Today I got a new studio easel. It is by “BEST” and its the “O’Connell” model. I took a nice drive out to Continental Art Supplies on Reseda Blvd. in the VW Beetle. I was only planning on getting a couple of new brushes and some of new tubes of paint that is missing on my palate. I ended up with this beauty. The only problem was that it would NO WAY fit in my little car. Steve Aufhäuser, the owner, was giving me a tour of the store, and showing me this easel, when he discovered that it would not fit. Hmmm… I said “Do you deliver?” he smiled and said… “I’ll do anything for a beer” we laughed and I told him that I had a couple of bottles in the fridge waiting for him. So, he said he could stop and deliver it to my home in Camarillo on his “way home.” I can’t suggest that he would do it again to anyone that asked, but I was sure grateful that I got to start working on it tonight.
He ended up staying around for about an hour while we talked about brushes, gesso and what is best to use to clean out your oil brush… his suggestion… boiled linseed oil that you can get at any hardware store. Just make sure to rag out as much of it as you can when its all cleaned out. Solvents are much too harsh.
I also picked up a couple of new smallish filberts from a brand I never even heard of… Escoda, from Spain. They have been around for 75 years. Steve says that they are one of his favorites. I got a couple #8’s and #2’s of the no-frills model “Natural” a non nickel-plated brass ferrule.
I will be testing them out this week. {smiling} I will be in a three-day plein air workshop with Ryan Wurmser. I am so looking forward to this. We will be talking about composing light and natural form outdoors. Looks like we have three beautiful days in a row, all sun and about 70 degrees. I hope to come home with a few new paintings from Malibu Creek Canyon, El Matador State Beach, and one other location.
So, many have asked what I have been working on. I started a commission painting of High Studio in Moorpark, CA … a portrait really … of the outside of the building. Its a night scene. Still to come, people enjoying art in the left half windows… and a whole lot of fussing around with the rest. Click the first image to pop up full size, or scroll down to see the progress.
Today the Huntington Beach Plein Air Festival closes. I had the three paintings below in the event, plus one that was offered up for the “Painting in the Streets” event. I love
Here is a repost of a painting called “The other side” that. I started it in 2004. It took until 2007 to get it all finished up. I only have this video, but it is pretty nice to see it up close. If you have a current version of QuickTime on your computer (and you are NOT using Firefox on a PC) you can press the link below and watch it. This 24″ x 48″ oil painting is the biblical scene when Peter comes to shore after fishing all night long with nothing to show for his efforts. When he gets close to shore, a man standing on the shore tells him to give it another try, but on the far side of the boat. Peter is tired and has been at this all night long, but gives in and does what he knows will not yield anything. He is surprised to see that he was wrong about it and then recognizes that it is his friend Jesus that has told him this.
Some days, we just do what you are trained to do. Sometimes we are told to do differently. Against their better judgment, Peter did do what Jesus asked of him, but I am sure that they had a discussion beforehand that went something like “Well, we are the fishermen here, but if we need to toss our net over the edge of the boat again to get you to shut your mouth…” and with a “ugggh” and a toss, the net was in the water. What would YOU have done? When do you feel that God is asking you to go or do something against your better judgment?
This painting shows the provision of the provider when we think we have nothing to gain in giving it an extra go… even when Spirit compels us to keep going. Press on! I was commissioned to create this painting to show that sometimes the provision of God is just below the surface and also that he always knows where it will come from before we are nudged to act upon his Call. Peter had done everything right – all night long – and he was tired form doing the right thing with NO result. Jesus came to them to say “Keep it up”. Sometimes it seems absurd to do what you think is the “right thing”, but I have found that to keep pressing in is often the thing that is needed… that which needs to be done in order to get to the tipping point, to cause the equilibrium to go your way, to cause status quo to be not good enough. Life is hard work if we want to accomplish much or even SEE much in this world. It is always easier to “go with the flow” and just sit on a raft and float to the end of the river. I am never satisfied with this for very long. Rest and solitude is good and important for us, but real LIFE is hard work… and rewarding.
I was invited to paint during another Sunday morning service today at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Ventura, CA. Today’s theme was “Why the Bible” and the simple answer is because it provides a map to the road we are all on. So, I thought if the time I was in Assisi last year and this wonderful countryside road that lead from the hilltop city into where the fields. This is the same valley floor that San Francesco gathered his co-laborers to serve the poor and dejected, the lepers and homeless. It is there that the Franciscan order was developed and continues today.
So, here is the painting “Road from Assisi” that was created in about 70 minutes during the service today. Click the image to view it larger.
Road From Assisi - 48" x 48" Acrylic on Birch Panel
Click the image below for a short time-lapse view of the painting in progress.
Yesterday I sent off the four completed diptychs in my “Face of Love” series. The went with John Alderson and his son Bryce to BIOLA University for an exhibit that will last the entire semester. It will be in the foyer of one of the buildings on campus. I will post photos of the display when I get them in. It seems a bit strange to send off my paintings and not be there to hang them. I fully trust John’s judgment, but still odd not to be there. ;.)
Below is the current stage of the paintings. I have not displayed the “I was Thirsty” paints ever before, and (don’t tell anyone…) there is still a bit of work to be done on it. I want to fuss a bit with the faces still, but I need a break to do some other work, so I shipped them off as is for the time being. Click on an image to view larger.
I was thirsty - You gave me drink" 36" x 72" Oil on canvas
I was sick - You visited me 36" x 72" Oil on canvas
I was sick - You visited me 36" x 72" Oil on canvas
I was naked - You clothed me 36" x 72" Oil on canvas
A few months ago I was asked to consider painting during a Sunday Morning church service. In fact, there was an opportunity to paint during more than one. Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Ventura is doing a summer series of outdoor services, so it is much more casual. The series asks a series of questions starting with “Why…?” Today was “Why Jesus?” Next week, it will be “Why the Bible?” and so on.
On the left is a 48″ square painting I did during the 70 minute service. I will work out the hands a bit more this week and return it on Sunday. They will use it in a raffle during their annual Lemon Festival in order to help raise funds for my film project Without Shelter.
So, on Friday (June 19th) I will be leaving the daily grind to be a gypsy artist for a week. I will take my newly gesso-ed birch panels with me to San Onofre Beach where it will be my outpost for the week. San Clemente hosts a week long Plein Air competition and I will be taking the entire week to get some sun and painting done. I always look forward to my little trips about once a year… usually alone. It is a necessary thing for me to be in solitude. Distance from the stuff of daily life has a way of giving a new perspective. Interestingly, Saturday evening will be Summer Solstice. I do not necessarily “celebrate” this, but it offers a reminder that seasons do change and life goes on even after drastic life changes happen to us. There are these threshold moments in our lives that we can look back on and see where everything became different. We can not prepare for everything that lies in the path of our future, but we can know that the trail that we have been on so far has brought us to where we are now.
My artist friend Michael Pearce has a spool of shoelace material. Stitched into the lace is the word “Solitude” which is a word that I cherish. It is idealistic of me to think that I can have solitude in the chaos of my life, but I try to be reminded of its value. In the book “The Way of the Heart” Henri Nouwen has an entire chapter talking of the importance of solitude in our busy lives. It is a way to spiritually re-charge. It is infact the first step on a path that he describes as the way of the heart. (the next steps are silence and prayer) Of solitude he says “Solitude is the furnace of transformation.” He goes on to say in another book “In solitude we discover that life is not a possession to be defended, but a gift to be shared.” It is there, in solitude that I do recharge my gift. I am able to go back to the daily life of family, work, community and share the gift of life. I am truly looking forward to filling up with grace and the suns vitamin D boost as I paint along the coast next week.
You can watch a video here of some of the things that took place at the Opening of my artshow “Faces” that was at the Cafe on A in Oxnard last fall. I never posted it here on my blog. Thanks for all who came to support me and listen to me talk about these paintings. Now I continue on with the final three paintings in the series “Face of Love“
This series of paintings “Face of Love” is based on Matthew 25: 35, 36…
I was hungry and you gave Me food I was thirsty and you gave Me drink
I was without shelter and you took Me in I was naked and you clothed Me
I was sick and you visited Me
I was in prison and you came to Me
Today I got a new studio easel. It is by “BEST” and its the “O’Connell” model. I took a nice drive out to Continental Art Supplies on Reseda Blvd. in the VW Beetle. I was only planning on getting a couple of new brushes and some of new tubes of paint that is missing on my palate. I ended up with this beauty. The only problem was that it would NO WAY fit in my little car. Steve Aufhäuser, the owner, was giving me a tour of the store, and showing me this easel, when he discovered that it would not fit. Hmmm… I said “Do you deliver?” he smiled and said… “I’ll do anything for a beer” we laughed and I told him that I had a couple of bottles in the fridge waiting for him. So, he said he could stop and deliver it to my home in Camarillo on his “way home.” I can’t suggest that he would do it again to anyone that asked, but I was sure grateful that I got to start working on it tonight.
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