Rise Above It

Here is a small doodleism painting I completed yesterday, it is done on 180 lb paper which has the consistency of a thin cardboard. The doodle is composed from 2 pages of notes taken during a lengthy meeting in 2013, I was no doubt thinking about escaping. 'Rise above it' is a slogan I use to remind myself not to get too involved in small details, and to keep an eye on the big picture. That is not easy, it involves letting go a bit and trusting people, and not having the ego to think you can change everything. There is a balloon at the top that someone 'let go of', which is symbolic of the idea, and the tombstone, which is symbolic of change.

This painting is a great example of how to create depth. To create depth in a painting, put the bright colours in the front, and the pale blue colours in the back, and try to overlap things as much as possible. Notice the foreground element, the orange-yellow disk, is overlapping the middleground elements, which in turn overlap the distant blue background. The river also helps bring the viewers eye to the back. As an artist you want to think about where the eye goes when looking at the painting.

5x7" cold press, watercolour. March 2016

Outdoor Painting Gear 2006 (updated)

This is the kit of gear I used back in London Ontario for painting watercolours on location. There is a plastic cup for water, a palette with the colours on it, some brushes ranging from 3 centimeters to a few millimeters, the box with 5x7" paper,  and the drying rack. The box is very old maybe 100 years, and is being held together by duct tape, it used to hold pastel sticks. The drying rack is meant to allow the painting to dry while the box is closed, without it the painting sticks to the top and paint comes off. That way when I finish a painting I can pack up and move on to the next location. At my best I was doing eight paintings a day, but that was in Spain with me traveling solo... wake up eat, paint all day, eat, go to bed, repeat for two months. The painting you see in the box looks like something I did in Florida while on a conference, probably in Orlando. Update: it seems to be from a trip I took to Stratford in 2006 according to something I wrote on the back, although I was living in Montreal at the time I may have gone back to visit.  Here is a close up of the 4 pylons painting. 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour

 

A Bit Super Axide Dismutase (SAD)

Sad in a way, the character is fine today, although the sky is grey. This is a small study based on doodles done around 2013, it was completed on one sitting, about 45 minutes. I rarely paint for more than this at once, over the years I average about 20 minutes at a time. To make a big painting maybe takes 5 or 10 hours, so that runs up to 15-30 sessions of painting. I like to do small paintings sometimes because you get the result quickly. As it was done fast, the paint blurred together in places since it did not completely dry. The one thing I added that wasn't in the original doodle was the second arm that is in the background, it just needed to be there to fill the space under the head of the creature.

5x7" cold press, watercolour, 2016

Dark Happy Thoughts

Prior to the year 2000 I was painting almost entirely landscapes and some floral paintings. The only serious abstract painting I recall doing was "Science vs Art" in 1995. I woke up in my apartment in January of 2000 and knew that it was time to start painting abstracts. I decided to paint one abstract per month, and this one was February's effort. January's effort was rather odd and it will stay in my collection for now. This one was depicting the mixed feelings a person can have at times, the dark space is the inside of one's head, then the lit-up windows are sort of the eyes looking out. There is a castle scene and a sunny day outside. This is not based on doodles, rather it was composed on the spot.

To achieve darks like this in watercolour, it is necessary to layer several times, starting with deep red or blue, and then greens and yellows, letting each layer dry before applying the next one. If you try and drop down darks right off in one layer, it looks fine until it dries, then ends with a disappointing matte grey tone. In real life, with strong light on it, this painting really shines, and the darks have extremely rich purples coming through. The photo does an okay job of showing it. I painted pretty dark like this for a decade until "The 2010 Solution" which was actually painted in 2012, after which I used a much lighter palette.

22x11" cold press. Watercolour. Feb. 2000

Abstract Letter Opener (Donostia)

This is an old painting that was based on some other paintings, some doodles, and a still life object. The central painting depicted behind the letter opener is a remake of a scene done in San Sebastian Spain, also known as Donostia. Behind the painting is a scene of London Ontario (where I was living at the time). The letter opener was a gift given to me from a friend Lorea who was working in the same laboratory at the time. I can't recall where the doodle came from for the woman and the spider-thing in the front but it may have been designed as I created the painting.

From a technique standpoint, I was very confident (or foolish) when this was painted because it is quite difficult to super-impose five images in this way using watercolour paints. With acrylic you can paint over-top of things, but with watercolour, to paint the white 'on top' you leave the space blank. In fact, I can't recall how I pulled this off here. The outline for the doodle in the front must have been done first, then the background elements, and then the letter opener, then the middle ground. You have to think it through first. The letter opener looks particularly realistic, it must have required three or four layers to build up the volume that way. Usually I remember doing my paintings no matter how long ago, but this one is a little hazy, I do remember it taking quite a while, maybe three weeks to complete. 

Abstract Letter Opener (Donostia), 12 x 14" cold press, watercolour. 2000 (No. 1753)

RIP the sea

This is a doodleism painting completed recently based on notes taken in 2013, mostly during a stressful weekend at a conference. The drawings clearly convey a sense of tension and energy, and signifies a catastrophe. I kept some of the design in nearly black and white outlines to give the extra tension... like the painting itself is falling apart. The design is similar to the End of Ego High Tide, and to the Lab Book #9 The End of Colour which both use the bottom of the sea mixed with paradoxical horizons and sunken ships.

10x11 cold press, watercolour, February 2016

Yukon Scene

An old photo of a painting done from a photo, scanned and uploaded onto the internet. This was painted in the 90's from a picture my aunt and uncle took on a trip up to the Yukon. They bought the painting along with a few others done from the same material. I used to do a lot of commission work in the past, which is where people ask you to paint things like scenes, family, pets usually from photo.

This was done on 300lb press paper which is very thick and takes the paint well. I used the end of the paintbrush to scrape out the branches in the bushes when the paint was still just a little wet. The colour saturation is highest in the foreground, and fades to the back, creating the illusion of distance.

cold press watercolour, 15 x11" 1993?