I started a new cycle of paintings yesterday. All paintings are 44″ x 60″. The only thing, really,that the paintings have in common is their size. It’s convent to buy stretchers in bulk. I build the stretchers by hand for paintings larger than 5′ x 6′. The first painting in the cycle isl in the drawing stage. It will take several more days to finish the drawing.
I am extremely happy with my new easel. It’s wider than my old workhorse easel and the mast expands higher, which means it can accommodate much larger paintings. For as big as it is, it moves easily on its solid rollers. There are stops next to each roller to keep it in place. It can…
Yesterday was my wife Kathleen’s birthday. As a present, I planted these perennials in our front yard. The day was mild and the work was enjoyable. Like all good husbands, I cannot recall her age. I know she gets younger each year. Happy birthday, Kate!
To address my acute storage problem, I decided to convert our two-car garage into a full-time studio. Unlike my current studio, the garage has a high ceiling, which means I can work more easily on large-format paintings. Besides, I already use the garage to stretch and prepare canvases.
In order to re-purpose the garage, we are installing a 10′ x 12′ shed in the backyard. We will move the camping, boating, and garden equipment–like the lawn tractor–into the shed. The garage doesn’t have north-facing windows but it does have good light. We will install baseboard heat like we did in my last studio in New Jersey.
So, after mid-August I will have my current studio with its bank of north-facing windows and the high-ceiling studio for big paintings.
Here are recent unfinished paintings. The bottom two are from a batch of 30″ x 40″ canvases. That batch of paintings have nothing in common except size. I stretched a half-dozen at one go. The middle painting began with a closed window, I then opened the window and added a landscape view through it. Now, as you…
Happy 4th, everybody. There will be fireworks over the lake tonight.
Perfect day on Lake Erie, July 4, 2014
Besides finishing The Call, I recently worked on the paintings in this photo. Today’s session was the second painting session for the one on the right, Heated Discussion (the drawing took several sessions). The painting in the upper-left, Explain (or maybe just Plain–I haven’t decided) is almost done. I am hoping that one more session will…
The 36″ x 48″ oil titled The Call is finished. This is the seventh and final post in the series about making this painting. Here are the links to the other posts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 I started the painting in May 2013 and finished it yesterday on the…