What's Happening?

I HAVE been painting, I just haven't gotten any to a point where I want to publish a photo for the world to see.

Friday, October 17th, our Art Guild participated in the Rogers (Arkansas) Third Friday Artwalk. From April until October historical downtown Rogers stores and shops stay open until 8 PM. There's musical entertainment, crafts vendors on the sidewalk and etc. Our guild was assigned the first floor of a vacant store and we put out our work hoping people would come in and maybe buy something. 10% of all our sales goes into our "scholarship fund" to be awarded to two Rogers' high school students. ANYWAYYYYYYY, only a few people came in and only a few very small items were purchased. I'm thinking that most people came in to get out of the cold for a few minutes. We raffle a painting for a dollar a ticket and it did so poorly that we're going to try again next week. The temperature dropped into the 40s with a brisk wind and people either stayed home or went home if they were at the Third Friday event.

October 29th through November 11th is our Guild Fall Exhibit and Sale which will be located in the Rogers Public Library. We'll be selling our raffle tickets and 10% of proceeds go to the scholarship fund. Maybe we'll do better in two weeks than we did in one stormy night. :-) We even have a reception where people can meet the artists and enjoy (I hope) some light snacks.

This week I've been making some picture frames for a friend in the Art Guild. The frames aren't perfect by any measure, but they look good, they're substantial and by golly they're pretty inexpensive! I have learned that I want to buy a power hand sander!

How do other artists transport several (some 20x30) from home to show and back home? I stacked them up in the back of our Subaru with blankets in between. But a couple of paintings still got scuffed. HOW DO YOU DO IT? HELP!!!!

Farmer Reading His Newspaper

Farmer Reading His Newspaper 24x30 Oil on Masonite

Updated photo Nov 1 2009

A hard working man relaxing with his newspaper before his day begins, after the morning chores have been done or at the end of the day.

I think that I'm going to stop right here before I mess it up (more?). I was thinking about the left foreground - seems too smooth & bare. BUT I dislike making grass, gardens & such. I even thought about putting in his pooch but thought that was too cliche.

Dancers

Dancers 24x30 Oil on Masonite

I wanted to call this Flamenco Dancers, but it seems more ballet than Flalmenco. But what do I know? This is the third of my series of dancers - Flamenco or otherwise. I like the colorful costumes and the power suggested in the dancers' poses.

Red Colombine

Red Colombine 20x24 Oil on canvas board.

I did this from a photograph my cousins took on a cruise to Alaska.

I don't do florals very often - I struggle with them. Maybe because I don't know anything about the subject? I am NOT a gardner!

Besides, Red Colombine should be the name of a baseball outfielder!

Mason Jar

Mason Jar 18x25 Oil on canvas

I have seen other paintings of mason jars and wondered if I could do it as well. Well, I tried with this painting. The photo isn't the best but at least you can get the general idea of the piece.

I made the stretchers, stretched the canvas and have made the frame - all from scratch. It was (kinda - sorta) fun little project. The unusual size (18x25) was made to fit a picture frame from a thrift shop. That frame fell apart - literally so I made my own frame. I make most of my frames now.

I really LIKE masonite!

This is one of many reasons that I like to use masonite rather than canvas or other "soft" painting supports. Lots of people don't like masonite for their good reasons. But when something heavy fell on this finished piece (it was framed and signed) and poked a hole in it all I had to do was use my table saw and cut off six inches. Granted, I was lucky that the hole was in a place where I could do that.

The "new" piece measures 12x24

The "old" piece measured 12x30

"THE HOLE" The hole measures about 6 inches by 3 inches.

The hole sort of looks cool in a photograph. A big bird flying by? Note the smudged signature! Oh well! What the - - - - ?

Fishing On The River

Fishing On The River 20x40 Oil on canvas

This scene is purely from my imagination and having looked at photos of rivers in Arkansas. Not that this river is in Arkansas!

The canvas and frame were given to me by a neighbor after they had tried their hand at gessoing the original picture. I tried (not very hard) to eliminate the underpainting but some of the thick impasto shows through in my painting. Not all bad - it creates some interest. For instance why is there a slanted vertical line in the left 1/3 of the painting? It's a mystery!!!! :-) FYI the dark line at the bottom of the photo is the shadow of the frame. The picture was upside down when I took the photo - I was/am too lazy to turn it right-side up. Another one of those mysteries. :-)

Dancer With Swirling Skirt - WIP

Dancer With Swirling Skirt - WIP 24x30 Oil on Masonite

This dancer is another Flamenco inspired painting that I'm working on. I've done as much as I want to do until the paint has dried some more. I'd like to put in more shadows and touch-up the lady's head (face, hair and etc.).

This is a WIP - Work In Progress. The camera seems to enhance the light catching the brush strokes. The background isn't really light blue! And the lady's top isn't gray - it's very BLACK! Go figger. My camera is having another bad day. The photographer (me) is doing fine.

Skunk Cabbage - WIP

Skunk Cabbage - (WIP) 20x24 Oil on canvas board

(WORK IN PROGRESS)

The idea for this painting comes from some photos sent to me by cousins who went on a cruise to Alaska. Althea is an accomplished photographer, Burt probably goes along to carry the luggage. :-)  He's very handy - or used to be.


I need to finish this with some glazes then put some detail in that long doo-hickey-thing coming out of the flower blossom. It should have many "bumps" on it. I think that the part is a "pistil" or a "stamen" - my biology friends might tell me?

Ken B And The Dogs

Ken B And The Dogs 30x24 Oil on Masonite

9/19/2009 - Posted new photo. Work in Progress. :-)

This is a composite of a couple of photos that I took of the dogs and me on our walks around the neighborhood this year; when the dogwoods were blooming but the trees hadn't "leafed out". I put the camera on time-delay and quick like a bunny stepped back and tried to look cool. That didn't work (the cool part) so I just stood there - squinting. Most of the time the dogs took off just as the shutter was shuttering so the dog part of this painting is mainly from other photos and my imagination.

The large Boxer is Casey, the small Boxer is Simon and the Miniature Schnauzer is Bella.

The (digital) photo of the painting kept coming out darker than I would like, so my camera and I have agreed to a truce. All of my photos here on out are "no fault" photos. I get grumpy at my camera and vice versa but we don't say anything about it to each other. (stupid @#%^ camera).

Flamenco Dancer With Red Fan

Flamenco Dancer With Red Fan 30x24 Oil on Masonite.

09/24/2009 - posted a new photo. Finished :-)

A few months ago I saw a photograph on the internet somewhere and made a digital copy of it. The photo was one of many photos of Flamenco and Ballet dancers in very colorful costumes. One of the things that caught my attention was that the lady's face is just barely visible through the fan. It was a fun project!

Question about Gesso - Part 2

Question about Gesso - Part 2. In case you're interested . . . .

On May 23, 2009 I posted a question about storing gesso without it getting lumpy after being stored over time. MY "problem" is that LUMPS (great gooey globs of gesso, really) form in the gesso when I store the partly empty (partly full?) container. Then I have to deal with the clumpy, lumpy gesso the next time I want to gesso a support. I make my own Masonite panel supports and canvas supports so when I make a "batch" of supports, I use my gesso. I pour the gesso onto the new support then use a 6 inch foam "cabinet & door" paint roller to spread the gesso.

Suggested "solutions" were:

• store the container upside down
• put the gesso in progressively smaller containers expelling the air
• use all of the gesso
  

After some "experimenting":

• I found that the clumps still formed when storing the gesso container upside down. But now the clumps/lumps are at the bottom of the jar when the container is turned upright.
• Putting the unused gesso in a soft-side plastic bottle (e.g. plastic soda pop bottle) was messy getting the gesso from a quart jar into a one or two liter plastic bottle - even using a funnel. Plus a great deal of gesso stays in the first container. AND small lumps still formed even when the air seems to be pretty much totally expelled.

So . . . . If (WHEN) I use gesso I have to take my lumps! :-) I'll only buy the quart sized containers of gesso although it's a bit more expensive than the larger sizes. AND when I make a bunch of supports I'll try to make enough so that I'll use most if not all of the container. Where's the savings when buying the larger container if I'm spending time unlumping a gessoed support ?

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)
Ken B.

Cupcakes (DSFDF Challenge Week 46 - 48)

Cupcakes (DSFDF Challenge Week 46 - 48) 16x20 Oil on canvas

I wouldn't have chosen cupcakes as a subject for a painting, but what the heck? :-) It was fun - after a while. But it was really harder than I thought that it would be! At least there isn't much green in this painting. I seem to often make paintings with a lot of GREEN!

Check out the other submissions to Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF). It's really interesting what the different artists put down in their works. Well, I THINK that it's interesting. :-)

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.