10 Days Until The Show

About a year and a half ago Colleen Sabo, my great friend and fabulous painter, offered me an opportunity to exhibit at the Touchstone Gallery in 2014 during the month of July.  I was being offered two galleries and the possibility to present two separate shows with entirely disparate directions no central theme.  It was quite the exiting project, first I wanted to show a bunch of abstract works on paper, and acrylics on canvas, but I also wanted to do something different a new challenge.  I decided I would show traditional oils, great idea, just one problem, I didn’t paint traditional oils.  Well, that is another story, here is some of the pieces from the show.  Please come, I think the show is lots of fun.  This is a 9×12 oil painting of Portland Head Light and it was one of my earlier demonstrations for my oil class.  Interesting story about my progress as an oil painter, yes I really hadn’t painted in oils but I was pretty comfortable with other mediums and was teaching a workshop in Maine last September and saw a poster advertising an oil demonstration with Roger Dale Brown in Thomaston, Maine.  He is the real deal a truly great oil painter, and I went to watch him paint.  He was fabulous painter and his demonstration of Pemaquid was really wonderful.  In truly typical Steve fashion, I said that looks pretty easy I can do that so I was off and running to paint as much as I could in oils and have loved every minute of everyday painting since then.  I have studied with Roger twice and Matt Smith once, a stellar painter from Scottsdale, Arizona and plan to paint with Marc Hanson this fall.  How cool is that.  11×14 oil painting of surf at Pemaquid Point, painted several months ago.  I think the surf is fun and the rocks are getting there.  I can tell you that there was a moment in time several months ago that I went to Colleen and said I thought I would put in some old watercolors because the oils were just not going to happen.  She told me to stop thinking that was and just paint the paintings, the watercolors are nice but this was a show about the oils and the abstracts.  I painted a bunch more and now I do have a show that I am pretty happy with, although my next show will be better as is my goal every time, move on move up and don’t sit still for too long or you begin to believe that you have arrived.40×30 Acrylic on Canvas “Fall in the Heartland”

My excitement about this show was that I was going to have two galleries and I could show both sides of my artistic direction.  I believe very strongly that in order to paint abstractly an artist has to be able to paint traditional work and through the structure of the representational work the abstract pieces will  have strength and meaning.  Gerhardt Reichter and Diebenkorn are two artist who painted and paint in different directions.  I think the two galleries will be a nice complement not a confusing dichotomy.24×24 Acrylic on Canvas “Desert Thirst”

Layering the colors and using pure colors makes acrylic and wildly expressive challenge.  This piece furthers my exploration of the abstraction of looking down on the edge of landscapes.  30×40 Acrylic on Canvas “Tulips in the Sun”

Minimal yet filled with movement and light, I have always liked this piece but hardly anyone else does.  Goes to show the artist is hardly ever in sync with the public.

I do hope you have enjoyed this preview of my show and will choose to attend, I will be posting a few more pieces next week and am so looking forward to hanging the show on Monday.