SGURD

Too kind, Gail. Thanks!

Thanks Tamara. I feel so honored to have so many wonderful people in the circle of my life. Appreciate your stopping by.

Glad it adds something for you to reflect on, Linda. You asked for it. HA!

It took me 6 weeks for this one. I roughly blocked it all in with raw umber and cobalt. But then I usually have to make decisions after this step. What am I going to bring out. . . what am I going to overpaint?

I was working from about three awful 4”x 6” picts. Yes, I took them. Shame on me. Out of focus. . . not a recommended way to go. So I started fabricating from memory some of the objects. Another bad idea unless it is etched in your brain vividly.

At the time, my oldest son was about three months old and collicky. Never slept. So. . . I would try to bounce him on my knee and time my paint strokes to the downward bounce. All the while he would swipe at my hand holding the brush. It absolutely fascinated him to see that brush in my paw. I had to repaint a couple of passages when he successfully knocked my arm wide of the mark. : >)

The straight lines drove me nuts. Finally, I took masking tape to the fluourescents and carefully laid a thin layer of gloss medium along the edge of the tape to help seal the edge so the acrylics wouldn’t bleed. Then you have to carefully remove the tape after you’ve painted in the straight lines. Of course, I had three mishaps with that, too. Pulled the tape and the paint off together. Got wise and used a razor blade to skim the tape free wherever it began to stick.

But the final layer was the pay off for all the anguish of the three or four previous passes. I get to go in and glaze colors. For instance, do you see the reddish purple car in the mid-foreground? Notice the glazed color splashed on the cement next to it that fades out? And the suggestion of the painted grid that was painted on the inside of the building.? Those kinds of things are a blast. Or the heater in the upper left. Lots of fun to go back in and glaze little flicks of color to unify the picture. FUN!

Anyway, I hope I didn’t bore you with this Linda. If you have any other questions, feel free. I’ll do my best in my hack style to explain.

Have a good one!

You’re welcome Linda. BTW, these paintings are very loose Linda. They appear fairly tightly rendered because the originals are nearly three ft. by three ft. : >) I’m still learning daily. Your road is exciting, too. I think you will find yourself growing just by being interested enough to ask about technique.

My biggest help for learning was seeing some work I truly admired, in person. Richard Estes is this amazing photorealist that creates jaw-droppin’ work. When I saw a 20 ptg. exhibit of his work at the Kansas City Art Museum here in Missouri, I was absolutely blown away by the power, beauty, and color of his ptgs. His facility with a brush makes me feel like an ape posing as a painter. Anyway, if you type his name into your search engine, you should be able to find a few of his paintings. Let me know what you think of his work. Gotta go to work. Cheers!

You are so kind to me Linda. I really appreciate the way you visit regularly. Cheers!

Thanks Tereza.

What compels us to attempt stuff that is hard on us? Never can quite figure it out. I suppose some of it is. . . if we accomplish the task, then we feel pretty good about it. But. . .more often than not I’ve had it go south and I feel pretty rotten. The joy of it all, right? Thanks for dropping by. Hope you’re having a great week.

Ahhh…I am his imitator and a pale one at that Linda. He’s about 10 years or so older than I am. . .and doesn’t do a lot of painting from what I can tell.

Thanks Amarica

I can sure understand that about some of the photorealist. Cottingham, McLean, and a host of others had this mundane vibe to their work. I have tried to avoid that with differing degrees of success. : >) I appreciate your dropping by to comment Janis.

I’m glad it sparked something for you Estelle. Linda is really interested in learning some of this since she is just now getting a good start on painting. It’s been a good dialog. . . at least I hope I haven’t been monologing : >). . .and I’ve felt renewed by just discussing art with someone. So thanks for joining in on this. Will plan to go to your site soon to see what you’re up to. Take care and good to meet you, too. Cheers!

Thanks Kellie. It means a lot that you would stop by and comment about it. Nice to know that it has that photographic effect to it.

Have a great week. Cheers!

Thanks Helen. Nice of you to drop by the gallery here. Hope your week goes well. Cheers!

Who says I wasn’t reduced to sitting in the middle of a dark room on a straight-backed chair listening to Carole King’s Tapestry as I cried? : >) Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad. Glad you enjoyed the painting.

You know RB has been good for me to think through this whole process. Something about having to explain the process helps me understand myself and my intentions. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have fellow artists asking “how’d you do that?” or “Why you’d do that?” Thanks for stopping by.

Hey Carole, thanks for the Bubble greet. I’ve never exhibited my work. Can’t get a gallery anywhere to carry my paintings. But I have sold about 85% of what I’ve painted. This painting was part of a large commission I landed with the second largest insurance brokerage in the U.S. They hired me to paint 5 of this tye of scene and the 3 water lily paintings you see here at RB. : >)

You’re so kind. Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate the comment. Cheers!

Appreciate that Sean.

Glad it comes across. . . I really wondered if it would be interesting enough for the viewer.

!ouy knahT

: >D

Hey Bev. . . so kind of you to stop by. . . appreciate your comment. . . but you are quite capable of doing this well. : >D But would you want to? LOL!

Hi Jlynn, appreciate your dropping by to take a look. Have a great week. Cheers!

Hi Marie, so kind of you to drop by to comment. Thanks. There’s a lot going on that you just can’t see in files this small. : >D

Cheers!

Hello Sharon Anne, I appreciate your dropping by. Yes, I’m afraid there’s a lot of my “personality” sprinkled through the pages. Maybe I shouldn’t feel so comfortable here. . . but after all Bubblers are artists, so I figure they are infused with a much greater ability to extend grace to the nut-so personalities that come with some artists like me. LOL! Thanks for commenting. Wishing you a wonderful week!

How kind of you to drop by Peter. I appreciate the input and observations. If you’ve read any of the posts, you’ll hear me complaining about going nearly crazy trying to make the image make sense. : >D

Thanks so much Peter.

Thanks so much for dropping by Kim. I do have this thing about complexity. Have to dive into it every now and then to get it out of my system. : >D Glad to meet you, too. Cheers!

Hey Ashley, I just found your comment today. Been away from the Bubble for awhile. Anyway, I appreciate your taking the time to come visit and taking a look around. Wishing you a fab weekend. Cheers!

Hi Orla, Thanks so much for taking the time to drop by. I appreciate your kind comments. It was one of those paintings where I thought I’d never see the end of it. : >D Wishing you a wonderful week ahead. Cheers!

Hey, thanks for taking the time to drop by and take a peek at my work. If you want to see the master of this kind of work, google the name Richard Estes. This man is a master painter with a phenomenal gift for creating compelling images. Hope you have a great week. Cheers!

Hello Alexandra. . . I appreciate your dropping by. Kind of you to do so and to leave a nice comment. Hope you’re having a fab weekend. Cheers!

Hey Colin, thanks for dropping by and spending some time with my painting. Appreciate your generosity. And you’re right. Fluorescents are the bane of my wife’s life, they trigger seizures for her. So we don’t get to go most places because all retail businesses use fluorescents. Hope you have a good week ahead. Cheers!

Uhhh… I didn’t know what I was getting into at the time. >D

Thanks for the generous comment. Cheers! TPS

Guess these architectural images were a natural for me. My declared major in college was pre-architecture. . . but I became disillusioned with the major when I got into my junior year and still hadn’t touched a drafting board. I ended up declaring my an art major, much to the dismay of my parents. : >D Cheers! TPS