Tonalism or Impressionism? Or Both?

The past few weeks I have mainly been posting abstracts though, as the regular readers know, I am most interested in where I began my painting journey - landscapes. So even while making a number of abstracts, I have kept doing landscape work which I expect to post during the next few weeks.


Winding River tries to synthesize the use of varying tones to create depth and form in the picture with impressionist brushwork that is high-energy and very visible. Blending is kept to a minimum and despite layers of color being applied the background colors, including bits of the white canvas, can still show through.


Winding River, Acrylic on canvas board, 11"x14", $75

Geometric Abstract

The use of geometric shapes in art can probably be traced back to ancient cultures even though its adoption as a modern art form is more recent. Two-dimensional shapes defined by color, texture and location on the canvas can provide an interesting way to describe our world.


Urban Panes is a composite of the myriad colors and shapes of windows that can be found in a city environment.   The appearance of these windows can change in infinite ways through different times of day, by season and in changing weather conditions. For this piece I worked against a black background and layered paint mixed with small amounts of texturing gel.


Urban Panes, Acrylic on stretched canvas, 16"x20", $75

Organic Abstracts

Even the most unformed abstract paintings seem to have inspiration in some shape or form. I am finding that my past experience of close-up photography of flowers and later doing close-up flower paintings is leading me into abstracts that reflect organic shapes like ones that might be found in nature.


Molten is part of my ongoing exploration of abstracting organic shapes drawn with primary colors and simple highlights to draw and hold the eye. The paint is laid on in a couple of layers using both a brush and various sized knives. I can almost see a flower pushing to break free of the canvas..........


Molten, Acrylic on stretched canvas, 18"x24", $100 (unframed)

Happy New Year

I want to wish all of you a very happy new year and to thank you for your interest in my blog during 2009. Your support of my blog, whether through your supportive comments or by your repeated visits, has provided me much appreciated encouragement. Every time I have been gone from the blog for an extended period, I have felt compelled to come back and keep providing new posts for your pleasure.


Lately I have been delving more and more into abstract compositions. This has made me wonder how much looser my style could get with a bigger canvas. While I have always wanted to work in big broad strokes working with large canvases has seemed highly challenging .


The hardest part was working with an unstretched piece of canvas and not having a convenient workspace to place it on. I had to put it on the floor and then try to keep it from moving while I troweled the paint on it. Next most difficult was moving around the canvas to cover all of it while still maintaining perspective. Believe me, it takes some getting used to.


Untitled is not yet finished but I wanted to post it anyway. Let's see where it leads to. Isn't discovery the core of abstract art?

Untitled, Acrylic on unstretched canvas, 36"x48" (approx), NFS

Abstract Cityscape

Every time I go to big cities like New York or Chicago, I am struck by the abstract composition possibilities offered by the towering buildings. Even without attempting to capture the beauty of the often complicated and elaborate facades, just the shapes alone lend themselves to artistic interpretation.


In Cityscape I have tried to capture the basic vertical shapes of the buildings separated by a barely discernible street. I separated the sunny and shaded sides of the street by using warm and cool colors respectively. The entire painting is done with various sized knives but I left the roughest texture for the sky which is made up of white and bits of almost every other color in the painting to create a sense of harmony.


Cityscape, Acrylic on stretched canvas, 16"x20", $100

Abstract in Progress: Part 3 - Are We There Yet?

There are times when it is best to call it done whether the painting makes you happy or not. The abstract I started a week or so ago is now in its third iteration and it is not very satisfying. For now, I am going to set it aside and go on to something else so as not to keep overworking this piece.

Maybe I will come back to it some day or maybe this is it. Who knows?

Understanding, Acrylic on canvas, 18"x24", Not for sale

Rough-Hewn Shapes

Isolating just one aspect of a landscape can create a powerful composition. So far I have only ever attempted this with organic shapes such as flowers in closeup. The finished picture often ends up looking like an abstract. But the image can still remain impressionistic or representational when a particular element is isolated but still recognizable.

Field Boulders is a charcoal sketch that attempts to capture the rough-hewn shapes arranged in a triangular composition with barely the suggestion of a grassy foreground. The highlights and shadows provide much to explore in the picture.

Field Boulders, Charcoal on paper, 4"x6", Not for sale