First Sitting Red Grapes and Vine

I had a really nice time at my brother’s house in Vermont. I was fortunate enough to sell three of my paintings over Thanksgiving to his beautiful wife. I was planning to use one of the paintings as this year’s entries for Salon International 2011 at The Green House Gallery. I had the first entry done already now I will need to have a new painting for my second entry.

8 x 10 in oil on panel

This is the beginning of the painting it was started by drawing in the background in sepia colored pencil. This is the first sitting where I roughed in the background and other elements. Unfortunately the image is not that good of quality. I’ll have to work on the documentation of the process.

Background colors: Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, and Burnt Umber mixing equal parts.

Grapes: Cad. Medium Red and Vermillion Alizarin. I added the grays(Cad Orange and Ultramarine and white) over the top to start and get the blush

Leaves: Titanium Yellow, Yellow Ocher and Sap Green

I like the brightness of the leaves in the setup and hope that will be the focus and subject of the painting. I am also going to focus on as much detail in the veins of the leaves and the way that the light hits the edges.

Five steps to try and achieve Flow in the creative process.

According to MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, Flow is a state in which one is immersed in an experience that is rewarding in and of itself, a state in which we are one with the experience, in which "action and awareness are merged".

1. Have art supplies organized and easily accessible.Before sitting down to make art getting the area around you conducive to flow is and important first step.

I have found that if I have that paints organized and easily accessible I can stay focused on the task and the creative process. Also laying out the supplies in the same way each time helps me make my surroundings part of the intuitive process of creation.

2. Learn to stay focused on that task for as long as possible. This takes practice. You need to start your task and keep focusing on it for as long as you can.

When I drift or become distracted, I bring my focus back to the task at hand.. When I can keep my focus on that task, with little distractions, I sometimes can lose myself in Flow.

3. Turn off TV, Internet and laundry No multi-tasking it is impossible to get immersed in the task.

If I am trying to do more than just create. The laundry, the dog, the phone, the email have to wait.

4. Positive energy force. Focusing on positive growth and goals and staying in the moment will give you focus.

I continually work on quieting my inner voice - that tape is real old and real tired.

5. Make the creativity a challenge but not over whelming. A task should be challenging enough to require your full concentration but not so overwhelming that you are not able to loose myself in it.

Blue Selizer Bottle by Dennis Crayon

Grandma's China by Dennis Crayon

Grandma's China  8x10 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Canvas

In the beginning of the spring I finished two paintings that I sold thought Zoll Studios. One of the paintings was of 3 coffee cups that was part of my mother’s set of good china. The china is a family heirloom, which was handed down from my grandmother to my mother. It was in my house when I was growing up and was only used on special occasions. There was a china closet in the dinning room and it would always rattled when someone came down the stairs.

I wanted to get the gold high lights as strong as I possibly could.

Merry Go Round

Merry Go Around 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel
If you'd like to bid on this painting, you can access the auction by clicking here.

For this tromp l'oeil painting I started with a sepia under painting using a mixture of black, burnt umber and white. The mixture of black and burnt umber was about 50 percent each then I added the white accordingly to the value needed. I made sure that there were no hard edges in the sepia areas so that there would be a high contrast between the bright colors of the merry ground’s horse and the soft edge of the background. When this layer was dry I painted over the top with the bright “candy” colors that you see in carnivals. Lastly I worked with the contour and shading of the horse’s mouth in order to fool the eye and play with the illusion of the head popping off the page. The masking tape also helps with the illusion of the colored layer tape on the top of the sepia layer.

I had captured this image last year when the carnival came on Northern Virginia and up until now was not sure would be the best way using the image. I wanted to give a nostalgic feeling to the painting by using the sepia color under painting technique.

Grapes in Glass 2

Grapes in Glass 2 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel
Sold

The earliest murals of trompe l'oeil art that exist can be found in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and have been dated back to the first century A.D. After becoming part of the rich culture of the Greek and Roman Empires, trompe l'oeil art all but disappeared during the Dark Ages, not to resurface until the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

My interest in t trompe l'oeil has re-emerged I have add a contemporary twist by giving the illusion of a ripped photographic fragment taped to the top of a blurry image of the same objects. I have been really excited about the idea of placing one image over the top of another and having the top image be a fragment of the first image.

Pears & Baggie

Pears & Baggie 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel

 

Among the things I enjoy most about painting a still life is the challenge of creating the illusion of texture and depth. I’m starting to paint a series of objects in plastic bags. Painting plastic can be similar to painting lace and glass because you need to define both the object and the transparency.

Pears & Baggie was painted with a number of layers of glaze (transparent oil paint with medium). I usually start with opaque paints but this time I really want to work with the translucency that glazes offer. I will be combining contemporary and traditional objects in this series.

I just have to watch to make sure the plastic doesn’t look out a place or contrived. Baggies are of course one of the vessels we use in the 21st century and that idea amuses me for some reason.

Spring Robin by Dennis Crayon

Spring Robin 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel

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I saw a robin in a tree the other day. It reminded me of my grandmother who tried her best to make sure she saw her first robin each spring in a tree. She believed that it would bring good luck if the first robin she saw was in a tree. I later decided to make it a Trompe l’oeil painting of a torn photo.

Trompe l’oeil - A French term literally meaning "trick the eye." Sometimes called illusionism, it's a style of painting which gives the appearance of three-dimensional, or photographic realism. It flourished from the Renaissance onward.

Please let me know if you like the Tromp l'oeil effect I really enjoyed doing it and have just started a second painting of grapes in a glass only this painting will all be in color

Belated New Year Resolution

I am resolved to improve my blog and to blog more often and to use the other social media outlets that are at my finger tips. I am taking the blog Triage Class as a way of starting the transformation. Thanks Cynthia Morris and Alyson Stanfield for empowering me through your class. Right now I am acting like a seven year old who is finding every reason to avoid doing his homework hopefully with your help I can be broken of this habit.

Pears & Baggie
Auction will begin April 24th

The main reason I have started my blog is because I have begun the process of paint 52 small (8 x8 – 8 x10) paintings that I'm going to post on my blog and website with the hope of selling them directly to patrons through auction. My plan is to do 3 paintings a month and put them up for auction. It is important to me that the quality remains high and that I don’t just knock these off quickly to keep to a schedule. I would like to blog about the process and stick to the experiment to see where it leads to and how long it will take me to produce 52 small works.

My blog will be a record of this goal and a way to connect to both patrons and fellow artists. In the long term I hope to be able to support myself through my sales and this blog / art project is the concrete beginning of this goal.

I also think that gallery representation will come as I get my work seen more online and that prospective galleries see that I am an active promoter of my art.

So far I have really enjoyed auctioning off my work there is gratification in the process of finding out how much my work will sell for and the felling that I am making progress in getting my name and work out to a larger audience. I also enjoy the excitement of selling my work and seeing what price I can get for my work n auction and even in the 4 months that I have been doing this the price and my discipline has grown.

I subscribe to 5 different artist blogs whose work I respect and  I really enjoy seeing their latest work. I hope someday that other artist and collectors will feel the same about my work.

Robin work in progress auction will begin April 25th

Sugar & Creamer by Dennis Crayon

Sugar & Creamer 8 x 8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel

2 years ago I visited friends for Thanksgiving they had a beautiful set of china displayed in the dinning room. I took that image then and made a painting this week. I had to rework the wall paper in the background in order to get the color and pattern correct. I was really inspired by the strong light hitting the china and how it affected shadows on the ceramics.

If you'd like to purchase, please click Go to my eBay Auction bidding starts at $25.00

Row House

Row House 8 x 8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel

SOLD

After the blizzard of 2010 it was nice to come out of the house one morning and see the blue skies and warm red of bricks in sunlight. These are the row houses in the District at the end of 13th street. I was walking the dog and as I turned the corner the sun was hitting the top floors of these houses. I worked at capturing the warmth of the day and the surprise of the moment as the sun came up.

It is hard for me to do facades that are not reminiscent of Edward Hooper. Hooper was one of the first artists whose work I got to know and Hopper's work has always inspire me to continue painting.

Dogwood

Dogwood 8 x 8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel

SOLD

I created this image of the branch from the neighbor’s dogwood last spring. With the promise of spring and warmer weather it seemed likes a great time to do the painting.

I have a red tablecloth with a floral design as the pattern, which is reflected of the actual flowers on the branch. I also want to contrast the dark red of the background with the white flowers. I enjoyed adding the green centers it helped pull the painting together.

Red Tulips 8 x 8

Red Tulips 8 x 8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel

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I thought that the light was beautiful hitting the flowers. I glazed many coats of Alizarin Crimson in order to get the translucency of the light as it illuminated the flowers.

Red & Blue Marbles 8 x 8

Red & Blue Marbles 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel
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I love the glass spheres and the contrast between light and dark / gray and bright colors that marbles give. I bought these marbles on ebay it is very hard to find red cats eye marbles why I don’t know. But after buying the marbles I wanted to use just one red marble as the focal point and have the four blue marbles surround the red causing a circular motion around the main marble.

I need to give marbles a rest for a while this is the 4th painting I have done using marbles I am sure that sometime in the future I’ll be painting them again but right now they need to rest.

Yellow Tulip 8 x 8

Dennis Crayon 8 x 8 Oil on Panel

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I loved the light, the colors, and the transparency of the pedals. I was excited about trying to capture the shades of yellow, which are both delicate and strong at the same time. Tulips come up in the garden as one of the first signs of spring and warm weather. We all like new beginnings.

Right now as I sit in Washington DC I am snowed in for the 4th day in a row. Fresh flowers would be a real step in the right direction and a promise of better things ahead.

Offerings: 14 x 14 Red Blue and Yellow Marbles in Martini Glass

Offerings by Dennis Crayon

14" x 14

Oil on Panel

This is first painting about the three primary colors. I wanted to make a small altarpiece offering the three primary colors back to the God that offered them to me. I used martini glasses as a form of contemporary challises. I enjoyed playing with imagery of both my youth and adulthood. This piece was juried into the 2009 Salon International at the Greenhouse Gallery

Available: Purchase Information

Once In a Blue Moon

15 x 24 oil on panel

While walking in my neighborhood I noticed a house with these old shutters resting on the side of the house. I got up the nerve to ask the neighbors whom I had never talked to before if I could borrow the old shutter. I had to explain that I was a still life artist and that I wanted to use it as part of my painting. They looked at me weird but lent me to old shutter.

I have long wanted to make a painting inspired Joseph Cornell’s boxes and took this opportunity to set up the still life with his boxes in mind. I combined the old medicine bottles with the eggs to reference the cycles of the moon. I also liked the cast of the hand with the fingers crossed; it reminded me of broken promises which was the working name of the painting.
Available: Purchase Information

Cornell’s glazed boxes contain assemblages of found objects that have mysterious and poetic associations.

Planet Set, Tête Etoilée, Giuditta Pasta (dédicace) 1950
Mixed media object: 305 x 457 x 102 mm

This week’s Art Afirmations

This week’s Afirmations
Today is a good day and I will be in a good mood
I will laugh, smile, and have positive thoughts
My life is full with people I love and I share my happiness
I am disciplined in the studio and set aside time each day to be creative
I stay open to making art that is out side my comfort zone.
I support art and artists that are in my community
I know that I am part of the universe’s community

I have boundaries and focus on all aspects of my life.
I am working on eating healthier.
I walk at least 20 minutes each day and will build on that.
I have all the energy I need
I will work on getting my artwork in the front of people.
I will stop thinking I am old

Thanks Artbiz blog for this start.

Three New Paintings

New Works Still Lifes

works in progress

I am still working on this painting. A friend doesn't think anyone may recognize it. I may be to close but I have no problems telling what it is.

Thanks Steve and Linda from Light Street Gallery