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small paintings from 2016, Saranac Lake   3.5x5  - will be at Lake Placid Center for the arts in December.

 

The working process for my hybird work combining painting, photography and digital manipulation can be found at    hybridvisions.diggory.com

 

In the studio 2011:

Work method for my painting done as a reflection on the Japan earthquake and tsunami:  "Broken"  acrylic on wood, 2011, 8.5 x 9"

About a month before the Japan earthquake, I had been contemplating using this broken Imari plate and its pieces in a studio set up as an interesting formal device in a painting about the way that I divide up forms to paint them. The plate had been in the family since the days of occupied Japan. And then when the earthquake happened I began thinking about using the pieces in a commentary about the crisis. Since I am not there personally experiencing the suffering related to the disaster, I can only present a visual equivalent of the broken-ness, the off-kilter. I finally started drawing when after several days of rearranging, I set the plate in the sun and saw the dramatic shadow in the shape of Japan and the way that the plate seemed to have shifted away from the square of light. I placed it on a dark square of cloth with the fold evoking the form of the tsunami, appearing to push the plate off the table.  Only the remaining pieces are whole, and some of them are very tiny.  From drawing to finished painting:

  

 

 

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Work method for one of the images in the Boscobel exhibition 2011:

"Let there be white"  Hybrid media on paper 12x14.5 in.

I  began it as a painting on wood (see below for early stage) added my photograph to a digital file of the painting, manipulated the combined files, printed it and continued painting.

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Work method for plein air painting in Saranac Lake, NY  Aug 19-22, 2010

I took part recently in a Plein Air Festival as the juror of awards - but did a lot of painting as well - completing four small paintings and one very large one (although I am still working on that....)

Below is the motif for the larger work and it is followed by photos showing the working process.  The size is 30x40 inches and I used Golden Open Acrylics, which stay wet for longer than regular acrylics.

 

 

I  chose a location at the Second Lake Boat Launch, with a deep space toward mountains, a broad expanse of water and a group of pickerel plants in the water in the foreground. I began with the sky and distance - since the exciting clouds might not be around the next day and the patterns in the water would be determined by their positions. I changed the cloud pattern at least four times, finally picking a rhythm with a gap of blue that would set up a vertical blue reflection in the water. 

 

I then blocked in the brilliantly lit shore on the left:

And then more details on the right as the afternoon light came over and through the trees. I placed one of the stones in the water. That was about all for day one (about six hours)

On day two I continued to add detail to the clouds, shore and water- working another six hours

the left side on day 2

The right side on day 2. I decided to add a reddish canoe for color contrast and to set the scale, slightly hidden in the shadows. Lather I put in two people and changed the light so that the boat was lit from the back.

Day three was cloudy, but mainly I had finer details to work on - the colors and shapes had been set.  Below, as it looked as I began day 3 after spending about two morning hours indoors adjusting some of the colors and shapes:

As exhibited (after adding details on day three - six hours on location -and then about an hour of final adjustments the morning of day four)

 

The process of adding the fine lines included both small brushwork and using the edge of a piece of thin boxboard to pick up paint and lay it down, sometimes curving the edge.

 

I will probably keep working on it...

The other four small paintings from the long weekend:

"Open Spaces"  5x7" Donated and purchased

Saranac Dawn  8x10 inches 

Morning Halos, Saranac River   10x8"

Sunset Waves, Lake Clear    8x10"

 

web articles about the festival:

www.examiner.com

www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

and

www.Adironackalmanack.com

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The Sag Harbor Series 2008-09

Finally in 2009 I have completed  a series of artworks based on last summer's experiences watching the tidal waters sculpt the sand bars at Sag Harbor. The largest of the series, "Spindrift II" , is a combination of drawings I did while standing in or near the tidal waters, photographs of the area and further painting once the drawings and photographs were combined and manipulated on the computer.

Details from the artwork:

   

 

 

THE CHANGE OF COURSE SERIES  2007- 2008

For a recent series based on a dramatically turning stream near Lake George, I wanted to be able to do several versions all based on the same beginning. I had painted it in winter (#1), but wanted to try a summer series. So I started a large painting, photographed it and then reproduced that beginning on another canvas, to be finished a totally different way, staying fairly abstract. I continued on the original painting for a much more detailed version. And for another version, I took that early version into photoshop and mixed in some photographs of the motif, painted on a printed version, rescanned it and printed it full size .  There are now 12 paintings and mixed media pieces in the series.

 

 #1 Change of Course, Winter  2007

 

Recently out of the studio into a private collection

   Six paintings. Each 24x30.

   Click on individual paintings for larger view.

Installation Photos