7th Finger

9×11 in. mixed media.
Not a bad place to be stuck, doing my orange/finger/cloud/soda series…so I present my official 7th in a series. Finding inspiration can be elusive, however I have been taking loads of pictures…nature, sunsets, trees, angles in buildings and building frames for finished pieces. But my several new illustration boards cut and ready to go remain stark white…or are they winter’s last white out on the plains
We all go thru periods and I am having one now, but I blame myself. You see when i started doing art again several years ago I told myself i will finish each piece prior to starting another (I might have fudged once or twice) and I have managed to stay this course…so far. I believe my works are fresher for it and it allows me to bounce around with my ideas, which i enjoy.
At this point I am looking for my oranges, and not to eat, can you say 8th finger……..

6th Finger

9×11 in. mixed media.
Been kinda of on a dry spell lately, so I went to my fall back…chasing the best finger/orange/soda piece. As some of you will remember I finished this out and shortly after my creativity returns…and I start putting pieces out again. I did try drawing some thoughts on paper, but nothing seemed to jell or seem worth going after. So here I am with another finger piece…if this works, things will be back to normal/creative productivity. Yes that is popcorn on top of the soda can…what you have never try it?

Wave @ Larry, Jane

15×20 in. mixed media on illustration board

This is the second time I have used these forms in an airy above earth type abstract. Each time I feel like doing something else below the form but as I spend time with it…it is just right the way it is. The titles speak to my family roots or at least plays with those roots…as i am sure those that know us will smile. I tried to make the clouds more abstract and at least one over the shoulder critic pointed out the clouds don’t have holes in them…well mine do A couple of people have pointed out these shapes are like kites, I see that, but honestly I wasn’t going for that…but for the viewer art can be about what you see and what amuses you…the mind is a free space after all. Now maybe if I add a bowler hat and a green apple, hmmmmm…nah too corny
Oh, for those just finding me you might try looking at my earlier posts, my style is abstract but as you will see I bounce around as to the type of stuff I do…just a suggestion,thks.

3rd Shift, Harvesting My Own

16×20 in. mixed media on illustration board.
Sometimes I think why not use a straight-edge when doing these pieces that have long straight lines…but then they would lack the character and personal touch I enjoy in my lines. Plus from time to time a nice accident will happen such as the shard on the bottom of the reddish rectangle…the original didn’t reflect my continuing the off-centered yellowish rectangle’s line thru it. After that,I tapered several lines for balance. As for the colors, well the darker blues started as paint samples from Lowes, and the name of the color “night shift.” That got me to thinking, I always enjoyed working 3rd shift, and some of my best ideas came during those hours…so now you know. Also short of a soda can and clouds this is a version of the finger series believe it or not.

Shields

10×12 in. mixed media. Sometimes taking a simple shape and using it over and over can produce interesting results if you let your mind enjoy it. In my ink and marker period repeating a shape, and in this case a shield outline, over and over lead me towards a design. Using my full pallet of colors squares began to show up. Then once they took over I stayed with them around the edges. These generally are works that I become so involved with to smallest detail, time seems to stand still and before I know it the sun is peaking in the window and 12 hours have gone by. These are the times when I know I enjoy what I am doing…there are other things in life just as important to enjoy, but it is rewarding to know that making art is one of them.

Yes I Know How To Spell Aluminum

20×24 in. mixed media. I be done! I’ve noticed the larger I work the longer I take to call a piece done, I mean much longer…not sure I could paint a wall. This piece was started in 1975 for my Senior Show at Ottawa University, now I can use it as a true SENIOR PIECE. I remember having a theme with education in mind, but for the life of me can’t remember what else I was going to do with it back then…what is the saying, I have slept a few times since then. What I have ended up with is a fun piece with interesting elements and good techiques. No real deep meaning or hidden message, just colorful abstract art…by the way the shadow people to the right were inspired by yearbook pictures…and yes my floating head is deep in thought and not about getting a Dr. Pepper.
PS the word was going to be ALUMNI

Working towards finish

Well a lot added since I showed last…at this point I am letting the piece simmer a bit and see how it feels in the next couple of days. I am really enjoying the thought process (pun intended
Stay tuned….later WOW 101 posts, been doing this longer than I thought, time zips by when you are enjoying yourself.

Work in process 2

Got some great feedback both online and in person. As you can see I have made some changes, I am feeling better about it…still not there I have to pull the slack in yet and do some more fine tuning…but it’s close.

Work in process

20×24 in. mixed media. Don’t usually do this but people have asked before and I am at a stall with this piece, for the moment. Education is a big part of the theme, in case no one noticed Just airing this out for general impression or feedback…maybe a light will come on and I will finish before the next post.

North Fork 10 A.B.

12×20 in. mixed media. With the increase of wildfires we are lucky that Mother Nature still has the ability to come back after these events. To come thru these same areas several years later is to but marvel at Mother Nature’s skills to heal and regrow. Even with this amazing transformation closer examination shows the scars still left, showing to all what happened here. This piece kind of feels like a forest area attempting to heal itself yet still dealing with the past events. The colors show hope for a bright future yet some colors also show the deadly past this forest area has dealt with. Kind of like some of humanities history any place in the world…sad yet hopeful for a better future. As for a clue to the title try 1988 Yellowstone area.

What Was Your First Clue

20×20 in. mixed media.
Lately I have been going thru some of my unfinished and forgotten projects from many a year ago. So for your viewing pleasure a piece that has taking me 40 years to complete. This piece was one started in college and was going to be a colorful sunset type thing, or maybe bright trees. At any rate I started seeing this endless range of clouds and vast depth in a strange landscape and kind of went with that. Seems so clear now not sure why I couldn’t have seen that back then. As for the title, being a Kansas boy I thought about a saying that is old hat…”We aren’t in Kansas anymore Toto!” I believe the picture speaks to that fairly well, don’t you?

Tiger Posing at Ottawa University

9×12 in. mixed media. Drawing class could become quite boring despite Tigers, nude models, expensive silk hangings, and good 1970′s rock n’ roll…Professor Pal Wright tried to make it interesting tho. But once when I started cutting out my drawings and placing colorful backgrounds to them or mixing different papers into the piece, drawing class became exciting again. This piece had quite a bit of graphite on it, just no lines since they were cut out. Soaked the cut yellow piece of thick paper in I believe acrylic or polyurethane, then quickly started positioning it on the slick bright red stock, not easy since the yellow paper was one piece and with all of the cut outs hard to position…note winkles I couldn’t get out. Once dry I had at the surface with a graphite stick then started playing with it using an eraser. Note the long hair, it was the 70′s man, mine was almost as long…for a little bit, but thats another story. By the way no live animals were used, just big honking silk sheets with beautiful prints. Hope you don’t mind the reflective photo, I love the way it works on the piece.

Dermatological Wonder At 6 Fathoms

9×12 in. mixed media.  Let me start by saying thank you to everyone, I have hit a milestone I never imagined I would get to…1000 followers!!!!!! … I reached that early today, it is very humbling and at the same time extremely uplifting . THANK YOU ALL

The long winded titled piece was done like some of my bubble tree series, without the trees. I had a preconceived idea about goosebumps…thus the title. It has a different feel than the others like it…but I can sense being in the water for sure. Not many have seen this piece so I will let you guys and gals tell me what you think.

4 Square Rural

9×12 in mixed media. As simple as this piece seems to be, it was fairly complex in execution. Lost track of the layers but beneath each square of color I started out very vivid and bright. I really love how the textures allowed some of the full richness of the under lying colors to show. I did have to knock down some of the peaks though to get a more uniformed look. The full body white lines in some areas show well too. Unfortunately this piece can only get full appreciation in person, as the photo can’t capture the subtle tones. This was a follow-up to “Neutrons and Fertilizer,” only taking the tones the opposite direction in values.It kind of gives a wintery feel, although I have seen colors this muted from above when you get a lot of sun reflection in spring time. You have to work at seeing the signature as I didn’t want to disrupt the feel of the piece, lower right hand corner.

Neutrons and Fertilizer

9×12 in. mixed media. Title speaks for the work, right? Layered process like my earlier works, 6-8 deep, lots of texture. This is a similar process that was used to make 5 Finger Blues. Title took awhile to hit me, but once I started to think along those lines the name stuck. Inspiration? Ever been up 10,000 ft. while flying over Kansas farm land in late spring? Different crops some fairing better than others…hmmm seems like we have some crop circles.

By the way Cookeville Artprowl 2012 went well…will show a few pictures from it soon.

The 5th Finger

8.5×11 in. mixed media. It would be nice to have one of the big art supplier’s stores near me so I don’t have to wait for ground shipments. That is the offset of being able to get on-line and get stuff you need but the wait can be frustrating…unless you are one of the 1-%ers that have disposable income to fuel the shipping giant UPS.
Well at least with this idle time I did create another in the series of finger works. Question: if we have ten fingers, then once I reach the 10th piece, do I keep going? or do I start on toes? This piece was going to be just a simple drawing, but I couldn’t resist…had to stretch myself and add color. Got a real nice surface texture going by spraying acrylic finish from a distance, the surface took colored pencil and crayon like sandpaper but not as harsh. So waiting for supplies isn’t a total waste …
PS…GET OUT AND VOTE

Window Treatments By Knieling

9×12 in. mixed media. Until after the 2012 Cookeville Art Prowl this will be my last post. This annual showing for area artists is something I have been going to or volunteering for many years…this will be my first time being one of the featured artist. Should be fun as I am sharing an area with my son Matt Knieling and his art. Please check out their site, and if you find yourself in the area stop by and say HI!
As for this post’s piece…another exploration work, mainly due to using the plastic netting…I could have lived with this before adding the netting, however after it is so much more than it was before…I love the highlights and the shades achieved…for sure a piece best seen in person and up close.

The Primrose Path Ahead

9×12 in. mixed media. The tissue paper is almost not existent in this piece, but believe me the bold pink paper is there under several layers of work. Did quite a bit of sanding and carving through the surface of this piece. I let the finial few layers fill the gouges with their color as the under layers didn’t pop as much as I would like. Might not show very well in the pic but I have a fair amount of fine white and black lines near the surface. The theme in this carries forward my use of circles and angles quite well and with the mix of mat board pieces the texturing is very nice. The title? It is leading towards something and red might be warning as well as orange, where green is off the path…so use caution when stepping down the yellow path laid out…works for me…what do you think?

Lost Finding Olympic Hop-Scotch

9×12 in. mixed media. Been working on and off on this one since the last very days of the London Olympics. Should have taking pictures of this as I was going along, I believe it changed at least a dozen times before I could keep my hands  off it. Biggest issue was putting names of rail stations in, or not. It is what I envisioned in my head, names and letters, but I never could make it look the way I wanted. So then the challenge became making it work for my eye without. This is another piece that is better appreciated in person, for the coloring and details and texture. By the way Rio has some large shoes to fill, really enjoyed the opening and closing ceremories…plus track and field felt importance again…Mr. Bond and Mr. Bolt, thank you.

What’s On Your Desk?

9×12 in. mixed media. The closest thing to a still life I have done since Shawnee Heights H.S. days and Mr. Miller. This is one of those pieces I do from time to time to recharge my creative juices, plus it keeps me productive. Fun to do the different shapes that adorn my desktop…note the pencil scribbles i put on the blotter, too much white had to do something. My current blotter is covered with ideas for names, web sites, spellings, simple sketches, and blots of color…maybe when i get ready to change it out i should frame it, might be interesting years from now.