No Eye Has Seen

No Eye Has Seen, acrylic, 20x24

This was a very enjoyable piece to paint, seemed to flow right out of me. I had to crop the bottom of the photo a little because the easel was visible, so the composition actually extends another inch or so at the bottom showing a bit more of the marsh grass on the right and more of the cloud reflection on the left. In person the cloud has more of a luminous yellow glow to it than you can see in the photo, so nicer in person than what you see on the screen. Enjoy!

Exploring the Seasons in Acrylic

Morning Meadow (spring), 6x8, acrylic

Poppy Morning (summer), 6x8, acrylic

Autumn Leaves (fall), 9x12, acrylic

Frozen Edge (winter), 6x8, acrylic

I've always been intrigued by acrylic paints. They seem very modern, comtemporary, edgy and 20th century. I've seen stunning acrylic paintings and some absolutely horrendous monstrosities. I've seen the most intricatedly detailed and accurate wildlife art, some beautifully expressive impressionist work and some wondefully textured almost sculptural abstact works as well. The colors seem vivid and saturated and the perks of soap and water clean up combined with their quick dry time add to their appeal. On the down side they never seem as full bodied, lush, buttery and rich as oil paints. Quite frankly many brands sem plastic-y and cheap looking. Creating soft atmospheric passages seem to take an entirely different working method than in oils because of the quick dry time so that's both a pro and a con). Lastly, and most unfortunately many collectors seem to prefer oil paintings and prices for acrylics are often lower than for oils. However, I believe that over time that will change.



So what am I doing in this series of new paintings? Well, playing around, experimenting and having fun for starters! I'm using a new type of acrylics, Chroma Interactive. These relatively new paints are meant to stay workable longer, while still drying much quicker than oils, and they definitely don't have that plastic-y look or feel. Combined with some Golden soft-gel and some of the mediums designed to go with these paints I'm getting some very impressive results. I don't know if I love them enough yet to completely abandon oils but I'm going to be doing my small daily paintings with these for the next few months to see if I can really produce acryloic works that ae essentially indistinguishable from my oils. Stay tuned for more results.

Paintings BIG and small

Golden Days, oil, 24x36

Evening Falls, oil, 24x36

Luminary of the Autumn Night Sky, oil, 30x40

Whirl the Seasons Round, oil, 12x16

Beach Path in Winter, oil, 9x12

It's always fun to shake things up a bit and working both large and small is one way to do that. The two small paintings here are not really that small considering that I often work 6x8in. But they are considerably smaller than the first three pieces. Students often ask me whether it's better to work large or small; the answer isn't really one or the other. There are things to be learned and gained from both. Small gives you the advantage of tackling all the major problems of a painting in a single sitting. Composition, value, color, brushwork, as well as painting method can all be addressed in a small work. Each time you work through those challenges you grow a little as an artist. So, a large painting may take you three weeks to finish and you've worked through one set of problems, but if you were painting smaller perhaps you would be able to accomplish six paintings in the same span of time and you would have had the experience of working through six sets of challenges. The more experience you get the better your painting skills become. Painting small allows you to produce many works in a short amount of time and gain experience quickly. This is often helpful for beginners. However, there are limitations to what can be done in a very small work, particularly in the area of expressive brush work and some of the finer points of creating a painting, like edges, subtle shifts in color and value,detail and complexity of composition. More intermediate level painters may find it most beneficial to tackle some larger canvases in order to pursue thise particular elements. And while small works may be little gems, large works tend to have the wow factor and command attention with their sense of presence. If you'd like to push youself a little then gradually change canvas size, either larger or smaller. Once you become comfortable with the next size up or down, go to the next size. Eventually, you'll find that you are comfortable painting any size. Inevitably you will have your favorite sizes and that's fine, but when you get into a rut it's nice to be able to break out a little bit and get the excitement flowing again.

As always these are available for sale. Golden Days and Luminary of the Autumn Night Sky are currently at Gallery at 85 Main Street, Centerbrook, CT. Send me an e-mail for purchase information. jan.blencowe@comcast.net

Also don't forget the HOLIDAY SALE at my website http://www.janblencowe.com/ there's a whole gallery of work on sale 50% off until Jan. 30th, 2008.

A Late Summer Symphony of Paintings

Marsh Flowers, 9x12, oil

Marsh House, 9x12, oil

Marsh Sunset, 9x12, oil

Here are three paintings done in a series, three days in a row at the same time of day. The first and third are from the same location, the former looking east and the latter looking west towards the sunset. The middle one was done several miles down the road along the Oyster River. These three pieces served as vehicles for some color experiments I'm working on. The idea is called "pigment soup" it's origins are with the early 20th century American painter Edgar Alwin Payne.

This idea is currently being discussed by a group of artists in the online art community www.WetCanvas.com . Simply put, you mix up a color which becomes the basis for the entire painting and each and every subsequent color that you mix contains a bit of the original color. This guarantees an immediate color harmony and gives you the opportunity right at the very beginning of the painting process to decide upon and enact a strategy for creating mood and emotion in your painting. It's this last part that I am especially interested in, creating mood and emotion in a painting. I am no longer content to just "paint what I see". My desire is to paint what I feel and inject a more spiritual component into my work. I want emotions and ideas like longing, joy, awe, lonliness, gratitude, wistfulness, peacefulness, solitude, contemplation, elation, brooding, desire, tranquility, vitality, happiness to come through. More like poetry, less like prose.

Speaking of poetry here's one that is especially appropriate as summer slips away and we long to keep it just a little longer before back to school and autumn 's rainy, chilly weather appears.

Fair Summer Droops
from Summer’s Last Will and Testament by Thomas Nashe (1600)

Fair summer droops, droop men and beasts therefore,

So fair a summer look for nevermore:

All good things vanish less than in a day,

Peace, plenty, pleasure, suddenly decay.

Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year,

The earth is hell when thou leav’st to appear.

What, shall those flowers that decked thy garland erst,

Upon thy grave be wastefully dispersed?

O trees, consume your sap in sorrow’s source,

Streams, turn to tears your tributary course.

Go not yet hence, bright soul of the sad year,

The earth is hell when thou leav’st to appear.

Birdland

Birdland, 14x18, oil

This is the marsh in the evening. At first it seems quiet, until you become aware of all the life and activity there. Birds by the score are coming in to roost for the night. Some are carolling their evensong and some are twittering excitedly. Many are flying throught the marsh catching insects as they go; the epitome of fast food ! This particular marsh is part of a state park and there are birdhouses of several varieties along with nesting platforms to accomodate the avian resdients preferences.

For, lo, the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone;

the flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds is come,

and the voice of the turtle

is heard in our land.

Solomon

Plein Air in the Morning

Madison Morning, 6x8, oil

Hammonasset Waterway, 6x6, oil

SOLD

I'm sticking with my commitment to get out Monday-Friday in the mornings to paint. Living along the coast often means that it will be hazy/foggy/overcast in the morning and this is presenting me with some interesting color and lighting situations.

I wanted to mention the passing of a true modern master, Charles Sovek. I had the very good fortune of studying with him during two workshops in 2005. It was an amazing thing to watch him paint with such ease and joyful abandon. His loose colorist paintings have left the world a more beautiful place than when he arived in it. He was a gentle, and generous man, a wonderful teacher and an inspiration. He will be missed!

When Earths Last Picture is Painted

When Earth's last picture is painted

And the tubes are twisted and dried

When the oldest colors have faded

And the youngest critic has died

We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it

Lie down for an aeon or two

'Till the Master of all good workmen

Shall put us to work anew

And those that were good shall be happy

They'll sit in a golden chair

They'll splash at a ten league canvas

With brushes of comet's hair

They'll find real saints to draw from Magdalene, Peter, and Paul

They'll work for an age at a sitting

And never be tired at all.

And only the Master shall praise us.

And only the Master shall blame.

And no one will work for the money.

No one will work for the fame.

But each for the joy of the working,

And each, in his separate star,

Will draw the thing as he sees it.

For the God of things as they are!

Rudyard Kipling

Plein Air on Gray Days

Gray Day Rocks, 6x8, oil, $100 unframed

View Through the Bird Blind, 6x6, $100, unframed

We're in a terrible weather pattern, lots of clouds and then the sun breaks through, and just when you get outside the clouds return! Mother Nature's having some fun with us! The bird blind is a wooden shelter constructed in the marsh with viewing windows so you can observe the birds, waterfowl and wildlife unnoticed, a very cool place to set up and paint! These paintings reflect the gray-ness of the day and the textures of the marsh vegitation and the subtle changes in color of the rocks. Enjoy!

SEAWEED

When descends on the Atlantic
The gigantic
Storm-wind of the equinox,
Landward in his wrath he scourges
The toiling surges,
Laden with seaweed from the rocks:

From Bermuda's reefs; from edges
Of sunken ledges,
In some far-off, bright Azore;
From Bahama, and the dashing,
Silver-flashing
Surges of San Salvador;

From the tumbling surf, that buries
The Orkneyan skerries,
Answering the hoarse Hebrides;
And from wrecks of ships, and drifting
Spars, uplifting
On the desolate, rainy seas;--

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shifting
Currents of the restless main;
Till in sheltered coves, and reaches
Of sandy beaches,
All have found repose again.

So when storms of wild emotion
Strike the ocean
Of the poet's soul, erelong
From each cave and rocky fastness,
In its vastness,
Floats some fragment of a song:

Front the far-off isles enchanted,
Heaven has planted
With the golden fruit of Truth;
From the flashing surf, whose vision
Gleams Elysian
In the tropic clime of Youth;

From the strong Will, and the Endeavor
That forever
Wrestle with the tides of Fate
From the wreck of Hopes far-scattered,
Tempest-shattered,
Floating waste and desolate;--

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shifting
Currents of the restless heart;
Till at length in books recorded,
They, like hoarded
Household words, no more depart.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow