Untitled

The naming of a piece is by far one of the most difficult tasks I have encountered as an artist. The title can bring a moment of revelation to the viewer, or it can convolute its meaning. Earlier today I installed one of my first large scale paintings in a clients home and he asked me what I had named it. Sometimes, it takes me months to name a painting and sometimes all I need is a dictionary. Currently, it remains untitled but is influenced by meteorology, the bus lines in San Francisco, graffiti street art, fault lines, electrical wires, a spa in Whistler, energy and the urban sky line. Free association writing or dream interpretation is certainly in my future.

The medium wars: Photography vs. painting

As I mentioned before, Christmas in Aspen was a copy of a photograph. For a period of time I was fascinated by making images that looked like a Rothko, Pollock or other abstract pieces. Photography and painting have for so long been considered vastly different mediums; it is wonderful to see the two intertwine. One of the arguments made against abstract art is that it does not look nearly as challenging to make as a landscape. I would argue that a landscape image is easier because the artists knows exactly what they are going to make. There is a distinct finish and an end. An abstract piece has no definitive ending. By taking long exposure images of lights, I can create an image to work from in turn easing the creation of abstract paintings.

Two artists, a photographer and a painter, whose work have influenced each other are Steve Coron and Karie Wagner. Karie and Steve have developed their artistic skills and visual taste together. The result is a symbiosis: Steve take landscape photos that Karie paints from, and Steves images end up achieving a painterly look and feel. The first two images below are Steves, the third is Karie's.

Christmas in Aspen

What you are looking at is a painting of a photo that is meant to look like a painting.

Form meets function

Q.) What do you do when you have lemons?
 A.) Make lemon aide! 

Q.) What do you do when you are in British Columbia with an excess of invasive lodge pole pine trees?
A.) Make coasters!

Round & round we go!

Not only a birthday present, but also a test. These paintings, 4" x 4", began as an experiment. By working small, I can experiment and achieve results more quickly than working on a bigger canvas. These learnings on technique, the acrylic medium and style can, and will be applied to larger pieces.