Showing posts with label brush strokes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brush strokes. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Down in the Valley
From a stretch of the Flathead river where I was fishing with Grandpa in his driftboats... Well, he was fishing. I was a little distracted. It was so interesting to see the cool pink grazing the trees and grass right next to the blazing hot orange of the sky. I was trying to figure out what pigments to use in which places, since the instant you snap the photo the camera makes it either all warm or all cool, or some muddy combination. Congrats to Angela and Josh Erickson! This was their wedding present. ;)
Labels:
art,
artists,
brush strokes,
Cows,
Flathead,
Landscape,
loose,
oil painting,
outdoors,
paint,
painting,
plein air,
River,
traditional
Thursday, March 13, 2014
On Not Being a Control Freak
For the last five days of being sick with the flu, I've had plenty of time to sift through amazing artwork online and glean and dig for answers to what the differences are between where my paintings are now, and where I'd like them to go next. Despite the facts that I despise dictatorships, socialistic attitudes and micromanagement perpetrators, I've come to that point where I need to actually admit... that when it comes to paint, I'm naturally a control freak. Yes, what I've always known, and was probably obvious to you has been eating away at me, making me uncomfortably defensive every time I look at a piece of art that truly speaks to me. It's that nagging wanna-be doubt that says, "You can never do that. You are a control freak." Well, I'm done. I can't take listening to that anymore, so I'm changing my art. This is a turning point for me. People can change. I can.
The beauty we find in nature, although it's infused with order and unifying patterns, exists to some extent or another in a state of chaos, which makes it incredibly interesting to look at, and explore. And why is it like that? (This is the epiphany I had today) - it's because God, our Creator, is not a "control freak." He doesn't rule as a dictator, or regulate like a micro-manager. He doesn't iron out all the wrinkles, prevent all the wars from happening, stop everyone from getting sick, or force all of the people and animals to live in separate areas, like the person (maybe me...) who keeps the peas out of the potatoes on their dinner plate. He lets things happen. He lets us make choices so we can develop. He lets us do very stupid things because He respects the agency He's given us to act for ourselves and knows we'll account for it later...when the whole painting is finished. I'm going to treat my paint more like that.
Here are some of the paintings among hundreds of others that have led me to this *crucial* moment of decision:
The beauty we find in nature, although it's infused with order and unifying patterns, exists to some extent or another in a state of chaos, which makes it incredibly interesting to look at, and explore. And why is it like that? (This is the epiphany I had today) - it's because God, our Creator, is not a "control freak." He doesn't rule as a dictator, or regulate like a micro-manager. He doesn't iron out all the wrinkles, prevent all the wars from happening, stop everyone from getting sick, or force all of the people and animals to live in separate areas, like the person (maybe me...) who keeps the peas out of the potatoes on their dinner plate. He lets things happen. He lets us make choices so we can develop. He lets us do very stupid things because He respects the agency He's given us to act for ourselves and knows we'll account for it later...when the whole painting is finished. I'm going to treat my paint more like that.
Here are some of the paintings among hundreds of others that have led me to this *crucial* moment of decision:
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| Whitney Lau |
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| Tibor Nagy |
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| Vadim Zanginian |
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| Quang Ho |
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| Tibor Nagy |





