Painting on Paper

Here are two recent paintings that I have made in the new studio; 'Egyptian Summer' on the left and 'National Flags' on the right. As you can see from the size of the paint jars, the scale is small. But when I am working on them they seem as big as office buildings.

There is something wonderful about applying paint to paper. There is a sense that the surface is textured but not too much. There is a very slight drag on the brush. It feels so right that the brush 'wants' to apply the paint. Primed cotton or linen canvas, by comparison, is like coarse sandpaper.

I like to work standing at a very tall plywood table that I built for this purpose. And this may startle some, but my preferred light level is direct sunlight on the paper. The colors are bursting with life. It's like having the volume turned up very high on your stereo.

And some details:

Detail: 'Egyptian Summer'

Detail: 'National Flags'

An earlier picture that my wife likes the best is 'Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Silence.' Bonhoeffer was studying in NYC at Union Seminary when the war started. Against every expectation, he immediately returned to Germany where he felt he could be of the greatest help to his people. The Nazis hanged him two weeks before his camp was liberated by the Allies.

'Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Silence,' 2010, Acrylic paint on Arches paper.

This one has a somewhat happier subject:

'Striped Bass'

In any case, my goal is to capture the feeling of an entire life, geographical area, aspect of nature - what ever the subject is - in a handful of colors that communicate with each other.

'Partition '47'