Friday, July 10, 2009

There is Still Some Life!



I just finished a workshop with Carolyn Anderson followed by a private "workshop" from my little brother Robert Coombs. I learned so much from the two of them! I now overthink and overpaint everything I try to paint because I am trying to apply what I learned to my personal style.

It has been very difficult and a lot of fun with frustration mixed in. I am going to try something that Carolyn taught me. I am trying to let some of the detail go and just suggest things without trying to paint them as if I were reproducing them. I am going to...interprete... Ahhhhhh!

I will let you know how it goes. Here are two of my paintings and a small demo my brother did for me in a very short amount of time.








Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Demonstration Painting

This is the painting that I started as a demo for the gallery stroll at the Pickett-Fairbanks gallery on the 17th. This is as far as I have gone. It needs a couple more hours of work.

Friday, October 24, 2008

The Ann Gale Experiment

Everyday I feel like I am getting a little closer to my goal. I want my paintings to come alive. The strokes in the face are too similar in value and color so it loses a bit of the energy. I am working bigger and I am finding that I overwork areas a little too much. I want to mix value and color and put down swatches and let them standwith as little blending as possible. I want to leave details to the imagination but leave no room for error when it comes to value and color. So while this is not exactly adhering to that I am sure that is what I want to do. I will work on this again in a couple of days when it is dry.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Another Experiment

This was another experiment inspired by my research into painting. One of Jenny Saville's
paintings caught my eye so I did this for a first attempt. Trying to keep simple grahic shapes while maintaining the form. Interesting.....but I need to focus on what I am doing.

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Art Show

This is a picture of my wife's cousin. She modelled for a painting demonstration I did on the Gallery Stroll in Salt Lake. It was fun but I was stressed because my baby girl ate some paint right after I left home. She also did her modern expressionist interpretation on the wall and carpet. I really need to paint a picture of her soon.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

My 1st Attempt at Ann Gale

I haven't been this happy about painting since I first learned of Ann Gale. I have been studying Ann Gales Beautiful work for months now. I don't pretend to know anything about her brilliance or her personally. This is just my attempt to try and learn to be what I invision for myself as an artist based in someone who has a similar view. This painting doesn't even come close to Ann's beautiful art but the lessons in form and color harmony and everything I have learned studying her paintings have been invaluable. There is definitely more to come so stay tuned.

One thing I did learn in this attempt is that I dont like the rough texture of the canvas. I like to paint on a smoother surface. It also didn't photograph well, at least not at 1am with incandescent light.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

My First 2-Man Show

This is my first 2 man show. It's Friday at 6pm. If you haven't looked at Lane Bennions link to the right you need to. He has some great work. Check it out!