New work - Bondi Paintings & Related

 Bondi 4, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 38 inches

 Bondi 4, 2012, oil on wood panel, 28 x 48 inches

Indian Wells, 2011, oil on wood panel, 24 x 38 inches

 Bondi 6, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 38 inches

Bondi 7, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 46 inches

Bondi 4, 2011, oil on wood panel, 24 x 46 inches

Bondi 2, 2012, oil on wood panel, 28 x 48 inches

 Opal Bay, 2011, oil on wood panel, 24 x 46 inches, Collection of the artist

Bondi 3, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 46 inches, Private Collection

Opal Cove, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 46 inches

Getty Show Triggers New Materials

This essentially black and white painting is oil on a wood panel.  The colors used were more than just black and white, and the material more than just oil paint.

The 'black' section of the painting is composed of lamp black, ivory black, and paynes gray (cool, blueish), and burnt sienna and vandyke brown (warm).  I wanted a rich varied black that had some warmth.  Most "blacks" tend to have a cool bias.

The 'white' is composed of titanium white, zinc white, titanium buff, paynes gray (for cool tones), and lemon yellow, raw sienna and yellow ochre (for warm tones).  I usually strive to achieve both warm and cool tones in my art.  I like the resulting palate interplay.

The last room in the show "Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950–1970", at the Getty focuses on the unique materials artists of that period used in their work.  It got me thinking about what materials I could add to my oil paintings.   

Mixed in and on top of the paint are thousands of iridescent, prismatic and metallic copolymer plastics, and aluminum foils.  This makes the painting sparkle and glisten in the light.  I used mostly white particles on the white paint and black particles on the black paint. The photos below do not really convey these paintings.  Like most work, there is no replacement for seeing it in person and in this case it is even more true.

Western Shore, 2011, 38 x 24 inches

 
Detail of Western Shore

Strand

 

Strand, 2011, oil on canvas, 42 x 108 inches 

 

Detail of Strand

Click on images to see larger & better 

Arcadian Vessel, 2011

Arcadian Vessel, 2011, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches, collection of James Sheftel and Mark Sufrin

Today in the studio

Working on a canvas so large it barely fits in my studio.   Here is Mesa 2 which is 54 x 132 inches (that's 11 feet wide).  I need to use two easels to hold the painting.

Here's the same painting about 10 hours later.  I've lightened and soften the periphery and made the central part of the painting more pronounced, giving the work more focus, a stronger core.

And here is the painting, after a bit more fine tuning, in its final form:
(click on image to see larger)

Coldwater Paintings at USC

Six Coldwater paintings have been placed by Lendrum Fine Art at a new building at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California for their permanent collection. A HUGE thanks to architect Tim Cowell for recommending my art for his project. Also thanks to Tiffany Lendrum for selecting these six paintings. All six paintings hang on one wall as shown above.

The inspiration for the Coldwater Series has nothing to do with water, seaweed, or anything cold for that matter. They are inspired by Coldwater Canyon Road as it winds up from Sunset Boulevard to Mulholland Drive near my home and studio. The gentle winding of the canyon road as it makes its way up to the top, is repeated over and over with endless variations. The dots, which admittedly look like bubbles in these seaweed-looking compositions are a counter point to the linear depictions of the road.

oil on paper, 24 x 19 inches, l to r: CW.09, CW.21, CW.37, CW.23, CW.14, CW.20

Available Paintings on Flickr

Current available paintings are now on Flickr. Click on the 'set' then click on a painting image until you get in the mode where you only see the painting and a black background for best viewing. Click HERE to go to site. Have fun looking and let me know if you have any questions. If you know of my work through one of my dealers, consultants or galleries, please see them (not me) for more information. Thank you, Chase

Hooray for Black & White

I've been wanting to work again in just black & white....feels so good.......I could do this all year. (okay, there's some hints of color, so shoot me)

BW Icon, 2011, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. Private Collection

detail (click on to see larger & better)

Chromas: Not a friend of the Camera

Chroma paintings are subtle and elusive, particularly to the camera. They are difficult to reproduce with photography and particularly hard to convey in an image on the computer. The finer than hairline streaks of color are too infinitesimal to be captured and the colors that often shift ever so slightly are lost on the computer screen. In a feeble attempt to show a chroma here, I have placed one in a scanner....just showing a portion of the painting. So here's a photographed image of an entire painting and then a scanned portion. Click on the images to see them in a larger and better format.

Chroma J 19, 2007, oil on paper, 17 x 14 inches


Direct scan of a portion of Chroma J 19

Having said all this, there's nothing like seeing art in person. No photography can ever capture 'being there'. As we all spend more and more time looking at screens, I worry that our perceptions are more and more often being based on information that is once removed, or even many time removed. Hmmm....so I guess I'll get off my screen now and do something in the 'real world'.

Meet the Dagwoods

Anyone familiar with the old comic strip "Blondie" will understand why these were titled Dagwood. The first three were in the May 2011 Studio Show, the new three (Dagwood 4, 5, & 6) were completed recently. When painting these I'm not trying to paint of even reference a sandwich, the association is much looser than that. Loose, very loose.

Click in the images to see much larger & better.

Dagwood 1, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 12 inches
Collection of Richard Podolsky


Dagwood 2, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 12 inches
Collection of Jerry Howard


Dagwood 3, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 12 inches
Collection of Jerry Howard

Dagwood 4, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 12 inches, Collection of Shawn Woodward


Dagwood 5, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 12 inches


Dagwood 6, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 12 inches