The Island of Winter

Inspired by the Isle of the Dead (below), here is a meditation on winter. Painted on a small piece of plywood from the craft store, the wood grain is very visible, which gives the piece a very strong texture. I've also uploaded a digital version, done in Photoshop.

The Island of Winter, 2016, acrylic on plywood, 5" x 6".

Island of Winter, digital edit

Small Monochrome Medusa

I was going to use this small (6" x 6") gesso panel from the art store, the last one I had left in this batch, to make something vaguely festive to put up here. That didn't work. Instead, I found myself with this Medusa painting, which came out quite well, I think. One of my rules of painting/making art is that if you keep on going long enough, something worthwhile usually appears. I also did the microwave oven trick to dry the paint quickly, but I don't really recommend that—on a small piece that I don't care too much about it's OK. With a small work like this, it doesn't take that long to paint in the areas available, so rather than waiting 10 minutes or so for the paint to dry naturally, 30 seconds in the microwave cuts the time down a lot. I've heard of art bursting into flames with excessive microwavage, but 30 seconds seems safe (for me) on a piece this size. If you're going to do this (& probably best not to), proceed with caution. Happy Holidays!

Festive Bonus Link: More Medusas

Small Monochrome Medusa, 2016, acrylic on panel, 6" x 6".

The Isle of the Dead

After the Maximilian Pirner-influenced The End of All Things, here is my version of Böcklin's Isle of the Dead. This is a very small painting (5" x 7") done on hardboard last night. To accelerate the process, I gave each coat of paint 30 seconds in the microwave oven to dry it out. I don't necessarily recommend this (I've seen other artists use hair dryers to speed up an artwork when on deadline), but it worked out pretty well in this case, as far as I can tell. If, years from now, the painting disintegrates, that will be sad. But unlikely. I did this from memory, and I omitted the boatman, as you can probably see. It came out quite well, and retains something of the air of mystery of the original(s)—of which there are four still in existence (one other was destroyed in Berlin in WWII).

Return to Böcklin's Isle, 2016, acrylic on board, 5" x 7".

The End of All Things Redux

Inspired by the Maximilian Pirner painting of the same name, I decided to create my own version (homage) of the piece as part of my series, A Warning (which can be seen in its entirety at the link). My version is much simpler & monochrome, but I think it retains at least a little of the power and energy of the original. I don't often quote other artists this directly, so this is a little bit of an exception for me.

The End Of All Things (homage to Pirner), 2016, acrylic on board, 14" x 11"

Favorite Paintings: The End of All Things by Maximilian Pirner

This is a painting I stumbled across recently by a fairly obscure (to me, at least) Czech artist, Maximilian Pirner (1854-1924). Pirner, like Böcklin (whose Island of the Dead I also greatly admire), seems to be something of a "one-hit wonder". As far as I can see (& maybe I'm wrong), his other work was not as impressive as this piece, with its epic yet intimate scale, dramatic otherworldly (apocalyptic) lighting & sweeping composition. Pirner also uses themes that I myself utilize—apocalypse, mythology, medusa, angels(?), and Death himself makes an appearance. At once dark & illuminated, heavy and weightless, filled with death & filled with life, this is a one-of-a-kind work (I'm tempted to say 'masterpiece', but that might be overdoing it) that should haunt the world for eternity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Pirner

Finis - The End of All Things, 1887, oil on canvas, 100 x 130cm

Blinded By Rags

Another new monochrome acrylic painting, from the new series tentatively entitled "A Warning"...more to come. Watch this space.

Blinded By Rags, 2016, acrylic on board, 14" x 11".