I have several "plein aire" paintings that I did over the course of the summer. At this point I can't remember the order in which they were painted.

This one was a fun one for me. It really helped me get over my fear of getting out there and painting in public. I painted this one during the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington DC. Lots of people were milling about the mall so I got to tackle that fear head on. My first time painting any transiant objects which was fun.

"National Mall" 8x10 oil on board



This is a quick study I did in my backyard. Not my best but I will show them all, the good, the bad abd the ugly.

"Pear Tree In Bloom" 8x10 oil on panel



I did this one on my deck in the back of the house. This was done mostly as a study to practice painting "sky holes" or those litle spots in trees where the sky can be seen through the branches.

"Pine Three's" 4x6 oil on panel

I have a lot of work that I need to post. It has been a busy summer and I haven't had the time to keep up with my blog. Before I post anything new I have some older work I would to post here.

The first is a Cheetah portrait. This is oil on canvas paper done in a thin wash with detailed layed on top.



The next one is from the same year. Both were done in 1995. Looking back at these two pieces I wonder why I didn't continue to paint. They are pretty good and had I kept up the tempo and been painting all along...I can only imagine how far ahead my skills would be now. It is a lesson learned, NEVER STOP PAINTING!

"Proud" oil on canvas paper

Falcon Portrait

I did this one a couple of weeks ago. I think this is heading in the right direction as far as style goes. I like the big chunky brush strokes. This on one of the canvases that I stretched and primed myself. I love the tooth of these and will have to make more. I dont know if it my imagination or not, but I seem to paint better on these.

10x14 Oil on stretched canvas

Wow! I didn't realize it has been over a month since my last entry. Been busy with other things. One of which is designing some t-shirt graphics for "Red Friday", which is a movement to show support for our troops by wearing red on Fridays.

I set up a shop at CafePress.com to sell the designs. It has been a good learning experience to set the shop up and promote the merchandise. I am not sure how much or if I will get any sells from it. Especially since the "cause" is sort of lost in all the noise going on with the military and the war right now.

Here is the link to the shop: http://www.cafepress.com/redfridaygear

"Bridge over red rock" 12x14 oil on panel

My latest painting. Did this last weekend. Pretty happy with the way it turned out. Probably my "cleanest" painting yet. This was taken from a photo reference I got online. The photo (of the painting) has a lot of glare on it which is altering the color. It is not as bright as the photo is, more true to life. When it is fully dry I will try to get a good scan of this.

Spent the weekend prepping some new panels. Cut down a 48x96 sheet of hardboard to various sizes. I got a total of 39 panels. It was a lot of work but I figured I would take the time and prep a whole sheet, which will keep me stocked for some time.

Pittsburgh from Schenley Park

Painted a couple of Saturdays ago on Saint Patty's Day. It was a sunny day but way cold out. I set up next to a stand of pine trees, above the ice rink. Thought that was smart as it would block the wind. Big mistake! The wind would blow across a big berm next to the ice rink and pick up the snow only to dump it across my palette and paint panel. Good thing I was working in oil! So, being that it was so cold and I was beig pelted with snow, I only worked on this for about 30-40 minutes. This is my first plein air with a limited, three color, palette. Alizarin Crimson, Cadnium Orange hue and Thalo Blue. Only used two brushes for this, Filberts #8 and #4. Would have used some brights (would have made squaring off the buildings easier), but I forgot them at home. I may return to this spot and do a spring and summer version of this view.

8x10, oil on panel

Back Off!

I completed this painting about two weeks ago. It is a return to a style I was playing with back in the late 90's. You can see an example of this in the "Mountain Lion" painting that is posted on my paintings blog: http://daveraselpaintings.blogspot.com/ I am trying to get an abstract/graphic look in the background, balanced with an impressionism/realism look to the animal. I think it could work well, just a matter of getting that balance between the two. I am pretty happy with the way this painting turned out. I think I really captured the expression on the falcon's face. This is oil on stretched canvas, 12x24.



Here is a detail shot of the falcon's head:


The following is my second attempt at this style. I was trying to get more motion on the canvas with this one. This is oil on stretched canvas, 16x20.



This was an interesting experience with canvas for me. The first one, "Back Off!", was painted on a canvas that I prepared myself. I started with raw 12oz. cotton duck canvas. I stretched it then prepped the surface with rabbit skin glue sizing. This stuff is amazing. It pulled the canvas tight as a drum. I then primed the canvas with Oil gesso, applied with a palette knife. The second painting "Bird of Prey" was done on a store bought canvas. The difference between the two blew me away. Granted, the store bought one was a cheap Michael's brand, but the application of paint on the two was so dramatically different. The paint flowed so nice and smooth on the one I stretched. The store bought canvas took much more work to get the paint to stick. I think it shows in the painting itself. Lesson learned.

Had a good couple of weeks. I got three new painting I am anxious to post. Need to wait for the paint to dry to get a good pict. Two are in studio and one is plein air.

I am really getting anxious for the weather to change. This will be my first spring doing plein air paintings and I cant wait to get out. I have been scouting locations all winter.

The first painting I completed has a thread at wet canvas. The image isn't that good being that there is glare on it. Here is the link:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5468445#post5468445

Art is like a hayride...

Did you ever go for a ride in a hay trailer? Pulled by a big farm tractor across dusty, bumpy dirt roads through a farm pasture? This is what the creative flow feels like. When I am completely engaged it is like sitting on the wooden bench in the back of a hay trailer. Tractor spews some smoke as it jumps into gear and lurches forward. Slow at first. Then it begins to pick up speed. I am sitting there enjoying the scenery and the blissful gently bouncing hypnosis of the trailers movement. But then it begins to pick up speed and the gentle bouncing turns into a rough bucking. The ruts under the wheels deepen and knock me from the bench. I get back to my seat and hang on for the ride. It's fun but you got to hold on. Then it gets real rough. The trailer is kicking and bucking hard now. I can barely hold on. The dust is kicking up and I am choking on the foul air. Kicking and bouncing, moaning and creeking, I get bounced to the back of the trailer. Thr tractor is speeding up heading down a pasture path. Half seated, half standing trying to remain on the trailer it hits a hard lump of dry earth. Throwing me up in the air I grab onto the back gate as I tumble over the side. Hanging on for dear life, dust in my face, teeth rattling, I am being drug along like a rag doll. Unable to hang on anymore I let go and crash into the hard earth rolling to a stop in the middle of the path. The tractor and wagon rolls on, bouncing and kicking till it is out of sight.
Thrilled with the excitement of the energy yet dissapointed that I couldn't hold onto it. Laying there I wonder if I will get to experience that again. But I have learned that if I stand up, brush myself off and start walking, another trailer will be by soon.

Top Ten Moments

All of the artwork is finally complete for the top ten materials moments.
This was an interesting project to work on. Each moment required some research to find specific items, or historic accuracy. Because of time restraints I couldn't complete each moment as a whole illustration. So to save time i created only on "sheild" drawing and compiled the sheild image together with the individual moments after inking and scanning. I also added the background texture to this composite, using Photoshop to bring them all together.

So here are the moments. Click on the image below to see a rotating gif file:

Old Paintings...

One that got away.



"Leopard" watercolor on toned paper, 1997, 11x14

I love this painting. Unfortunately for me it was destined for an auction to raise funds for the local women's shelter in New Castle.
I believe it fetched $300 which was contributed to the cause. That is good, but I would love to see this again, and in retrospect probably should have kept this one and created another for the auction.

If the person who purchased this is out there, and just happens to come across this post in my blog (one and a million shot), please email me and let me know who you are.

Old Paintings...

Another from the past.



"John&George" pencil on paper, 2001

I was commisioned to do this for a client who was a huge Beatles fan. Shortly after George Harrison died, they wanted this portrait done of both Goerge and John Lennon.
I was originaly going to title it "The Dead Beatles", but I guess that would be a little insensitive.

Old Paintings...

Work has been keeping me pretty busy as of late and I have not been able to commit much time to painting or drawing. So I thought I would take some time to post some old paintings that I have done.

Here is the first:



"Bear Totem" Mixed Media on canvas (acrylic, modeling paste, sand), 22x28, 1995

I still remember working on this painting. It was a complete experiment. I had this vision in my head and just went for it. It was a test of my patience, as I am used to sitting down and completing a painting in one or two sessions. I put on about three or four layers of modeling paste to build up the texture I wanted. Each layer took a night to dry, so it was about a week of prep before I actually got to paint this.

There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual-become clairvoyant. We reach then into reality. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom.
It is in the nature of all people to have these experiences; but in our time and under the conditions of our lives, it is only a rare few who are able to continue in the experience and find expression for it.
At such times there is a song going on within us, a song to which we listen. It fills us with surprise. We marvel at it. We would continue to hear it. But few are capable of holding themselves in the state of listening to their own song. Intellectuality steps in and as the song within us is of the utmost sensitiiveness, it retires in the presence of the cold, materials intellect. It is aristocratic and will not associate itself with the commonplace-and we fall back and become our ordinary selves. Yet we live in the memory of these songs which in moments of intellectual inadvertence have been possible to us. They are the pinnacles of our experience and it is the desire to express these intimate sensations, this song from within, which motivates the masters of all art.

Robert Henri- The Art Spirit, International Studio, May, 1921

Drawing these hands was one of those moments. I sketched these hands from a photo reference on wetcanvas. I sat to simply doodle, half-heartedly, and this sketch just flowed out. So simple, so effortlessly. I love the presence of the line on the paper. The mass of the shapes; muscle, flesh and bone. I come to realize that this is my goal. To be able to engage that song within each time I place pencil to paper. Brush to canvas. Because of the disconnected flow of free creativity, due to the responsibilities of life, these moments are rare and valuable. Everytime I look at this drawing I am reminded of that song within. I am reminded that I can engage that song and hold myself "in the state of listening". Even if only for a brief moment.

Bucking Bronco

It has been a while since I posted something here. The month has been crazy getting ready for the holidays and my son's first birthday party. I haven't done much painting this month. I did however finish this painting that I posted the underpainting of at the end of November. This painting ended up being a struggle and I scraped the paint off a couple of times. It was a real lerning experience and I gained some good knowledge from this one. Not completely satisfied with the outcome, but there are a lot of elements that I do like about this painting. This was done for my nephew as a Xmas gift. I built tha frame myself and was very happy with the way the frame turned out.

Oil on 12 x 14 panel.

A Reminder of the Past

Last Friday I went to visit my parents for the afternoon. I painted this in the backyard. This painting is of Pete's farm which bordered the property line of my parents. Growing up I spent a lot of time up at the farm. Going out with Pete to gather hay bails, building forts in the hay loft, messing with the cows, running from angry bulls, riding bikes through the pasture, drinking cool water from the spring on hot days. That farm and the woods bordering it where a big part of my childhood. Even though I lived in a small apartment with two other brothers in one room, having permission to hang out at the farm made me feel like I grew up in my own personal estate. Unfortunatly progress marches on, and the farm was sold a few years ago to a developer. They have already begun to build large homes on the property. I hope to get back and paint what is left of the pastures before they are all gone.

This is what is on my easel currently. This is a painting for my nephew who loves rodeos. Especially the bucking bronco.
This is the underpainting which is a wash of oil on a 12x14 panel. I am pretty happy with the positioning of the elements but worry that the lack of connection from the bronco to the figures on the right breaks up the composition. I will probably drop the figure sitting on the fence being that he is so close to edge that a frame will cover part of him. Also I don't think it really adds anything to the composition and if anything is distracting.

I am pretty happy with the way this painting turned out. Painting is about creating an illusion of depth, light and form on a flat surface. As a painter I am creating shapes and color using brushstrokes to acheive that illusion. I feel, I have made a succesful painting when I buy into my own illusion. I still see a lot of "painting" mistakes, but for the most part I just see the subject as it is presented in it's enviroment. This was paintedfor my Nephew Logan as a christmas gift. He is big into John Deere tractors right now. I am also doing a bucking bronco for his brother Collin, who is big into rodeo stuff now.




"John Deere" 12 x 14 Oil on panel


This is a snapshot of the black and white underpainting.


Paintin...

Paintin...

I Did this a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to play around with an industrial theme and I came across a photo of a welder that had some great light in it. Most of the painting was done in one sitting. After I let it dry I came back and added in the sparks coming off the welding torch.




"Welder" 10 x 12, Oil on panel

Painting...

Finally got a chance to scan the paintings Ive done for the "Essence of Pittsburgh" plain air worksop I am taking. I can feel myself getting better and better each time I complete a painting. Some of Ron's techniques I struggle with, but I am taking some of what I am learning with Ron and what I already know and sort of mixing up my own technique. That style doesn't appear in these painting, as I am trying to stay true to Ron's technique for the learning value of it. I have a new painting on the easle that is definitly more my style.

This tree was from the first class. I only spent about an hour and a half on this. I really struggled with the color as this was the first time I ever used a limited palette.

8x10 Oil on panel


This ally scene is from the second class. Unfortunatly it was pouring down rain that day and we weren't able to get outside. Instead Ron brought a painting in that he had completed earlier and we followed along as he walked us through his process. I was situated under bad light and wasn't able to see the details of his painting. So most of it is plain and most of the detials are made up. After his demo I went up to take a closer look at the paintin and realized that I got it all wrong. But, all in all it was a great lesson.

8x10 Oil on Panel


This painting, from the third class was outside in Polish Hill. This was lookiing across a three way intersection towards a bar at the crest of a hill. I dont like the color much. I was too focused on the color and forgot to place importance on the value of the light. The whole painting looks rather flat.

8x10 Oil on Panel