Friday, October 19, 2012

New Work


I have been busy this season traveling and painting, striving for simplification.  As artists, we are constantly trying to go beyond the literal and simplification is the best way to move in that direction.  I am painting from life as much as possible, using those studies along with my photos to simplify shapes and values.  I have found that staying with 3 or 4 values and 3 to 5 shapes in a painting keeps me out of too much detail at the beginning.  As a painting progresses I can adjust temperature, color and detail at the end with  fewer marks that say it all thus preserving the basic structure of my painting.  This is my most recently completed painting, Afterglow 24x30, which effectively captures what I wanted to say simply.