Chinese black ink...

My Saturday mornings in the fall are reserved to Chinese black ink painting, an artistic discipline that I currently take in the Montreal China town. Although totally committed to the occidental way of painting...I keep coming back to the "way of the brush" hoping that some of it will influence my art.


The unforgiving black ink is certainly the beginning of a cure for the white sheet syndrome...if you can make it there, you can make it everywhere!

Summer is a goner...

What is wrong with these pictures...well, these flowers won't last any longer (as we are closing the gap to November)...and, unfortunately, they are merely an expression of summer's last post-mortem spasm. Looks like I will be plugging away with a few more beach scenes to revive good memories from the summer gone by. The Zen garden reminds me that I should do a Buddha series as I was planning to do in the spring. There was quite a bit of interest at my October exhibition.

As for the work in progress, I toyed a bit with the computer last night and seem to be ready for the next moves: I will add a seagull to bridge the gap between the more distant figures and, as a bonus, the main figure will get a right arm and a left shoulder...after I rake all the leaves on my lawn!

Sandbanks painting continued...3rd pass...

I used the worst brush I could find for this third pass, and painted as if I had a roller...for the water that is. I was much less cocky with the main figure (still relatively small on a 22 X 28 canvas). Looks like the hairy chested guy in the back will remain "reduced to his simplest expression"...

Refinements and highlights are next...

Sandbanks painting continued...

For some reasons, and perhaps instinctively, I used a softer brush stroke approach with this painting in contrast to the previous one... at least at the initial stage. The light in this scene comes from the mid morning sun and is somewhat diffused. Ideally, I would like to go for exaggerated contrasts while retaining as much as possible the quality of the light...one uncertain step after another!

Sandbanks painting....

I started this simple beach scene today. Ironically, I had to work a little harder than usual to accurately capture the postural lines of the main figure. I kept stabbing the canvas with titanium white and azo gold until I achieved a certain likeness (so much for drawing skills). I would like to go with blue greys and pinks for this one...I think.

...Cape May beach scene final...

After final analysis, I settled for this version with the exaggerated "lunar lighting" and somewhat of a photographic look despite the fairly loose application of paint. Not much expressionism here but the monochromatic contemporary look is something I want to exploit in future paintings. I also intend to experiment with the epoxy varnish on this one to create a highly reflective surface adding to the illusion of being there...blinded by the light.

...and the beach scene series goes on...3rd pass...

I delivered the last painting sold at my exhibition this morning, a Buddha. Next opportunity to sell to the public at large: November 17th when I exhibit 5 of my paintings at a concert dedicated to Edith Piaf.

I used to have a hard time parting from my work. Tripping over a truck load of residual works in my studio seems to have taken care of that weakness...sort of. Still holding on tight to those watercolors though...

Some more refinements & nuances to be applied on this one, especially in the dark areas.