image for AF

more updated images of recent work

Besides this large canvas, I am working on paintings for an event at Beringer Winery in lovely St. Helena.
June 13th: wine, cheese, music, food and over 70 artists in attendance. Should be quite the blow out, eh?

that's why it's not called "a painting a day"

I said to my friend as they critiqued my blog and questioned it's merits. I work large. The larger the better in my opinion. Working this large means I can't do a "painting a day" as the term has been used by those esteemed artists, usually completing work in one day, usually small, as in, inches.
So, I invited my friend to the studio. The painting as an example is 4'x10' in length. The stretcher bars built by my friend K, who has now begun an addiction in me: Access to large, custom sized stretchers that he delivers to the studio and I cover in canvas, gesso and prime for the next work of art. Did I say addictive? I can't even tell you. All I want is still larger canvas with which to work.
My fabulous studio mate, R is also a size addict. We're bad in that way, always looking for our next big canvas fix. He ordered four, I'm pondering the next "hit", not even close to being finished with the painting that's 10' in length.
But the question I have is this: Anything smaller than ten feet at this point will seem less of a high. Can this be stopped? Do I need it to stop?

gone fishin'

Does anyone still say that? Or does one have to be of a certain generation and beyond to even understand what that means.
My 19 year old friend A had never heard the words "tract house". I thought that was fairly charming. It falls into the category of what happened to albums, dial phones, and and drive in movies.
I digress. Yes, gone fishing, and not in the way that you might like to think but rather spending too much of my time fishing around these parts on the vast highway of I, reading others' posts of this and that, nothing particularly. E tells me as long as i am not adding more and more sites to my bookmarks I am safe. Good rule of thumb me thinks.
Here's what else I've been doing:
A fellow artist K recently offered to make me custom sized stretcher bars/supports so I quickly satisfied myself by having him build a 10 foot long canvas (four feet wide) and I stretched the canvas, primed and now ready to go with my next painting.
I could go on and on about how happy this canvas makes me, but i won't. Suffice to say, I love working on large format space.
The Gstudio group and I have a show coming up at the Beringer winery in St Helena which is shaping up to be what I anticipate as a fabulous time, with our group having a prime bit of realestate to show our art, right in front of the Mansion, under a massive oak tree.
Life is good.

fears no more?

So we had a group meeting and L has given us assurances that we all have a safe studio home and all will not be lost.
Back to business at hand. Many things that I'm working on right now: a commissioned painting, participation of Gstudio at a Beringer Winery event in June, The Napa arts council open studio event. Everything is sounding far in advance but in fact, these are the things that for an artist, must be thought out and worked on early. Thoughts must turn to inspiration, inspiration must gel into idea, idea must find it's way to the canvas and paintings must dry. This takes a bit of time.
Here's a painting that I've been working on for a bit. Although I will sell it, it's just a little something I did for me.
Giancomo Puccini (maestro of "Madame Butterly, Tosca, Turandot to name but three.) I put myself in there so you could get a better sense of size. 5'x6'.

the winds of change are a comin'

That does happen, doesn't it. Just when all is settled, content, comfy cozy... there it is, like it or not.
L of Gstudio is deciding to take her show on the road, so to speak and here we are, 4 artists, biting our nails. What to do, what to do? Was that the white rabbit of Alice in Wonderland lore that uttered those very words?
L happens to be the glue of Gstudio, so it will be an adjustment on us. She promises to return and as I understand it has to due to a solo show she's recently booked for an artist here in Napa.
I'm an addict to change and drama of sorts, but secretly is it my change that I love and not so much the change of others?

teacher! teacher!

That's right, every first and third Saturday of the month, I'll be teaching an art class at Gstudio. On this Saturdays menu:
palette knife painting. Wha? you say?
Abandoning the paintbrush for the palette knife is what this is. The effect can be smooth, abstract, thick, and chunky.
11am. Be there.