By the woods

By the woods
Acrylic on canvas
8"x8"
SOLD

This one is a bit more abstract than some of my previous posts but I like it because of the surface tension... the marks, drips, and broad flat areas. I can't explain it very well but I often like a painting where the surface feels tight, like the surface of a drum. For me, this painting works because it depicts three dimensional space while remaining true to its two dimension nature.

First planting- by the river

First planting- by the river

Oil on panel

6"x6"

$125

I did this painting a little while ago but it's one of my favorites because of the dark caligraphic brushstrokes in the background. They seem to co-exist as marks on the surface and part of the scene at the same time. I also like the simplicity of the composition and the feeling of motion.

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Price: $125 USD plus $10 USD s/h

Driving into a storm, 7:34 pm

Driving into a storm, 7:34 pm

Oil on canvas

8"x8"

SOLD

A couple of months ago I was driving back from an art opening, heading north from Bristol, VT when I saw the most amazing sky ahead of me. I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures, continuing to shoot even after the sky opened up and a torrential rain made it almost impossible to see.

Of course, it's not really too smart to drive and shoot at the same time, especially in bad weather. Any of you artists out there risk it all for your art? Would love to hear your adventures.

By the way, the show was of the work of Cameron Schmitz, a talented Vermont artist.

A steer's life

A steer's life

Acrylic on canvas

8"x8"

SOLD

I'm no cowboy. Heck, I don't even know any cowboys. But since the emergence of the web I've become more and more aware of how many great artists there are west of the Mississippi. Maybe it's because I grew up in the east and went to school here but my art world consisted mainly of New York City, Europe at least a hundred years ago, and Diebenkorn. Now my horizons have expanded and it's a constant source of pleasure to discover incredible artists practically on a weekly basis. It's unfair to single out one place geographically but I do have to wonder what they put in the water out there in Utah. What accounts for the large number of wonderful artists... Chelsea Bentley, Aaron Lifferth, Michael Workman, Doug Braithwaite, and George Allen to name a few? And I'm sure there are many more I don't know about. I'd love to learn more about the Utah art community and what makes it so strong.

The Chambly Canal #4

Acrylic and oil on panel

8"x8"

Here's a third painting from my Chambly Canal series. I like the way the bridge frames the image, cropping the scene into a horizontal format.

Last week I came across a book on American impressionism and while I knew some of the artists in it (Hassam, Chase, Twachtman), I was surprised by how many were unknown to me. Also, I had never heard of the group, 10 American Painters, which was active at the beginning of the 20th century. According to Wikipedia, "The Ten were J. Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, Robert Reid, Willard Metcalf, Frank Weston Benson, Edmund Charles Tarbell, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Joseph DeCamp, and Edward Simmons. When Twachtman died in 1902, William Merritt Chase joined in his place."

It's interesting to see how these painters absorbed the lessons of french impressionism without abandoning their academic training. Now I'm wondering if I was asleep in my art history class when "the ten" were covered. Or maybe they were just overlooked. Anyone else heard of them?

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Price: $150 USD plus $10 USD s/h