There’s a show this evening in the city of Orange and you’re invited. I know it’s short notice, particularly for those of you a thousand miles away, but I thought I’d at least share a few pieces that will be on display. There will be other artists featured as well. Gallery on Glassell in Old Town, Orange has been carrying my work for a number of years. For a look at their current selection of my work, click here. Or, better, come by this evening.

Flamenco Evening, Acrylic, 36×36. For this and all to follow, click on picture for larger view

The Evening in Santa Fe show is an annual event at Gallery on Glassell. In years past they’ve featured a flamenco troupe. In fact, that’s where a lot of my flamenco material has come from. It’s only fitting that so much of it has found its way back to those gallery walls…until they find a home more permanent. The above is a slight departure from previous flamenco paintings, style-wise. Done in acrylic with a soft touch and rarely a hard edge, it’s a study in textures and layers as well as the movement of the moment.

Lady in Red and Cleole, Oil over acrylic, 48×30

All the paintings featured in this e-gallery were created this year. For a person who considers himself primarily an oil painter, there’s quite a bit of acrylic here. Sometimes I use them both in the same painting, something that works if done in the right order. Oil paint goes over fast-drying acrylic fine. And those random backgrounds of the water-based acrylic can be so delicious. It’s more a process of “discovery” than “control.”

Cleole is life size, full-bodied and bold. Is she dancing? Running? Somebody suggested praising. Whatever she’s doing, she’s comprised of oil paint coming out of acrylic, with some of her foundation drawing left in. To make a set I also created Lady in Red, the same size and style as Cleole, but shown small here to conserve space. Click, and then click the resulting picture for larger views.

Forest Red, Acrylic on canvas, 30×24

Sometimes images just suggested can have a lot more intrigue than those carefully plotted out. It brings the viewer into the creative process, to finish the painting in their mind. And as such, it can be finished in many different ways. In this one, once again, the background went down first, with no particular thought of what would happen. Then the image started to come out, first the one and then the second. The challenge was when to stop. And once finished, what to name it? Naming suggests what the artist was thinking. But what if he wasn’t thinking anything? It can be limiting too…what if the viewer wanted to go in a different direction altogether? So, “Forest Red,” could have been, “Two Women,” or “Foxy Shoulders and Her Drippy Friend,” or “This Fog’s like Pea Soup.” (Feel free to contribute further titles in “Comments,” or anything else.)

Flamenco Textures, Acrylic on canvas, 48×48

For the life of us we can’t remember where we saw it, but both Anne and I were looking at a picture and saw in the background the abstract shape of what could be a dancer. Taking that as inspiration I got a big square canvas and started drawing it in. The drawing in this case, and not uncommonly, is done directly with the brush, and that a large one…even a house brush. Again, on paintings like this the challenge is knowing when to stop. There can be a stronger sense of purpose and design right at the beginning. Maybe that’s why I sometimes record the progress with a quick digital image. In the end I did give her a face, though it was still more a design and an imaginative moment. This one is also in the Gallery on Glassell show, though the dancer never was.

Speaking of shows, the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach, where Anne is exhibiting her art, is on for just two more weeks. Even with the thousand mile distance, you still have time, but just. Don’t miss it. When you go, pick up a Directory of Exhibitors for all the art, for a blurb about Anne, and for our page ad. Or click here: festival-directory-08-blog1

CURRENT SHOWS

EVENING IN SANTA FE
THIS EVENING ONLY, Saturday, August 16, 2000
Gallery on Glassell
115 N. Glassell
Orange, California 92866
(714) 744-9844

Festival of the Arts
650 Laguna Canyon Road
Laguna Beach, California
Through August 30, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m
(Anne is normally on site Fridays through Mondays)