New Work in Progress

Oil on board
40"W x 17 1/2H

OK, finally picking up the oils and getting to work! After spending most of the summer and warmer fall months working on outdoor projects and some woodworking (more of that perhaps later) it was time to get serious about painting again.
Earlier this year I finally put the effort into a Facebook page devoted to exposing my art and to network with artist's the world over. Shortly after I got it up and running I had a short conversation with Emilia Cantor de Klegerman who is one of the instructors at the Ravenswood Atelier in Chicago. Emilia was gracious enough to praise my work and suggested I had enough of a basis to study with a traditional atelier such as hers. Wow I thought, such a gratifying comment on my work, and it touched on the fact that the last few years I dreamed of finding the way to travel to Florence and even apply to the Florence Academy of Art. Even now that my age has passed up double nickels it still places high on my own "bucket list" to do. I did promise to consider if financially I could cut it but replied that until then I will have to teach myself traditional painting. This new piece is my real start with that process.
Atelier's such as the Florence Academy and Ravenswood emphasize drawing skills first and foremost, which is great, more artist's should make that concentrated effort. Below is my preperatory sketch for the painting and although not fully developed as a more finished drawing it does give me all I need to keep my idea and the composition moving forward as I paint. The painting as it exists now is the culmination of about 16 hours of painting, developing the upper sky to as complete as I wished and working the middle sky to convey the sunset mood I envision. I'll try to keep this updated every couple of days with progress shots and in the meantime please take the time to click on Emilia's name for the link to her on Facebook and on Ravenswood to visit their website. Peruse both the work of the staff and of the students to see the wonderful work they are doing.

Graphite on paper - image approximately 13 x 6

Arizona Northlands Calendar

I enjoy landscape photography and especially photographs of the north country of Arizona where I have spent the last 40+ years of my life. I created a calendar with a collection of some of my favorite shots of this great state. It is now available now on my RedBubble page by clicking here. RedBubble produces a high quality calendar at very affordable prices and for gift giving to friends, relatives, business associates, giving Arizona this year would be the perfect idea for everyone on your list. If you live in Arizona or are one of the millions worldwide who have visited this wonderful land why not give yourself a memory of places perhaps you visited or plan to one day.

Sometimes it just don't work!

Ultimately, not everytime we touch a pencil to paper or brush to canvas do we come up with something we feel is worthy of completion. We do tend to discard (or at least put aside) failing attempts for various reasons, mostly because we feel it's not measuring up to our expected standard for ourselves. The drawing started in my last post I have set aside just for this reason, it wasn't working for me. It was my first use of Stonehenge paper with graphite and I felt I wasn't able to work the surface as well as other brands I have used working in the style I am accustomed to. It happens, sometimes it just don't work! So now, off to investigating something new to work on!

Along the Mogollon

I've made the trip countless times south of Flagstaff , Az dropping over the Mogollon Rim on the way to Payson, Az and have always wished I wasn't driving and could stop to take pics of the drive up. The Mogollon Rim divides Arizona's Colorado Plateau northland from the desert valleys below and holds some of the most beautiful scenery in the state. I had the fortune to be a passenger earlier this year and took the opportunity to finally get some shots I wanted to use as reference material for my art. Since there is no place on this road to stop and pull over I had to set my camera to take multiple frame shots, pointed it out the window, clicked the shutter and actually wound up with some really nice shots. It is amazing that in the 1000ft climb (all in less than a mile) the geologic strata remains the same, great sandstone layers that are the remnant of a vast sea once covering the southwest eons ago. I started a drawing using one of these for reference this morning included at the end of the photos.

Artist of the Day

A nice surprise awaited me today when the website I offer my original art for sale on, Zatista, advised me they had chosen my "store" on their site, Michael Bailey Contemporary Art, to be the featured Artist of the Day on their Facebook page. No big bells and whistles going off, just some nice marketing support from what is becoming a quality venue with a lot of high quality original art offered for sale. I thank them for their efforts and support, all of which was supplied to me and others so chosen on other days at no charge. Nice litle perk in today's world of having to pay for every little extra (try getting that from your cell provider for instance). Any artist who might consider adding another venue for possible sales should consider Zatista, I've included a link to their site and Facebook page. Click on the title to this post to view my store on the site (a little shameless self-promotion)
http://www.zatista.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zatista/108980621421

Links

Links
Graphite on 100lb Bristol Vellum
7 1/2 x 10 3/8
$450

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Finished up all the nit-picking artist's usually do at the very end of working on a piece and decided it was time to lay down the pencils. Dramatically lit subjects always make for an interesting composition and I always have to think hard about just how much detail to include in the highlighted portions. I felt that the suggestion of the metal surface of the links worked well rather than go into more detail as I did with the surface of the hasp. They sit in different planes in comparison with each other so the links were exposed to more direct lighting. All in all I am happy with the results, now I get to make the frame!

'Links", another progression

Now things are starting to really take shape. The shadowed areas have all their layers and are as dark as they possibly may go. The midvalues of the woodgrain are coming along nicely and that will help set the value of the metal surfaces of the hasp and the highlights on the links. Almost there, just about time to where the picking and prodding to finalize things will start.

'Links', in progress

I thought I would post an in progress view of the next in my series of locks, latches, and other objects.
Summertime brings with it every project imaginable to work on besides art that was put off during the winter so progress has been slower than I wanted on this piece. Again, I am using 100lb Bristol Vellum paper for the drawing which has a very slight off white tint that warms nicely in comparison to the graphite. The initial drawing was set up with an H pencil using very light strokes so as not to indent the surface of the paper. The H pencil is hard enough to make a very light mark that can easily be corrected if needed. The shadows were crosshatched lightly first with the H and then switching to an HB lead in a lead holder for the next layer of crosshatchings. After this layer I came back to the H pencil and crosshatched again over the shadow in a different direction. The harder lead started filling in the white of the paper left by the intial light layers, unifying the shadows, readying them for the next layer(s) which will be darker from softer leads.
By this point I have started defining the woodgrain lightly with the H pencil and working into their darker areas with the HB lead. Other than in the shadows all the drawing is now more direct rather than crosshatching.
With a few more hours this weekend the drawing should be complete.

Premonition

"Premonition"
Graphite on Canson 70lb paper
13 3/4 x 16 3/4
$375

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While working on the next in the series related to my previous post, Shadowlock, I am going to indulge myself and post one of my explorations in surrealism/fantasy art. I've always enjoyed fantasy art and thought I could give it a try. Premonition was born out of an initial rubbing with a graphite stick on a flat stone surface along with random marks made with a pencil and then I let things flow as the drawing sort of directed me. It is maybe a dream sequence drawing, relying on some unconscious memory to move my pencil, and that is as deep as I am going to get here, nothing more metaphysical or physchological in meaning. I suppose there could be an interpretation of symbolism if I were to inspect it very closely but I would rather you do the interpretation according to your reaction to the work.
While much of today's fantasy work is done digitally, especially in the world of illustration, I feel that traditional methods still work the best, including fantasy art. I have an immense respect for the works of Brom, Frazetta, Vallejo and the likes, who are fantastic visual artists and work still in traditional methods rather than using the computer to execute their work.
Surrealism/fantasy work will be an ongoing exploration for me at times, nice break from really traditional subjects.

Shadowlock

"Shadowlock"
Graphite on 100lb Bristol Vellum
7 1/4 x 9 1/2
$450

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Finally! I decided to post a graphite piece!

This is the first of what I hope to be a long series of locks, latches, knobs, and other ordinary everyday objects set against naturally weathered wood backgrounds. I will at times traverse the alleys and deserted buildings around the city looking for interesting subjects in dramatic light and shadows. I hope no one calls the police thinking I'm "casing" the place for later nefarious activities! Weathered wood always makes for an interesting drawing and really is not too hard to depict. Time consuming yes, but that's the nature of drawing with a point less than 2mm in size most times, it does take a while to cover the paper. I'm always intrigued with the interplay of light and shadow in a piece and I take great pains to follow the natural "laws" of how light and shadow are cast on a subject.

March Madness

"March Madness"
Watercolor on Arches 140lb Hot Press Paper
18 1/2 x 19 1/2
Private Collection

You gotta love rainy days, especially the moments when the sun bursts through the clouds for a short time and lights up the buildings and sidewalks with myriad refelections. Watercolor is the perfect medium to capture this feeling.

Canyon Light

"Canyon Light"
Watercolor on Fabriano 140lb Hot Press Paper

21 1/2 x 13 1/2

$725

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A painting I completed late last fall using a reference photo shot at Lake Powell halfway up Navajo Canyon on the Arizona side of the lake. It was almost noon and the sunlight was very intense on the top of the rock wall. This was challenging trying to achieve the intense darks of the black shadowed areas while maintaining the feeling of depth to the walls. I used a combination of glazing, drybrushing, and wet-in-wet techniques to portray all of the different textures along with masking to save the "white-hot" sunlit areas.

Kashmir

"Kashmir"
Colored Pencil on Mi Tientes paper
16 3/4 x 9 1/4
$425

Juried into the Colored Pencil Society of America's Arizona District Fall Show November, 2008

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Kashmir was created using a reference photo I took several years ago of one of our spectacular Arizona sunsets. I've always felt you cannot see sunsets like these anywhere else and this is one of those that support my feelings. Again I chose to use Canson Mi Tientes paper, this time using Felt Grey, a very sandy beige. I always use the smoother side of the paper as it suits how I work better than the flipside which had more texture.


The photo above illustrates how I lay out my image and experiment with color applications making notes of the colors in the margins of the paper. I will often use Photoshop to play with the composition and values of a photograph before deciding to start the painting. I tend to keep my paintings small since colored pencil is a time consuming process, laying down many layers of color. Someday I'll make the leap to full sheet but need to heal from the carpal tunnel in my wrist and shoulder first!
I was sort of strapped for a title for the piece but while working on it I was listening to Led Zeppelin and as their song Kashmir played it just seemed to fit. Besides the natural colors of cashmere scarves or sweaters my palette reminded me of, the mood of the song spoke to me saying use this!

Spring Break

"Spring Break"

Colored Pencil on Mi Tientes Paper

10 3/8 x 7 3/8

$425

Juried into Colored Pencil Society of America's Arizona District Fall Show November, 2008

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Colored pencil is one of those mediums that until recent years hasn't gotten the credit it deserves as a quality fine art medium. If you have never viewed a work in colored pencil then you are in for a treat that will surpass any expectations. Colored pencil is no longer just something used in elementary school art class but has been taken to a high level of artistic skill by some very talented artists. I invite you to visit the site of the Colored Pencil Society of America, http://www.cpsa.org/ , and view some of the tremendous work in the galleries by those artists.

I had the idea to do Spring Break in late April when the light during the transition from winter to spring in the Rocky Mountain West was cool but held promise of warmer days to come. I chose Canson Mi Tientes Flannel Grey paper, which is a cool beige color, and a heavier weight (98lb) paper with a "vellum" surface which holds a great deal of pigment. Colored pencil is translucent like watercolor and the colors sparkle through the next layer laid upon it. as does the paper color. Working on a toned paper does have it's issues to deal with even before laying down a mark as the color you choose immediately changes from the actual lead color so there is a lot of experimenting on scraps of the same paper during the entire process but it's a great learning experience and a very enjoyable one.