben's approach to working on unprimed and unstretched canvas is new to me and quite a revelation. Likely oil paints would not be quite so forgiving and flexible but travelling to class with your painting rolled or folded up is a boon. The raw canvas soaks up the washes and has a tendency to shrink a lot so I have now learned to prewash or account for shrinkage if I'm going for a specific size. As the canvas is not stretched, one can crop and stretch it later to best fit the compostion.

The piece above is an example of the loose canvas and the class in which we painted to music. I was listening to Buddha Bar, my favourite all purpose dining, painting, working music. As we are focusing on process rather than product, ie playing and exploring, I am free to take this further or flip it over and reuse the canvas for something else...
Maybe it should go like this? -

Pausing...

Pausing, acrylic on board 16 X 18

The painting above is one I sold recently at the Frameworks show. The simplicity of the scene really appealed to me as I worked on it. It is was not hard to resist adding "more". Sometimes less is more. When it was done I thought of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening". One might glance and stop to catch the simple beauty of sun on grass, pause and enjoy a moment lovely and light. Obviously it is not a snowy evening so here is how the poem might work (apologies to RF):

Stopping By Fields On A Hazy Evening

Whose fields these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his grass gleam and glow. etc

Here's another wonderful poem that starts in a field. By Mark Strand, this poem is about not stopping, at least that is the superficial message. Strand's "verse deals primarily with the relationship between the individual self and the rest of the world in language that is spare and through images that are often surreal and dream-like." I think the style of the poem fits the style of my painting, but the message is quite different.

Keeping Things Whole

In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.

Art and Wine, a perfect match

Last fall my husband picked a pail full of wild grapes from the neighbour's fence. He has produced 4 bottles of his "Mowat Ave Red Fox Wine" as he calls it. Not to be outdone by the vineyards who commission artists to create labels, I was asked to print out 4 of my pastoral scenes for his exclusive and very limited varietal. Some vineyards pay the artists outright; others supply them with wine. I think I'll go for the latter.
Here in Ontario the Hillebrand Winery in Grimsby has an annual contest for artists:

"Our long standing support of the arts comes to life in Artist Series. Each bottle features the original work of an Ontario artist, a beautiful piece that captures the spirit of our province and shows the incredible talent found here. Inside the bottle is the work of our talented winemaker, Darryl Brooker. "
You can see some of the past winners here.

Next time you visit the LCBO remember to support the wineries that support the arts!

A Great Day!

Tundra #1 - 14" X 30"
click to enlarge, lots of nice texture!

Both Sally and I were thrilled with the turnout for the opening of our show on Sunday. The Frameworks staff (incuding Sally) had done a super job to make the space inviting and many folks spent the afternoon chatting and munching, munching and chatting. And enjoying the art of course; we both sold pieces which was very gratifying.
My impressionistic landscape above (which has not sold yet) was one of my favourites in the show. It did get lots of attention but no takers. If it is still unsold next month I may keep it. I did 2 others like it, all reminiscences of my travels in Labrador. Labrador is a magical beautiful place, one of the last true wilderness sites in the world, right here in Canada.

"Now What" is nearing completion

still untitled, acrylic on canvas 24 X 36

Today I worked on this piece, I posted an image of the underpainting earlier this week and waited for the inspiration muse to arrive. Putting work aside when I am at an impasse seems to be a good strategy but it means a lot of unfinished work sitting around the studio. I'm also waiting to decide if a piece is finished. Sometimes it looks great when I stop for the day and the next morning it may look like poop! Right now I'm thinking this one might be close to DONE. The layers are formal, somewhat meditative and playful too. Hints at a natural order that keeps us on an even keel. It has my landscape line thing going on so maybe you can see some consistency with other recent work.

Framing and Naming

This is one of two pieces I took in for framing yesterday. Choosing a frame from the hundreds available was a lot easier than choosing a title from the infinite number of possibilites. Obviously it is a landscape but a loose and somewhat abstracted version so I think the title should be loose too. I like the viewer to bring his own intrepretation to my work so I don't like to direct the response. A vague title or nondescript title is what I need...

Now What? WIP

Here's one I've been playing with, 24" X 36". It's somewhat like the Pound of Paint picture I posted last week. I've taken the landscape theme I've been working on and reduced it to bands of pattern and colour, enlarge it to have a better look. Today I stuck a variety of turquoise shapes on it but pulled them all off. Nothing seemed quite right, putting it away for a few days.

Jonas Gerard

In February I will be travelling to Asheville NC for a weekend workshop with Jonas Gerard. Jonas will not be teaching any techniques, rather this is called a BE Workshop. Get in touch with your inner artist, just BE, express yourself. Sounds a little 60's and a little scary. What if a really strange and messed up inner artist emerges? Maybe she should stay bottled up? I was going to travel to Asheville on my own but after talking to Jonas and telling my husband what the workshop is about he has decided he and the dog will accompany me. Jonas confidently and calmly told me that this workshop will change my life! G (husband) will ensure that my life doesn't change my life too much and that all 3 of us return to Canada the way we left.
I'm looking forward to an advance preview of Jonas, Friday night on ABC's 20-20.

Red Hills

Red Hills, acrylic on board, 18" X 34"

Sometimes a painting seems to have a life all it's own, you just have to be there holding the brush and let it happen. This was one of those paintings. But no brushes this time, I used a brayer and various rags and paper to blend. I had to work very quickly as the paint dried much too fast, rag in one hand water spritzer in another. I almost had it, but put too much information in the foreground, trying to define grasses of various colours. It was OK but not the atmospheric feel I was after. A few hours later I redid the lower part as distant hills and Wham! There it was, a gentle painting smiling back at me. I knew it was time to back off. Where did this painting come from? Can I go there again and get another?

Yes, Kandinsky!

Vassily Kandinsky, Composition X, 1939 130cm X 195cm

The mystery painter was Vassily Kandinsky. Congrats Dave! (aka Stlukesguild).
With the shift in my style to somewhat more abstract I have actually been reading art books, not just looking at the pictures. Kandinsky gradually abandoned recognizable forms and perspective in favour of powerful colour and dynamic compositions. He felt recognizable objects harmed his pictures and limited his freedom. Paintings should grow out of what he called "inner need" not any external model. The artist's voice and his soul is the source of inspired painting.
I'm not sure if my soul was at work on this piece below but I was certainly able to abandon perspective and objects. And I had a lot of fun doing it, that has to be good for the soul!

Composition 1, 30in X 30in

My Narrative Past

Asta Yawns oil on canvas 25 X 38"
Since I was a kid I've created narrative paintings - pictures of objects, landscapes, people etc. Lately my work is becoming more nonobjective, impressionistic, abstract and expressive.

Here is one of the first paintings I thought was worth framing and showing off. It was one of 2 pieces I submitted for a juried arts show, it wasn't chosen though my second entry (a portrait of my mother) was selected. Of course this one will always be a winner for me, it's my dog Asta yawning nervously. Painting the fur gave me fits but I loosened up and out it came. Two glasses of wine helped release the inner fur painter in me.

Mixed Reviews

"green & gray" acrylic on canvas 20 X 40" (click to enlarge)

This painting is getting mixed reviews. M, the artist who lives down the street, was immediately drawn to it to noting some hints of Wolf Kahn. M has politely ignored my earlier work that is traditionally narrative.
My friend W was practically rhapsodic about this piece:

THIS is my favourite! There are strong determined brushstrokes here. No doubting, very confident and assured. But, at the same time, flexible and highly sensitive. The transition from marsh – to sky – overlaid by light brushstrokes of mist is cleverly done. I wanted to say “a vaporous blending of blue and green”, especially at the horizon is masterful. The long slender wisps of paint complete the scene. It is contemplative and yet, evocative. This piece really takes my breath away. It is powerful.

Of course I love to quote W! However the folks at WetCanvas website Critiques are not quite as impressed with this piece:

I see where you're going, but you're going to really be careful that when you simplify, you still have a powerful compositional stance. This one is lacking in strong value patterns, or center of interest. It's simple, but I am left wondering what it was about what you're trying to show us. The things that make you love this should be apparent.

and:

I myself, to be honest...do not find this work speaking to me, not as yet who and what I am in life, and apparently what I respond. Perhaps that is what I personally and individually demand and expect of art...and ultimately says more about me than about your work. Am I majority? Am I in the minority? Does it even matter? Who cares? Have I become numb to such? I'm not sure...but if the work is important to the artist...and if the artist has intent for the world to understand the importance of its making...it then becomes an issue of importance to the indvidual making the work.

The 2 main critics at WetCanvas are excellent, one is primarily a landscape artist, the other a superb portrait painter. I respect them both.

All that being said this painting is currently my all time favourite work I have ever done. It soothes my soul, I rest, am at peace and my breathing slows. I can, at least for awhile, forget about global warming, the death of the oceans by 2050 and colony collapse disorder. (It's time for another news fast.)

Starting in the Middle

I have probably started at least 10 art blogs, some here and some at WordPress. I've wrestled with trying to come up with really clever intro's, a great bio and a nicely ordered presentation of my art. The blog just wasn't coming together so now I've decided to just jump in, where I'm at now, and add the sensible stuff later. Or not.
Here's a recent painting-

"August" 23 X 40" mixed media on canvas

I have been painting a lot of field pictures, trying to capture their simple beauty in a loose impressionist or abstract way. This one was done outdoors and if you click to enlarge it you will see the help I had from Mother Nature. While working it started to rain softly, leaving dots on the wet acrylic. This happy accident added to the feel of the piece and I didn' try to correct it. Since then I have tried to copy the small rain dots on new work using a spray bottle. But it has been impossible to recreate the lovely dots of real rain.