Square Koi 8

Oil on panel

24×24 inches

This is the second one of a three panel 24×24 inch painting series.

Actually the eighth if you count the earlier six.

Because I’m a serial painter.   ?

Finished it only this morning.

Lots going on in this particular one.

I probably could have worked on it forever.

But then,  it would have been an entirely

different painting.   I’d rather do another one.

Will do just that.   Starting today.

Square Koi #7

24×24 inches

oil on panel

2016

I literally just photographed this finished painting.

It’s the first painting in a series of three (triptych) I wanted to paint next.

Off to the studio now to begin painting number two……

Seven Koi 16

oil on canvas

30×48 inches

I’ll probably need to re-shoot this.

It was still a bit bright in my studio for a photo shoot today.

This photo appears heavier and darker on the left side than it is in

the actual painting.

But I decided to post it anyway.

Tweaking on the painting is done.

It’s the photographer (me) who needs tweaking.  🙂

Okay.   Here’s the new version.

Is there a difference?

I think there is,  but it’s subtle.

2 Koi

oil on panel

12×12 inches

2016

3 Koi and 3 Koi Two

(The bottom one may be 3.5 koi) 🙂

oil on panel

12×12 inches each

2016

I love doing this size.   Collectors seem to agree.

Many have purchased them in groups of three,  seven or nine

where they now happily reside in such diverse locations as a

private home in the lovely tropical Caribbean,  or the Federal

Reserve Bank of Boston.

They were also very popular when placed along the bottom of the

storefront windows of Hubert Gallery on Madison Avenue in

New York City.     Some of my friends told me they saw them there.

Cool. 🙂    Perhaps you saw them too?

2 koi June 2

30×40 inches

oil on canvas

This  second panel was just completed over the weekend.   I was in a hurry to get it started and finished despite my still lingering cold/allergy energy drain.

Last week was spent in southern California where I was able to squeak in some museum visits sandwiched between a pretty hectic schedule  – the Los Angeles County Museum of Art before it gets replaced by a brand new building in 2017,   the amazing Norton Collection on loan to Rand Corporation in Santa Monica,  and the Hammer Museum in Westwood near UCLA.    When I’m not busy in my studio this provides my ever so precious art fix.  🙂

I hit the ground running once we landed in Logan Tuesday night. That landing was difficult for my head congestion.    I get why children scream when their ears are clogged on a plane ride!   It was pretty painful.

After visiting the doc the following morning to verify that I was battling something less chronic than pneumonia,  I began popping those Clariton-Ds.    Finally,  coughing became a bit more contained.  And I was able to sleep through the night  –  almost.

There’s one more panel to do in this series by the end of the month.    (I’m on a roll). This week I’ll do the prep work for it (i.e.draw it out),  but begin an entirely different genre painting image for fun and variety.

As a reminder I leave you with the previous image in the series hung moments ago on my living room wall.

Two Koi

oil on canvas

30×40 inches

This image was a lot of fun to paint this week.     Even though I

was battling a cold,  I still slogged through it.     I was able to keep my

wits about me to stop working  when there was just enough

information there without overworking it.

A constant theme in my approach to painting is not overworking

paintings.   Freshness is everything to me!

Children instinctively know when to stop.   I’m convinced that’s one

of the reasons their art work is so wonderful and pure.

2 Koi Encore

30×30 inches

oil on canvas

Two Koi Encore (top image) was just completed over the weekend.

I think it makes a rather nice companion piece to  Surging Koi

below it.

Surging Koi

30×30 inches

oil on canvas

“Two Koi”

12×12 inch

oil on panel

with detail inset

This “two koi” series has been a constant theme

for a number of years.   I always fancied myself

a serial painter.     I love to make paintings in a series

until an idea has been fully exhausted.    The idea has

not been exhausted yet for either the ‘two koi’ or any

other of the koi series.

It’s fine with me if it never happens.

I’m having far too much fun painting them! 🙂

30×30 inches   oil on canvas  2016

Finishing touches put on yesterday.

I try so very hard not to overwork my paintings.   It’s all about the freshness  –   a snippet in time  –   movement,  and energy.   My personality seems to lend itself to quicker work.   If I find myself getting too fussy or precious,  I get tight,  bored and am likely to scrape it all off at the end of the day.   (Have done this more often than I want to admit 🙂 )   And if I’m bored,  then …..  well,  you’re right there with me in boredom land.

Hardly a foolproof system.

Janet Fish once told me,  sometimes all you need to get back in the game is a visual break  –  go for a walk into nature –  then come back and look again.   That fresh eye can make all the difference!….  especially when I get lost in the process and just can’t see it anymore.

Another tip from the art world:   view paintings in a mirror.   Try it  – it’s fun!    New image entirely.    Art reboot.