Timouth's Blog

Thanks Joan!

2012-01-18T14:14:00.000-08:00

12" x 12", Acrylic on Canvas

Joan gave me a mention in her blog, North Shore Art Scene this week.

Visit her blog at: http://northshoreartscene.com/

Pink Sky

2012-01-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's A Fish! 45.5" x 45.5"

2012-01-16T09:50:00.001-08:00

See Details below...

I've been showing these images to my friends, and reactions have been mixed. I think that's great. One friend told me she's up in the air about this series of paintings, and I said "so are the fish." I like doing them, and I think they'd be very entertaining in a restaurant setting. You could count fish while you wait for your dinner.

More than ten years ago, I painted a map of Lake Superior on a restaurant wall. Whenever I go in there, I see people staring at it, and it makes me feel good.

I've often wondered if there was a way to get people to look at a painting longer than a few seconds. I do it, too. A lot of times, I only give art a quick glance. But I love it when something stops me in my tracks for longer than that. It may be something poignant, or whimsical. It may be something as simple as a color or a brush stroke. I never know what will appeal to another person. Nothing appeals to everyone. I've found that trying to paint something that "people will like" is a losing proposition. I've tried to express someone else's vision for a painting before, and the results have been ugly. Both in the image and in the frustration of it all. I have to paint for me. If something is meaningful to me, perhaps it will strike a chord in someone else. Maybe you'll love this. Maybe you'll hate it. I'm happy with that.

Down in the Amazonian Flood Plain Forests, there are over a thousand species of trees that have adapted to freshwater flooding for up to 9 months out of the year.

During the high water phase, the water will rise up to 30 or 40 feet above the forest floor, and fish are able to feed on seeds from fruit bearing trees.

Two Things: 30" x 22"

2012-01-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

1. Back when I had a little coffee shop/art gallery housed in a vintage railway caboose (there was a goldfish pond out back), I had a dream one night where I walked into the caboose, and saw a fish swimming behind the cash register. That image has stuck with me, and I'm fascinated by the thought of fish swimming behind objects in the air.

2. I was hanging a show in a beautiful little cafe one night. There was a couple there taking down their photographs of northern lights. The woman said to me "Don't you ever get tired of painting fish?" I was puzzled. I had abstracts, paintings of trees, fish, dogs... and EVERY one of their pictures was of northern lights over trees.

No, I don't get tired of painting trees or fish. When I do, I'll stop.

It occurs to me that putting these fish in the forest air is similar to, or opposite of (which is it?) the time I put all those corgis under the water...

Pickerel 18" x 14.5"

2012-01-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

One advantage to going to school online is that I can paint while I listen to a lecture. That's what I did this morning. I had started this yesterday, and then had to put it aside. So as I listened to a lesson on IV therapy, I dabbed more color into the image. Some of the dots of color turned into fish. At the end of the lecture, this is what I was looking at.

Near my grandparents' house in Rhode Island, there was a little creek that ran under the road, on a hill that we would coast down on our bikes. Peering into the water as a little kid, I saw a fish peeking out from under a rock. My cousin said it was a pickerel. But it was tiny. Not like the giant Northern Pike and Muskellunge that live in the lakes up here. Anyway, they seem rather interested in that little sunfish.

Transformed

2012-01-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

A month or two ago, I did an artist talk and painting demonstration at a gallery. It was really a wonderful experience for me. There was a rather large audience, and they were very attentive and asked a lot of questions. Having that input really helped me to better understand my own process. For years, I have mostly painted alone, or with fellow artists who were also absorbed in their own individual process. What a decadent treat to have so many eyes focused on my creative process!

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my daughter recorded a short clip of my talk on her phone. Watching it, it dawned on me that I had never seen myself paint before. From the outside, I mean. I watched that clip over and over, and for that minute and a half, I was able to be an objective viewer, detached from the process.

Today I had the opportunity to paint for two people, and in that more intimate setting, the demonstration was far more conversational and focused.

When asked a question, one has the chance to verbalize a response, and it causes you to consider something about yourself that is subconscious or simply taken for granted.

I hadn't really noticed that I use and reuse paper plates as my palate, and that in the process, a quintessentially disposable item is transformed into an impermeable surface.

The simplest acts can be spiritual lessons.

During the process of layering paint on a canvas, stages of beautiful "accidents" occur, only to be painted over as the image progresses. I was asked how I deal with that, and I compared painting to breathing. When we breathe, we oxygenate our blood so we can keep on living. In order to go on, one breath, no matter how fresh or fragrant, must end in order for the next life-giving cycle to begin. Every sentence you read here must have a period at the end so we can move on to the next thought. "It's about letting go," I said, admitting that this was a grandiose answer to the question. But it resonated with her, I could tell by her tears, and because later she told me so. Besides. Nothing is lost or "obliterated," but built upon and/or transformed.

On a larger scale, this applies to our very lives. Why fear the inevitable? Death makes life itself precious. Now there's a grandiose answer to a simple question about brushstrokes.

Madeline

2012-01-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

14 1/2" x 18", Acrylic on Wood

key

45" x 45", Acrylic on wood

2012-01-07T14:32:00.001-08:00

Getting ready for my Coho show. May, June and July!

Telepictionary Augmentation

2011-12-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

When my family gets together, we like to play a game called Telepictionary. I don't remember who drew these original sketches, or who came up with the captions, but whoever they were, their last name is Young. I wish I could see them this Christmas.

More trees in Acrylic

2011-12-10T19:29:00.001-08:00

Trees

2011-12-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

45.5" x 45.5", Acrylic on wood

18" x 28", Acrylic on wood

A Quick Painting

2011-11-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

I am so lucky to live in a place with some magic left in it. Some wilderness... Some mystery. When I get a chance, I have some favorite spots I like to visit. Places that feel like descriptions in fairy tales. When I first visited the North Shore, I lived and worked in an industrial area near Detroit, where I had attended Art School. I landed in Thunder Bay at night, so I didn't get to see where I was until morning.

Before my job interview, I took a hike up Cascade River. It was September. I said to myself, "I don't care what the job is like, this is where I want to be."

That was about 25 years ago, and I'm still here. And I'm still enchanted, living near the border of faerie land.

Demonstration at Last Chance Gallery Today

2011-11-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

Studio Apartment For Rent

2011-11-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

2011-09-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Purple Sky. 48" tall, acrylic on wood, 2011

Gunflint Trail, White Sky

2011-08-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

42" x 48" 2011, Acrylic on wood.

No longer a white sky...

At Chez Jude, Grand Marais, MN

2011-08-25T14:28:00.000-07:00

Pines, 42" x 48", Acrylic on Wood

2011-08-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

Leaf season is coming!

Goldfish Pond

2011-08-12T05:58:00.001-07:00

89" x 18" Acrylic on Wood, 2005.
Today I'm taking this painting to Chez Jude in Grand Marais. It has hung in my house for the past six years.

Forest Impression

2011-07-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

A couple more tree paintings in progress

2011-07-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on wood

24 x 37

2 @ 17.5 x 26

Sophie the Boxer

2011-07-16T15:48:00.001-07:00

24 x 30, Acrylic on Wood

Detail

Left Eye Detail

Right Eye Detail

Gunflint Pines: 18 x 25, Acrylic on Wood

2011-07-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

Next Month at the Art Colony

2011-03-10T08:28:00.001-08:00

What’s So Special About the North Shore?
Biophilia: Sacred Inner and Outer Landscapes Exhibit

www.grandmaraisartcolony.org

What’s so special about the North Shore? More than 60 local and regional artists will examine how these rocky shores and glistening lakes nurture their souls in an upcoming spring theme exhibit at the Grand Marais Art Colony, April 10 – 24. Entitled Biophilia: Sacred Inner and Outer Landscapes, the exhibit captures why the North Shore is a powerful landscape.

“We are excited to see how the artists communicate the deep sense of place we experience on the North Shore because we ponder these questions ourselves,” said Amy Demmer, executive director of the Grand Marais Art Colony and co-curator of the exhibit. The North Shore is home to a higher percentage of artists than most rural areas and every year a large number of visitors come here to soak in the visually inspiring terrain.

Minnesota naturalist and author Sigurd Olsen also mused on this subject. He wrote, “We all carry restlessness within us, an impatience with things as they are, which modern life with its comforts and distractions does not seem to satisfy.” So we search for what he called “the singing wilderness” to satisfy “the hunger that all of us have for a time when we were closer to lakes and rivers, to mountains and meadows and forests, than we are today.”

Perhaps this is why so many are drawn to the rugged landscape of the North Shore; it allows us to connect with something greater and more meaningful. However, capturing that essence enters into the artist’s realm where they can explore the intersection between the geographical environment and their inner spirituality, developing a sense of place for both the artist and the audience.

Each participating artist will work in their media of choice – paintings, photography, mosaics, sculpture, beadwork, ceramics, collage, and fiber, to name a few. The exhibit is curated by the Grand Marais Art Colony and Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church, an unusual annual collaboration dedicated to using art to express the intangible.

The opening reception is at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 10 and will include a performance by award-winning poet and essayist Gary Holthaus and internationally acclaimed musician Lauren Pelon called: “The Story of Music, Stories from Home.” According to Pelon, “the music and readings offer unique perceptions of the natural world, and celebrate our sense of place, community and home.” They received an Arts Tour grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to perform their renowned program for free at the exhibit opening. “We wanted to give the audience an opportunity to experience the theme through all their senses,” said co-curator Rev. Mary Ellen Ashcroft, Vicar of Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church.

The Grand Marais Art Colony is Minnesota’s oldest Art Colony and is dedicated to providing services to artists, offering art education and nurturing creativity on the North Shore. The exhibit and performance are free and open to the public and located at 120 West 3rd Avenue in Grand Marais, Minn. For more information, call 218-387-2737 or see www.grandmaraisartcolony.org.

Lauren Pelon is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of an Arts Tour Minnesota grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Some new Tree canvases

2010-12-06T16:37:00.000-08:00

New at Betsy Bowen Studio

2010-12-02T11:22:00.001-08:00

42" x 48" Acrylic on Wood

New Work at Chez Jude 11/10

2010-11-27T09:14:00.001-08:00

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!

24" x 30" Acrylic on Wood

2010-11-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

Pines: 24" x 48", Acrylic on Wood

2010-11-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

New at Last Chance Gallery

2010-11-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

Pines, 24" x 30" Acrylic on Wood

Reflecting Light: Acrylic on wood. 42"x48" 2010

2010-11-18T15:16:00.001-08:00

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.

Drive Thru TV

2010-11-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

Artwork by Tim Young, Design by Madesyn Kimball Drive Thru TV

2010-09-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

2010-09-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

In Progress...

2010-09-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on wood... 2 panels, each 34" x 47"

New at Chez Jude

2010-09-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Gunflint Pines. 42" x 48". Acrylic.

revisiting some old paintings

2010-08-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

My Yellow Bike

2010-08-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

2010-05-19T17:23:00.001-07:00

My Hipstamatic Life

2010-05-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

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.

My Artist's Statement for Chez Jude

2010-04-28T14:09:00.001-07:00

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.

Starving Artist Sale

2010-04-25T12:37:00.001-07:00

Thank you to everyone that came out to the Java Moose today!

Art at Chez Jude in Grand Marais, MN

2010-04-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

WDSE TV Channel 8, Duluth, MN

2010-04-19T18:16:00.001-07:00

From the North Shore Highway 61 Paper: April, 2010

2010-04-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

First attempt at a spec poster

2010-04-08T12:18:00.001-07:00

These are not necessarily the bands that will be playing. They're just there for the sake of working with the design at this point.

Show of New Paintings at Coho Cafe through May

2010-04-03T11:16:00.001-07:00

Coho Cafe, Tofte, MN

2010-03-28T09:15:00.001-07:00

Impression at Lantern Waste

2010-03-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

11" x 14", acrylic on canvas, 2010

2010-03-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.grandmaraisartcolony.org

Here's another way to get to the car video

2010-02-27T15:54:00.001-08:00

A quick video of my car

2010-02-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

Click Here to see a short video of my 1966 Fury II wagon. Bidding ends on this car tomorrow morning (Sunday, February 28 at around 9:00 am central time). This video is just to show the car running, blinkers, flashers, headlights (low and high beam), the emergency brake light, radio... I forgot to honk the horn. It works and is LOUD. Sorry the filming isn't good. I had no one to film for me, and I was afraid my camera batteries were going to die. Anyway, I hope this helps.

Getting requests for pictures...

2010-02-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

2010-02-25T15:09:00.000-08:00

2010-02-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

Magnets

4 copies of 1966 Plymouth Wagons Showroom Brochure, 1966 Plymouth Fury Showroom Brochure, Full Line for 1966 Plymouth Showroom Brochure and more

More Literature to go with the car

2010-02-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

Chrysler Buyer's Guide

1966 Plymouth Service Manual, Volumes 1 and 2

Standard Catalog of Chrysler 1924-1990

Click on image for a larger view

2010-02-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

2010-02-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

Undercarriage

2010-02-23T20:33:00.000-08:00

Siberian Husky Puppy

2010-02-22T11:22:00.000-08:00

I've made this block print available on ebay for the next month. Click Here

2010-02-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

2010-02-01T19:23:00.001-08:00

Two Herring with Roses. 11 x 14, Acrylic on Canvas.

Herring with Lake Superior Stones. 8 x 10, Acrylic on Canvas.

Fish Plates

2010-01-30T19:21:00.001-08:00

Abstract acrylic paintings on Canvas

2010-01-30T19:17:00.000-08:00

Be

Dream

Believe

Thanks Joan!

2009-08-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

North Shore Art Scene

Joan Farnam gave an update in her blog this week: Tim Young and Anne Cervanka’s exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post is open through Sept. 6 and is a must see, both for those who will see it for the first time and returnees. Young has been selling lots of paintings from this show and replacing them with new work. “The show is quite different from when it was first hung,” Young said earlier this week. Among the new pieces, his painting of the Gunflint Pines. A visit to the Heritage Post to see this fun show again is well worth it.

Wagons

2009-08-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

My two station wagons are 40 years apart in age.

A 1966 Plymouth Fury II and a 2006 AWD Dodge Magnum R/T (Hemi)

Clown Dog

2009-07-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

2009-07-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

A Stand Of Pines

New Yorkies

2009-07-06T20:26:00.001-07:00

These "New Yorkies" have just driven past the Chrysler Building in their 1962 Chrysler New Yorker.

Corgis Over Grand Marais

2009-07-06T20:21:00.001-07:00

Maybe it's because of their short legs. Corgis like to get as much height as they can. It's not uncommon to see them buzzing the other dogs on the beach in their float planes.

www.northshoreartscene.com

2009-06-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

And last, but not least, Corgi worlds.

Painter Tim Young is developing a series of fantastical paintings about Corgis, a Welsh herding dog. Young is sharing many of his latest paintings on his Facebook page, but you can find them all in their high-definition glory on his blog.

Corgis Below the Surface
Tim’s tongue-in-cheek explanation for “Corgis-Below-the-Surface” –

“July of every year, packs of corgis mysteriously appear below the surface of the Grand Marais Harbor. They swim and dance below the waves like fat otters. Fat, slow otters. Fat, slow otters without tails or webbed feet. OK, not much like otters at all. But they seem to enjoy it.”

Detail "Corgis Below the Surface"

Detail: Corgis below the surface
Here’s another in the Corgi series. He calls it “Corgis in Grand Marais.”

Tim: “Those crazy Corgis. They come up north in their gas-guzzling station wagons and take all the best parking spots. They’re cute though.”

Detail: Corgis in Grand Marais

Detail: Corgis in Grand Marais
Young has a show coming up at the Johnson Heritage Post at the end of July but hasn’t decided yet if he’ll include these paintings or not.

His “regular” work can be seen at the Angry Trout and the Last Chance Gallery in Lutsen.

Gifts of the Corgis

2009-06-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

Corgis Below Surface

2009-06-25T11:02:00.001-07:00

Corgis in Grand Marais

2009-06-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

2009 Grand Marais Grand Car show, Artist's Point

2009-06-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from this year's car show. Last year I was so bummed out because although I knew I was getting my station wagon, I didn't get it until a week after the 2008 show.

Catch The Waves Membership Drive

2009-06-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

WTIP asked me to create an image based on last year's Radio Waves Music Festival artwork, for the membership drive coming up next week. Here it is. It's always fun to work with WTIP, whether on the air or behind the scenes!

http://www.wtip.org

An Outrage!

2009-06-04T07:19:00.001-07:00

Look what the TV show CHiPs did to this 1965 Plymouth Fury wagon! And as if that wasn't bad enough...

It's a disgrace! What is it I feel... FURY!

Apartment

2009-05-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken before the apartment was finished...

Totems

2009-05-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

A New Sam Phillips Song Today!

2009-05-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

Timouth's Easter Tour of Grand Marais

2009-04-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

At Home.

Sven & Ole's Pizza, Grand Marais, MN

Superior Design Jewelry and Stephan Hoglund Photography, Grand Marais, MN

Superior Coastal Sports and Neptune's Cyber Cafe, Grand Marais, MN

Joynes Ben Franklin Department Store, Grand Marais, MN

1966 Plymouth Fury II Station Wagon

Snowstorm last night

2009-04-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

I liked the way the snow looked in the light of my motion sensor light.

2009-03-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

Monday Night

2009-03-30T16:17:00.001-07:00

More Progress. Monday Morning

2009-03-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

The work continues! We're trying to get the cabinets installed before the snowstorm that threatens later today and tomorrow.

progress in the kitchen/before and after

2009-03-29T16:23:00.001-07:00

Yet to be installed: Doors and drawers, Upper cabinets, refrigerator box, panels on dishwasher and fridge, desk, backsplash, trim... and more. Then it's time to start on the bathroom!

My New Grand-Doggie, Bruno

2009-03-27T19:18:00.001-07:00

Heather and Justin came home this weekend with their new border collie, Bruno.

New Kitchen Floor Going In

2009-03-27T19:15:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow we plan to finish the floor and bring in the cabinets, which hopefully will be installed on Sunday.

See my posts from June 2007

2009-03-24T15:45:00.001-07:00

Oak Cabinets

2009-03-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

I'm excited and anxious to get my new cabinets installed in my dining room, kitchen and bathroom!

Another White Pine painting

2009-03-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ice Storm

2009-03-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

I took this picture on my way into the hotel last night. The tree looked magical with a flood light behind it. Everything was encased in clear ice.

Ice Storm: Last Night/This Morning

2009-03-24T14:44:00.001-07:00

carpet/fabric design

2009-03-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

Sliding Liberia

2009-03-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sliding Liberia (trailer)

2009-03-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Coho Show

2009-03-01T17:15:00.000-08:00

I hung about 30 paintings at the Coho cafe in Tofte today.

White Pines, White Sky

2009-02-23T11:43:00.000-08:00

Acrylic on Wood

Goldfish Pond: Acrylic on wood

2009-02-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

"Fat Cow": Acrylic on wood

2009-02-23T11:39:00.000-08:00