Monday, December 06, 2010
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
New Work at Chez Jude 11/10
Click here to Visit Chez Jude Online
My paintings will be at Chez Jude through the 2011 season. Be sure to stop in if you come to Grand Marais!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Reflecting Light: Acrylic on wood. 42"x48" 2010
An art instructor once told me he rejected my thinking because I don't paint background to foreground. I usually paint the light in last, the white clouds and dabs of light piercing through the foliage. While the criticism gave me pause to contemplate the organic process of my painting style, it only served to redouble my impulse to capture light at the end of the process. While the forest is a three-dimensional entity with an undisputed foreground, middle ground and background (ever changing, based on our position in relation to it), my paintings take place on a two dimensional panel, flattening one perspective to fit the flat area, and thus creating a limited impression, a specific viewpoint. I think it was Claude Monet who said that when he painted a sunset, he didn't paint "a cloud", but he painted pink in just such a size and shape compared to this patch of blue next to it. Our eye does the rest. With paint, our eye creates the illusion of depth, when really the positive and negative space exist on the exact same plane. In fact, the negative space often (usually) encroaches upon and overlaps the positive space, defining the edge in what I consider a necessary relationship. I wouldn't do it differently. Taking the criticism of the instructor to heart would mean that anything "further back" in the painting could never be touched again without obliterating everything else further "forward" and starting the painting over again. It's a harsh sort of fundamentalism that I would never adopt in my own painting. That interplay of foreground overlapping background in one spot, and background overlapping foreground in another, gives the work a certain feel that is an intrinsic characteristic of my paintings.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Saturday, May 01, 2010
My Hipstamatic Life
My favorite iPhone App is called Hipstamatic. "Digital photography never looked so analog." This amazing app replicates the look and feel of those plastic cameras I remember from my childhood. The shots have an unpredictable beauty, because there are a variety of film types, lenses and flashes available. If you shake the camera while shooting, you can get a random combination for even more of a surprise. And it only costs $1.99. Crazy. Beautiful.
A year or two ago, my friend Jess took pictures of Madeline and me, and I really wanted to do just what hipstamatic does. So I took some of those crisp, perfect pictures into photoshop and desaturated them, blurred parts, created lens flares, cropped them to square, and even added the white border with the retro style date... Well, hipstamatic does all that for me. I obviously wasn't the only one with the idea, and I'm glad someone with the know-how created this application.
These are a few of my favorite shots so far. But I've only had the app for 2 days. Want to see more? Keep checking back here.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
My Artist's Statement for Chez Jude
Inspiration for my paintings comes from everything I've experienced and everything that surrounds me. These paintings are stops along my way. The natural beauty that surrounds us here on the North Shore blends with my memories and then spills out onto the canvas.
I've always lived near water. Fish represent the life beneath the surface. Certainly the surface of the lake, but also the surface of ourselves. These colors run deep in me, and when they surface, they tend to bring with them memories of places I have been and people I have loved. And unlike fish, the trees are rooted and stable.
I've always lived near water. Fish represent the life beneath the surface. Certainly the surface of the lake, but also the surface of ourselves. These colors run deep in me, and when they surface, they tend to bring with them memories of places I have been and people I have loved. And unlike fish, the trees are rooted and stable.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 08, 2010
First attempt at a spec poster
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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