Waiting in Line

Finished up Waiting in Line, mixed media on canvas, 24 x 48h inches. The source photo is from my trip up to Portland, Oregon this summer. I actually spent two days roaming around the downtown.

In this piece I kept the palette really minimal. The figures beneath the sign are the only full color elements. The title is inspired by the Zero7 song "Waiting in Line". The lyrics about looking at the world and not being content with what you see really hit home for me. My thought is how at time the world can seem very big, cold and distant, but the people in my life provide the color, love, and relief from these feelings. At openings I'm often told that my work is dark, but really my work is about the light and the dark is only there for contrast. 

The Uncertainty Is Always There - Finished

Finished up on The Uncertainty Is Always There this morning. It's funny, but I try to be as true to my street photos as I can, but at times there are elements like a piece of litter or an architectural element in the photo just don't seem to make sense in the final painting. Those elements look like a mistake and detract more than anything, so it's best to edit them out. Nonetheless, I am not quick to omit them, usually paint them in initially and then reluctantly strike them out within the last day or two of working on a canvas.  One aspect of the original photo I kept was the angle. I felt it added to the precarious nature of being uncertain about the future and what one should do next.

I sort of relate to the main figure in this painting. He's the tattooed punk rocker type like me. He wasn't at ease like he had something eating at him. Something he didn't really know what to do to fix. I feel like we're all there with things in our lives, but we just push them to the back of our minds most of the time and get on with it. Even though they're pushed to the back burner - they resurface and bug us on our way to work later on. No matter what though - uncertainty is a fact of life and is always there.

Uncertain Dawn

I came close to completing three canvases today, but alas I had to call it quits to get some sleep.  Uncertain Dawn is just going so well. That's the working title at least.  I've been debating between Leave Me Alone and Uncertain Dawn.  I feel like Uncertain Dawn might be the ultimate pick.  There's a wonderful ill at ease, but hopeful spirit within this work.  It's hard to explain, but there are times that you are alone in the early morning watching the sun rise and there's an uncertainty in the world or at least within you that you in turn transpose onto the world.  I feel that way when I look at this painting.  It's that moment of uncertainty and ironic unlimited possibility that scares you and invigorates your spirit all within the same moment. Like that country song that my wife listens to all the time "The day is mine to do with as I wish".

6 Days and The Bridges Commission

I finished 6 Days tonight, which feels really good to have the first finished work within the studio out of the way.  It's a really interesting work considering that it started as a print piece for last year's print show.  Some how if felt right to take it all the way into a finished painting rather than letting it stay a print piece. I changed the title of the work along the way. Ironically, I feel this work is almost a sketch for the 50 x 70" canvases above.

These two canvases are the Bridge Commission.  I took Friday off, so that I had the whole weekend to build them and finish 6 Days up. On the left is going to be the Fremont Bridge piece and on the right will be the Steel Bridge. I just finished priming the Steel Bridge piece, so the studio reeks of the wonderful smell of gesso. This will probably be the last rendering of the Steel Bridge for a while.  This will be the fourth work I've painted.  I'm going to mix this one up a little though and use a different photo reference.  On my last morning ride in Portland the day we departed for home.  I photographed a barge pass underneath.

Thanks to my friend Shawn I have a ton of photos of the Fremont bridge to choose from. It's going to be hard to narrow the reference photo down since there are so many good shots.