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

Pinguinos

Dear Folks,
I told you I'd be back. Here is one of my early returns to the watercolor medium. I think I've given the Spanish word for penguins correctly and spelled it right. If not, you can tell me I'm wrong and I'll change it. These are Gentoo Penguins, by the way, and I painted them from a photo in a magazine which means I can't use the painting for anything except practice, but I was pretty happy with this first effort. I sure like doing all sorts of animals.
Jay

"The Girls"

Dear Friends,

At long last I return to the blog with little excuse for having been away so long. I do note that the last post I made, which was in May, was the same time we acquired our new puppy and the rigors of raising a little baby pup--only 7 weeks old when we got her--have been distracting. She's a cutey though, and shows signs of being a great agility dog.

This portrait of three Labrador Retrievers has kept me busy too. I've spent most of the summer working on it one way or another. It took a while to arrange to have all three dogs together at the same time, as they live in different parts of the state, and we ended up bringing them all to my house so I could photo them together. That made it much easier for me rather than trying to match lighting and coloring from different photos taken at different times and in different places. Then I admit to a great deal of waffling on the background for the dogs. I don't think I spent more than a few weeks on the dogs themselves, but the background drove me nuts. I tried foliage. I tried a lot of foliage. I tried black, and orange, and green and ---you get the picture. It involved a lot of fooling around.

The issue was not helped when the mother dog--the one with all the gray on her face--passed away suddenly and left an owner in mourning and me feeling the pressure to put my best foot forward. Fortunately the owner and everyone else who has seen the painting and knew the dog are in agreement that I managed to capture the physical appearance and spirit of this beloved pet.

So now I am on to the next great thing. Watercolor. I have joined a class with a great friend of mine and am relearning technique after a ten year hiatus from the medium. It's been a great deal of fun and I'll be showing you some of the work as soon as I can. I promise! Soon!

Jay

Spring in Brush Country

Hey all,

I have been a little slow to get something new on the blog lately so I thought I'd show this old piece which is another dragged from the "fix" bin. I've had so much fun with what's come out of that box that I find myself leafing through it weekly. Most of them don't need much to make them more finished and I am tickled that with passing time, I've learned to see the problems and be able to address them so easily. Time matures the artist?

This is another plein air piece, done several years ago, in the early spring on a ranch way south of San Antonio. It needed only a little addition to the vegetation and some darks in very small places to bring it up to par.

I hope you enjoy it.

Jay

South Texas Phlox

Dear Folks,

This is a rarity for me. It is a painting done plein air and it is on canvas, 16"x20". I did it a few years ago at a ranch south of San Antonio where the owners encouraged as many wild flowers as they could allow to grow and still run cattle on the place. At this particular time, the phlox were the dominant color on the landscape, but there were splashes of other color from a few bluebonnets, some sort of irisy looking thing and some white daisy-like flowers. Wish I could be more specific but I didn't get their names.

I have been tempted more than once to rework this piece because it is so Eastery looking. It doesn't look real I think. But as with the other flower landscapes you've seen recently, this was painted on location and that's what the location looked like. It's just the way it was. Spring in South Texas can sometimes be that way. Just too good to be true.

I'm going to put it in the gallery soon as I think this is the time of year someone would appreciate it. I hope you enjoy it.

Jay