I haven’t been able to keep away from the Tulip Tree painting and have worked on it quite a bit and framed it to finish it off. Trying to fine tune the color balance and taking good breaks in between – just letting it ferment somewhat. I think we are done.
Tullip Tree - Oil on Canvas - 12 x 16 - $750
Feb 13
I like checking out the visitor stats on my journal now and again – one that came in today via search engine asked; “how much is an early george kosinski painting worth?”
THE question is; “How much is a late George Kosinski painting worth????” In 1998 or thereabouts, I was sitting in the lovely courtyard of the American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem having a coffee and someone on another table was overheard saying – “How much will Kosinski’s paintings be worth when he pops his socks????”
My answer?? Time will tell! Meanwhile they are available for pleasure at a reasonable price!
Tulip Trees, Brookgreen - Oil - 12" x 16"
Feb 9
The warmer weather and rain, we have been having here in South Carolina, has stimulated blossom to peer out into the sky, more readily than normal. So I am given to believe.
I have been working on this larger oil from Brookgreen Gardens, watching spring peering out a little earlier?? Such a delight to see a spray of fresh color and everything changes so much from one day to another and more so week by week.
I made some further adjustments to the painting today (Feb 9) and agreed with Rosie (my daughter) that chimney was getting too prominent.
April 20 – June 2 is the Spring show date at Wilkes Art Gallery, NC, which will be the collection of the current crop of paintings and new ones produced over the next two months.
Jan 28
Camellia, Brookgreen - Oil - 9" x 12" - $350
Have you ever found colors so beautiful and powerful that your heart barely takes it?? Just to touch upon some of those colors, as an artist, is simply a tentative approach to a stunning world of remarkable expression. And God made man and put him in a garden, rather than in front of a computer screen.
I can’t exhaust appreciating the richness and depth of these beautiful flowers, heavily laden with variety and individuality – in the middle of winter! What a privilege to be able to gaze at them and attempt to respond with brush and paint with the hope that the paintings might be a suitable commentary.
We can be so busy accumulating things and head-stuff while missing the world around us. All we need do is open our eyes.
Jan 20
I love wandering off into the swamps and seeing beauty in untended growth. Sometimes we wrongly think that things look better with an organized program that merely manicures. Here is a painting that expresses a little of what I mean;
The Swamps - Oil - 9" x 12" - $250
The bright and clear sunlight illuminated the fresh blades of grass following the rain. Accentuated by cool shadows and distant reeds. Executed in brisk smooth brush-strokes in harmony with the gentle motions of the natural forms.
Jan 18
It rained all night last night and the ground soaked it up – first rain in over a month of camping. Kept me awake all night as it splashed away on the skin of the tent just inches away. Warm and dry inside. So unlike camping as a child – in those days, they seemed to enjoy making canvas tents that dripped all over your sleeping bag making you feel you wet your bed!
I observed a hybrid of a Star Magnolia against a beautiful blue sky merging into distant leaves. Almost abstract if it wasn’t for the blossom. So lovely seeing flowers in winter.
Magnolia Loebneri - oil on 9" x 12" canvas board - $350
I worked on this in plein aire mode and finished it off at my camp studio. Hopefully, you can see the mesh of twigs and branches crystalizing the movement and harnessing the composition around the primary focus of the displaying bloom.
I am still working in oils and hope to get into watercolors again, before too long. I can’t believe how quickly the weeks are progressing – spring will be upon us before we know it!
As a reminder, the prices posted are for unframed pieces direct from the artist – with a frame, the gallery price for this one will be $750.
Jan 14
I just received an opportunity to do an initial measured drawings of Atalaya ‘Castle’ for the South Carolina State Parks over the next two months. By camping here in Huntington Beach, the close proximity will be very conducive to the study as well as being located across the road from Brookgreen Gardens where I will be painting en plein air in the mornings. The whole area totals about 9,000 acres as part of the Archer Huntington and Anna Hyatt estate formed in the early 1930′s.
Atalaya - Aerial View of the 'Moorish Fort'
When I first saw this in 2006, it pulled some deep strings as I had spent years in the Middle East absorbing desert architecture. Huntington was fascinated with Andalusia and he learned Arabic as a young man so that he could extend his understanding and appreciation of elements of his encounter with Moorish Spain.
This opportunity will be very rewarding on the learning curve, I greatly suspect. I’ll be working there most afternoons after spending mornings closely observing emerging spring blossom at Brookgreen Gardens over the coming months.
I was always fond, if not envious, of the 19th C explorers and artists to the Holy Land, who captured images and surveyed the landmarks of history. Here, in Atalaya, we have very recent history, but one which is of clear importance as it sits saddled in mid 20th C US history connecting interesting personalities as they bridge great spectrums of society during the Depression.
Ironically, while painting Star Magnolias in Brookgreen yesterday, I was approached by an elderly couple visiting from Chicago. The gentleman was the grandson of Harriet Hyatt Mayor, sister of Anna Hyatt Huntington! I quizzed him for thirty minutes about details needed regarding Atalaya! He saved me about two months of research! One critical detail concerned the need to know the original color of the wrought iron oriel-like grills. They are presently turquoise and I entertained the idea that there may have been some N. African influence here. The gentleman insisted they were grey, to blend in with the general appearance of the walls and consistent with Huntington’s philosophy for a utilitarian approach to the function and appearance at Atalaya, the Spanish word for Watch-tower. More on this as time goes on.
Hanging Branches - Brookgreen - oil - 11" x 14 $450
Jan 12
Cold weather arrived again, though the sun is warm to the cheeks! Today, I endeavored to finish the Hanging Branches painting and it is posted above. Yes, I do like it, even if I have to say so myself – the shimmering light and gentle motions in harmony with the reflection in the pond. I will look for a frame as I think I need to see it to full effect.
I painted it to the sounds of Loreena McKennitt coming from my car door as I worked on it on an easel perched on my picnic table. I paid, of course. My car battery is flat and I miss out on a nice pork BBQ tonight! Her ladyship’s music I find quite helpful to creative work.
Igiri Tree - Oil on Canvas Bd - 9" x 12" Sold to Jerusalem
Jan 11
Here is the final painting – a very active distribution of colors. Lines are directional in whatever color they are applied – here they strengthen the composition and lend to the interpretation that was inspired by the encounter.
Lines, compared to dots of color, also supply movement and the use of different colors are mixed in the minds eye to produce some interesting effects. Most of these things we take for granted in our perception of elements. Simplistically speaking, take stars as an example – we see them most differently on a cloudless night compared with a blue sky. Believe me! They are still there, day or night. Take the distraction of the moon away at night and locate yourself in the middle of the Sinai desert and your perception is greatly enhanced. And that is just in monotone.
Colors behave with same principles and much has to do with proportion of one relative to another. It forces you to see things in relationship and that is good for us too as it serves as a reminder that proper relationship is all important for good behavior.
What did I say about complementary colors before?? They belong to each other, even if one has a primary or leading role over another. Plugs and sockets! There is a beautiful order and harmony in the universe – no happenstance!
Fri Jan 6
I have been looking at this tree each day I enter into Brookgreen Gardens – you can’t help but notice the blood red berries hanging like clusters of grapes. This morning, it particularly stood out, even though it is tucked away behind the Live Oak Alley, so-called. That’s because the cold temperatures we have been having this week knocked off the green leaves!
The red berries look so powerful against the blue sky that I didn’t waste and and laid into responding to the beauty. I worked quickly in the afternoon light and was stuck by how fast the shadows started creeping up the tree, making the berries appear a dark scarlet/purple in the shade. The whole experience was so animated that I found it a challenge to cover the 11″ x 14″ canvas board quickly enough without muddying the colors.
I will give it another layer in the next few days to tighten it up.
Igiri Tree
The above shows the first layer of paintwork
