The Tractor Barn wit o/c 24 x 30
This is our old tractor barn. In it is a tractor and a lot of other stuff. Its old. Made from recycled wood. The beams are just trees.
I photograph this barn all the time and have painted it at least 3 times in the past. There is sits . On a little bump.
This is really a value study using neutralized tints derived from my spectrum palette. The colors are turning out to be very rich and powerful... Stay turned.
Not it's not a Syrian folksinger. This is a painting of an apple that I picked next door in the Damascus Town Forest. Damascus PA not Syria, It is of unknown variety. This area of northeastern Pennsylvania was covered in orchards at one time. Some time over the last 50 years or so most orchards were abandoned for one reason or another. Some years there are so many 'wild apples' that you can pick to your heart's content and have apples of many varieties for months. This year not so much.
Anyway I painted this as a challenge to myself to paint with Geneva Paints all by themselves. Geneva paint are a slow drying very fluid paint developed bu Mark Carder. Several years ago i did testing for them during their development in conjunction with my regular paints. I never really got the chance to build a palette from the limited color set of Ultramarine Blue, Roso Corsa (red) and Cadmium Yellow. So I mixed a spectrum palette; Red, Red Orange, Orange, Yellow Orange, Yellow, Yellow Green, Green, Blue Green, Blue, Blue Violet, Violet and Red Violet. Very nice color. All from the original 3. Color is amazing.
Recently I have been learning how to build a working palette from the spectrum. Mostly from Judith Reeve* one of my life painting group. A working palette of semi neutralized color. More true to the real world of color. And faster to mix to match real world color use. This painting took about as long as most of my 6 x 6 Kitchen Art pieces. Somewhere around 2 hours. The Geneva Paints were a challenges though the colors mixed beautifully. Fast and predictable. The color blocking was very quick. The finish was difficult. The body of the paint is somewhere between liquid and very heavy cream. It stands up but doesn't have every cohesion to bring a mongoose hair brush to a point. So toward the end I swapped out Geneva White for my white. Much better.
All in all a successful attempt. I'm sure theres a way for me to boost the body in Geneva Paint.
On to the next one
* Judith Has a fascinating web site full of magnificent paintings and incredibly brilliant study of color and composition. https://attentiveequations.com
Damascus Red 6 x6 oil on panel 2017
The is is Justins 3rd pose with use. It’e His third pose ever.. He’s a great model it turns out. He hold a pose for a half hour and gets right back in after a break. Long distinct features and a unique look. This pose is a serpentine hind of thing. Resting back on a stool in extension. Foreshortening, backlit, and the changing lighting condition of a pose over three sessions.
It’s not finished very much to do but I very much like the direction. For over a year now I’ve been trying to understand the Sloan Triangular color wheel. The concepts of semi-neutrals and hues produced by using the triangular configuration. I and starting to get it enough to apply a bit of the knowledge on the fly.
Justin #2 Wip 30 x 24 o/c 2017
A little addition to my collection of ‘Kitchen Art’ paintings a colorful and yummy Bartlett.
Pear 6 x 6 oil on panel 2017.
The past few weeks we painted Justin standing In Johan's studio. Everything about the pose was terrific. The gesture, the light. the environment and Justin's unique body expression. This is a departure point for me. I started this painting not drawing but blocking in the masses with a biggish 1 1/2 inch varnish brush. Its a 24 x 30 canvas. Over three weeks I worked up to the drawing. I't a bit unfinished but I like that. There are a few things, direct light, reflected light planes. When I get to it.
Over the past week I've photographed 30+ seascape paintings by my friend Judith Reeve. Here are 3 of my favorite.
For more of Judith's paintings and a truly fascinating site;
I have hundreds of life drawings that I done over the past 5 years. Some finished and some just 1 to 5 minute gesture drawings. These are little 6 x 6 painting of a selection of some of my 'gesture' drawings. Some of the sketches were done in charcoal. Others in oil or gauche. I tried to paint them with the same quickness and expression that working fast requires. They will be submitted to the DVAA winter 6 x 6 show. Priced to sell. I pretty happy with these and think there will be more in the works real soon
Oil on canvas 6 x 6 inches
Recently I've tried my hand at linocut. My friend Judy Bodman made me do it. :) http://jimkingston.com/wetpaint/2017/6/26/thank-you-judy
I the process and result. Sort of mid-evil. Send in the knifes.
StreetHawker Kingston's Boston The Real Paper late 70's
I was cleaning out some flat file drawers and found this image. I had seen a street hawker with a card swiper. To be fair he was selling other stuff, tie die, rolling papers. You know essentials of the day. As cute and maybe funny as it may be it also illustrates a sea change in society. The beginning of the 'Credit Society'. Gas cards came first, then credit cards then massive student loans. The lenders were no longer satisfied with business loans and mortgages they had found a way to finally get their hands on our money.
The Real Paper was an alternative paper published in Cambridge Mass. from the Mid 70's to the early 80's. It was a tremendous opportunity for young illustrators like me to be part of the changing of the world.
First week finding the pose with sketching . Week 2 a couple of hours of painting.
Justin is a first time model. He's a natural. His body is long and limber. He can hold the psi for a long time.
One more painting session in 2 weeks. Maybe a little fussing in between.
This is a little color study of my 2017 garden's first tomato. It's not ripe yet, or at least when I shot the reference photo, but now eaten. Very tasty. I'm trying to finalize a simple palette based on Denham Ross's efforts to sort it all out. There is a book called The Painters Pallete, A Theory of Tone Relations, an Instrument of Expression. Published by Forgotten Books available on Amazon for about $10.
I've been 'studying' this for a while using a google pdf. My friend Judith Reeve uses variation of Ross's palettes to paint some very extraordinary work. My interest is the tonal harmony.
Finish 10/23/17
9 x 12 oil on panel 2017
It's not a complete spectral color wheel, missing an orange, the red orange will do. The colors are all derived from standard tube colors, Lukas 1862, A key ingredient is Indian Red for making my red and the three 'purples'. Great for correct compliment neutrality. I hope the have the painting done by the end of the week or at least before we go to Maine.
The return of 'food art'. With the garden providing so many subjects this summer I've returned to paint food object. I thought I'd tune up with this apple. More to come. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, zucchini bread.
Apple with Blue Border
oil on panel 6 x 6 2017
A modern day tender on a morning slack tide. Years ago when I started paying attention to and painting these casual little work boats they were made of wood. Mostly plywood things. Some were more elaborate but most were simple. The served one purpose. Get the lobsterman to his boat then hang about until it master needs to get back to dry land. This is a modern plastic tender. Inexpensive purely functional. Even still in the right light a charming object.
Slack Tide. Oil on linen 9 x 12. 2017
Edger of Spring 15 x 30 oil on linen 2017
In the counties of the Upper Delaware Rive and Catstkill region of Pennsylvania and New York there are thousands os once productive farms lying idle. Some are abandoned. Some are still occupied yet unproductive. It's an evolving economic and demographic condition. In this painting I've tried to create an end of the day and season image the may also represent the end of an era. Where I grew up in Northeast Massachusetts there were a many farms that had survived from colonial times. Over the past 40 years they have been developed leaving little evidence of rural life. Sadly that phenomenon is accelerating in the region where I now live. But there still is great beauty in the land. And in the spector of those who loved and worked the lands.
