My Backyard

This is the painting I have been fighting all summer and finally it is done. Richard McKown, my mentor, challenged me in late June to paint my backyard in the dark. So I began painting from 6:00-6:30 each morning and found the process interesting and fun but difficult when it came to the details, which made it very busy. The junipers alone presented a huge problem and the somewhat ragged flower bed with a mix of daisies, echinacea and hydrangeas were basically chaotic. And then there was the partially hidden bird bath which really made no sense. I painted and repainted and was ready to toss it, when Richard suggested I simplify it with hard edges defined by color.

His suggestion came from my reaction to the many paintings we had viewed together online and in museums as he was trying to understand what reaches me emotionally and can be the impetus that will inform the way I express in paint the essence of what I value. The approach he suggested was defintely in line with the paintings I love but was also a whole new way of painting and I hardly knew where to begin. There were many more layers of paint and more struggles as I tried to understand how to simplify and create interest without losing the sense of my backyard. During this process, the time of the painting moved into the light of mid-morning. The blocks of flat color are simplified forms of the yard's plantings. Although not easily seen in this photo, the major features have a contrasting color outlines which energize the painting while defining the objects. Color really became the major consideration in the composition to give the painting movement and create interest.

I learned a lot in the long process of making this painting and am anxious to start another one of these - likely one of the skulls which I love and which lend themselves to this approach. That, unfortunately, is apt to be November since I have so much on my plate for the next 6-7 weeks. So this will be my last post for awhile but I would love to hear from you and get your thoughts on this new approach.

Pecos Mission Ruins II

If you look at Pecos Mission Ruins I, which I posted way back on May 16th, you can place this view in the context of that view of the ruins. In the Pecos I painting, on the lower right side, you see two beams sticking out from the church. In this painting, those two beams are pointing toward you, one atop the other, right next to the corner buttress. The painting it self is fairly dark (top image)and the details are hard to see, so I have lightened it a little in the lower version so you can see the details more clearly.

I have done very little painting since June and am only starting to paint regularly again - although I'll be away for several weeks and will return to prepare a senior seminar that I will be teaching in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oklahoma. The topic of my seminar relates directly to these mission paintings as it will explore the idea that through the architectural remains of 17th century missions and pueblos we can come to some degree of understanding about the relationship between the puebloans and the friars who directed the building of these missions and played an important role in the life of the pueblos.

I do have one painting which I will finish this weekend and post before leaving. It is a complete change of direction from what I have been doing and would love to hear some comments.