Blog

When a client identified a painting on my web site that had sold several years ago, I suggested that I could paint the scene again. I have a lot of photo reference of the Metolius River as it is really one of the most beautiful spots in Central Oregon. We have camped less than a mile from this site, so painting this brought back lots of good memories.
I call it Susie's Metolius as Susie is the client. She has seen the final version, now all I need to do is let it dry, spray a coat of retouch varnish and frame it. Happy Birthday Susie!

I substituted our Heeler Stella for the dog in my photo. Despite the fact that our neighbors have several meat goats, Stella has demonstrated no interest. She prefers to herd deer...a rather precarious pastime as deer are not to be confused with cute little Bambi.

Really having fun with this series...a little looser...a little more limited pallet. As most artists recognize, going outside of your comfort zone helps you grow as a painter. I intend to be primarily a landscape painter, but this diversion is focused on helping me be looser and a bit more abstract.

I am exploring a new series..cattle and cattle dogs. We have had cattle dogs for years...a red one who was described as "a piece of work," and not in a favorable way. Now we have two blue heelers...a rescue and a ranch reject. The red could work cattle (if she didn't kill them) but our current heelers spend a lot of time healing the couch,which is OK with me as I don't want them going over to our neighbors and working their animals...
But my admiration for REAL working dogs is boundless. After several years of painting with Vicki Shuck on the Uncommon Beauty Project I developed a real appreciation for Red Angus cows. This is a Herford, but will work on some Angus soon.

Vicki Shuck and I are talking about rebooting our Uncommon Beauty Series (Phase III)...that got me sifting through cattle country photos. I had always liked horses, having ridden as a child, and then for a brief time (my horse crazy time) in my 30's. But cows...hmmm. Well, time spent on the Uncommon Beauty project where we visited ranches and farms gave me an appreciation for cattle...especially Red Angus. So, why not. A miniature show is on my schedule and what if I surprised them all by digressing from landscapes and focused on cattle and cattle dogs? We do have two Australian Cattle Dogs...not the rough and ready kind, rather a ranch reject ("It's too hot to work. Oh, no...I can't go out...it is raining") and a rescue...think he must have been hit in the head. Cattle Dogs are smart...not our Rico. Nevertheless, I do love cattle dogs and my new found admiration for cattle needed an outlet. So here are three "work in progress" paintings.

I am also trying a more minimalist style. I will never be an abstract painter...but I am also not a camera.

I mentioned that I had a large tinted canvas (from a commission that was not working out)...well, instead of having it haunt me I decided to paint something I really wanted to paint. And of course,that is the high desert in either dawn or twilight light.

In some prior life I must have been a western painter in the early 1900's...maybe I sent some time in Northern California with the tonalists...but I must have traveled back to the high desert or the desert to really satisfy my soul.

So now the other painting is but a faint memory and I am happy again.

Nothing like starting (and finishing) a new painting. I am back to painting my favorite part of the west...the high desert. This view of the eastern side of Steens Mt. reminds me that spring is coming...and soon it will be time for road trips!

Unlike most of my blogs which are about specific pieces of art or shows this comes under the heading "Lessons Learned."
The title is from SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES by the Platters, and more recently played in the outstanding film "Forty-Five Years."

This is a tale of a commission that was not meant to be. I have done (and will continue to do) commissions. They range from joyful experiences to woeful ones. Some good friends started out as clients.
Over the years I have sent some parameters. I will not paint from someone else's photo...that meaningful faded Polaroid will likely not mean much to me and will be impossible to capture the heartfelt emotions of the person who has the photo.

 

I will only rarely do sites picked by a client, and not unless I can get there and photo and sketch it myself, thus again avoiding not understanding the environment and the play of light.

I have added a new one: "I will not replicate a painting I painted years ago and add a mountain that doesn't exist." Really this is not about adding the mountain...but rather about going back 5-6 years and replicating things that I would not do now. We all learn and grow and our interpretations of the same scene change in the way we would depict them.

I had just  attempted this for a very nice couple. They were energetic...enthused and "loved" my work.  However, there were warning signs..they sent me lots of pictures of their lovely Mid-Century Modern home (an architectural style I like)...and notes about colors of chairs, etc. WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! There is a huge difference between original art and decorative works that one can see the Property Brothers whip out on House and Garden TV.

I like to keep my clients informed so I sent a preliminary sketch...and it was agreed upon. There is a 50% non refundable fee...agreed upon and I was on my way. I sent some updates...photos of the toned canvas, the sketch on the canvas, etc. (I feel part of my job as an artist is to inform people about how paintings are done.) When I got to the 90% painting complete mark I sent a photo...OH OH....

Several emails later...one wishing I would make the sage more "vibrant" (I attempted this...) then an agreement to talk, then an email with the old painting attached and how it was not the same as the new one. (OK, but we agreed to go to from a square format to an oblong and add a mountain in the background that would never have been there...yes it was different.....and the colors were slightly different as I no longer fling "color notes" randomly at the canvas), we had our phone call.

Somewhere between "could you change the road" (to go a very different direction) and "the trees are not in the same place" I felt ill. I promised to call the next day and see what I could do.

Up to my studio....I looked at the well composed painting, with the somewhat reasonable new mountain and decided that the best thing to do was to scrape it all off...and get down to canvas. Luckily most of it was still wet enough to only leave a pentimento*.

Then I realized that I simply did not have the stomach to start all over again...I knew  that my energy around this painting would be all wrong and also that their wishes probably could not be met. So I sent a polite (I hope) email severing the contract and a promise to mail back their refund (I could salvage the canvas and to Hell with the many hours, and the paint...ugh). This morning I mailed the check.

Then I went up to the studio and saw the sad remnants of the painting and decided that a nice covering in Cadmium Orange Pure and Quinacradone Rose would  make it and the memory vanish (in time).   I started a new painting...something I WANTED TO PAINT and slowly have regained my composure.

 

Several years ago I would have not done this.  I would be diligently painting away trying to second guess their internal vision and wants.  Not now.  Life is too short to paint anything you don't feel.

 

 

* A pentimento (plural pentimenti) is an alteration in a painting, evidenced by traces of previous work, showing that the artist has changed his or her mind as to the composition during the process of painting. The word is Italian for repentance, from the verb pentirsi, meaning to repent.  (How appropriate...I would have repented a lot had I continued with this commission!)

Studying other artists is essential. However no matter how much you study (unless studying to be a forger) you develop your own voice. So as I completed this painting I realized that while I like so many other artists "bow down before the Edgar Payne throne" I will always paint like me. Looking at my friend Jean's work, I consider it equal to Payne, but it is Jean. So here is my tribute to Edgar Payne with my own signature and the Cascases (Broken Top Mt.) as my muse....