Tue 31 Jan 2012
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New Year’s Sunset
The sun sets on a New Year’s day;
the sky is orange and red
—bright as candy.
My daughter runs along the beach,
dodging waves and with each jump
she hits the air like fireworks.
—JT Morrow
This week’s painting is accompanied by a poem I wrote. The painting isn’t an illustration of the poem, nor is the poem a description of the painting. But I thought the two went well together.
I first laid down an orange undercoat before adding the scene. There’s a lot of yellow-purple and blue-orange complimentary color schemes going on here. Click on the image to see a larger version.
“New Year’s Sunset” is an 8″x10″ acrylic painting on paper. It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tags: acrylic, acrylic on paper, beach, blue, complimentary colors, landscape, new year's, ocean, orange, poem, purple, red, seagulls, seascape, shore, sunset, waves, yellow
Wed 25 Jan 2012
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Yosemite has to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Any season is a great time to go. Here’s a winter painting I made from a photo I took a few years back. The orange of the sunset on the cliff contrasts with the purple in the shadows and it’s this that makes the picture pop off the wall. But I also love the subtle colors in the snow: blues, purples yellows, grays.
This is actually a painting I started a while back but the reflections bothered me so I recently tweaked it. Funny how you can’t let go of some paintings and continue to find ways to improve them.
“Snow in Yosemite” is an 8″x10″ acrylic painting on canvas (mounted onto board). It sells for $115 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tue 17 Jan 2012
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You can’t say I’m afraid of color. This sunrise almost looks like fireworks going off. I like the swirling crows overhead and the burst of flowers along the hillside. Neither the birds nor the flowers were in the photo I used for inspiration. But the painting just seemed flat to me until I added those elements.
Sometimes I have to remind myself that the painting isn’t a document of reality. It should go beyond reality to create an engaging image. It should become it’s own reality.
“Sunrise With Crows” is an 8″x10″ acrylic painting on paper. It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tue 10 Jan 2012
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Here’s a piece that I’ve actually been painting off and on for a few months. Some paintings take time to gestate. This one sure did. I kept working on it and putting it aside, unhappy with the results, time and time again. But now I like the rough, expressiveness of it and the rich colors. Hope you do to.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
“Tree in the Meadow” is an 8″x10″ acrylic painting on paper. It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tue 3 Jan 2012
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This painting reminds me of the work of F.E. Church, the great American landscape painter. If you’re not familiar with his work, look him up. His paintings were incredible. This is loosely based on a photo I took while on vacation in the Grand Canyon a bit over a year ago. I especially like the way the blue of the distant hills plays off the orange of the sunset. (Complimentary colors, of course.)
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Happy New Year everyone.
“Sunset Over the Grand Canyon” is an acrylic painting (8″x10″) on paper. It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tue 27 Dec 2011
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Calla lilies have to be my favorite flowers. I can’t say why that is. Must be something psychological and I’m probably better off not trying to figure it out. Better just to enjoy them and let it go at that.
I’ve painted them several times, often included them as part of the scene and sometimes, as here, using one as the main subject. Hope you enjoy this week’s painting.
Happy New Year!
“Calla Lily” is an acrylic painting (8″x10″) on paper. It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tue 20 Dec 2011
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The last time I was in Japan I went walking alone to a park near my in-law’s home. They live on the northern island of Hokkaido. It had been snowing for days and the park had fallen into that incredible silence that you can only experience on snowy days. It almost sounds, at those times, as if someone has turned off the sound. The sun was going down and I photographed the trees, their limbs burdened by layer upon layer of snow.
I deviated quite a bit from the photo, taking out most of the nearby trees, pushing the pink of the sunset just a bit and adding a figure in the distance, trudging through the deep snow. I think the painting comes pretty close to capturing the feeling of silence after a snowfall.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday season.
“Hokkaido Winter” is an acrylic painting (8″x10″) on paper. You can see a larger version by clicking on the image.
It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tags: blue, evergreen, Hokkaido, japan, lavender, pink, quiet, silence, snow, snowfall, trees, walker
Tue 13 Dec 2011
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My wife and I went to a recital of flamenco dancing earlier in the year. A couple of her friends are dancers. I took several photos during the evening and didn’t use a flash, respecting the performers’ request. So most of my photos were just a blur of color. But that, in a way, proves how energetic flamenco dancing is. The guitarist backing up the percussive pattern of the dancer’s shoes was just marvelous so I wanted to include him in the painting. As a result I combined two of the better photos to create this scene.
When I’d finished—or thought I had—the image just lay there, inert. Then I thought of all those photos with blurs of colors coming from the shimmering dresses the women wear. I grabbed my paintbrush and added swirls of red and blue. Much better. This comes much closer to catching the energy of the dancers.
“Flamenco Dancer” is an acrylic painting (8″x10″) on paper.
It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Tue 6 Dec 2011
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A sunny day along the beach near my home in Pacifica. Lots of people were out enjoying the unusually warm weather. Including my daughter and me. I saw this girl, about the age of twelve, step near the surf and I snapped her picture. She had such a nice easy grace, watching the waves roll in.
I added the seagulls to add a bit of zest to the picture. For me this image has such a quiet, natural calm.
“At the Beach” is an acrylic painting (8″x10″) on paper. You can see a larger version by clicking on the image.
It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
Mon 28 Nov 2011
Posted by JT Morrow under Weekly Art
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My daughter and I went for a walk in Golden Gate Park not too long ago. I took her to Spreckles Lake which is within throwing distance of where I used to live in San Francisco. It’s a beautiful area. Very relaxing. As you can see, I’m not the only one who thinks so. I spotted the man sitting on the bench, taking in the scenery and knew I had to paint his picture.
The composition reminds me of Chinese paintings in which an artist paints a landscape and inserts people into a small corner. Even though the scenery dominates such pictures, our eye always finds its way to the human in the image. The man on the bench actually wore a white baseball cap but I knew making it red—the complementary color of green—would help him stand out.
“Resting” is an acrylic painting (8″x10″) on paper. It sells for $95 + shipping. To purchase please click on the “Buy Now” button below.
