Finish it or ruin it: Gardenstown edition

Some paintings go from idea to finished work quickly and fluidly. Plenty of others get started and then cast aside, lingering around the studio in a half-finised state. Over time I manage to figure out some of these pieces, but there are always those that continue to stick around, not making their resolutions obvious to … Read more

Painting the Isle of Skye

It’s a busy week in the studio, as I’m finishing up some oil paintings and framing some works on paper for the 3 Harbours Arts Festival. As I was cataloging my new landscapes, I realized that a fair number of them were inspired by the Isle of Skye, a beautiful island off the west coast … Read more

Highland landscapes show, and getting organized

Feeling a bit more organized this week. On Monday my new Scottish landscapes went on display at Bistro Provence, a French restaurant in Leith (a neighborhood of Edinburgh). They look good on the walls, and people had lots of nice things to say at the opening, so I’m starting to believe that landscapes and I might … Read more

Painting Chattanooga with snow, among other things

I have a lot of different things going on in the studio this week: some paintings of the view out my window, a self portrait that I need to finish quickly for an exhibition, various mixed media experiments, and a small pile of daily paintings I want to re-work. Every single surface is covered with … Read more

January landscapes

Happy new year, my three readers. It’s cold and drafty in my studio, but I’m pretty sure it’s building my character, or something. This month my art has mainly focused on Scottish landscapes. Landscapes are a new challenge for me. How to create paintings that are interesting? Communicating an aspect of the beauty of a place … Read more

Getting bigger

Now that that’s over, I’m moving on to some larger canvases, and now suddenly I have too many options. Do I focus on cityscapes next, as I had planned? Pursue Highland landscapes a bit more, as they turned out to be my favorite new subject last month? Go back to the Edinburgh pub and restaurant … Read more

Day 29: paint like frosting

Stepping away from the smooth white skies of yesterday, I decided to play around with some thick impasto abstract skies today. Which do you prefer? The paint on these reminds me of frosting, like what you would put on Christmas cookies. Mmmmm frosting. Maybe I should go back and paint another cupcake or two. It … Read more