Red orange

40" x 40", Oil on canvas

Number four of five.

Green

40" x 30", Oil on canvas

Number three of five.

Yellow

40" x 30", Oil on canvas

Number two of five.

Pink

40" x 30", Oil on canvas

I recently was commissioned to paint a series of five new pieces exploring the bottle/cloth theme. One down.

The Still Life - Elliott Fouts Gallery

For the month of October, I will be a part of a group show at Elliott Fouts Gallery. The list of artists in this show is amazing and it really is an honor to be included. The artists are: Christopher Stott, Teresa N. Fischer, Alvin Richard, James Neil Hollingsworth, Mary Ellen Johnson, Russell Harris, Jeff Cohen, Judy Nunes, Jelaine Faunce, and me.
The cherry on top was finding out that one of my pieces sold before the show even opened!
The Still Life

October 1 - November 2, 2011
Opening: Second Saturday, October 8th, 6:00 to 9:00 PM

The gallery can be contacted at elliottfoutsgallery@gmail.com

American Art Collector

 I have a small mention in the October edition of American Art Collector, along with one of my paintings. Not a huge deal, but I thought it was(in the words of Larry David)..."pretty, pretty good"!

It is for an upcoming group exhibit at Elliott Fouts Gallery. More info on the show to come.

The Real Thing, opening night

Thanks to Neil Hollingsworth for supplying the photos below of the Real Thing opening at Mason Murer in Atlanta. Otto Lange's work on one side, and Neil Hollingsworth on the other...awesome!

The Real Thing

"The Real Thing" exhibit opens Sept.16 at Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta, GA. This invitational show is a special event for the top 200 Coca Cola Company shareholders, as well as the public. My contribution to the show will be the two pieces below, both of which are now available...contact Mason Murer at info@masonmurer.com if you are interested.
A few of the other artists participating are: Neil Hollingsworth, Alvin Richard, Vic Vicini, Otto Lange, Teresa N. Fischer, Chris Stott, and Sally Tharp.
This is going to be an awesome show, and I know my paintings are going to be in good company.

Painting with bleach

24" x 36", oil on canvas

A little bleach, and my titanium white has never looked so bright!....

Coke bottle

24" x 36", oil on canvas

Along with the Coca-Cola painting below, this piece will also be sent to Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta. The gallery is hosting a Coca-Cola themed exhibit for the Coca-Cola Company which is based in Atlanta.

Coca-Cola (unbroken)

30" x 36", oil on canvas

I was invited to produce work for an upcoming Coca-Cola themed show at Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta. The gallery is hosting the show for the Coca-Cola Company, which is headquartered in Atlanta.

Cause and reflect

24" x 36", oil on canvas

A new one.

OK Mozart - final

Sounds Good, 48" x 60", oil on canvas

Finished! It's fairly obvious what my subject matter was: a euphonium. Well, maybe not obvious, but certainly you can tell it's some sort of shiny musical instrument. I wanted to use a reflective subject for my music themed OK Mozart piece, but really had no idea what kind of instrument to use or even how to get my hands on one. Then it dawned on me...I simply contacted Eddy Russell, Director of Bands, who is a fellow teacher at my school. He was generous enough to loan me a very photogenic euphonium to use as my reference. Once I popped the case open and put lights on it in my studio, I was amazed at how well it caught and twisted reflections. Little did I know at that time how challenging it would be to realize on canvas. But here we are many hours later and it's finished. I hope the parallels between music and visual art can be made, on some level, by everyone who sees it. The obvious are things like, movement, rhythm, harmony, etc. Less obvious connections can be found, and those are the more meaningful and personal ones.
This piece has nothing to do with Mozart specifically or even a genre of music. It is a symbol of music and nothing more. I intentionally tried to avoid that in every stage of this process to allow for individual connections.
Since this is a music themed piece, and I'm in the sharing mood(progress photos and such), I thought I would disclose the music I listened to while painting. I went through my entire collection of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, entire collection of The White Stripes(a couple of times). and Morphine(B sides and otherwise)....all of which covered about 12% of the time spent working on this piece!

OK Mozart - progress part 2 & interview

portion of 48" x 60", oil on canvas

Since I am taking progress photos of this piece for Lovetts Gallery, I thought I would go ahead and share. This is an update of the piece I'm working on for the OK Mozart event. Ten different artists are creating a music themed piece, and all are quite different. Visit the Lovetts Gallery blog to see updates from the other artists. There are some very cool pieces in the works.

Also, Michael Corbin just posted an interview we did. Michael Corbin is an art enthusiast, and has written several art books. Check my links section for his website. The interview is from about 2 years ago...I actually had forgotten all about it until I was cleaning out some old emails! Michael had apparently forgotten about it too...that's just how good it is! You can check it out here: Interview w/ Michael Corbin

OK Mozart

Lovetts Gallery has invited me to produce a music themed painting for this year's OK Mozart event. The gallery is posting photo and narrative updates via their blog, so I actually have forced myself to take "in progress" pics of my painting. Many artists do this on a regular basis, but I have never worked that into my routine. But, since I have some now I thought I would go ahead and share.
Like I mentioned, the painting is based on a music theme, and I want the viewer to make the obvious (and vague) connections between music and visual art. It's a fairly straightforward approach...hope I'm successful.

portion of 48" x 60", oil on canvas

Slo Mo in Fast Fwd

For your viewing pleasure, Lovetts Gallery has posted a time lapse video of the Live Paint portion of my recent solo exhibit. There is also a video interview if you want to check out my talking head. Click the image to check out the videos...

Slow Motion Landscape

30"x 40", Oil on canvas

This is the painting that I worked on at Lovetts Gallery, April 2. Finally was able to finish it this week. I will have a link to a time lapse video of this painting posted soon.

Tulsa Exhibit and Live Paint

The April 2nd Solo Exhibit and Live Paint demo at Lovetts Gallery went great! I was a little anxious about painting in public, but it was actually an enjoyable experience, due in no small part to the many people who took the time to come by and say hi. I honestly had no idea that there would be that many people who would want to watch me smear paint on the canvas. A big thank you to all of you for your many gracious comments! I really did enjoy meeting you and answering, or at least attempting to answer, your questions. Another big thank you to Jack(owner of Lovetts) and Waylon(director of Lovetts) for allowing me this awesome opportunity. There are a few pics from the day posted on the Lovetts Gallery website and blog, if you are so inclined to check them out. Also, there will be a time lapse video posted soon of the painting I worked on while at Lovetts. Check back for that.

Up Close

April 2, I will be participating in a live painting demonstration and solo exhibition at Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa. The exhibit will be up for the month of April, but the painting demo will only be from 10am - 5pm. If you're in the area, stop by and check out the new painting I will be working on.

In addition to my current collection of paintings at Lovetts, I will also be showing several new pieces which have never been out of my studio.

For more information about the exhibit, visit the Lovetts Gallery website.

Another Round

Oil on canvas, 48"x 60"

Newly finished piece.

Oil on canvas, 36"x 48"

New painting.

Tilt

Oil on canvas, 24" x 30"

New painting!

It's been awhile, so I thought I would do something very uncommon on my blog and post without a picture of a new painting! I have some new stuff I'm working on, but really just wanted to share a little info I'm excited about. OK, here goes.....

• I have been invited to join another gallery in Texas, called Art251 located in Keller, TX. It's a really cool gallery and I look forward to working with them.
• I recently delivered several new paintings to Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa and was invited to participate in a show, of sorts, this spring. The traditional gallery reception will be replaced with an all day painting session. So, when I show up with more new paintings, I will also have my easel, brushes, oils....and a canvas to smear paint on. I've never painted for an audience before, so I hope I don't fold under the pressure.
• I have been invited to have my work included in a new book(more info to come on this...btw, it's not one of those "pay a fee" to be included "books"
• Later this year, I will have work in a group show called "The Still Life", at Elliot Fouts Gallery.

I will definitely post more detailed information about each of these in the future. My next post will be of a finished painting, I promise!