The Idea

Sometimes when I’m out and about, I may see something that inspires me for a painting and I may not have my sketchbook in hand. So I make a mental note. When I get to the studio, I will draw a small sketch of my “mental note”, so that I won’t forget about it later. Most artists refer to these little sketches as “Thumbnail sketches” Some of these little non-detailed sketches may develop into a more refined drawing and then maybe into a painting. I don’t take these sketches too seriously and I don’t always save them. If I look at one that has lost its appeal, it will just be tossed away.
  One day during during a drive, we made an unscheduled stop at an outdoor informal and unusual museum of mill stones. The shapes and textures of the stones and the birds that were hopping stone to stone drinking water from the center holes was visually appealing. After returning home, I quickly sketched out this thumbnail to hold the thought. I think this thumbnail sketch might develop into a completed painting……….. hmm?  By the way, I never seem to learn my lesson; Always, always carry a sketchbook.

 

Really, He posed for you?

 At the Kaziuko Mugė last weekend in Vilnius, one of the questions asked by a visitor at our booth was about the painting, “Memories of Yellowstone”; “Did that bear pose for you?” of course it was asked in the spirit of good humor. But the interest was there. The partial answer to that question was “yes, he did.“ The grizzly that modeled for this painting lives at the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim Washington. He is actually a retired movie star, no kidding! And he will pose for you. I also modeled a small bear "bust" out on non-hardening clay so I could get the position and lighting I was looking for. I saw a few grizzlies in the wild during my Yellowstone days but I never had the courage to ask one to pose for me.



 

Portrait or Stillife?

Although almost all of my paintings are related to wildlife and nature, once and a while I break away from this subject matter to hopefully improve my skills in someway.
Recently I found some old tools that belonged to my wife’s father. They are well used and show some character. A pair of pliers, a screwdriver and a wrench… Perfect! So I placed the three tools on a dirty table (which I dirtied up) and sketched the tools individually onto three small gessoed Masonite panels. The only technique that I used that is unusual for me; I used my fingers and old rags to scrub the painting periodically during the painting process to create texture and give the painting a worn look to emphasize the real character of the tools…..I guess you could say, I painted their portraits.


 

 

 

 

 

 

Kaziuko Mugė

 On March 1 -3 2013 was the Kaziuko Mugė ;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaziuko_mug%C4%97   held in Vilnius Lithuania spreading about 9 km. There were thousands of attendees and about 2000 participants. We were one of those participants. People endured the cold and snow and came from all over Europe to see or participate in this event.
 Thank you to all of you that visited. Thank you for your kind comments and interest in my art.
 I want to say a special thank you to my wife / representative, Jūratė. For her love, enthusiasm and for believing in me. And for enduring the cold snowy, weather during the Mugė. She made it a big success.
                   THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Back to the drawing board

It has been a little while since my last blog entry. It seems time flew past me with a lot of events happening in my life that are not art related.

I would like to mention that I completed the Kernavė  buffalo painting…..well, I thought it was completed. After looking closely, I decided it is in fact not finished. I am not at all satisfied with the buffalo, the river, foreground grasses and some of the clouds. That is a lot to be “unsatisfied” about. What I believe happened is I got bored with it and rushed through it to just get it finished.
 So, it is on the “back shelf “ just for a little while. With the painting out of view for a while, it will give me time to refresh my inspirations for this piece. When I take it out to view it again, I hope it will be clear as to what I need to do to rescue this painting. Or I may look at it and say…”nope, it’s going back on the back shelf again for a little while longer.”

 

The Bison Painting

I am currently working on several pieces. I usually do this to refresh my mind. One piece in particular is a 15 X 30 acrylic painting of two European bison standing on a large “mound” in Kernavė Lithuania. Kernavė is a protected archeological site that has been studied for more than thirty years now. The mound on which the bison is standing is one of several mounds in this area that were used for defensive purposes during the thirteenth century.

The Bison used to roam freely in Lithuania years ago. They almost became extinct  but were caught and breed in captivity and then released as a herd in 1973. If you are interested in more about the bison of Lithuania you can visit this link; http://www.ekoi.lt/info/azl/1999/AZL%209(3)_3-18.pdf



In the painting, I want to create a image of what it might be like when the bison was roaming throughout Lithuania. Creating a look or feel of just after a rain in the early Autumn.

　

Too Graphic?

Living in California most of my life, I have seen many changes in the “Golden State”. When I was around nine or ten years old, our family moved from the smog saturated city of Los Angles to the sleepy little town of Lincoln California. Just north of Sacramento, Lincoln has rolling hills, pure clean air and beautiful large oak forests. Even though I had been to Yosemite prior to living in Lincoln, This is where I fell in love with nature. All of the landscape and wildlife around became the main subject matter for drawing and painting.

Over the years though, I have seen this area develop giving way to concrete and asphalt. What used to be open fields and rolling hills filled with Oak trees, deer, hawks, songbirds, rabbits, mountain lions and many more species of wildlife has become shopping centers, office buildings, parking lots and houses. Thank goodness at least California decided to protect the Oak tree. I know there are a lot of agencies and organizations that try to keep a balance between the concrete and nature but they have a real battle on their hands many times loosing to the monetary monster.

With the development of these areas, wildlife was forced to move on to look for a new home. This would involve in most cases to cross the highway. Some made it across, many didn’t. I was seeing more and more wildlife on the roadside. The Coyote seemed to be the most dominant resident of the roadside. I was inspired to do a painting that would reflect what was happening in California. Instead of trying to explain, the image can say it all;

I titled this painting; California Wildlife. I submitted this piece to an art exhibit in Northern California and it was accepted into the show. During the opening ceremony, I noticed this painting was missing from the exhibit. I asked the curator why my painting was not hanging. He took me to a small room out of the main hall. There it was, hanging by itself. The curator told me that it was too graphic and offensive to display for the opening and assured me it would be moved to the main exhibit room the next day. He told me this painting was picked by a committee but he had the final say of what would hang in the exhibit. I told him that this painting is almost an everyday sight along the roads of California and that I have seen far more graphic and offensive paintings displayed in prestigious galleries. My words seemed to have bounce off of him. Two days later I went back to the gallery only to find that this painting was still hanging in the little room. I withdrew the painting from the exhibit. That was a long time ago but this painting was and still is a statement of the consequences of the development of California’s wild lands and habitat.

What happened to that freedom of expression? Do you think this painting was too graphic to hang in the exhibit?