I had visited the house previously and taken several existing works to view in the space.  None were quite large enough for the intended space, but the existing works allowed us to establish a baseline for what mood the client enjoyed most, and which colors worked best in the room.

The stage of the art right now is what I would consider to be the ‘underpainting’.  This is a loose interpretation of color and composition.  It allows an artist to establish overall relationships first, rather than attempting to finalize limited areas at a time.

This work is slightly larger than average (36″ x 36″) so creating an underpainting is especially useful.

Here’s another piece that I hope to list later today or tomorrow:

This is a 24″ x 18″ and I’ve been having a difficult time getting a decent photo of it.  Though digital photography has made almost instantaneous visual communication more feasible, it’s still a challenge for many artists to get ‘decent’ photos of their work.  Here’s a good article I read recently on the subject called Digital Image Troubleshooting.

Also I have other projects in mind other than paintings that need attention.  As an artist, the finished work is certainly the most important in developing my reputation, however the process of creation does not function well for me in a vacuum.  Each painting is a visual record, that reflects what I am reading, thinking and investigating.  If I were a better writer, I believe I would have enjoyed journalism because writings that take human endeavors under the lens of study in an objective way fascinate me.

One such book that I’d recommend to any artist is Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton.  Again, here’s why I’m NOT primarily a writer; I’m pretty sure I should have listed that first linked article in quotes, rather than as an underlined entry, but my computer doesn’t seem to want to let me go back and change it…

Often while working as an instructor, I would see students create art from newspaper or magazine photos… this is not an issue if done only for the purpose of study, but unethical if done for profit.

At first glance there are elements of the work that contradict the name.  The scene is bright and open with vibrant colors.  Further exploration draws us down to the foreground area where the shadows deepen to the point of illegibility and the brush marks are more active.  The order of the upper scene almost seems to drain out into chaos.  Mystery is in the chaos, but also in the exploration and contemplation of visual meaning.