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New Beginings

by Bruce E Ulrich on 1/22/2009 8:21:30 PMComment on this
Our country is starting off in a new direction with new hope and I thought I would share my new paintings and the thoughts behind them. This is new approach for me to explore and share the idea that is the impetus for the possible series.
Here are two paintings that I've been working on in the last week or so.
"Under Layers" 10x10 Mixed Media on canvas



It began with a gestural spreading of thick mixture of sub floor self leveling compound mixed with Quikcrete Concrete Adhesive bonding liquid and some acrylic color. I used this same mixture on the second canvas too.


"Beneath" 18x18 Mixed Media on Canvas


My goal is to explore the idea of what lies beneath the land and how that might relate to the French term" terroir" in wine speak. So have patience as this is early days and my first paintings with this thought/theme in mind. My hope is it becomes more self evident with out being a literal type painting.
As always-Thanks for looking and feel free to comment.
Bruce

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What to Do Today?

by Bruce e. Ulrich on 1/19/2009 12:35:13 PMComment on this
That's a question all of face, and some times we are fortunate enough to choose our activities. We all have our daily necessary chores and how we spend the rest of our time marks the quality of our lives and whether our goals our reached.
I guess the start of a New Year and the hopes of a new administration starting, causes me to reflect on my own indolence. I need the prod of goals set in making and marketing my artwork, from improving my technical ability, and learning a new media, to applying to shows and art events. I'm lucky to be in the age of the Internet, because there are many good sites and blogs the learn from, but they can distract me from the main activity... going into the studio and painting. If I don't have a big idea I just need to practice on the basics and subjects that appeal to me.
Hence my focus of late on wine bottles and glasses. I think the reason for for so many bottle paintings historically is from the empties artists have to sooth the ache of rejection letters or slow sales, plus there are all sorts of things you learn while painting them.
Here are a two from the last week or so.
"Two for Z" Oil on paper 12x12


"Sake & 2" Acrylic on paper 12x12


Enjoy today and tomorrow and thanks for looking.
Bruce

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Critique Groups

by Bruce E Ulrich on 1/15/2009 1:02:31 AMComment on this
It's past time I put up some more thoughts about art. It is much easier to daydream about writing than to peck out the thoughts I've had the last few days. My patience with speech recognition soft ware is very low so peck away I must. I'll let anyone reading in on the best secret to a quicker improvement in your art; find. join, or start a GOOD critique group.
The critical input of your betters and peers about your art will challenge you to improve and try new approaches and solutions to problem areas in your work. It always seems easier to see a solution to a fellow painters picture than what to do one's own masterpiece.
I have benefited greatly from the monthly advice and encouragement of a group of painters that took me in a decade ago. The Critique Group(as it calls itself) has been meeting monthly in members homes for some 30 years now with a slowly changing cast of artists. Besides the fellowship of a common interest,and the challenge of bringing something worthy to show your peers, you learn so much by looking at different works and hearing how others think, respond and talk about them.
You don't have to take all the advice given but you do need to decide what works best for your piece and expresses your ideas. I can talk more about forming a critique group and how they could work at a later time.
Here are two paintings that I improved after hearing what my group thought would strengthen the images.

This has some minor changes from the image in an earlier post.



This painting had the darker U shaped piece added to the top, to contain the piece.


Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.
Bruce


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Happy New Year

by Bruce E. Ulrich on 1/6/2009 7:17:17 PMComment on this

I'm back from my Holly-Daze and depression, while the snow and ice have melted. It's back to the rain. mudslides and flooding. So I should get over it and get painting. Sorry for the delay in posting but the season, family and a healthy lack of moral fiber and laziness on my part postponed the saga.
I hope all and any who are reading this did have a wonderful season of joy.
A reader asked me how I know when a painting is done in reference to the last post on the evolution of that abstract painting. A good question that I have been pondering in odd moments ever since. It was assumed that I had a vision/image of what I wanted the end point to be. My process with a painting that is abstract or nonobjective is more of a goal with some self imposed decisions to narrow the choices and improve the odds of a positive result. In the last case I was using a square format, and I wanted to abstract an image of a landscape or a piece of it into a painting. I did not want to use a cruciform design or have a division that could read as horizon. The color yellow would be dominate because it was the color of the object I started with and I liked it. I chose my other colors to enrich and enliven the yellows. I did not write all of this down but I should have and I am free to change my mind or the goals for a painting if something more interesting happens while I'm painting. I wanted the end result to be something I had not seen before and that is exciting/interesting to look at, and could make a viewer wonder while making their own connections. Here is the end result again:

If you rotate the image 90 clockwise the yellow shape would be oriented how I first saw it. The yellow leads you into the picture plane while the blues and other shapes flatten the sense of space.
I hope this wasn't over thinking the answer.
The goals and endpoints of image driven paintings are easier to see and are some what defined by the "style" of the painting- realist, impressionist,tonalist, expressionist portraiture etc.
More later, and thanks for looking.
Bruce

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