The proud owner of a new knee

May 5, 2014

Where the hell has Kingston been for the past couple of months. Knee shopping of course. I found one in just the right color and size and it fits good too. But just like any good pair of new shoes there were a lot of wearing in until it was comfortable. I wasn't able to putter around in the studio or sit at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time. Even if I could my head wasn't clear enough to decide which line went where or what color to use to gray down that orange.

I'm just now getting around and thinking somewhat clearly. I'm cleaning palettes and organizing for the next paintings whatever they may be. I have a couple of life drawing sessions scheduled for this week (can't wait). Oh boy back to work.

I scanned a few of my old Kingston's Boston cartoons from The Real Paper in the late '70s. I thought you might like to see them.

In the seventies I had lived in an old horse and carriage barn on Beacon Hill about 3 blocks from the state house. The barn was the home of Kennedy Studio. We had too much fun. This was one of my first Kingston's Boston cartoons. It's all true. I was making a couple of burgers on my habachi on the roof and all of a sudden scrambling over the roof top were fireman carrying hosed in the full fire fighting gear. When they saw what was going on they had some beers and left. Ha! Please note the beardless character. Yes me without a beard. This was a period when I was truly bouncing on the bottom. One morning I woke up and started shaving. I had such a hangover that I must have felt it might cure it. It didn't.

In the 1970s the alternative papers were distributed free to the many colleges in Boston. But they were also sold by street hawkers. Old hippie types in the era of yuppies, disco and ever shortening hair. This sounds like someone I know? Oh well. in the later seventies credit cards were becoming common place. Enough said.

In late '77 I sobered up and soon moved of the hill into Back Bay. I had to get away from the fun. Back Bay was a different place. Different demos so to speak. I started bumping into this one homeless guy everywhere I went. I started thinking that maybe he was following me... He had dred-locks and was so greasy dirty and smelly that he controlled his own space for sure. When I moved to Harvard Square... there he was. Spooky.

In 1981 we moved to NYC. I don't know why but I was on 44th near Time Square. There he was my homeless guy. He walked up to me and said "hi!" holding out his hand in greeting? Like I said... Spooky.

Painting with plastics...

March 7, 2014

I've mentioned how my studio is too airtight to paint with oils in the winter. Especially when the temps outside are hovering around zero most of the time. This winter I've been playing with watercolor, gouache and acrylic. Here is a work in progress using acrylic on a panel.

I haven't done an acrylic this big in years. Todays acrylics seem different. More like gouache in its flatness. My studio is so dry that I've had to spray the palette with water every 10 or 15 minutes. I'm happy-ish with it. About 70% done. It's a study in grays.

A real departure in composition style. More lyrical than boxy. Now I have to loose some edges. I only have 3 or 4 days that I can get at it before I trade in my knee.

Here is the finish as it is. I took a real different approach to the composition on this. The curves and arcs are the structure of the image. The arcs of the land and water mimic the arcs of the gunnels of the front boat. This was all carefully constructed as a photo comp over the past year. Though it's a representational or impressionistic reality it's certainly more of an illusion creating the real look. The colors are all grays created by mixing complimentary colors.

Overall as an project I think it's successful. I like it. Is it beautiful art. I don't know. Style wise it's similar to the acrylics that I did early in my career because of the medium. I do prefer Oil or watercolor.

The painting itself took about 10 to 12 hours. That on top of panel preparation, and building the image which actually stared several years ago. I do like that when you look at this from a distance it looks realistic. Up close its a mess.

A little explanation of the composition

I mentioned that this composition is different for me. Usually my compositions are based on rectangular relationships within the defined rectangle. This painting is based on arcs and diagonals. The picture rectangle was defined by the interlocking of the arced shapes.

This happened unintentionally during the process of cutting and pasting for the photo comp in photoshop. I used a couple of versions of the same shot. Moved boats around. Left out outboard motors. Forced some tonalities. Ending up with an image in the 26.5 by 22 scale.

The arc shapes are all base on arc A defined by the foreground boat's shape. It's an abstract where nature and objects blend. Add the strength of the diagonals and the fact that the objects are boats... how can I go wrong. Most of the time in the process I looked only at the subject matter. The lyrical base composition was difficult for me. I let it sit for a long time. I had distractions. I made a panel for it and let it sit some more. More distractions. frustrated by distractions I started painting. I used Acrylic for several reasons. Because I was unsure of how to handle the surface. Real or more representational? Acrylics can easily go either way. As I painted i realized the abstract nature of the painting.

It turned out to be a good painting. Not because of realistic detail but the inference of detail. Not real strong colors all grays. A lot of motion based on the above abstract but not so much that the eye escapes the frame. The main arc shapes support the natural arcs of the objects and nature.

Okay. This is the result of an unconscious process. Not an unknowing process. Because of many years of being a visual wrist in a lot of disciplines I have internalized many mechanisms. Developed an eye. I finally becoming happy with my eye.

In a later discussion I muse on the visual eye. How some people have to nurture it and others gifted with it.

Figure drawing in NePA

March 7, 2014

Back to basics

February 26, 2014

It's been a while since I posted on the blog. I've been busy chasing options for making my leg better. X-rays, doctors, MRIs, more doctors and finally a diagnosis. A piece of my knee joint has died and needs to be replaced. Bummer. What at first was going to be a simple meniscus tuneup has turned out to be a serious pain in the ass. A half knee replacement. Better than a full knee replacement but just a little. More tests more doctors more freggin' tests. Everybody making more money... but me. On St. Patricks Day I' get a new joint. or at least half a joint. Shit.

What this basics thing you ask.

This summer the high schools in Wayne County have a day of art workshops called Art Academy. I volunteered to run a session on the fundamentals of painting realism. Sounds simple doesn't it.

It is and it's not. I'm breaking it down to a few simple elements. Value, color, space, scale and composition. I only have four or five hours to present these basics. It's taking me a lifetime to even begin to understand them myself. There will be a reading list and reference list of realists that have influenced me over my lifetime.

My roots in this stuff are Loomis and The Brandywine School. Along with other great American Illustrators and painters of the early 20th century. Their influences were the masters. I'll be borrowing examples of their work and others with the kids this summer.

Once I have an outline and presentation elements with hands on examples I think I may have the makings for an online workshop.

I'll keep you informed.

Winter is the time for watercolors

January 29, 2014

Last year when I set up my studio I had no idea how different the season would affect the space. It's in the basement with the east side was a walk to and the west is in the ground. Last summer the humidity was so bad I had to run an air conditioner and a dehumidifier.. On dry days I had the doors open. As the seasons changed and it got cooler and dryer the humidity dropped to low levels. I had to remove the AC because of infiltration.

Uh Oh! Painting with oils became difficult when the fumes became constant and overpowering. Can't open the windows at 5°.

So Its water painting season. I've done a few small watercolors this season while nursing a bum knee. Not fumes, no stink! Here's one that I just finished from a December start of Trout our Decoverly English Setter.

Watercolor on Arches rough watercolor paper 11 x 14

There's still a lot of winter left. I've started a couple of acrylics on panels and have a big watercolor to paint on plate finish. That should take me to mid to late February. When I can install the AC and get a little fresh air in here.

Back to work

January 20, 2014

I haven't been working very much since before Thanksgiving. What with the shortest days of the year, hunting season (a bust), Santa season (several appearances as the jolly old elf and then the holidays. Our cars stopped working in the same week and we had to buy a new one - ouch. For over two weeks I've been laid up with what I hope is simply a torn Meniscus. We'll hear tomorrow and have fixed soon. So I've been really distracted though I have done a couple of watercolors and made some panels. I got a free flat file which has helped me organize my paints, printing papers and prints. I got 3 paintings framed and ready for an office hanging. I worked a lot on the website structuring it for direct sales and have begun categorizing and sorting my older humorous illustrations for a web showing. Time hasn't been totally wasted.

Here's what I learned while being bored, lame and distracted. I can't just sit and paint. The mental, unconscious process, is the most important part of my painting and I have little control of it. There's no hurrying it. I happens only when i'm not distracted or preoccupied with the mundane. I've been feeling bad about not painting and I shouldn't. The holidays are gone and there's 2 more minutes of sunlight every day.

Bummer. My knee is not so simple.

Life drawing from Ianni's 010714  • Click to enlarge — Life drawing from Ianni's 010714 • Click to enlarge

Santa season

December 12, 2013

Yes it's that time of year again. Santa time. Time for me to get dressed in my Santa suit and sit for pictures with little kids in my lap and have our photos taken. This year I have two gigs both for not for profit groups.

Between now and Sunday I have to make sure that I don't accidentally burn off my beard or get my hair lobbed off by some Delilah. When it's all over maybe the lbs will magically disappear. Ha!

Why am I mentioning this? It's had me itchy for the past few days. It's the end of deer season the woods are all icy and snowy and it cold as a .... you know. So I started a watercolor painting to scratch the itch. It's of my young setter Trout. Trout the dog. I like it it still has a few sessions until it finishes. Paintings finish themselves. Sometime we go too far.

This isn't much of a post. I'm busy. I have to feed the reindeer.

iPhone shot of Trout the Dog a watercolor in progress Dec12/13

Real or repro?

December 5, 2013

This is going to be a short post. I want to pose this simple question. " Would you rather own an original pairing or a reproduction."

Maybe it's not that simple. We're talking about my work not Van Gogh. My oils sell for anywhere from $600 to $3000. I haven't done a reproductions of this years painting because it's almost as much effort and a lot more expense than the original painting. In the past I've made reproductions and made a few bucks. Though with a less expensive option available in the print people mostly chose the print over the painting. I sold a lot of prints and a few paintings. Weighing the cost in time and expense it wasn't so profitable.

So I ask you this. Would you like me to make reproductions of my paints and if so which ones?

Self branding - or - Am I too fat to fit in a tube?

November 18, 2013

This is a different age we are living in. At least it's different from the age that I grew up in and learned to do business in. It's new but its been changing for a long time. When I was a young illustrator I could call an art director and make an appointment to show my work at just about anytime. It was pretty casual. But it worked. Things changed and after about 15 years the Art Buyer had replaced personal contact with the art director. You didn''t actually see anyone. You dropped your book at a prescribed time and picked it up without seeing a soul. An appointment with the Pope was easier than personal contact. Our work was become brand. The world was moving on. Advertising yourself in industry books like The Black Book, Showcase and others became essential if you were to reach the ever more insulated creators within the publishing and advertising firms. Not only did you need a style but also a look for your ad. And it got expensive. Very expensive and even more impersonal. I missed those personal days of selling my art. Gradually my career changed and became a creative consultant. Regular pay pretty much. The illustration world was crumbling, the world was passing it by.

In 2003 I renewed my artist life showing at Outdoor Juried Art Fairs in the Northeast and Florida for 4 years. It was up close and personal. I could talk to hundreds of people about my work over a weekend show. I had only moderate success but it was personal and I liked it.

Time marches on. I've been able to paint for almost a year now. I'm feeling better about my painting. but how do i create the personal thing. I've build this website, added e–commerce. I've been following a fabulous Dutch plein air painter on YouTube for a while, Roos Schuring. She is convinced that social media is the way to create a network to sell more work. I've been sticking my toes in the social waters and find it kinda fun. Its not personal as Art Fairs or my early days of illustrating but the weather isn't as much of an issue either. I've come in contact with a lot of new people. Maybe only a hundred characters at a time but still it's communication and I have more time to paint, hunt and fix flat tires. I see this time as an evolution. Social is almost personal. It's more personal than dealing with a corporate art buyer.

I started this blog to communicate who I am to people who might be interested in my works. I don't know how successful it's been so far but my numbers are creeping up. I don't believe in art as a commodity. By that I mean manufactured and faceless. Good art always has a personality behind it. People are as much interested in the person as their art.

Oboy Pie 2 Uh Oh!

November 15, 2013

Stupid me I deleted my post. So much profundity lost. It's a tragedy. Anyway heres the final result.

The Store is Open

November 1, 2013

I've reduced the prices on several of the paintings to help get things rolling.

Eureka

October 29, 2013

While empty a storage unit I found a trunk that I couldn't remember. After a week or so I realized that it might be my missing illustrations from The Real Paper era of my career. 1974-1981.

Yesterday I retrieved that trunk. It was. It was! I hadn't seen this stuff since we moved out of our 31st street apartment. For a long time it was good riddance. Over the past 5 years or so I found myself thinking about these images.

I've had a few that had been held out of the pile to remind me what how great those times were, and tough. But the humor. Good old fashioned humor. The fun.

Here is the link to a page I build on the site that will explain and chronicle the images.
http://jimkingston.com/the-70s-and-80s

Watch this space

A step by step of a Fall Challenge or Oh Boy ...Pie

October 14, 2013

This weekend one of the guys on a forum I frequent suggest we do a Challenge paint and we agreed on Fall Harvest as the theme. Some of the folks on forum do periodic challenges where 5 or six people usually agree to the theme and time frame. When the paintings are finished we all pat each other on the back and say how grand the work is. The forum is populated with people different levels of accomplishment from the very accomplished to to very beginner. It's kind of fun and eases the pressure of production.

The forum is at http://www.drawmixpaint.com where Mark Carder attempts to teach people who can't draw a lick to paint. It's a disciplined work flow or process that seems to work. It helped me get back in painting form after a six year layoff.

I thought I'd follow my process from sketch to finish sharing my thoughts and feelings as I go along.

Fall Harvest

This is just an excuse for me to buy some Cortland apples and make a pie. I shouldn't be eating pie. These simple line sketches show my origin thinking on the project. We have an old copper pale that I've wanted to use in a still like for a while. Thats where I started. As you see I like to use diagonals and squares and golden ratios in my thinking.

I use a Canon 5D Mark II connected to my MacBookPro with a USB cable. The Canon Camera Window app allows me to see the set up in a live view on the laptop. I have full control over the camera's features like exposure, fStop, and ISO. I can then shoot the images right from the computer.

This image is the first take with the camera.

Original set-up. I like the relationship of the apples to the pail.

This set is okay. I almost decided to use this but kept pushing. I didn't like the left side. And it wouldn't fit real well in the 24 x 16 canvas I have on hand. So I added another apple a cup and some pheasant tail feathers.

setup...... It looks chaotic but it isn't. The lighting is simple. A 5000k pigtail florescent. Tracing paper is a good diffuser. The cardboard will look like wood when painted.

Still life set-up. Light is a desk lamp with a tracing paper diffuser. It's all set on a workbench that serves a million functions in my limited space.

I shoot photos as RAW format so that I can control exposure and the like in Photoshop.

This image is a composite HDR. 2 exposures combined. I then process it with a few filters to add some squint to it. It's now softened the colors are a little more real yet translated. The left side is now resolved. The feathers break up the straight line of the table.The apple in full shadow and tarnished silver goblet. All the edges are apparent where to loose and where to define.

Usually this is not my type of image but I like it. The reflections lost edges and light & dark. Below is a image overlaid with compositional guides. 24 x 16 inch proportion.

The finish with composition guides overlaid. I use these to transfer to canvas.

Sme of the key planning and interest points. The set-up was planned withe the 1 to 1.6 ratio in mind

The next step is to make a full size image for color matching and drawing 1 to one. the prints I have now a half size so scaling using the proportional divider set to 1 to would be easy but full size will be easier on the eyes. The drawing will be simply blocked in with only details elaborated where necessary. The ground will be the same tinted gesso mixed a few months ago. There should be enough left.

The real next step is really making a pie from these lovely apples. Off to make the crust.

Well that it the pie is made all I have to do is eat it.. Later this week I start the painting hope.. Stay tuned for updated.

Update. Added Bell upper right.

With the addition of the bell several good painters have brought the cup into question. I made a version without the cup. The jury is deliberating

After making this abstracted value range image in Photoshop I decided that the cup works best by breaking up the curve of the bottom of the pail. Just waiting on a set of new paints that I'll be testing on this painting. Can't wait.

Painting from photos in my studio

October 8, 2013

I paint in my studio. I do draw and sketch in the wild when I can. I travel far and wide to participate in life drawing sessions. But! I paint primarily in the studio from my photographs.I'm telling you this because I've had a few questions about it lately. Today Plein Air painting is all the thing. I love it and have some favorite practitioners. But I work best in the studio on the board. I feel safe there. I can work in my underwear. I can have the Weather Channel on the TV or listen to an Stephanie Plum's latest misadventures. I can take a nap, which may be because I'm getting older which of course I'm not. But this is how I've always done it saince I was a teenager painting down in the cellar next to the furnace of my childhood home in Bradford, in my air-shaft studio at Kennedy Studios on Beacon Hill in Boston in the 70s and the Cupola in the old firehouse near South Station. Or my cramped 1 bedroom apartment in the Murray Hill neighborhood in Manhattan and all the other tiny spaces I've worked in.

I'm either working out of my head or working from photos that I have taken of things, places and people over the past many years. To build an image I cycle through these photos like a manic looking for the clues to where the voices are coming from. But for me it's not voices but stories and memories that call to me from my pictures. Stories that fade in and out and are forgotten and found and forgotten again. There is excitement and anticipation in every memory card filled only to be forgotten with every new iPhone camera click or when an ancient roll of prints from film or box of slides is rediscovered.

Mostly these photos were shot as sketches of the moment or place or light or time of day or object. They are like pencil marks on the pad for me. All. Every once in a while, while doing my manic shuffling, I find, I see the image I've lost and am looking for and have been looking for for years. The process of building a painting begins.

I usually craft my photos into compositions that couldn't have been painted on the fly or in Plein Air while chasing light, rain, tide and the need to use the men's room.
Not by me at least.

in the studio I can go through my anxious process of anticipation, preparation, loathing, hope and redemption over time. Not on location for surely it would kill me to suffer it all in an afternoon. I know this because every time I try - that's what happens. I'm slower than my surroundings.

I like being surrounded by my dried palette, little science experiments and disorder. Somehow it's the constant interchange with the disorder that I love. It seems the only way I can create harmony on the canvas.

I'm a studio painter.

This image lures hanging in a window is an example of the 'manic shuffle' I had lost the set of images used to build this composition years ago. I had done several watercolors from this 2004 photo shoot in Rockport Harbor. I started building this composition in 2006. Abandoned it for 6 years while at the corporate sweat shop. When I emerged early this year I couldn't find the images and sadly gave up on the picture that was in my head. In June I found them on an old hard drive. I spent a month tweeking the composition and painted it this in August. Most paintings don't happen like this for me. Only the good ones.

A blog for the musing and rants about painting, the business of painting, getting old, passing along good stuff, links, tutorials and tidbits.

A little explanation of the composition

What this basics thing you ask.