Guatemalan Figures

Guatemalan Figures 9x12 Oil on Masoinite

The idea for these two paintings came from cross stitch pieces that belonged to my parents who lived and worked for an American company in Guatemala in the early 1940's. Both parents are deceased and I don't remember much about the history of the cross stitch pieces although I probably heard it. The cross stitch "support" or "canvas" is metal window screen. Things were probably hard to come by in Central America as WWII was a cause for rationing almost everything.

Old Tree

Old Tree 18x24 Oil on Masonite

This is an old tree down the street from our house. I don't know anything about trees but like it's shape and that it's (I guess) so old. The land belonged to a family for several generations and was used as pastures and raising hay. Now it's in the beginnings of being a subdivision. That's progress - at least for us!

Once again my digital camera (or the software) is having a tantrum and won't represent the colors in the painting. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :-)

Da Nang Marine 1965

Da Nang Marine 1965 24x30 Oil on Masonite

I needed to make some paintings from 1960's Vietnam and this is my third. The inspiration is from a photo I saw somewhere online (where else?) and I couldn't get the image out of my mind.

I tried to have the Marine's expression more tired or weary than sad or depressed. But I guess there wasn't a difference, really, in 1965 "in country".

This fellow has probably seen a lot and been through much that most people can't imagine. Maybe, though, he's pondering the prospect of going home. Going home was sometimes tough; leaving your buddies and/or being exposed to some of that antiwar "stuff" back home.

People back home didn't want (or didn't know how) to talk a bout "the war" so we learned to not talk a bout it. He's in his sixties now - if he came home alive. He probably doesn't talk about those years of his life except in bits and pieces with others that were there and a lot of that communication with "brothers" isn't vocal.

White Clover

White Clover 24x24 Oil on Masonite

I've seen clover most of my life but never really LOOKED at it until one day when I was walking in our neighborhood with my dogs. The dogs were busy being dogs and I picked a clover "flower" and really looked at it and was surprised at the colors I saw.

Soooooo, I took some photos for reference and this is what happened! I don't know the proper name for this flower except "clover." I'm not a flower person so "clover" is a good as it's going to get.

I'm still fighting the good fight with my digital camera - glare, focus (or NOT focused) and etc. This is the best photo of the painting from MANY.

Marmisson - A Home In France

Marmisson - A Home In France 20x30 Oil on canvas

This is a taken from a photo from an online friend's (another blogger) blog page. I used it without permission, hoping that they won't mind (too much)! :-) I thought it was a nice painting subject for me. I don't often do flowers, gardens and such but the photograph just seemed to work for me.

The owner had blocked the door with brick work so I took a little artistic license and "installed" my door.

I don't paint on canvas very much. I prefer Masonite panels. BUT I had stretched this canvas (and several others) some time ago so I thought that I would try painting on canvas. It took some getting used to the "bounce" and the roughness of the canvas. I don't know which I prefer - I guess it depends on my mood at the time.

I'm just about done with making small paintings. Small being smaller than 9x12. I'm going to stick with 16x20 and larger for "premanent" work using the "small" panels for what I call "studies" or just a practice piece. I had some small stuff, hung it on a wall and from a few feet away I couldn't see what the painting was. What's the point then? Except that a small piece can be made in an houror two. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it! :-)

Sidewalk Espresso

Sidewalk Espresso 18x24 Oil on Masonite

This is a composite from three or four photos that I found online plus a couple of photos that I've taken myself. I took many liberties and moved things around, added stuff here and took stuff away there.

Why does the dude on the left have two cups in front of him? Is it because the waiter is trying to make a move on the lady in red? Maybe the innocent waiter has the lady's check and is about to put it on the table. AND why is the dude wearing sunglasses inside? hmmmm Might be that he's sly and giving the lady in the jeans outfit a good long look.

The lady in the jeans outfit sat near the dude, but not too close. She probably doesn't trust somebody wearing sunglasses that has two cups of coffee on his table. Little does she know that he's more than a little burned up that the waiter hasn't been around for a while and wouldn't be very good company right now.

What ARE the specials today?

Solving The Worlds Problems

Solving The Worlds Problems 12x16 Oil on Masonite

This is my submission for Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF) blog where she posts a picture and artists make their art. It's fun - for me, anyhow. Check it out.

Two guys, maybe in a barber shop, or waiting for new tires to be put on their cars. The guy on the right is doing all of the talking the guy on the left just wants to get out of there.

This is my first painting in a couple of weeks (more or less) as I've been moving my art stuff from a bedroom in our house to my studio. (See earlier posts). I'm not completely done with the studio; probably never will be. :-)

One of my next art projects will be working on rendering body parts. e.g. hands with fingers. Sheesh.

My Studio - still shaping up!

Here are a few photos of my studio as I'm "moving in." I play with model airplanes (they don't fly). For scale, the four engine bomber (B-17) pointing down has a wing span of 24 inches. It's BIG! They'e the old fashioned models made of balsa sticks & covered with tissue paper.

The other two photos show my "solution" to displaying many paintings in a small area. I made 3 "doors" from 2x2 lumber and 2' x 6' pegboard. The doors pivot on hardwood dowel pin "hinges" on the floor and under the upper shelf. I got the idea from the rug displays at home improvement stores. The idea is also used in tourist gift shop poster displays where many posters are sold. I make hangers to hang my paintings from 16 gauge galvanized wire. This wire is strong enough to support a load but is relatively easy to form using some pliers.

To hang unframed paintings, I used an idea for do-it-yourself plate hangers from Martha Stewart's website. I'm still trying to find the easiest way to hang and unframed painting. Most of my paintings are on Masonite panels but a few are canvas on wood stretchers. The framed paintings are really easy to hang on the pegboard.

Sorry for the mish-mash arrangement, the blog posting software has some limitations - or is it me? Nah! It's the software. :-)

My studio - taking shape!

These photos show my storage bins that live under my 12 foot long work table. The table is desk height. There are six "boxes" on wheels, the front wheels swivel and the rear wheels are fixed. At the time, they seemed like a good idea - a shelf on one side, peg board on the other. We'll see. They're painted with left over "rug" paint with three or four (who's counting?) coats of polyurethane.

I've been moving all of my art "stuff" from my art room in the house into the studio. Luckily the weather has been mild so far.

I have many paintings that I don't want "stored" away but I'm not sure how to have them available for viewing. Hanging on nails in the wall doesn't appeal to me because I'll want to change the pictures from time to time & I'll soon have walls full of nail holes. Does anybody have an idea how to show my paintings without damaging the wall - too much?

Faux rugs in my studio

These are the :"rugs" that we painted on my studio floor. The 4'x6' (approx) oval "rug" has dragonflies stenciled on it, the 4'x8' rectangular has Fleur De Lis in the border. I painted these freehand - without using tape - the tape tended to lift the floor paint even though we used the blue painters tape and the floor was painted more than a week ago. Whatever! The floor is OSB flooring - I felt that this floor will be abused over time so a "good" floor wasn't real important.

UPDATED 12/27/2009 - original photos went bye-bye for some reason. These photos were shot yesterday.




















The paint we used for the rugs is from the Lowes "oops" (their term, not mine) paint counter. The oops paint counter is where Lowes resells the paint (at a relatively cheap price) that customers return for one reason or another. I bought several colors and mixed up the "rug" colors with the help from some old acrylic paints that I had from long ago.

The part of the floor with the oval "rug" has three coats of polyurethane. I'll put three coats on the other half when the rectangular rug dries. When the polyurethane has dried/cured for several days I'll be moving the furniture from the house into the studio.

Rowing on Lake Michigan

Rowing on Lake Michigan 9x12 Oil on Masonite

My submission to Karin Jurick's "Different Strokes From Different Folks" blog challenge.

I haven't painted pictures in a while - I've been painting the floor of my brand new studio! This was a nice break. At least I wasn't on my hands and knees. :-)

Two more Arkansas "sky" photos

I'm still working on my studio (almost done, really) but wanted to share two afternoon "skies" with you.



They look like fires but they're clouds.
















Clouds DO have silver linings! :-)

And how about that sunbeam? I couldn't have made this up!

Spectacular sunset in NW Arkansas

Here are a couple of photos of the western sky after a storm had gone through our part of NW Arkansas. I had intended to make paintings, but I was too busy looking and making photos! The colors are really close to what the sky looked like. No manipulation with software.

Summer Vegetables - Wk 37-38 DSFDF Challenge

Summer Vegetables 8x10 Oil on Masonite

This is my submission to Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF) challenge for week 37-38. Every other week or so Karin posts a photograph on the DSFDF blog and artists from around the world submit their work to be posted.

This is the only painting I've done for about a week. I've been working on my backyard studio - putting joint compound on the newly installed sheetrock. I hope that I can begin painting the walls (and ceiling) this weekend then begin moving my art "stuff" into THE STUDIO from a 3rd bedroom in our house.

The Studio - it's almost finished!

My back yard studio is almost finished! Yesterday the sheetrock was installed. Today I began taping the joints getting ready to apply the joint compund. Then we paint and move my art "stuff" from the third bedroom in our house into THE STUDIO!!!!!

Melissa and I started building the studio just about a year ago then I had to quit because I had to have an operation. By the time I had recovered and Melissa & the doctors would let me do stuff it was getting too bad to work on the studio and it became sort of a wood-working, storage and etc. place. I make many of the frames for my paintings as well as make my own Masonite panels from scratch. Every once in a while I'll make stretchers and stretch some canvas. I don't particularly like painting on canvas but making them is fun.

Here is one photo of the exterior and four photos of the interior - albeit a mess with ladders and tools and construction stuff. Melissa & I and built this thing completely by our selves. I had help from a neighbor with erecting the walls and the roof - I couldn't (wouldn't?) carry bundles of roof shingles up a ladder! I hired out the electrical, the siding and putting up the sheetrock.

Looking NE the door opens up onto an 4'x8' "proch"
















Looking N.E. again - showing the little storage loft. The ceiling of the studio is 13 feet.
















Looking N.W. The windows on the right face North.

This is where I'll put my painting stuff - easel, storage and etc. The dogs (two boy boxers and a girl miniature schnauzer) will hang out here with me if they aren't hanging out with Melissa.











Two antique stained glass windows on the south wall. Melissa bought them for me on eBay. We'll build some storage cabinets down low and display some artwork (gourds as well as paintings) above.















THE STUDIO! TA DAHHHHHHHHHHHH ! ! !

This is looking towards the Southeast from our back deck/patio. Melissa installed the rock walk that runs from our deck to the studio front porch.

The studio is 16 feet by 20 feet. The porch is 8 feet by 4 feet.

Pennsylvania Farm #2

Pennsylvania Farm #2 12x30 Oil on Masonite

This is a larger painting suggested by the Week 35-36 Challenge on Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF). The painting that I submitted was posted earlier. Karen Jurick posts a photo on her DSFDF blog and "challenges" artists to make their art based on this photo.

I saw this photo as almost an abstract and tried to render it as such - ALMOST an abstract. The buildings and silos in the foreground have some shading but the fields have no detail.

A View From My Window #3

A View From My Window #3 9x12 Oil on Masonite

This is another Arkansas sunset done "semi" plein air from my "studio" window. I started the painting last night AFTER I had taken a digital photo. I finished it up this afternoon using the photo. The sun had dropped below the horizon so the foreground looked very dark in the photo - I could see it well last night. But I didn't need the clutter of the foreground for this "quick" rough painting.

Even after laboring over the sky today, I still didn't capture the color! At least I caught the essence of the colors. Or at least I think that I did.

Fishing Boats Heading Out

Fishing Boats Heading Out     11x14 Oil on Masonite 

Two small fishing boats heading out for the day. This is a composite of three or four photographs and one screen shot from a digital "movie".

Susie-Q Malt Shop

Susie-Q Malt Shop 16x24 Oil on Masonite

This drive-in (malt shop) has been in the same spot (and run by the same family) in Rogers, Arkansas since the 1960s. They have a sign near the order window that reads something similar to "this isn't a fast food restaurant, the food is cooked when it's ordered". I'll vouch that they make the BEST hamburger, fries and shakes in the area. Rumor has it that they make a "killer" dessert but I've never been hungry enough to try anything else.

They close up for the winter and a sure sign that it's spring or almost spring and life is renewed is when they open for business in the spring. You have to get here early at the lunch hour or you'll need a lunch two hours! :-)

Their address is:

Susie-Q Malt Shop

612 N 2nd St

Rogers, Arkansas 72756-6636

(479) 636-1326

Pennsylvania Farms

Pennsylvania Farms 8x10 Oil on Masonite

This is my interpretation of Karin Jurick's challenge in her Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF) challenge.

For this challenge Karin posted a black & white photo of a farm and the responding artists were to make a color painting.

Excuses: In the painting the silos are light grey. My rude camera and/or photo software adjusted the grey silos to blue silos and I had to leave the silos blue else the foreground green went reddish! Or radish or whatever the crops are. :-) Rule #1 - the problem is always the camera.

Tuesday After The Rain - Plein air

Tuesday After The Rain 8x10 Oil on Masonite

 
This is another (Number 2) stab at plein air painting. Again, this is (sort of) the view from my "studio" window which faces West.

We had totally gray skies with a gentle, soft rain all morning then around 2-3 PM the clouds started breaking up and we had skies similar to this.

In reality, there are homes in the foreground, but I didn't feel like cluttering this with those details. Speaking of details, my camera and I are at odds again about focusing. I'll keep trying to get a sharply focused photo - in the meantime just squint at this picture and you won't know it's not nicely focused. :-)

Red Barn No. 1 - WIP

Red Barn No. 1 - WIP 8x24 Oil on Masonite

Another WIP (work in progress)! This was suggested by a photo my wife took on a recent auto trip from our house to Mountain Home, Arkansas.

This needs some drying time and I need to look at it a while then "clean it up", add some details and blah blah blah. One thing I'm going to try is adding some cattle near the barn. My cattle usually look like anything but cattle. I also need to put a stock pen to the right of the barn. I don't really NEED to, but the real barn had one and it added some interest. The little shed to the right needs to be straightened or propped up - it looks like it's falling down. Maybe it is?

My camera was sorry it acted up last time and will begin behaving. We'll see.

A Question About Gesso

I have a question to others who use Acrylic Gesso prime their supports.

I buy quarts of Gesso and prime several supports (mainly Masonite panels) at a time. After a while LUMPS of semi-dry gesso develop and as I apply the gesso, I need to pick these lumps out of the still wet gesso on the panel. After I've picked off the lumps I need to "fix" the places where the lumps were. Aaaarrrghhhhhh!!!!!

I think it happens after I've lowered the level in the gesso container and the top of the gesso begins to set up and form a "skin".

Does anybody have a solution to this problem? Maybe storing in progressively smaller containers? Or is this something I need to accept as one of life's burdens?

Sept 9, 2009 - See Gesso Question Part 2

Home Made Masonite Panels

Attached are some Masonite panel layouts that I drew up several years ago so that I had some idea of the number of various standard sized panels from one 4'x8' Masonite sheet. With some effort and around $7-$8 for a 4'x8' piece of 1/8" Masonite you can get 10 to 30 home made panels. The 3/16" thickness is $3 or $4 dollars more per sheet.

The actual cut sizes will depend upon the width of the saw blade used to make the cuts. I usually have the lumber yard cut the 4'x8' sheets into two or three manageable sizes (to fit into the back of my car). Sometimes the "big box" stores charge for more than two cuts and they aren't always as accurate as I hope they could be. But, then, neither am I! :-)

When I do not plan to make "canvas panels" (see below), I put on two or three coats of gesso (usually tinted) on the large pieces when I get them home. I use a foam "rubber" paint rollers to apply the gesso. After the gesso has dried I use a clamped straight edge and a fine-toothed jigsaw or a fine-toothed circular saw to cut the large Masonite panels to the sizes I want. There is some "waste" on two of the drawings but those could be used for small (REALLY small) studies?

"Canvas Panels"
Before I apply gesso to the Masonite, and I feel like having some "canvas panels" to paint on, I glue canvas to the panels after they are cut to size. I apply tinted gesso after the glue has dried and the fabric has been trimmed. There are articles on the web that explain the process better than I can. These are the first three I saw after I Googled "how to make canvas panels". There are MANY more articles out there!

http://www.learn-to-draw-and-paint.com/canvas-myo.html
http://www.sheilaevans.net/2008/12/03/making-canvas-panels/
http://myfrencheasel.blogspot.com/2007/12/making-mdf-canvas-panels.html

I hope this helps somebody cut the cost of their painting supplies.

Ken B.

30 Panels #5

15 each 9"x12"
15 each 12"x16"
WASTE - 3 each 3"x12"

24 Panels #4
24 each 12"x16"
NO WASTE

 


 31 Panels
16 each 9"x12"
15 each 12"x16"
NO WASTE

18 Panels
9 each 12"x20"
9 each 12"x16"
NO WASTE

10 Panels

each 18"x24"

WASTE - 2 each 6"x24"

Quick sketch of dusk at our house

Dusk At Our House 6x8 Oil on Masonite

This is a small, fast study of the Western sky from the room where I do my painting. Until I finish my studio in the back yard, I'm using one of three bedrooms as my "studio".

This is my first ever plein air attempt. Now I understand better how quickly the light and sky changes. DUH! :-) But it was a good thing.

Another Right Foot

Another Right Foot 6x8 Oil on Masonite

Another painting of a foot. Whether or not it's my best foot forward, I don't know. With the previous right foot and now this right foot maybe the next painting will be the Hokey Pokey?

One more foot to go and I'll have painted a yard! (Three feet, get it?)

:-)

A Right Foot

A Right Foot 5x8 Oil on Masonite

I have problems painting people's feet. SO, I did this side view of "A RIGHT FOOT". Next, I'll do some oblique paintings of feet with foreshortening and etc. I suppose if I do three feet I'll have done a yard.

; - }

But is it "original art"?

I cruise the internet for photographs and where the photo is not copyrighted (sp?) I save the photo(s) to my computer hard drive. Sometimes I use the photo as a starting point to make a painting. Sometimes I use part of picture A, part of picture B and some of picture C to make a painting. None of my paintings look like any one photograph. There are a few blogs where somebody posts a photograph and "challenges" artists to make their art using the photo as the basis. Are the works of those artists "original art"?

Is original art only what comes from working from plein air sketches, using my imagination or working from my own private photos? Can I call my paintings from various outside sources "original"?

What do YOU think?

Madison Ave, New York City

Madison Ave, New York City 12x16 Oil on Masonite

 

This is my submission to Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF) Week 32 - 34 Challenge, Madison Ave, New York City. Karin periodically (usually every two weeks) posts one of her photographs on the DSFDF blog and artists are invited to make their art from the photo.

There are a couple of things I would like to "adjust". Maybe I'll do it - maybe not. :-)

5/15/2009 - Made a few "adjustments". I'll sign it and call it "DONE"

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 2

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 2 7x15 Oil on Masonite.

I used more color in this version and didn't let as much of the tinted Masonite show through.The darkest darks are Torrit Grey with some green mixed in. Then a WHOLE LOTTA green! There's some reds and oranges in there as well, although not very much.

It's funny (to me) how different a painting looks after it's been posted. Even after "tinkering" with it with photo editing software. Long story short, I see some things that I'll touch up after a while.

Right now, I'm going to get something cool to drink and go sit on our back yard deck. The "something cool to drink" will be a cocktail of Crystal Light Lemonade & Fresca. Whoooo doggies!

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 1

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 1 5 1/4 x 15 5/8 Oil on Masonite.

"Vietnam… A Marine walking point for his unit during Operation Macon, a marine moves slowly, cautious of enemy pitfalls…"
By an unknown photographer, 1966
National Archives, Records of the United States Marine Corps

In modern military parlance, to take point, walk point, be on point, or be a point man means to assume the first and most exposed position in a combat military formation, that is, the lead soldier/unit advancing through hostile or unsecured territory.

5/13/2009 - Updated the photo after "touching up" the painting here & there. I'll leave it for a while. It's probably as "finished" as it needs to be! :-)

I was looking at photos in the National Archives, trying to find inspiration to make a painting when I came upon a 1966 photograph of a Marine "Walking Point". It struck a chord in me because some things happened to me this weekend and then yesterday.

Saturday I was at a neighbor's party for their daughter's first birthday and some of us "old folks" were talking. One of the ladies got nostalgic and remembered how much fun and happiness there was "in the sixties." I was a little surprised, I guess, because I was in the Air Force during the sixties and it wasn't particularly fun nor happy if you were in any of the branches of the military. It's all in your point of view, isn't it? Anyhowwwww . . . .

In the N.A. website I saw two photos that "rang my bell" and I prepared to make paintings from the photos. As I was making the drawing on my Masonite, I took a break & looked at the list of visitors to my blog and imagine my astonishment to see that my blog had been visited by a person in Hanoi, Vietnam. Totally weird! There's an answer here but I don't know what the question is.

OK. Enough of that!

Except for the Marine, the painting is done with Gamblin's Torrit Grey and Winton's Titanium White. The Marine is painted by mixing a Green, a Yellow, Torrit Grey and White. The reddish tone is the tinted Masonite. I'm not sure what to call the color - I add colors of acrylic to the white gesso until I get a color that pleases me at the moment. The size of this painting is a little weird, I guess. Another scrap of Masonite put to good use!

The next painting will be 24x30.

Two Men On A Park Bench

Two Men On A Park Bench 16x20 Oil on canvas

Two friends in the park. One is looking at or reading from a brochure or pamphlet. Is the guy with the pamphlet planning a trip? Will the other guy go with him? Maybe they're deciding what to have to eat later.

I did a small oils sketch last month to see what I could see with this composition, and etc.

I'm happy with this painting. There are some things that I might tweak later but for now - I'll sign it and call it "DONE".

Staying In Touch

Staying In Touch 12x16 Oil on masonite

I had originally titled this work "Farm Woman" but I felt that it has little or nothing to do with anything related to farming.

I (tried to) improve the young lady's hair and have her looking up and maybe daydreaming. I'm also painting the cabinetry and maybe I'll do something with the yellow sheet (or whatever it's called) pulled aside to expose the pantry.

I feel that I still have some work to do, but I'm beginning to like this one! It came real close to being wiped clean and starting over.












Farm Woman - first version. BLAH!