On Friday the 13th of this month I did finish the massive new study of eleven golden delicious apples, just in time for it to be dry enough to hang the following weekend for my gallery opening. I managed to get some good video footage during the sessions, and I was able to put together a short film to chronicle the entire process.
Last week I carved out a smaller study of four vine ripened tomatoes. As much as I’d typically avoid an arrangement of four subjects, for some reason it felt comfortable on the canvas. I would typically use a prime number, just to avoid the formations of grids or patterns, but it’s never actually been a rule, but only a guideline. I’m not sure how successful the painting was, as I had set out to capture the luminosity of the subjects, and specifically the light that passes through each tomato. In the end, I feel that they appear to be a bit more opaque than luminous, but in hindsight I believe it’s a balance of saturation that should have set up the hotter, brighter and lighter colors. Perhaps a simpler study of a single tomato might be more helpful for me to address this exercise.
Earlier this week was the monthly meeting of the Chester County Studio Crit group. The usual suspects were there, as well as a few new faces. As the crowd crushed into the host’s living room, the turnover was brisk and exhausting. Everyone’s floor time was shortened to allow for the after-crit discussion about goals. Of course it seemed like the artists that are the most productive from one meeting to the next seem to have the least amount of plans that don’t already engage most of their time and thought. The artists that struggle and ponder had endless lists of what they’d rather be doing. As always, it made me feel that my daily tasks are solid and true, and every adventure I take on has all the makings of yet another big bold exploration into a new and exciting place.
And today I started throwing down paint on a new study of white tulips against a pale blue background. Somehow I made some great progress, and this piece should easily be finished tomorrow. The extra hour of sunlight is nothing short of spectacular, and the clear and bright days have been a joy to behold.
And just when you’re so busy doing all those very busy things, the great odometer of time turns over yet another year. Everything that didn’t get done in 2011 will never be done in 2011, and suddenly everything is behind us, everything is the history of last year, and this year is shiny and refreshing and new.
December was a bit of a chaotic rush to keep up with the very small paintings series. No sooner than the dust had settled I dug into a large study of golden delicious apples. Minutes after I set down the brush, we grabbed our bags and jumped onto yet another plane and shot off to the United Kingdom for a short and adventurous break. After five days of Amazing Adventures in United Kingdom I’m ready to bite into the new year like a frisky puppy with a shiny new chew toy.
Today I started carving out a massive five foot by seven foot study of eleven golden delicious apples, for my upcoming gallery show in Exton. The summer show schedule continues to take shape, and several other exciting projects are well underway, including a few more short films from the painting studio. The 2012 Studio Tour is shaping up nicely, and the days are noticeably brighter and longer. Collaborations with other artists are coming together in every shape and size, and all of it feels like a solid and positive move forward.
It’s a good year already, and it’s especially nice to be home working again.
Please put your seatbacks and tray tables in the locked and upright position, and prepare for landing…
And just as suddenly I’m back on the ground. After three weeks of Amazing Adventures in Thailand and Malaysia, I have just the perspective I needed after my non-stop summer show season.
I’m barely recovered from jetlag before I started on the 2011 Very Small Paintings of David Oleski 25 Days of Christmas promotion. Once I have a few free minutes I’ll be posting my winter workshop schedule, and of course show application deadlines are coming up quickly. I’ve already confirmed a few shows on my spring and summer schedule, and several other big projects are also in the works.
Of course with sunset at 4:30 in the afternoon, my work schedule is frenetic at best. Somehow I managed to kicked out a few nice paintings in the past week, and over the next 23 days I’ll be scrambling to keep up with the holiday promotion. This life always seems to be a great adventure.
Aside from everything else that’s been going on, the show season is now officially over. I’m busy tying up some loose ends before my upcoming November trip. I’m figuring out whether or not there is a new roof for my house in my immediate future, and I’m finishing some small studies for what might be some large commissions. Yesterday I finished a small study of a cigar and an espresso, and today I started on a small study of a bunch of asparagus.
The end of the season always feels so empty. The days are short, but as the trees grow thin the light is brighter and bolder. Applications are already open for the upcoming year, and I’m dividing my energies between planning what comes next and finishing what has yet to be wrapped up. The truck is ready to be unloaded for the last time, and the blizzard of leaves is ready to be addressed. While some days are still warm, it’s obvious that the year is tilting toward the long dark slide into winter.
We had a very nice time in Greenwich last weekend. The weather was perfect, the food was excellent, and it was very nice to see so many of our friends. As I drove across the George Washington bridge we could see the sun setting over New York City, and the autumn colors were a bittersweet reminder of the conclusion of another show season.
Despite being fairly exhausted after the long weekend, I wasted no time getting started on yet one more study of three granny smith apples. Once more I dug into a new world of discovery within the rich depths of cobalt blue. Somehow it all continues to be so very exciting.
I finished a small study of a bouquet of white tulips, after a string of odd commissions. The past month has been spent tying up loose ends. I started making plans for a variety of projects, from ironing out some details for next year’s Amagansett Fine Arts Festival, and a few more big events that are just in the planning stages. I started a mobile-enabled website, trimmed down and streamlined for mobile devices. I had a tree service cut back the towering trees that shrouded the house, and I met with a contractor to start discussions about a major studio expansion. The after show season trip has been finalized and tickets purchased, and we’re enjoying the crisp edge of autumn with the new smells and the new colors.
Last week, I hosted the Studio Crit here at my studio, and while we all did our best to be objective and diplomatic, one artist left in tears. Ah, just like art school. The after-crit decompression started with the discussion of assembly line art, but quickly degraded to the debate about whether an artist is a designer or a craftsperson. A few of us got pretty fired up by the end of it, and Jeff Schaller could only smile with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. With a room full of seasoned and hardened veterans, we created a crucible in which the composite elements of each of our disciplines were cooked down to the most common denominators. All of us left with a strangely familiar sense of displacement and revelation.
Last night I read about the passing of Steve Jobs. It’s easy to forget the history that is being made all around us, with each creation and each astounding new innovation. I’m reminded of the role of visionaries, of those gifted and brilliant minds that take a risk to live life with a childlike sense of exploration and discovery. I’m reminded of who that person is inside of myself, and how the greatest way to honor one great visionary is to keep that same candle burning within ourselves.
Last weekend was the top-ranking St. Louis Fine Art Show. After a bruiser of a drive across the country we saw many of our old friends, and made a few new friends as well. I was surprised with how many clients and aquaintences from past years wound up finding me again in St. Louis. I left a few good paintings in some great homes before a brief overnight stop at the home and studio of woodworker David Stine in southern Illinois. The road seems so much longer toward the end of the season.
The Autumnal Equinox is upon us, and the summer shows are quickly coming to an end. Today I just finished the third and final day of the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show, and managed to find a home for another giant painting. It was nice to watch the city of Philadelphia go by for another weekend, to see some old friends and to once again be part of the machinery of another year’s show. The ongoing dialogue with my neighbors continued with the same exploration of concept and intent as always.
I have a few weeks off before the last two outdoor shows of the season, so I’ll be finishing up some commissions, and gearing up for some a few end of the year holiday projects.
After our return from Chicago 12 days ago, we’ve been enjoying our time at home. I did some repair work to some older pieces, and spent some time doing some photography work for James Freeman and Michael Witmer, my artist friends from the Wringers band. Between a day spent with James and Michael, and dinner dates with Kirsten Fischler and Jacqueline Cornette, I started having wave after wave of revelations of how things add up. One of the biggest and most volatile issues is the notion of being a “street artist”, and more specifically all the other kinds of artists that we are not. Without it necessarily being a self-deprecating term, it immediately meets with arguments regarding content and delivery, yet no matter how I spin it, it still seems like nothing more than a marketing plan for “warm and fuzzy”. Of course this phrase also tends to set people off, so I’m sure you can imagine the tension that was generated at some late night dinner tables over the past week. I seem to have a knack for saying just the things that make people go ballistic. Ah, just like old times.
It’s been raining incessantly this entire week, so today I was down to the wire, and I tore into a small commission project that was waiting for a decent sunny day before our upcoming trip this weekend to St. Louis. A pair of tiny gallery wrapped canvases were finished in the varying degrees of gloom and darkness in between the torrential downpours. While working closely with an interior designer, I can’t help but feel that I’ve managed to create little more than decorative trim pieces for some odd and special application. Somehow I managed to keep them fun and educational, and overall they’re a snappy little pair of paintings.
The past two weeks since the Westhampton Beach show has been quite a roller coaster. We picked up a visitor from Yokohama in NYC on the way home from the Hamptons, and my mother and my brother and his family arrived early on Monday morning, to begin a chaos-filled ten days of vacation and relaxation. Somehow I managed to finish two mid-sized studies of black plums and one commission of three golden delicious apples, while working in day trips to Longwood Gardens and DC, in addition to being available as a host for all the visitors. Earlier this week we had artists Mike Witmer and James Freeman over for a nice evening of food and merriment. It’s always refreshing to have the perspective of artists that are somewhat outside of the loop of festivals and galleries. We put our guest on a plane back to Japan yesterday, and last night hosted Adrian Martinez and his wife for a wonderful dinner and another in-depth discussion about the business of art.
Tomorrow we’re loading the truck with some new paintings, food and a dog and heading north for our third annual visit to the charming little town of Saratoga Springs, NY. I’m already excited to wrap up the show and get back home to do some more painting. I’ve been having some nice breakthroughs in my understanding of cool green. Cobalt blue is again proving to be indispensable in my exploration of mass and volume within the range of green.
For the past two weeks I’ve been staying busy with painting. I explored a few more studies of pears in various groupings, some for commissions, and some just to explore all the great color. I had an interesting lesson in broadening an apparent range of color, concluding with today’s study of two d’anjou pears. One pear appeared to have some warm colors building almost to a bright red, yet the green couldn’t quite describe the light and volume and weight of the subjects. I decided to dig into one of the components of my original color palette, cobalt blue, just to find a cool color that didn’t immediately drop off to the dark violet of ultramarine. I pushed it more than just a hint, and while the accuracy of the actual color may be questionable, it does convey the illusion of the depth and mass of the shape.
In other news, I’ve been settling some business things. I did start planning next year’s Amagansett Fine Arts Festival, as well as finishing with my final dates for the 2011 season. We’re planning our late fall trip, and I’m excited about some of the next few shows, starting with this weekend in Westhampton Beach.
Another day of playing inside to avoid the heat, and I finished a study of an espresso cup. Porcelain white against white, with nothing but a haze of blue reflections and the slightest foam of a head of crema on the surface of the espresso. This was a good exercise in subtlety.
As soon as I finished the small commission of two granny smith apples, I decided to dive into an intense exlploration of light and porcelain with a study of an espresso cup. After cracking open a fresh can of white I’m thrilled to lay out some of the fresh and creamy goodness. In celebration of so much fresh white paint, I’m embracing every version of light and luminosity, and I’m spreading it out like cake icing from one canvas to the next. The next two weeks between shows should be a fun marathon of carving it out and laying it down.
