When All Else Fails…

…just paint what you like.

That's what I have been telling myself lately as I lose ground in the battle against my painting block. And it has seemingly worked. At least I have painted a couple of paintings this week.

The first painting was of Mitzi, a fictional subject based on a found photo. I loved painting this one. Once again, there was a point within its creation where it started to come to life and I was so focused, so involved, so engrossed that I actually missed a meal! I have already posted her to my portraits website, but I'll share her with you now as some may not have the exact address of that site. So here she is!


And so today I painted another dog painting. I had started this one day last week, but paying work delayed my finishing it. So today I continued with it. This one is not quite finished yet. In actuality, it is painted on a 20" x 24" canvas, but I have cropped it because the rest of it isn't finished yet. And now that I see it cropped, I rather like it and may not do the extra bits I had planned for top and bottom. We'll see. But again, this was a delight to paint and also again, I was so focused I missed another meal. Here it is:


I realize that this is not high art, but at least I am painting. Not only am I painting, but I am truly enjoying it, something I haven't felt in a while. Especially while working on paintings for the publishing house. But I'll have to get back to that this week.

Back to the Sketchbook

And so one thing I started to do about my painter’s block is to take the pressure off a bit.

Not this past Sunday, but the Sunday before, I sketched. This was a day when I would normally expect myself to paint all day. Instead, I told myself that I could have the “day off”. To do whatever I would like. Yes, I played on my computer, looking at website designs and art. And then I felt the “stirring”. But rather than paint, I worked in the sketchbook and just let myself be okay with that. I sketched something from a printed promo piece, I re-sketched something I pulled out of my sketchbook from three years ago, I sketched ideas that were just inside my head inspired from an illustrator’s website and a photographer’s site I had passed by during the day.


Not great stuff, but I had fun and it made me feel like an artist, something that had been eluding me since I was not in the studio much.

Battling the Painter's Block

I haven't posted in a while. I cannot believe that it has been nearly a month! And to think that I was so enthusiastic in the beginning…

It's not that I haven't dreamed about painting. I have. It's not that I am completely devoid of ideas. I have them. But when it comes to actually setting foot into the painting studio, it seems that I will use almost any excuse to keep from doing so. Like working on my websites. Ideas about how I can promote my art online abound. But I cannot promote what does not exist. And that would be the work.

And I do mean ANY excuse to keep from painting. Like washing the dishes or vacuuming. That is not me. When I would rather clean a toilet than paint, I know something is wrong.

So I started to think about what exactly is keeping me from painting. At first I thought well, I am not that good a painter. But that cannot be the sole reason because I always think that, yet there have been periods of great productivity. Although I do have to admit that when I am working, all feelings of inadequacy get pushed off to the side. They are probably still there, but I become so engrossed in my process and so amazed that anything comes out of me, I find myself thinking that I am a great artist simply by virtue of the fact that I produced something. No wait, scratch that. I do know the difference between a good painting and a bad painting even when they are my own. Especially when they are my own. So what then? What is it?

Then I started to think that it was all because of the publishing house. Image Conscious in San Francisco reproduces my paintings as commercial posters, from which I earn royalties. I could write an entire article on my interaction with them, but I'll save that for another day. Suffice it to say that working with Image Conscious has taken a toll on my self-esteem with their back-and-forth attitude and procedures: "yes we like these paintings, but they are not the right colors, yes we like those colors but we want you to do something that is completely different from what you do [naturally], yes the colors and composition are right but please can you change the values?" It really is enough to scare anyone off from the studio. And yet I do not believe that this is the sole reason for my continued avoidance.

What I really think is going on comes from working with my art coach last year. As we talked about my eventual transition from graphic design to full-time fine artist, we both acknowledged that I would have to do a lot to sell my work in different areas. Like selling realism pieces on eBay where there seems to be more of a demand for that than abstracts, all the while working with the publishing house to reproduce my abstracts, working with art consultants for commissions, getting into more galleries, entering more shows and listing with slide registries. I become overwhelmed when I think of everything I should be doing and it paralyzes me into doing nothing. And I believe that this is part of it, if not the bulk.

So there you have it, my latest post. My greatest hope for today is that I will paint.

The Pet Portraiture Project: Winston

So here is my latest dog painting. Yup, Winston. The pet portraiture portfolio is growing…

The Pet Portraiture Project

Well, I haven't been working in my sketchbook lately. Actually, I do a lot of "sketching" on my computer. I think that should count.

Anyway, I've had this idea for a while, an idea that came about after I did a painting of Murphy and Molly, two golden retrievers belonging to my friends Linda and Tamar. They had hinted about my painting a portrait of their dogs for a long time. Then one day, I got out the disk of photos that they had given me and went through the hundreds of pictures of their dogs, compositing the right Molly photo with the right Murphy shot (it's a good thing I know Photoshop!) Anyway, much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed painting the dogs. So much so, that I decided that I would, at some point, offer my services as a pet portrait artist.


Of course, I would need more than just this one painting of my friends' dogs! So the plan has always been to develop a portfolio of this type of work, then do some self-promotion and get people to commission portraits of their beloved canines. Naturally, real commissions and all other forms of paying work always seem to take precedence, pushing this project back, but it's always been there, on the back burner, and this last week I actually got back to it…

I did some photo research and came across an image of a Boston terrier that I liked. I took it into Adobe Illustrator and masked it, tried some different backgrounds, decided where the pooch's name should go and proceeded to transfer my idea to paper. Then I painted. And I had the same experience that I had with Murphy and Molly, that of thoroughly enjoying the painting process.


There was only minimal frustration when painting Roxy (a name I took from the first Boston terrier I found online). In the beginning, it didn't look like the dog but I knew that if I just kept at it, it would transform. There comes a magical moment for me whenever I paint something in the style of realism—that point where the subject "comes to life". I love that moment! Everything just comes together and for a fleeting moment the deal about being an artist seems a truly good one and I am always filled with gratitude. Too bad it's only fleeting, soon enough I return to self-doubt. So here is my finished painting. The only finished one of the week. I am quite happy with it.

Inspiring Myself

I get inspiration from lots of different places. It may come from a piece created by another artist, something I see while driving my car, in an office building, or otherwise during my daily travels. But sometimes (and I am always thrilled by this) it may come from something I created myself.

On Tuesday I was working in my sketchbook and a painting I had created a couple of days prior just happened to be lying next to me. As I looked at it, I noticed a section where the paint sort of made a figure. It was completely unintentional, and I had not noticed it during the painting of the piece. But there it was, looking to me like a figure stretching or reaching up for something. Reaching for the stars perhaps? Sappy I know, but also hopeful, anticipating, even elated. A simple extension of my state of mind at that moment.


I must interject here that Tuesday was a particularly spectacular day with regard to my mood. Everything seemed to be going my way, I received several phone calls and emails from people wanting to commission paintings, or at the very least, inquiring about pricing and availability. I landed a couple of interviews for contract design work. And I was finishing up a paying project, so my fears of starvation were held at bay, at least for the time being. I was in fact, happy.

So back to the mysterious figure in my work. First I tried to draw it without looking at the painting. It didn’t look right. I looked at the painting and realized that was because my memory cannot be entirely relied upon, I often draw what I think something should look like rather than what it actually does look like. So for the rest of the sketch I let myself look at the thing. And I came up with the weird little figure in the sketch.

So I took it further to a painted sketch. I had a small canvas prepared that would accommodate my vision of the composition. It didn't turn out as I imagined it, and I will probably paint over this first chance I get, but one thing I do like, (and I have to admit, I had fun painting it in this way) is the return to what I have come to call my "reverse transfer" process, a technique I have not used in years. But it adds a nice textual quality without altering the actual surface of the substrate. Look for more of this in upcoming works.

I've never been comfortable with "Lots of Blue"

Well, the book only said that I have to jot down 3 ideas a day in my art journal. And it expressly stated that they did not have to be good!


The first idea, which is closely related to the third, is an idea I have been thinking about for quite some time. To preface: I developed a body of work, a series that I have been working on since 2002, the Sticks & Stones series. Select paintings in this series may be viewed on my website in Gallery 3. It is relatively popular, I had an exhibit of this series at Remmi Fine Art Gallery in Denver last September, and a couple of them sold. Two more were purchased by an art consulting firm called McGrath & Braun (the biggest in Denver!) Except that they wanted me to "expand" the designs to include additional paintings but the catch was that they all had to look like they were one painting, in other words, painted at the same time to appear as one cohesive piece. A challenge, to be sure, but the commissions were completed and turned out amazingly well (please see Gallery 10 on my website). So now Time Warner's corporate headquarters has a Sticks & Stones hanging their lobby and Jackson Life Insurance has one hanging somewhere within the walls of their office building. AND, I almost forgot to mention, that commercial posters of #10, #28 and #29 are available and can be found almost anywhere at online art poster sites. Just Google my name, plenty will come up. Also, recently a good friend of mine has reported seeing them at Z Gallerie in Tampa.

The thing is, the Sticks & Stones series has traditionally been executed in an abstract style, and I have never deviated from this. But, having a background as a realist, I have often thought that the Sticks & Stones would lend itself nicely to a realistic interpretation. Earlier this year, I found myself yearning to return to realism and in fact did for three figurative paintings (see Gallery 2 on my website) and this idea came full-force once again for the Sticks & Stones. So these 2 little sketches are basically the same concept, just different thoughts on how the layout should go. The first involves positioning the sticks and the stones on some interesting, natural papers. In the second sketch, I thought that using a plate as a prop might be interesting.


Now the middle sketch (detail above) came about as Image Conscious, the poster company that makes open-ended editions of my paintings, has requested that I attempt some abstracts in a new color scheme. Ugh! Hence the title of today's post. But I like today's painting (shown below).


I am a bit self-conscious to share these, but then, that was the whole point of starting this blog! So here it is, my first entries in my art journal, and a resulting painting with "Lots of Blue".

Creative Musings (a start)

I had lunch with my friend Kevin today. He regularly posts to his blog, which is the predominant format of his site. I, on the other hand, have never really seen the need for a blog. But Kevin said that my website needs to be warmer. "It just shows a lot of paintings. Nice paintings, but just paintings. There should be more about you", he said.

I often think that people who buy my art really just want to buy my art. In other words, that they are not really interested in the person who held the brush or how the paint got onto the canvas. But that is silly, I actually know better. I have sold my art on the internet for going on five years now. And I can recall some of the people who have actually asked what inspired this, or where did I get the idea for that as well as a few lengthy articulations that conveyed their own experiences when they viewed my paintings, or at least their online images. Sometimes these comments have baffled me, how can they see such depth in my work? But art is subjective and, when successful, evokes something within the viewer. Happily, my art has, on occasion, done this.

One customer exchanged a great number of emails with me, very well-written and citing a number of sources of inspiration for me. He was a true appreciator of art and we had similar tastes. I was honored that he selected three pieces of mine for his collection. And I know that our exchange enriched his experience of those pieces and likely does to this day.

I guess my point is that people would probably appreciate knowing more about me and why I paint, what inspires me and how I feel about what I create, even though they may be reticent to actually ask. So after Kevin's comment, I immediately thought about something I read in one of the books I am reading entitled "Taking the Leap". The author suggests keeping a visual diary, a journal of ideas and thoughts about my art, noting that most important artists have kept some sort of art journal. After reading that I thought, "I am starting one today!" Now, five days later, it still lays in the studio, pristine and unmarked.

So my thought today was that I could share some of what I sketch in my art journal on my blog. Of course I still have to start it! But I have lots of ideas, sometimes so many that I get that overwhelmed feeling that I will never have enough time to explore all of them. And I probably won't, in fact probably shouldn't in many cases as I am sure some ideas may seem viable in my mind, but may not translate to a visual image. But that doesn't matter. It is the thinking, the imagining, the doing that matters.

So I am starting tonight, really. Really. More to come...