Friday, September 29, 2006

Day 11



Hillside with Purple Trees, 2006, Oil on Panel, 18x24






Thursday I finished up painting the cradles and put labels on the backs of a number of the finished paintings. I also had to pack up and ship out a painting to a client. It was sort of a commission. I say sort of because I tend to avoid typical commissions, which are just way too much pressure for me. In this case, the clients had seen a painting at the Harrison Gallery that they liked, but it was on a cradled panel and they wanted it in a frame. While the gallery director and I were emailing about putting a frame on it, another customer came into the gallery and bought the painting. So the client wondered if I could do a similar painting on a framed panel. The image was an image I felt comfortable doing again, as most of you may know, I often paint the same imagery many times, so I agreed to try. I did two paintings. They both had the same composition which was easy enough. However, I wasn't too sure that the color would be the same as the first piece. It is exceedingly difficult to match colors when doing glazes, there are so many variables and I don't keep track of the colors that I use, preferring to wing it. For some reason though, I was able to get the colors very close and I was pretty impressed, if not too comfortable with copying my own work. Felt a bit hinky, you know? Anyway, to comfort myself, I used entirely different colors on the other one (pictured above), Harrison Gallery liked it as well and is taking it in the group of paintings that I will be giving them next week. Ok, long story about one little thing that I had to do yesterday. Sorry...I have been so cooped up and haven't talked to too many humans lately.

I finally got to work in the studio in the afternoon, but I felt extremely restless and not really focused. I worked for short bits of time, finishing one section and then getting up to check for eggs in the henhouse (no more since the first one a few days ago), check emails, talk with Doug, wash our long haired cat's bottom after an unfortunate bout of diarrhea, or any number of other things. I tend to work in this manner when I am not feeling so rushed or pressured so I guess this is all good.

I worked on only one painting though, and it's one that has a sign in it so it will need much more work in that area. I think I like this although I am not too sure about the purple foreground (sorry about the bad photo-it's not really a good representation of the colors at all). I used purple because most of the other paintings in this group have green or yellow/green land and I wanted to do something different. I plan to work on the sky more so perhaps a deeper blue in that area will balance out the purple a bit. But I do like how the purple looks with the light and shadow colors on the barn, so I think I want to keep it no matter how improbable a solid purple field may be. Realism isn't really my ultimate goal here obviously.

6 comments:

SHANNON & AARON TUCKER said...

I like it.

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks, Bob Vila, oops, I mean Aaron. How's the house coming along?

Angela Wales Rockett said...

I found you through Deanna Wood's blog, and I have to say, really lovely work! And I admire how you blog about your process. I keep thinking about doing that, but then I get all shy about it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tracy ...

you new version of Hillside with Purple Trees is terrific ... just about my favourite yet.

nothing wrong with repeating something you've done successfully before ... a variation on an old theme is perfectly OK! Well I think so and have done it!

Tracy Helgeson said...

Hi Angela, Thanks for commenting and I had just found your blog through Deanna's too and saved it!

I'd love to hear more about how you work, so I hope you'll write about it. Just start slow...

Lesly, Thanks, glad you like it, and thanks for the reassurance. Although I often tell myself I can do whatever I want, it is nice to hear someone else say it too.

Gary said...

Hi Tracy,

Just came across your blog when doing a search for Malcom Liepke. Love your paintings. Do you have a price list? Your "Purple Woods" remind me of tree farms in Oregon. I loved your snowy fields, too. I was glad to see that you also raise chickens! I did that for three years in Fort Montgomery, NY, then moved to NYC. I hope to have a coop and some hens again someday. Keep on painting!