2011 #8

Circular #2...9x12 acrylic on blueprint and panel...17 May 2011

I like a clear idea, unity of a theme and running with it for a while.  I may do one, two, or three more of these circular abstracts.

2011 #7

Circular #1...9x12 acrylic on blueprint and panel...08 May 2011

A few months ago, I salvaged from the bin a nice collection of old blueprints.  I have been eyeing them and waiting for the right opportunity to incorporate them into one of my paintings.  So I am going to test them out on a couple of circular abstracts.

-Sam

2010 #16

Dog in the Garden...9x12 acrylic on paper and panel...06 Aug 2010

It’s that time of the year when I do my “beagle” painting for the 13th annual Art Unleashed event.  This painting and many other pet themed art by local artists will be for sale in the silent auction at the Hale Arena at the American Royal Complex on Friday, August 27th 2010.  The proceeds benefit The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.

Week 48

Street Scene and Magazines #2...9x12 Panel Board...01 Dec 2009

I did not originally inted for there to be a “#2” for Street Scenes and Magazines…but as I looked at the orignal, I could imagine what would happen around the corner and off the frame.  I had leftover sheets of painted magazines, so it made since to add a second painting.

Wow!  Only four more paintings left for this year.  I am trying to come up with ideas for a different project for 2010.  Right now I am thinking working on a larger scale.

Week 47

Street Scene and Magazines...9x12 panel board...24 Nov 2009

Happy Thankgiving!

This week’s painting is wildly different from my Flint Hills series.  The Flint Hills were so simple in form and minimal in color and this one is just bursting with noise.  I had an image in my mind of what I wanted this to look like and I just kept tinkering with it trying to find that right feeling.  Last night I finally got to a point that I felt it was finished enough to move on.  Any new ideas could be applied to a future painting.  There were many “what ifs…” on this one.

Week 46

Autumn in the Flint Hills of Kansas, #3...9x12 panel board...15 Nov 2009

This concludes my 3 part series on the subtle Flint Hills.  I will continue to explore the Kansas landscape and vernacular in the future.  Now I need to dream up something new.

Week 45

Autumn in the Flint Hills of Kansas, #2...9x12 panel board...07 Nov 2009

I don’t have much to say about this other than “Here is another painting of the Flint Hills with little cows.”  I am going to do at least one more next week.  I just thought maybe a group of three would look good together.

Week 44

Autumn in the Flint Hills of Kansas, #1...9x12 panel board...01 Nov 2009

Last week, I had a work related trip that sent me on a drive through the Flint Hill of Kansas.  I knew right away what I would be painting this week and the next following weeks.  I grabbed my camera and took a few photos for reference.  It was early in the morning and the eastern sunrise gave these hills a reddish glow.

This week I worked quick and loose and tried to keep things in their simple elements.  I kept the background sky sloppy rather than try to blend the blue values.  I was very happy to finish on time and also to have caught up on sleep.

Week 43

Two Drummer Boys...9x12 panel board...28 October 2009

Sorry that this is a bit late.  It took me longer to finish this one mainly due to not having a lot of time to work on it this past weekend.  I went to bed earlier than usual because I am trying to fight an oncoming cold.  Finishing up Halloween costumes also became a priority.

Last week someone cleverly pointed out that I skipped a painting with two people in costume.  The progression has been 1, 3, and 4.  I had not figured this out yet or had really planned a reason for the groupings, but it seems pretty reasonable from to add a two person painting.

I feel like I should be making a children’s counting book:

1 greek goddess shooting at the moon

2 drummer boy slightly out of tune

3 sisters ready for a walk around town

4 little clowns not clowning around
This week I used crayon on painted paper for the background and the boys are on painted paper with graphite detailing.

Week 42

Four Little Clowns Not Clowning Around...9x12 Panel Board...19 Oct 2009

My last several paintings have been themed around costumes and I guess I can attribute that to the preperation of homemade costumes that my wife and I are making for the kids for this upcoming Halloween.  But I also like how ‘costume’ or the idea of ‘costume’ can create a certain type of character and adds to the narrative of the story.

When wrestling on the floor with my boys, there is always moment when my four year old will leave the room for a couple of minutes and then coming rushing back with his superhero cape on and a new vigor of strength.

I tried something different on this piece.  The background has no paint but is created only with crayon.

Week 41

Three Sisters...9x12 Panel Board...12 October 2009

These ladies are dressed up for a fun night on the town.

Week 40

Moon Costume...9x12 Panel Board...05 Oct 2009

I really don’t know where this one came from.  The idea of the subject came from an old time theater photo I had laying around and the background was just an experiment with painted strips from different types of paper including a map of Arkansas.

I have ideas for using and taking from more old-time images.  I think I might move in that direction…oh, and maybe more cows, too!

Week 39

white cow, black cow...9x12 panel board...28 September 2009

More cows…I really wanted to add green (to keep the same colors as last week) but I felt like this piece really didn’t need it.  Who knows…

Week 38

Green Cow...9x12 panel board...21 Sept 2009

I have been meaning to explore more mid-western themes.  We have green cows in Kansas!

Week 36

Untitled (week #36)...9x12 Panel Board...06 Sept 2009

I took a mental break after last week and had nothing prepared for when it came time to paint for week 36.  So I decided to mess with colors and ambiguous shapes in hopes that it would be simple.  It wasn’t as simple as I would have liked.

My original intent with these weekly paintings was for them to be simple and minimal, but I feel like these have been getting more and more complex.   So far I have been enjoying the direction I have taken, but it is starting to take it’s toll (…time and lack of sleep on the weekends.)  I might need to rethink and redefine the simple and minimal.

Week 33

Little Things I Should Have Said and Done #3...9x12 panel board...17 August 2009

…still working on the “little thing” series.  Again, I am submitting these for the “White” gallery show, so you can tell I am aiming for uniformity in content and style.

Week 32

Little Things I Should Have Said And Done...9x12 panel board...12 August 2009

Now that I am back home and not working on the road (week 30 and 31), I am revisiting the “the little things” theme.  I hope to submit these for an upcoming gallery show in Lawrence, KS that my friend Darin ( BALM ) is putting on.

Week 27

Iowa: Green...9x12 Panel Board...05 July 2009

I had a good  and busy 4th of July weekend.  Luckily, I had an extra day in the weekend, because family activities went late into the night.  After the kids are in bed, then I get time in the studio.

Here is part 2 of 3 in my Iowa series.

Week 26

Iowa: Blue...9x12 panel board...28 June 2009

This is the 26th week with my 26th painting.  The year is half over and I am really proud of myself for sticking with this committment  (so far) to do one painting a week for a year.  I actually look forward to my time (usually late at night) during the weekend to work in the studio.  There was a time early in the year when I thought that I would run out of ideas.  Luckily, this discipline has taught me  to quickly come up with new ones and at the same time be planning future ideas.  The key is to always be looking for that potential and to keep a pen, sketchbook, and camera handy.

Iowa: Blue is part 1 of 3.  I recently took a work-related road trip up to northern Iowa.  We drove through heat, massive thunderstorms, incredible clouds and skies, wind farms, farmlands, farmhouses, barns, and small towns.  What fun!

Week 25

I have not seen this day before, part 3: Knowledge...9x12 panel board...21 June 2009

Part 3 concludes the end of the “I have not seen this day before”  series.  Now I have a few days to dream up something new.

part 1

part 2

Week 24

I have not seen this day before, part 2: Discovery...9x12 panel board...16 June 2009

I was suppose to finish this piece Monday night, but we had one of those fantastic Kansas thunderstorms…the kind where the wind is blowing so hard you are nervous about the trees over your house.  The kind where there is so  much rain showering down that the streets become little rivers and the night sky is more lit than dark because of all the lightening.  Wonderful and scary.  And yes, the kind of storm where you lose power and dig around for flashlights and matches for candles.  Anyway, the candlelight was not cutting it for a good light source for work, but worked just fine for book reading.

Week 23

I have not seen this day before, part 1: exploration...9x12 panel board...08 June 2009

 ***UPDATE***

I brought this piece into the office to make a scan from a photo copy machine.  There are not any options to preview the image and adjusting the color, but at least the image is clearer.  These colors, I believe, are more true to the original, but I think they are a bit on the dark side.

I have not seen this day before, part 1: exploration...9x12 panel board...08 June 2009

I apologize for the image quailty this week.  I decided to move up in size from 8×10 to 9×12.  The larger size does not fit on my scanner at home, so late last night I took a few pictures with a point and shoot camera.  I may try to improve the quality this picture, because I don’t think these are the true colors.

Anyway, this week I started a new series and this is part one of three.