FEBRUARY POST

It's Leap Year, so this February is giving me an extra day to paint!

I have been experimenting with using brushes as "mock palette knives." I received three beautiful new brushes from my sister-in-law for Christmas and that inspired me to buy a few more. Believe it or not, I haven't bought any new brushes in about 20 years! We painters become very attached to our brushes, and typically to one or two out of the ten or so we have. Not only that, but in recent years I have mostly been using palette knives to paint. so I haven't really needed to buy brushes.

I have found though, that my Parkinson's makes it a little harder to control the palette knife - sometimes the big swooping clouds in my paintings are not on purpose! So, I'm back to using brushes more, but as I said, using them like palette knives, with quick, directional motion rather than going for precise detail.

Adding a heavy gel medium to the paint makes it quite thick, so I can apply it with a quick directional motion up, down or sideways, leaving as much paint on the surface as desired. The quicker the motion, the more painterly and textural the effect. I'm having fun playing around with the new brushes to see what kinds of effects I can create.

Here's an example of a piece I did using this approach. It's called Llano de San Juan Farm. Llano is a small New Mexican village nestled in the Truchas mountains.

And here are a few more examples of what I've been up to this past month. A little bit of the southwest, and a little bit of southwest Florida.

String of Distant Mesas

Autumn, Low Southwest Desert

Cathedral Rock Semi-abstract

Fog on the Horizon

Three Big Guys

January Post

I have started the new year and new decade with a lot of painting mojo! In January, I was very busy and productive. Most of my works this month are what I call "Mindscapes," which means that they are scenes (usually landscapes) that capture my memory and feelings of places that I remember seeing, or that I just think I saw! So mindscapes are reminiscent of a place, and may look like that place, or they may just look the way that place made me feel.

I have also been following a couple of artists who put instructional and informational videos on YOUTUBE. These artists have a loose style and presentation that I admire, and which inspires me to be looser in my own work. The looser I paint, the happier I am!

The artists are:

* Walt Gonske (my favorite): www.waltgonske.com. You may remember that I posted about meeting Walt at his home studio in Taos, NM last September. I have the photos to prove it! 😄

* Michael Chamberlain www.chamberlainpaintings.com. This fellow is fun to watch because his videos are a combination of art instruction and travel log, and he visits some interesting places.

I created a lot of work in January. I won't show you all of it, just a few of my favorites. These and others are available at my beautiful new website on FASO at  JRSecorFineArt.com. I have three collections on my website: Southwest Landscapes, Seascapes and Still Life. Please check it out when you have a chance.

January Favorites

Cool Spring Day, 12 by 16 on canvas linen panel. The cold of winter has left the high desert, and the smells and colors of spring are starting to emerge.

The Livin' is Easy - Southwest Grass Plains. 18 by 24 on Heavy Linen Paper, done with large brushes.

And a few more selections from my January exploits.

Winter Peace

12 by 16 on gallery-wrapped canvas

Dusk Settles on the Desert

12 by 16 on gallery-wrapped canvas

High Country Winter

12 by 16 on canvas panel

I hope you've enjoyed this update. Thank you for coming by and please come back and visit often, and don't forget to check out my FASO website at JRSecorFineArt.com. 

December

In December, I had the exciting opportunity to create my own website at Fine Art Studio Online (FASO). The folks at FASO worked with me to design a beautiful site, where I can show my work and offer it for sale directly to the public. It's very easy - if someone wants to purchase a piece, they can just buy it online using PayPal and I will be notified and will pack and ship the painting. Customers can also contact me directly with quesitons. FASO does not take any proceeds from the sale - they want to support artists and the arts. Here is a link to that site: http://rvpainter.faso.com/

At the bottom of the website page there is a box where you can add your email to be on my email newsletter list. The newsletter will only be once a month, and short - I promise I won't be filling up your inbox. So if you wouldn't mind getting it, I'd love it if you would add your name.

December is always a busier month, because of the holidays of course. Melissa really gets into them with decorating and making sure we partake of holiday events like concerts, and I go along for the ride. Punta Gorda has an excellent symphony, and that concert in particular was wonderful.

Because of my Parkinson's it's harder for me to do things I used to - like putting up a real Christmas tree. Anyone who has fought with a real tree and a Christmas tree stand can relate - even if you have all your strength and are in the best of health!  But Melissa has been adamantly against getting an artificial tree, being that New England girl at heart and one who holds long and fast to traditions.

Last year, our real tree looked fine at Home Depot but was a crooked mess with crazy branches when we got it home. Still, Melissa lovingly shaped the branches and we used shims to prop it straight, and once decorated, it didn't look half bad. Then an hour later, the tree committed suicide, crashing to the ground, spilling water from the base all over the rug and smashing some of our best glass ornaments. I think that, for a moment, Melissa had thoughts of hoisting it back up and trying to salvage the situation, but then she stopped, looked up at me, and said the words I'd been longing to hear: "Tomorrow I will go online and buy us the nicest artificial tree I can find." It was the happiest day of my life.

Within two days our tree from Balsam Hill arrived, and Melissa fell in love. Every day the tree is up, she says, "This is the most beautiful tree we've ever had," and "I'm sorry I held out for so long."

Here is a picture of our beautiful fake tree:

I had a lovely Christmas this year - in large part because Santa brought me the first new paintbrushes I've gotten in 25 years! (Yes, my brushes are that old!!). Actually it was my sister-and-brother-in-law, Jess and Terry, who gave them to me, and they are VERY GOOD BRUSHES. The painting below, A New Day on the Gulf, is the first painting I did with them - and I used all three! Here I am expressing my delight with the brushes on Christmas Day. With Parkinson's you tend to lose your smile, so the fact that you can tell I'm smiling here means I'm REALLY smiling. 

I stayed busy with painting this month and am really excited about some of the work I've done. My new and improved studio set-up is working out nicely, though admittedly it takes me some time to get used to change - even good change! 

Some of the pieces below are available on my new FASO website, but I wanted to share them with you here too, since this blog is where we really get to chat about what's been going on behind the scenes of whatever I am pursuing artistically. Hope you like them!

MESA TWINS

A NEW DAY ON THE GULF

SILENT NIGHT

SUMMER SKY

ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT

ARIZONA BADLANDS

November

I'm a little late getting my November post up, what with Thanksgiving jumping in there at the end of the month. The next thing I knew, November was over and December had begun! 

During November, I participated in an effort to support our active military and veterans by donating a portion of any painting sales to the Veterans Initiative for Therapeutic Arts. I was the artist of the month at The Yoga Sanctuary, where Melissa teaches, and also participated in a one-day event there to benefit veterans. I am happy to say that, thanks to many of you, I was able to donate $150 to VITA.



As December closed in on me, so did my studio. It's small and not as functional as I need it to be, especially now that I don't always have total control over my feet! They tend to stick or stutter-step, especially when I am turning, backing up, or getting up from the floor (where I sometimes find myself on purpose and sometimes by accident).

So, Melissa came up with a reorganization plan (she loves to rearrange things), that included adding sturdy metal shelves to give me larger, clearer workspace, and storage that is not so low to the ground. She is developing some excellent handyman skills, thanks to my fine instruction. (Insert HAHA emoji here).

Anyway, my studio space is much more functional and safe now, though I am still adjusting to the new set-up and wondering where my stuff is when it's not where it used to be.

My brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Cheryl, recently took a fabulous trip to Australia and New Zealand. Tom sent me a post card of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains of Australia, and on the back he wrote, "PAINT THIS." So I did. I usually paint in an expressionistic-impressionistic and sometimes semi-abstract style, meaning that I capture the essence of the scene rather than a precise replication of it. With this image though, I went more realistic, and was surprised at how well it came out. The whole time I worked on it, I thought it would be a disaster. Here you can see the painting alongside the post card.

Here are a few other pieces from November:

In December, I am cleaning out my boxes of paintings and trying to be ruthless about it. They either get thrown out, repurposed (painted over) or back in the box - or sometimes they get sold!

October Paintings

October was an interesting month in a variety of ways. We settled back into home life after spending some wonderful time in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Melissa took advanced yoga training with her teacher and we visited all the places we love in and around Santa Fe and Taos. I posted last month that I got to meet one of my idols in the art world, Walt Gonski. I think I'll mention that again :) :)

Not long after returning home to Florida, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. This, of course, was not news anyone wants to hear, but it also was not a huge suprise, given some of the symptoms I've experienced over the past few years and the fact that my brother, John, had it. I am 79, so one positive aspect is that the PD is late in arriving, so perhaps it will be slow in progressing. Time will tell.

A very interesting thing is that my PD symptoms completely disappear when I am painting! So I hope and plan to continue doing so for a very long time.

After the diagnosis, I had a strong urge to act on my dreams of painting on LARGE canvases. I tried to order some that were four feet by six feet, but the company, for some reason, can't deliver those to my location! So I settled for getting some 3' by 3', 2' by 4'  and 3' by 4' canvases. Melissa rearranged my studio workspace to accomodate these large canvases, so that I wouldn't have to go and sweat it out in the hot garage!

I always stand when I paint, so I got a sturdy walker - not because I need it to walk, but because I sometimes get the feeling of falling backwards or sideways when standing, and it gives me something to grab onto and stop me from going over! 

I had a great time working on these large canvases, and here they are. The last one is the biggest at 4' by 3'.

By the Sea

I've been gathering some of my painting by category in addition to my monthly posts, so here is a collection of ocean and beach scenes that I produced this year. This little collection is called "By the Sea." They are various sizes, mostly 16" by 20" or 18" by 24", but the 7th piece down is quite large at 3 feet by 4 feet, and the one after that, which I have called, "Serenity," is 3 feet by 3 feet. All in acrylic with palette knife. Enjoy the waves and ocean breezes!

Using myself to give some perspective on the size of the painting - I am about 5'9" tall.

September Post

Melissa and I spent half the month of September in Santa Fe, NM, where she took some advanced yoga training courses. Since we lived there for five years, going to Santa Fe is like coming home to a place we love. We were excited to visit our favorite places - the Plaza, Museum Hill, and Canyon Road, go in the shops and enjoy the wonderful restaurants. We also took a day trip up to Taos, the highlight of which was a visit to the home studio of Walt Gonski, an artist whose work I have admired for many, many years.

Because of our trip, I didn't do as many painting days as usual, but I did come home filled with inspiration that is carrying over into October.

Here is a photo of me with Walk Gonski at his home studio, and following that you'll see my September paintings.

Walt is the tall fella

Migration

The Softness of Autumn Aspens