New Abstract Landscape paintings 2014

New finished paintings! These will be hung at a group show in Rock Hill, SC.  The show will be called In Flux.

Abstract Landscape III
Acrylic and soft pastel on canvas
16"x20"
2014
$300

Abstract Landscape II

Acrylic and soft pastel on canvas

16"x20"

2014

$300

Abstract Landscape I
Acrylic, oil paint, and oil pastel on canvas
36"x48"
2013
$1,500

Drawing for design work

I have recently had the opportunity to design a series of stamps for Donna Downey Studios.  The first set of 4 stamps is in manufacturing now and I have been asked to create round 2.  Working on this project has been a fun, challenging, obsessing and thankful opportunity.  Each stamp idea goes through many many changes before approval.  Not all drawings even get approved.  I am convinced that anything done really well, (be it art, music, performance, engineering or anything else) takes an extraordinary amount of work to arrive at its final successful presentation.

Here are a set of 5 new drawings that I have made in hopes of designing some stamps for manufacturing.  I will possibly make further changes for the functional needs of stamps, but I am so proud of these drawings just as they are, that I had to share them with you.

tick tock tick tock... a couple months went by since this post was created...

They are now for sale!!!!! They look great!
Please check them out online @:
http://www.donnadowney.com/donna-downey-cling-stamp-avery.html

http://www.donnadowney.com/donna-downey-cling-stamp-anastasia-believes.html

http://www.donnadowney.com/donna-downey-cling-stamp-eva.html

http://www.donnadowney.com/donna-downey-cling-stamp-colliope.html

Here are my drawings the designs came from! Thanks for viewing!

Shipyard III, a Lake Norman Commission

I received an email a couple weeks ago from a gentleman concerning a painting he was hoping to purchase.  He saw my painting entitled Shipyard hanging in Starbucks in Lake Norman, NC.  His wife is opening a brand new hot yoga studio in Mooresville later this month and he wanted to give her a gift.  They regularly sit beneath my painting on their coffee dates and have grown fond of the painting.  As a result, I agreed to paint a new one for their business!

Step 1: After buying the right wood and construction supplies, I began the work to cut the wood and then glue and nail it together. I purchased poplar wood for my frame because it is the softest of the hardwoods. This means it is stronger than pine and whitewood, but not as hard to work with as an oak or other hardwood.

Step 2: Once construction was complete, it was time to stretch the canvas.  I used a heavy duty staple gun and 1/2" staples from the hardware store.  It is important to stretch the canvas in a star pattern working your way from the middle of each side out to the corners.  It is also important to stretch the canvas somewhat loosely to keep the canvas from warping your frame when you prime it.  The cotton shrinks dramatically during the priming process. 

Step 3: priming the canvas multiple times with a roller and over a quart of gesso.

Step 4: Painting the base coat color. I call this color a Naples Yellow.

Step 5: Draw the horizon line 1/3 from the bottom all the way across.

Step 6: Paint! Since the sky color is already in, the next thing to paint was the water. Using a palette knife and very heavy body paints, I began working my way from the horizon line down to the edge of the canvas.

The camera I was using isn't very good in the lighting I have, so I took a number of detail shots to show what it looks like up close.  Details are lost in the wide angle image.

I'am not finished yet, but I need to let it dry over night. More images coming soon!

The downward motion of the fog rolling in from the left on the new painting might be a bit sharp.  I'll consider repainting the lower left quarter to keep from sending the eye off the painting. The old Shipyard painting (as seen at the bottom of this post) has strictly horizontal movement on the left quarter. I remember the left side being the most difficult 4 & 1/2 years ago when I painted it over and over again seeking satisfaction. 

After discussing the painting with my collector, I continued working on the painting. Here are some more progress pictures!

In the picture below, I am toning down the heavy motion and energy in the left quarter of the painting.

At this step below, I added the abstract ships beneath the masts. I also continued reducing the diagonal fog in the bottom left corner.

I noticed a huge divide in the left and right section of the painting.  This divide caused an uneasy feeling when I was studying it. I asked my wife Cara to come look at the painting and she suggested I bridge the gap.  That's exactly what I did. By adding significantly more lines, it connected the painting giving it a cohesive unity that it was previously lacking.

Here is the final image for my newest Shipyard painting:

The image beneath is the painting currently hanging in Starbucks @ Lake Norman for comparison. 

The Painting has been installed! Here are the photos I took on my iphone after installation.

Soft Glow of Christmas Lights - Landscape

I needed to create one more winter themed painting for a class I scheduled in December. I thought back and forth about which subject matter would get the most attention for a class: a landscape, a painting of Santa and the reindeer flying in the sky, a close up of Santa's smiling face?

I then decided on a winter landscape with a single tree lit up glowing softly in the snow. I did this because it could be hung for a couple more months after Christmas and it would still be appropriate. I hope this thinking will pay off in terms of students in the class, but only time will tell. Please feel free to comment if you have any great ideas!

Here is the painting I just finished! The image is a little cloudy because I took the picture with my iphone instead of scanning it in. But I'm at the studio and not at home, so no scanner for now. :)

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

I just finished the painted version of one of my iphone 4/s case designs.
In case you haven't seen the case, here it is:

I didn't want to stop with that seeing as how it is in-fact almost Christmas. So I expanded the view and made an acrylic painting to finish the project.

Feeling creative? Get your paint on!!!

If you are feeling creative and want to get your paint on, then reserve your spot for Friday night 10/25/13 at Donna Downey studios with me! Seats are limited so sign up online
@ http://www.donnadowney.com/studio-workshops/paint-and-pour-fall-favorites-friday-night-october-25th-6-30pm-9-30pm.html

Click here for more information!

Soft pastel over acrylic and gold leaf - mixed media painting

I am pushing myself to continue experimenting and creating new types of visual art. I will be quite honest and go ahead and say that I have no self-perceived unique style that carries from painting to painting, and I am ok with that.  I know that I could take any work of art I have made, create 9 similar to that one and then I could show a series of paintings that would communicate my "style". But, because I don't want to do that right now, I keep pressing onward.

I took an old painting of mine that was sitting on the floor of the studio and desperately wanted to change it. I've never liked it so I felt I had nothing to lose.

Here is what the painting used to look like:

I painted the whole thing over again with acrylic paint. I intentionally left the gold leaf untouched. despite hours of painting, I was never satisfied. I needed to make a change. So I put down the brushes and paints and decided to work with a whole new medium. I found Soft Pastels! I hadn't used pastels since a large scale oil pastel painting in 2006. And those were oil based and these are not.  So I basically had no experience with them. Exciting! :)

Here is the final result after working with the pastels. I am happy with it and glad I changed media.

Abstract Landscape - revisited and finished

I graduated from Grad School in May of 2012 with my M.F.A. which meant that for the first time in 3 years I was free to paint as an artist without the pressure of obligatory defense.  Don't get me wrong, now that over a year has passed, I would enjoy going to a critique discussing art. It's just that in June of 2012 All I had ever known as an artist, was synchronized with being a student for... (let's see, K-12, then 4.5 years of undergrad, then 3 years of grad school...) a long time.

So the very first painting I made as a free man (from school) was this painting:

I used oil paint and painted for 2 days on and off until I felt I was finished.  I painted this while inspired by Brian Rutenberg's many catalog images/prints were scattered across my desk.  Late in 2012 I ended up finishing a large oil painting commission and delivered it. Soon after, I was approached by a representative from my former middle school who was requesting art supplies for their art club.  I chose to donate 100% of my oil painting supplies because I didn't know how long it would be until I wanted/needed oil paints again.  As a result, I haven't made any oil paintings since.

And yet this painting still leaned against the wall calling out to be updated.  For months I have wanted to work on this painting, but all I have are watercolors and acrylics, neither of which can be used to paint over an oil painting. Oil paint can go over everything, but water based art supplies won't stick to it.

Then it hit me! I could use oil pastels! They are very different than paints, oil paint dries over time to a hard waterproof surface but oil pastels never dry, they remain sticky and workable forever. but that was all I had access to, so I took the plunge. 

This morning I set up my studio outside on the back patio:

I work at Donna Downey Studios and in the studio we have 2 large books on Wolf Kahn's pastel paintings.  Since I see these regularly, his high energy, textural, mark making was on my mind.  I started with the warm area of the painting feverishly swiping the pastel across the surface.  The painting has so much thick texture already that is made it hard to produce any long lines.

Once I came to this point I thought the top and bottom were too disjointed. I continued working, trading one color out for another, usually working in color families before moving to a higher contrast option. For me it is all about color. I wanted energy, small bits of color contrasting the larger areas of color beneath them. I added the diagonal lines of blues to help with the composition. 

Eventually, satisfied: 

I thought about my options for storing for this painting. I intend on selling it once I have a buyer... But what to do with it until then?... I've got it! (we'll see what my wife has to say about it when she gets home. Hahaha!)