One Artist's Journey

Tuscan Fields #3 - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and watercolor pencil on Masonite - $300

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 3
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 68

This painting is my favorite of the three landscape paintings I did today. It has a very simple composition. It has large areas of color that are fun to paint. The foreground red and yellow areas aren’t too big or too small.

This is the first one I painted today, and I got a lot of painting energy out in this one. I didn’t have to think about anything and was just able to paint.

Lavender Fields - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and watercolor pencil on Masonite - $300

This one turned out well. I love the lavender fields in France. (Not that I have ever been there).

I don’t usually use this color, but I might have to get a tube of it. I don’t like to spend a lot of time mixing colors. I prefer using the color straight out of the tube.

Tuscan Fields #3 - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and watercolor pencil on Masonite - $300

Today I finally got around to painting. Thanksgiving week has been BUSY!! Tuesday, I was at the dentists all afternoon.

I lead the young men’s youth group at our church. They are working to earn money for summer camp and other camping exploits. One gentleman in our congregation offered to pay a large amount of money if the young men would come and shovel mulch and spread it around his property.

I went with 7 young men and we worked for about 5 hours. It has been along time since I have done physical labor that hard and that long.  That was on Wednesday (School was out for the young men) and I was totally out of commission on Thursday. Friday I was still sore. And today, Saturday, I decided to paint. I worked on 3 Tuscan Landscapes on 3 small panels (14 x 11).

They turned out well and I like them a lot.

I am having a contest where one lucky person can win a free painting. To read the rules, click here or on the “Twitter Contest” navigation link at the top of this page. All you have to do is follow me on Twitter and let me know what painting you want to win. Spread the news because there must be at least 100 Twitter followers by New Years Eve 2009.

Shaun Ellsworth (Me) and Abigail Herrly as "Sun" and "Moon" in Iona Dance Theater's first production of "Worshiping Sun"

Hey, I thought you might find this interesting. When I was in school in Hawaii, I was part of the IONA Contemporary Dance Theater. Then it was called “Iona Pear.”

It was so much fun. The choreographer, Cheryl Flaharty, held classes at a local church. * calasses for $80 or something like that. I had seen a performance, “Mythology of Angels” and was totally addicted. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.

When I heard about the classes, I decided to go. I had to take the bus an hour and a half to get there, but it was worth it. I loved the class, even though it was really hard. The dance form is based on Japanese butoh, a meditative “anti-dance,” with Cheryl’s special twist.

After taking the classes, Cheryl asked me to take part in a fund raiser, (I think). then I worked back stage, then I had a little part, then I was asked to be the “Sun” and a dancer in the first “Worshiping Sun” performance.

Well, last night, I was poking around on the internet and found IONA’s web page. There is a picture of me (above) playing “Sun” with the moon, Abigail Herrly in the “Early Years” section.

They are based in Hawaii, but come to the West Coast. If you ever have a chance to see them, you must. You will never look at performance art the same way again. It is unbelievable. Love you IONA Dance Theater!

Check them out at: http://www.iona360.com/

Fontana Library

I submitted some more art to the Redlands Art Association. They are changing out the art for the Holiday show. I submitted ceramics this time so I took a lot longer than I expected.

After that, I ran over to Fontana to meet a patron and sell one of my paintings. We met at the brand new Fontana Library. (Well, it is brand new since I have been in town.) It is awesome. Tons of computers, and cool art everywhere. The whole facade is covered with a design that looks like a polynesian quilt. I don’t get the connection with Fontana, but it is beautiful.

My buyer is a good friend from High School. We haven’t seen each other for over 25 years! Thanks Facebook! We had a wonderful time talking about the library, work, art, travel and family. I had a great time. Thanks Janice!

Janice bought “Kimono #1″

Expressive Drawing 2.3 "Leaves" - Graphite, colored pencil and gesso on paper - $300

There was a variation for this one. We were supposed to start writing and doodling and let the words dictate the lines and drawings, and so on. I started writing and it didn’t suggest ANYTHING. Nothing at all.

I decided to change tactics and started just drawing my long looping landscape lines. I continued that and filled in areas and ended up again – with nothing. I sat down on the floor of the studio and couldn’t figure out what to do.

Then I looked at the negative space between the areas I had filled in. I thought, “Hey, this space looks like a leaf. Oh. This one too. I can fill in two here…” And so on.

So I filled in the spaces with leaves. I really liked how it all turned out.

Expressive Drawing 2.2 "In My Garden" - Graphite, colored pencil and gesso on paper - $300

This one grew naturally into a painting about plants, growing, roots, seeds, leaves. It was fun to work on. At least it wasn’t about castles!

Expressive Drawing 2.1 "Above and Below" - Graphite and gesso on paper - $300

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 3
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 64

I am really trying to get the hang of this cover up technique. I see art that uses it and I really like the idea that there is a hint of something that was lost and covered up in a painting. “What can it be?” “Why was it covered?” These are some of the questions that are asked when things are covered up as you paint.

It adds depth – not just physical depth, but an emotional depth to a piece.

I can talk about it, but it is difficult to cover something up that I have put into the painting. It isn’t like you cover up a mistake. It is something good, but it is just less essential to the art you are working on right now.

The following three paintings are designed to help me learn how to cover things up. I think I was successively more successful.

Expressive Drawing 1.4 - 14" x 11" - House Paint on Paper - $300

This one was fun. The variation was to take my brush and tape it tot he end of a long stick. I used my boys’ practice sword. It was fun painting with a long sword. The marks came out very calligraphic and lyrical. This was a fun exercise that I would like to try again with the eliminate and cover up technique.