The Buddha...step four...

This is my fourth "prudent" pass at the Buddha focusing primarily on the face. One more session should do it...I hope.

With a wee bit of luck, this one should join the group of 5 paintings I will present Monday November 17th at the Edith Piaf concert in Pierrefonds. I figure a painting like this would be more "à propos" than warlike Touareg women...

Indian summer... last call!

...couldn't resist taking these pictures...during my final sprint getting ready for winter. Things could be worst...we're in November for God's sake!

A few additional "loosy goosy" strokes on the Buddha... I think the hat will need to be resolved in the same fashion as the face for uniformity...

The Buddha...step two...

This Tuesday, I spent the greater part of the day outside to take advantage of the Indian summer. I did take 30 minutes or so to refine the Buddha's face though. I would like to go for a more painterly Buddha this time around...

Taking a break from "real painting"...the Buddha....

I decided to take a break from "real painting"... so the Buddha is coming the my emotional rescue! I am not sure where I am going with this one. I will soon find out...

Spot varnish: if it works for printers...works for me...

...took some free time today (in-between raking leaves) to do an experiment with another one of my infamous "collection of the artist" painting. I used both mat and high gloss varnishes in specific areas to create additional textures on this piece. The end result is evidently not the apotheosis of my artistic career...on the other hand, using varnish as a means to jazz up uninteresting surfaces (e.g., large black areas) does have potential with acrylics.

Another one joins the collection of the artist!

"Collection of the artist" is a polite term I use to describe my "half failures". My definition of technical success - only my point of view of course - is slapping 3-4 layers of paint in a hurry (1 per day to allow for some thinking time and planning in between layers) with the white canvas and the underpainting generating as much light as the white paint I used to balance colors in the final product. Given the element of chance involved, my likelihood of succeeding 100% of the time is "snowball in hell".

I have never tried a mat varnish before...so here I go with this overworked painting seeking some color attenuation (fogging effect with the intent of masking)! The back lit figure is a definite challenge...which, considering the layering technique I use, has to be won at the early stage of the painting. The second photograph (mat varnish) was taken on the veranda...

With regard to my quest for expressionism (one anemic step after another)...the abbreviated face associated with the fellow in the back represents an apex for me...not much to write home about you may say!

Also, in terms of the application of paint, I seem to want to gravitate towards flowing "buttery" colors...


...as opposed to colors applied with clear cut expressive brush strokes.


My challenge will be to balance these two approaches in every painting while emphasizing the first...one thing is for sure: I am still searching...

Fund raiser...

I have been approached recently to provide a painting for a fund raising event dedicated to kids and sport. This is the one I will submit (this lighthouse from Cape May was done on raw canvas).


Winterizing the house is cutting down on my painting time...hope to be able to get back on track by mid this week. My objective is to produce a minimum of one painting per week this fall. For the next few paintings, I intend to use any remaining commercially stretched canvases from last summer. After that, I will use canvas by the roll (using plywood as temporary support) graduating to larger size paintings while avoiding storage issues.