Painting the Figure

Going back to school provided me the opportunity to do some figure studies/paintings. Always a fun challenge. This one is 34"x 40", oil on canvas.

The Artist and the Apprentice

This image is evident of how an artist often feels. It seems that pursuing a life in the arts is truly living life on the edge. Oil on canvas, 24"x 24".

Hansen Commission

This is a commission I did for my uncle John and aunt Dianne. And by the way these are the children of one of the nice families I have ever met. I really am blessed to have some amazing cousins.

The painting is fairly large(36"x 48") oil on canvas and was completed in 2010.

Show this Friday

We got a little show together for the final of a Drawing 2 class I am teaching at USU. 35 young energetic young art students will be having their first gallery show in this months Gallery Stroll in Salt Lake City. Swing by if you are in the area and enjoy some great art, some great company and some tasty snacks. You will not be disappointed.

Alpine Art

April 20th 6-9pm

430 e South Temple

SLC, Utah

New Series?

Two recent paintings, the second is a small black and white sketch 8"x 8" oil on panel, the first is a 24" x 24" painted in tones of blue.

I have been thinking of doing a series of medium to large paintings based on limited color palettes. The body of work would be done to explore what can be done with minimizing my options, while pushing the process in other ways by subtracting the complexity of color from the equation.

If only there was more time in the day....

Inspiration

These two small oil sketches(8"x 12") are inspired by the filmmaker Terrence Malick's movie, Tree of Life.

I loved painting this painting...

After painting a small scene from a small southeastern Utah town, I decided to try and paint the same image on a larger scale. The first attempt was 11"x 14" and the second attempt is 48"x 72". As I transitioned from a small panel to a large canvas I tried to up the scale of the tools. I used larger brushes, larger palette knives, and larger piles of paint. This homework assignment taught me a lot.

"...Shut up in a Tomb.."

The fun thing about going to Grad school is that one can make a painting and not worry about where it will end up. Artistically, I have been influenced by film as much as art history. The content of this scene/painting hit close to home because my brother and I were similar ages when our Grandfather passed away. I remember the funeral being an extremely confusing process. I did this painting to reflect on that and how cinema brings up those dormant emotions.

The painting is large(45"x 60") and I painted it mostly with large brushes one would paint a house with. I wanted to limit the control I had as I up the scale of the subject.

Small Success

One thing that is extremely necessary for anyone who is creating something is a small success every now and again. Making something out of nothing is a daunting task and failure lurks around every corner. Those failures lead to self doubt and despair. One remedy to this painful process is setting yourself up to succeed at least at something small. The sketchbook gig kept me from quitting and moving onto something else. I have decided to share some of the pages from those sketchbooks.

Many of these sketches are inspired by or master copies of someone's work. A great way to learn is to study those you admire.

"The Motorcycle Diaries" and "Called to Serve"

This has been a fun project even though it has lingered a little long. It most definitely is the strangest Self-Portrait I have ever tackled. Reality meets the implausible. It is a painting focusing on a two year journey I took to Argentina as a 19 year old boy. I am struggling to come up with a title but there is an obvious theme here. There are between twenty and thirty symbols through this painting, some are obvious and some are hidden. If you have an idea for a title, please let me know. Oil on canvas, 48"x 48".

Stretching Canvas

A painting is pretty simple when looking it from its earliest stages. Behind most paintings is simply a panel or a piece of canvas/linen stretched around some wood.



Here is a stretcher 4 x 6 feet built by a killer Carpenter in Salt Lake City. If you ever need any wood work done he is your guy. Jeff Schroepfer is his name and his number call 801.301.1380. He is not only skilled but also one of the nicest guys I know.





These are the needed tools to effectively stretch a canvas.



I enjoy stretching canvases from time to time, by no means would I like to do it everyday. I do find it a bit zen to reflect on the work you are about to paint. It is a simple task that requires basic knowledge but must be done perfectly or else things will go bad real fast.

If you are looking for REALLY well made canvases, better then any Art Supply store, then contact Charly Snow at 801.870.2103

"...arresting motion..."

I have always wanted to try to paint motion. William Faulkner said, “The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.” So I decided that a horse race had some serious motion and I did some research. Not living close to a horse track I rented 5 of the 50 movies I found that had horse racing in them. So I paused one of them on my computer and did this. It is large, 45"x 60" and I did it mostly with house paint brushes I found at one of those dollar stores. I wanted to contrast the motion of the rider with the crowd he was riding past. One of my favorite assignments yet.