Durham Art Guild - 55th Annual Juried Show

Last night I attended the opening of the Durham Art Guild's 55th Annual Juried Show.  I was fortunate enough to have two works selected for this show (Whitewater Falls #3 and Croatan Forest Forest #2).  The juror for the show is Maria Magdalena Compos-Pons, she selected a strong range of works which made for a tremendous show!

I was impressed with most all of the works, but a few artists definitely stood out.  I saw Kathryn DeMarco's work in last year's show and this year was again amazed at her mastery of color in a difficult media like collage.  In looking at her website, it is nice to see she is also a big fan of dogs and cats. 

This was the first I have seen Saba Barnard's works ("Free Flowers" pictured).  Like the works of Kathryn DeMarco the interplay of color is outstanding.  The skeleton forms doing everyday things like enjoying flowers and listening to music added even more intrigue to these captivating paintings.

Congratulations to everyone involved with the show!  It was definitely a hit!

Bob Rankin

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of working with Bob Rankin at the Art of the Carolinas. Bob is an immensely talented artist and is a huge patron of the arts in Raleigh.  In the three hours or so he spent painting on Saturday morning he completed two 30x40" works.  The first (which is not seen in this picture) is an abstract landscape of  what I think is a North Carolina Beach scene. The second is the painting shown in this picture.  

Like me, Bob likes to work in Matisse Acrylics. You can see some of the Southern Ocean Blue in the center of this work.  A brilliant color, a great painting and a great artist!

Tobacco Field at Old Milburnie Road

Recently I was invited by the folks at Savoir Faire to try the new Sennelier Acrylique.  Being such a creature of habit I am always skeptical about trying different paints, especially when I like the brand I currently use.  The scene painted is a tobacco field off Old Milburnie Road in Raleigh, NC.  The autumn colors were starting to really appear, and being the tobacco crop was not in season, the colors of the field offered some interesting reds and earth tone colors.

I began this painting with the sky mixing some Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White.  I immediately noticed the difference in the Sennelier paint versus other paints I have used.  My initial reaction was that it felt like more of an oil color than an acrylic.  Right out of the tube the paint was very thick.   For the sky I needed I thinner mixture that I could easily glaze over – the thickness of the paint prohibited me a bit in this process, but in the end it worked ok.  The remarkable thing is even after I thinned these colors down with a decent amount of water, the vibrancy of the color remained as if it were right out of the tube.  

When I started to paint the trees I really was impressed with the colors.  Even after I stopped painting for the day and came back 20 hours later, there was very little color shift from wet to dry.  

I like using Permanent Green Light in many of my paintings.  This tends to be a very transparent color and if I want to use it straight out of the tube and right on the canvas I generally need to mix a little white to make it an opaque color.  With the Sennelier paint I did not need to do this.  Much of the color seen is right out of the tube – no streaking or dulling of the color – Pure color in its pure state . . . really good stuff.

Art of the Carolinas

From Thursday November 12th through Sunday November 15th I will be attending Art of the Carolinas at the North Raleigh Hilton.  Art of the Carolinas is sponsored by Jerry's Artarama and features numerous workshops, products and interesting people.  This year I will be at the Matisse Acrylic booth.   Hopefully I will be able to do some painting, but even if I don't - the interaction with customers and other artists can be fun most of the time.

www.artofthecarolinas.com

Bill Wallace at the Sunflower Gallery

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Wallace, a fellow member of the Wake Forest Area Artists' Studio Tour.  Bill is a skilled wood turner and carver.  This is an art form I am completely amazed by.  Knowing the intricacies of different types of wood  is both an art and a science.  To combine this knowledge with skilled craftsmanship and art makes this a remarkable form of art.  Unlike painting I would think wood turning and/or carving leaves very little margin of error, There is no painting over a piece of wood that was accidentally cut too deep.

Bill Wallace, Janet Wallace and Lisa McCamy will all be showing their work at the Sunflower Studio in Wake Forest.  The opening is this Friday (November 13th) and the show will run through December 5th.

www.sunflowerstudiowf.com

Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge

While visiting a friend in Columbia, North Carolina I got some great pictures of the surrounding landscape.  I did this painting on an 8x10" canvas and it is only a taste of the paintings I will do from this trip.  Whenever I take a picture that I will subsequently paint I look to capture sky, land and water.  This Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge offered these elements and I was fortunate enough to be there at the right time of day and during good weather conditions.  The water was a blue/black color and during the early part of October the leaves were just starting to change color.  

Eileen and I took nearly 100 pictures from this trip.  I can't wait to paint some more.

Glazing a Creek Bed

Glazing is an important part of nearly all my paintings.  The short definition is paint thinned with medium to create a transparent layer of color.  I like to glaze things like creek beds, the layer of glaze creates a sense of a water surface where one can look down at the bottom of the creek to see rocks, sticks, etc, but still know they are looking down onto through water.

To begin acrylic glazing I mix about 20% fluid acrylic paint with about 80% glazing medium. (You can use heavy body acrylics but there is a risk of clumps not being mixed resulting in streaking when applied to the canvas).  I mix these until the mixture appears the color of the paint.  Being that the mixture is very fluid I use a palette with deep wells, so it does not spill everywhere.  It is also important that glazing be down on a table rather than an easel for that same reason.  In the instance shown I use three colors – This was a quick demo, but it was my intent that the different colors would show different levels of light refraction on the water surface.  Color experimentation is very important when glazing – Some colors will have stronger degrees of opacity and even when thinned with 80% medium they might not give the transparent look I might be seeking.

Another Inspiration from Dupont Forest

Triple Falls is located just a short way from the Hooker Falls paring area in the Dupont Forest.  This is a really fun area to explore, because one can venture right onto the waterfalls and do some light rock climbing.  Great exercise and of course spectacular views! 

This is painted on a 12x16” canvas and is done almost entirely in acryl gouache.  I love the collection of blues at the bottom of the waterfall.  Combined with a diverse palette of autumn colors, this makes for a very interesting painting, even on a smaller canvas.

Hooker Falls

Part of the Dupont Forest, Hooker Falls is a short walk from the main road. I really like the way the impasto work came out in the lower left of the painting. The picture from which this was work is depicted has this rock as level with the main part of the falls, however the thick impasto makes it look like it is the side of the other rock. I guess this is one of those good accidents as I like the appearance. I think it is the focal point of the entire piece.

Falls Lake in July

The work was a welcome relief from the some of the bigger canvases I just finished.  This 16x20” work took me under 25 hours to complete.  The satisfaction level is a bit different from larger works, but the early stages of the painting process are more gratifying since there is always a clear end in site.  When working on a piece larger than say 30x40” I can work for 8 hours and look at what was done and think very little was accomplished.  This can be a bit daunting at times, so smaller canvases are a nice change of pace. 

This is one of several paintings I have done of Falls Lake.  Being the picture was taken on sunny day in the summer there are obviously some dominant greens.  Chromium Oxide Green is one of my favorite greens.  This is a very opaque green, I can use this straight out of the tube to achieve full coverage.  This is very different from another of my favorite greens – Permanent Green Light.  Here I try to mix about 10% white to achieve a good opacity.  This does not weaken the color at all, in those instances where I want to use this color for its transparent qualities it actually provides a subtle contrast.

www.micahmullen.com

Someplace Like Home

In early September One View from my Back Porch (Top) was juried into the Someplace Like Home Show.  The show was sponsored by the Junior League of Raleigh a part of a Shopping Spree at the Raleigh Convention Center.  I really liked the works selected for this show as there was alot of diversity both in style and technique.  I look forward to again submitting works to this show next year.

I found Judy Bauman's My Neighborhood (Bottom) piece quite striking. Very interesting use of space and color.  I think this work won an award.  It certainly was very deserving of one.  

Robert Rauschenberg, Curly Howard

Two admirable people with more commonalities then one might think

Robert Rauschenberg's use of everyday "found" objects in his art artwork suggests the line between life and  art might not even be a line, but they are both one entity.   I admire the diversity of Rauschenberg's works; a piece such as the untitled "combine" that is shown combines dozens of snapshots of life to create a chaotic interplay of pictures and colors.  Yet I see a work like this and compare it to some of his monochrome work of pure simplicity and I can see the brilliance of his ability to change techniques, but still keep an abstract expressionist style.

Every male member of my family from ages 4 to 80 loves the Three Stooges.  Simplistic humor that does not ask any thought provoking questions.  It is only there to help us enjoy the absurdity of everyday life. Curly is my favorite of all the Stooges, seeing the way my 8 year old son laughs at him until his belly hurts, puts life in a much simpler place.  And like the work of Rauschenberg helps me to understand that art and life are pretty much the same thing.

You might be asking why on earth am I writing about these two people on my blog.  Well . . . They have another commonality that I too share with them. The three of us were all born on October 22.

North Carolina State Fair

My family and I went to State Fair last night. As always we had a great time! This was the first year I submitted artwork to the Fair's Juried Show. I was fortunate enough to have my Eno River piece selected. This was very different from any other show I have been in. Before going to the Fair, I really had no idea whether one , two or zero pieces were selected, so the anticipation was alot of fun.

I love seeing the different levels of art. Everything from Kindergarten to professional. I am certain I will never see this type of diversity in any gallery show.

There is no doubt this is most foot traffic that my artwork will get for a while. The place was packed! I am happy that amongst the giant pumpkins and prize winning livestock one of my paintings can take its place at the North Carolina State Fair.

Now it's time to get on the treadmill and try to lose the corn dogs and chili fries that I enjoyed at the Fair.

San Antonio

I’ve been fortunate enough to visit San Antonio twice in my life.  The last time I was there was in December of 2007 when I saw Penn State defeat Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl.  The riverwalk is just a real fun place to see; great food, great art, just a lot of happy people. During this trip I became real interested in Oaxacan wood carved art.  The intricate painted designs and the hand carving represent an enormous amount of time and detail.  I bought a Oaxacan rhinoceros during this trip, this is an incredible piece that is currently adorning my dining room.

The painting shown of course reflects the riverwalk.  I generally do not paint a lot of cityscapes, but this was fun because the aspects of water, trees and sky all were immersed with the buildings and other man made structures.  This was done exclusively with acryl gouache, it was interesting to see how water would look using just opaque colors, but I think it creates a pretty interesting effect.  

Using Dried Paint/Glazing Medium in Paintings

I almost always use acrylic glazes in my paintings.  Generally I mix about 20% paint to 80% medium.  Usually the technique only requires a fraction of the mixture and the rest ends up drying in the palette.  I began experimenting with these dried paint skins by cutting out shapes, usually I use gel medium as a glue to adhere these shapes right on the canvas.  Below is a technique where I use these dried paints in conjunction with impasto medium.  The demonstration was a practice for the larger piece shown at the bottom right.

1. Using masking tape I isolate the area where the paint/impasto medium will be applied
2. I use an exacto knife to create a rough edge, to make one side of the tree
3. I mix about 20% paint with 80% Impasto Medium
4. I apply the mixture on the intended area
5. Using a palette knife I smooth out the mixture and remove the tape.
6. After cutting out a selection of shapes form the dried glaze mixture, I imbed those directly into the impasto mixture to represent the tree bark
7. The impasto medium mixture takes about 24 hours to dry.  
8. When dry the impasto mixture will hold the glaze chips securely in place

I have a video on this at www.youtube.com/micahmullenart

The finished painting is the 5th painting in my Beidler Forest Series.

Comments, criticism and questions are always welcomed.

www.micahmullen.com

Valle Crucis Paintings

I recently finished three painting for some friends of mine.  The pictures depict an area of Western North Carolina where they were married.  I feel these are some of my most major works to date.  Comments and criticism are of course welcome.

Valle Crucis #1 (View from Herb Thomas Road) 30x60" Acrylic (Top)

After spending some time at St John’s Episcopal Church where Jane and Braden were married I decided the best view was overlooking the valley from the road leading up to the church. It was a little overcast that day, but the sky still offered some incredible blues.  Using several layers of masking tape and glazes, I created a cloudy sky.  To further accentuate the clouds I outlined some of the cloud formations using Acryl Gouache.  I feel the sky is the best part of the painting.  The field was done in a similar way to the sky with contrasting greens accentuated with grass blades painted with Acryl Gouache.   

Valle Crucis #2 (Waterfalls near Conference Center) 30x60" Acrylic  (Middle)

A long uphill climb led us to a breathtaking waterfall about a mile from the Valle Crucis Conference Center.  I love painting waterfalls, the motion of the water allows for many different possibilities.  In painting the waterfall for this painting I used 20/80 ratio of paint to glazing medium and then used detail applicator bottles to apply the waterlines.  I really like the top middle of this piece, there is just enough bright yellows used to give the impression of light coming through the dense forest.  The big rock at the bottom was created using a thick layer of neutral grey and impasto medium.   

Valle Crucis #3 (Crab Orchard Creek) 30x60" Acrylic (Bottom)

 Located close to the Apple Barn at the Valle Crucis Conference Center is Crab Orchard creek.  The tranquil stream is typical of most mountain streams, being very shallow and more rocky than muddy.  This landscape allows for some interesting glazing techniques.  The sienna glaze on top of the creek surface gives an effect of the water surface where can see but not define the rocks underneath.  The most interesting part of this work is the left side; Here I used detail bottles and poured glaze to create some of the leaves.  At the bottom I actually used dried glaze and applied the chips with gel medium. This was the most time consuming painting of three, but I feel it is the best offering several different painting techniques and a diverse array of colors.

www.micahmullen.com

Artist Trading Cards - I Want to Send you One!

From time to time I like to take a diversion from larger canvases and work on Artist Trading Cards (ATC’s).  A typical painting will take 40+ hours, where a 2.5x3.5” card takes under a half hour.  Strathmore makes these cards on variety of different surfaces and small mats and frames are available to make a nice presentation.  I never sell these, but rather just enjoy trading them with my peers or making these with my kids.  Growing up on a culture of trading baseball cards, I never dreamed that thirty years later I would be trading ATC’s. 

If you are interested in receiving one of my ATC’s, please join my e-mail list and send me an e-mail with your name, address, etc.  I promise to send you an ATC at some point in the next few months.

Mandy Budan

I came across an outstanding artist recently.  This is the work of Mandy Budan from the Toronto area.  I can relate to her work in many ways.  Her use of contrasting colors is amazing.  In the Kaleidoscope painting shown you definitely see a defined sky as a background for a complicated tree image.  The choice of violet for this sky and the dark violets vs. lights really accentuates the tree. The swirling branches and the details on the tree trunk further add to this great painting.

An outstanding work Mandy.  Congratulations!

www.abstractlandscapepainting.com

Hoop Hole Creek

Located in Atlantic Beach, NC, Hoop Hole Creek offers some interesting compositions. It is not a beach scene, but has marshes, dunes and twisting trees that one might fine on the southern east coast.

This painting consists of 12, 10x10" Gessobord panels mounted to an oak board,  My goal was to create one composition, but each panel would use a different painting technique.  The following are some of the techniques I used:

Row 1 - Middle Panel - Using glaze as a pourable paint 

After painting much of the sky and some of the tree using traditional heavy bodied acrylics, I created an impasto barrier about 1/4" high.  From there I poured a mixture of paint and glazing medium.  The impasto "wall" confined the liquid to the panel.  While still wet I dropped some chips of dried glaze in the liquid to represent the leaves and branches.

Row 3 - Middle Panel - After applying masking tape on the panel, I used an exacto knife to cut out the shapes of different tree branches.  I then layered a mixture of impasto medium and pant into the cut out area.  With the impasto mixture still wet I inserted some pieces of dried glaze.

Row 4 - Left Panel - Before applying any paint I used a generous amount of gesso on the panel. From there I used a palette knife and some other instruments to create different sculptural effects. The background made for several peaks and valleys which added to the painting process.

Row 4 - Right Panel - Being this was the sand part of the composition I mixed in actual sand with the paint.  The texture is very subtle, but up close it helps convey the beach effect.

Comments and criticism are always welcome.

The Greatest Artist Ever

The Greatest Artist Ever?  Surely this is a debate that will continue for as long as there is air to breathe.  For me this is a simple answer . . . James Mullen (My Dad) is the biggest source of inspiration as an artist, but more importantly on being a human being . . . For that reason  I put him at the top of the list.  For over seven decades my Dad has thrived on art as if it were a part of his physical body.  Being his son, I have been blessed to inherit this gift the same way someone inherits eye color from their parents.  I have seen my Dad's art in museums amongst the 

"best of the best" and I have seen personalized Birthday cards that could put Hallmark out of business.  Despite having seen hundreds of his works during my lifetime I know for certainty his best artwork has yet to be created.  Keep it up Dad, the best works are still ahead of you.

Love Micah

Falls Lake

Falls Lake and the Neuse River are integral parts of my life.  So much of my artwork is inspired by these areas.  I have seen Falls Lake during droughts and floods, needless to say both offer interesting scenes for an artist.  Falls Lake at Six Forks Road is one of my favorite areas to fish. The painting shown was completed during the height of a drought in the Summer of 2008. Normally the water be up up past the sienna and umber colors that are just above the shoreline. Someone mentioned this painting resembled Fauvism.  I suppose I can see this in some of the broad color grids.  I've always considered my work to be inspired more by pointilism or naive styles.  Maybe amongst these and other styles I will finally figure out what my paintings are all about.  :)

Seeing Red

Earlier this Summer I entered two paintings in a show titled Seeing Red at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh, NC.  My goal with both of these paintings was to paint approximately half in varying shades of red, with the other half being the natural colors of the landscape as I saw them. In painting Duke Forest I started by sketching a series of squares of the same size.  I intended to create varying squares of red shades next to colors of the natural landscape.  I took this a step further by painting half these squares directly on the glass.  This 24x36" painting took nearly 50 hours, but it is was one of my personal favorites.  

The second painting Linville River was the painting accepted into the show.  In doing this I masked out horizontal and vertical bands and subsequently painted the unmasked area as I saw the natural colors.  When completed I lifted the masking tape and painted the balance of the painting in shades of red.

Comments and criticism are always appreciated.

www.micahmullen.com

Wake Forest Area Artists' Studio Tour

The Wake Forest Area Artists’ Studio Tour is in high gear.  The first weekend was awesome!  Lots of people, great weather and of course great art.  The gals at the Sunflower Studios and Gallery were nice enough to let me show my work there.  My fingers are crossed that the weather will again be nice this weekend as I will once again be under the canopy in the front lawn of the Sunflower.   I’ll be painting this weekend and will be giving away greeting cards to anyone that mentions they heard about the Studio Tour through this blog.  I hope to see everyone this weekend!  Learn more about the tour at http://www.artistsstudiotour.com

www.micahmullen.com

Using Impasto Medium to Create Three Dimensional Effects

In depicting elements in nature relief effects give a 3-dimensional effect that really makes the paint “pop” right off the canvas.  In this painting technique I am using Matisse Structure paint (Carbon Grey) along with Matisse Impasto Medium to create tree bark.

Step 1:  I mix a ratio of about 30% paint with 70% Impasto Medium.  Make sure the mixture is throughly mixed (I use a palette knife) when complete the mixture should be the color of the paint.

Step 2:  Apply as much masking tape as needed over the area where the impasto mixture will be applied.   In this instance a width of about 4” of tape is used.  I generally use more tape than is actually needed so the excess will catch any spillage in the removal process.

Step 3:  Once the tape is applied I use an Exacto knife to cut out various shapes,  It is important to use a sharp exacto knife and a heavweight canvas, otherwise you risk cutting right through the canvas

 Step 4:  Once the tape is prepared I use a palette knife and begin applying the impasto mixture. I like to use alot of the mixture, the impasto medium can hold peaks of about an inch.  One applied you can use the knife to smooth out the mixture, or you can leave rough or even add some textured details when the mixture is still wet.

Step 5: When the mixture is still wet begin lifting the layers of tape off.  Be sure to lift the layers by the outer layer first, otherwise you risk lifting all the layers at one and creating a mess.

When complete the Impasto mixture will take about 24 hours to fully dry.  During this drying period you can add texture and subtly shape the peaks.  Once dried, the peaks can be painted over just as if they were another layer of paint.

A View from my Back Porch

My favorite part of the week is usually Saturday night around 6:00 or so.  After a day of painting or running errands I love to sit out on my deck and enjoy a cigar and a cold beverage.  My deck is elevated about 12’ from the ground so it overlooks my lawn that extends into a wooded area.

The painting shown is a view from my deck.  The lawn and forest area are painted on a 12x16” Gessobord panel.  The planks and beams of the deck are painted on a piece of glass.  Before I framed the piece I separated the glass and the panel with four balsa wood strips that are concealed by the lip of the frame.  The picture shown does not really give the right perception, but if you were to look at the painting from any angle you can really see how the glass is offset from the panel.

Eno River

A few weeks ago we spent the day at the Eno River in Durham, NC.  The river offers some nice swimming holes and some hiking trails that are off the beaten track.  You can even see the remnants of an old pump station.  I’m not certain the history of the river, but I believe the river was a main water source for much of Durham.  I am pondering applying to be an artist at the 2010 “Festival for the Eno”   Being that this is the only painting I have done as of yet of the Eno, I guess I will have a lot to do in the next year or so.

A View from Fort Macon

I recently finished a painting derived from a picture I took while visiting Fort Macon in Atlantic Beach, NC.  I believe Fort Macon was constructed in the early 1700’s and served prominent roles in the American Revolution, Civil War, WWI and even WWII.   My view of Fort Macon is one interpretation of a view seen by multitudes of men over a course of 300 years.  What I saw was an interesting landscape of twisted and winding trees offset by a brilliant blue sky.  At different points in time this same view might have had pirates storming the fortress or a brilliant blue sky replaced by exploding mortar fire.

Ocean Gallery

Earlier this summer my kids and I were strolling down the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD when we came across the Ocean Gallery.  A very unique art gallery to say the least!  The most interesting art of the gallery was the building itself.  Jammed with posters and slogans (my favorite being Johnny Unitas shopped here) the Ocean Gallery is an icon of pop America.  My initial thoughts of this being very gaudy and tacky have transcended into something very representative of the American culture.  Definitely worth checking out.  (At least once in your life)

Assateague Island

During part of my summer vacation this year I visited Assateague Island in Southern Maryland.  This is a really cool area of the country . . . All kinds of wildlife; including wild horses that come right up to the car window. Normally for my painting subjects I try to stay away from beach and coastal subjects. However, this area offered  some diversity of dense forestry and marshes mixed with broad horizon lines.  I am quite fond of the picture shown, after I finish some other projects this will probably be the first of my Assateague Island series.

Durant Nature Park

One of my favorite parks in Raleigh is Durant Park.  A few weeks ago my kids had their wrestling picnic in one of the shelters.  I was able to sneak away and get some pictures of the creek.  It seems the water in the creek is always pretty low so this results in alot of tree roots hanging over the creek.  Definitely makes for some interesting pictures and of course later on interesting paintings.

For this painting I painted one layer on a 24x36” Gessobord.  I deliberately omitted painting a lot of detail on the big tree and the rock system in the lower right corner.  When I finished painting the panel, I primed certain areas of a glass pane, and painted those.  When finished I placed the glass on top of the panel.  I started exploring this method of glass painting when I did my second DVD Abstracting the Outdoors: Unlikely Surfaces, it really allows for a different and interesting depth perception that I have yet to achieve from a one layered two dimensional work.

Geometric Sky

In creating a typical landscape, I find the sky to be one of the most important elements to the painting.  The viewer’s eye is directed to the vanishing point where horizon line disappears and eventually dissolves into the sky.  Challenging the viewer with a “non-traditional” sky I find accents other parts of the painting.

In Croatan Forest 1 and 2, I used varying square and rectangular shapes of blues, whites and grays to achieve this “geometric sky”.  Just by cutting shapes in masking tape and applying different color glazes in layer over layer allowed me to achieve this effect.  I am currently experimenting with shapes other rectangles to take this to yet another level.

Painting with Detail Bottles

Detail bottles are 1/2 oz. squeezable plastic bottles with tiny applicator tips in different size openings.  I like to create a mixture of 30% paint and 70% glazing medium.  They are sold in a set of three, so I typically mix three different colors.  From there the paint mixture can be applied to create string like effects.  I find this works well for things like waterfalls, ripples etc.

In creating Looking Glass Falls (pictured) I used the the detail bottles to create the waterfall in a combination of white, silver and turquoise.  There is also some impasto effect to give the waterfall more dimension.  In contrast to the darker colors used to represent the rocks in the background this waterfall really stands out.

Painting on Glass

Lately I have been doing a lot of painting on Glass in conjunction with Geesobord panels.  I find painting on glass to be difficult, but the effect when complete is stunning, as it creates a depth perception when laid over on the panel. 

In my upcoming DVD Abstracting the Outdoors: Unlikely Surfaces I demonstrate this technique as it relates to my style of painting.  Generally I paint the sky and the body of the water on the panels.  Any trees, rock or other objects that would typically be in the foreground are subsequently painted on the glass.  Varnishing the glass can be tricky, as the paint has a tendency to lift off, but I am finding the end result is usually very good.  I am currently working on a bigger piece in this style.  Check back soon to see how this comes out.

Cliffs of the Neuse State Park

Located just south of Goldsboro, NC is Cliffs of the Neuse State Park.  We visited the park in late Spring, this visit was preceded by about seven straight days of rain.  Alot of the hiking trails were flooded, but it created some cool pictures that would not exist under normal conditions.

 When I began painting these pictures this was my first go around with acryl gouache on watercolor paper.  I use acryl gouache in nearly all of my paintings, but usually as more of an accent layer over traditional heavy body acrylics.  Previous paintings have always been done on canvas or boards, cold press watercolor paper provided me an interesting new dynamic.   Unlike canvas, the paper allows for softer strokes and better detail. Of course some of the impasto and sgrafiito techniques that I like to use are not possible on this surface, but overall I like this surface as I can do paintings a bit quicker.  They also look nice under glass in a metal silver frame.

Paintings around the Triangle

I do not need to travel far to find some outstanding subjects.  One generally does not think of Interstate 540 as a picturesque area of beauty, however several of my favorites paintings have materialized from places in and around Wake County.  Milburnie Fishing Club (pictured) was inspired by a real place just off highway 64 in Knightdale.  I was lucky enough to capture this area at sunset, while the mauve / red sky definitely has some artistic license, the area is quite interesting with hundred of sunken trees.  I’ve never fished there, but I’m sure the bass are plentiful.  

Eastern North Carolina

Several of my pieces are currently available at the Vision Gallery in Atlantic Beach, NC.  In the spring of 2009 we visited the gallery and made a day trip of it and took in some of the surrounding landscape.  I’ve never been a big beach painter so I knew this would be a challenge.  At the advice of the gallery’s owner we hiked around Hoop Hole Creek.  I took a lot of pictures, but nothing really popped out.  I knew if I were to paint this area, the painting rather than the location would need to be my area of focus.  I decided to create a polytich of 12, 10x10” panels.  I painted each panel separately and tried different painting techniques on each.   When finished they were all mounted onto 36x48” oak board to create a full composition.

My favorite area of this region is Croatan Forest.  Situated between New Bern and Atlantic Beach the landscape is diverse enough where one might see towering pine trees and dense forestry adjacent to a sandy beach and serene coastline.  I created three paintings from the pictures I took.  All three were accepted into different juried shows.  My favorite of these is Flanners Beach (pictured) this really illustrates a wild and diverse forest scene in contrast to the serenity of the beach at sundown.

Western North Carolina

Arguably my favorite area of the country is western North Carolina.  In early November of 2008 we took a trip to see the waterfalls.   It is amazing how much we saw in just an eight hour period, but I know we only scratched the surface of all there is to see.

We started the trip by visiting Looking Glass Falls. In January of 2009, I painted a 36x72” work of the falls.  This was the first time I really experimented with making paint a “liquid” to create a waterfall effect.  The end result came out spectacular and was later accepted into the Radius 250 show in Richmond, VA and subsequently achieved an Honorable Mention for this show.

So far I have painted about a dozen pictures from this trip, but my personal favorite is Whitewater Falls #3 (pictured). I was fortunate enough to capture this magnificent setting in peak autumn foliage.  Again I used some liquid detail to create an interesting effect for the waterfall, but the array of reds, oranges and other autumn colors really make this artwork pop right off the canvas.

Dupont Forest is an area where many of these waterfalls are located.  When I painted Dupont Forest my goal was to really experiment with the variety of trees, rocks and how they interacted with the brilliant cobalt blues of the river.  This piece was later accepted into the National Juried Art Show at the Rocky Mount Art’s Center.  When I attended the opening in June, I was thrilled to find out that this work won first prize for the show.  It is currently on display at the museum through September 2009.

Beidler Forest

In July of 2008, my family and I visited the Beidler Forest in South Carolina.  Located about an hour west of Charleston, this area was the perfect place to find subject matter for my paintings.  I would term this area more of a swamp than a forest.  The landscape was that of a science fiction movie with trees growing horizontally, and a water edge that could not be defined since trees and other typical things associated with land were growing in the water.

I painted seven paintings from this trip.  Beidler Forest #3, #4 and #5 are currently on display and available at the Vision Gallery in Atlantic Beach, NC.   Beidler Forest #6 was the basis for a full length DVD and was later accepted into the National Juried Art Show at the Rocky Mount Arts Center (where it currently is).  My favorite piece of this series, Beidler Forest #7 (pictured) was accepted into the juried show for the Raleigh Fine Art's Society.  It currently is in my possession and in August will be featured at my gallery show in Wake Forest, NC at the Sunflower Studio and Gallery.