Another attempt and hi again

Hi All,

Here I am again, after all these months. And this is the last of the first three sculptures I did when I started in that medium. Where have I been? Nowhere. Here, in the studio. But my computer went on strike. I was able to keep it going enough to do email and web surfing and handle some daily business, but it would not let me add images to this blog. Most frustrating. So it has to go back to the computer man soon, but somehow my niece, Sarah, who is visiting, figured out a temporary way to post the images. So here we are.

In the meantime, I have produced many new sculpture pieces, mostly cats, and am about to offer them to the downtown San Antonio gallery. Let's hope they like them. And let's hope Sarah figures out my problem with this computer so that I can continue to post images without her. I have many plein air pieces which are awaiting posting too, so there is a lot to catch up on.

This horse is fired clay, about 8 inches tall. It is painted to look bronze and is unmounted. It is full of action, which is the best I can say for it as the features are somewhat exaggerated, but it's kind of fun.

I hope I am soon back to you with more images of the art production of the past few months.

Best wishes,
Jay

Dog Sculpture

Dear All,

Here is the dog sculpture I talked about last time. This is one of the three first sculptures I did. It is not bronze, as it looks, but fired clay painted to look like bronze. The dog is based on my Aussie, Keen, but is not a portrait in that the ears are not placed as hers are. It was never meant to be anything more than a practice piece, but I was not unhappy with how it turned out.

This week my art friends and I went to the Pleasanton area, which is south of San Antonio, and painted wildflowers. Now this was not an ordinary spring trip. We've had two years of horrific drought which killed off a lot of the local grasses. This was followed by a record breaking wet winter and all of that contributed to the best year ever for wild flowers. Spectacular is not enough to describe the acres and acres of blue, salmon, pink, white, magenta, yellow. The flowers are everywhere--roadsides, fields, yards, pastures, woodlots, etc. We even found one of our best views in a sand pit area. I did three pieces which will need a bit of tweaking in the studio, but those will soon be on the blog. It was great to be outside painting again.

Jay

Very first sculpture

Dear Patient Friends,

Here, at last, are the promised pictures of my very first sculpture effort. I was quite proud of this right up until I saw the photos of it. It is meant to have a rough texture--sort of a "wet" feel, but the photo makes it look a lot less arty and a lot more "messy". Rats. I like this style of loose work and intend to keep working at it until I get it right. My instructor tells me frequently that one must pay attention to how shadows will fall on the work and keep that in mind when finishing a piece.

This piece is done with clay--a raku clay, in fact--and then fired and then painted to look like bronze. I rather like the bronze look to these pieces and will probably continue to paint my stuff to look like that. It gives me a good idea of what they would look like if I ever decide to actually have bronzes made. I've learned that is a very complicated and expensive process--not something I can afford to do. But these are original works that look like bronze and for the time being, these will have to do.

I have photos of two more pieces I completed at the same time. A dog and a horse. I'll put those on the blog soon. No I mean really soon. I already have the photos. And there are more sculptures in the pipeline as I am churning them out fairly quickly. It's so much fun!

Friends

Dear All,

Here is the second of the series of beach-woman-dog paintings. This one is much smaller than the first and is a square gallery wrapped piece. It is not framed and needs no frame. Again, this is based on my sister-in-law, Barb, and Maggie, the dog. For this one, I used the set of photos my brother took for me, at my request as reference. Because the photos were taken at the same time, the lighting was the same, but distance and a change in camera direction made the colors slightly different. This one is a bit more pastel in color. I am thinking of making a minor change in the female figure's face, as I am thinking the smile is not rendered well. Other than that, it is what it is. Opinions?

Jay

The Beach at Charleston

Dear Friends,

At long last, I am back to the blog. Here is a large piece I did this past year based on a photo I asked my brother to take for me last fall. I wanted to try a backlit beach scene and this is the result. He sent me several pictures from this particular photo session and I have a few paintings from it. I'll be posting those too.

This is Barb, my brother's wife, and their dog, Maggie. As you can see they both really enjoy the beach. And I really enjoyed doing this painting.

The painting is a studio piece, obviously, and larger than my normal plein air size. It's 24 x 28.

I have been painting all this past year, in spite of what you might think, but it's been in the studio and so I have been spending more time with each piece and not producing as much of it. Thus, less to put on the blog. And I also returned to some watercolor work. It has not been as successful as I would like, so you won't see any of that, but if I get anything worth sharing, I will.

More exciting is a new project--clay sculpture! I am working on animal sculptures and have been very pleased with the results. When I finish the three pieces currently on the table, I'll send pictures along.

So let me hear from you so I know I'm not sending along pictures into the ether. I'll be looking forward to it.

Jay