Art, Nature & Soul #43

Mini-Me’s~Are a more raw & direct approach to my painting. Most certainly completed in one sitting, they assert & express, my more intuitive & free associative natures. These are the pieces I most experiment with, pushing the color combos, textures & general approach, with a matter-of-fact intent …Alla-Prima.

Playing in the paint, immersed in the color, & bathing in the light, my tools are ready to translate the world around me. I had in the past been working on various size canvas/panels for these smaller artworks, but this year I’ve decided to stick to the 12'“ square panel format, as I had a great carrier created for traveling with them. Initially intended for my Plein air works, it also works as a perfect drying rack. Working mostly from my own photo references, life, imagination & plein air work, over this past year, as the pandemic has limited my abiltity to travel and get new references. Recently, I have on occassion also incorperated, when inspired, Facebook friends & family, photos, as references for these studies. Usually a big no-no for me, as I have always worked from & used my own experiences & references in previous years. Now, though, inspiration is sweet inspiration, besides I’m not a literal interpreter of the more realistic.

My aresenol of supplies & tools, are an expanded palette, of color, color & more color. Having learned the limited palette of Rembrandt near 3 decades ago and knowing how to expand the color variety within that limit of, Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre & Venetian Red, I now challenge myself to create, blend, layer & mix new colors, to push the palette to a sublte extreme. As stated I’m using panel, ‘Richeson 12”x12” gessoed hardboard to paint on, for the most part. Then a variety of brushes, palette knives, scratching tools, sculpting tools, make-up applicators, kleenex, my fingers, medium & finishing varnish.

These artworks can be framed or placed on an easel, as they are. They are small, so they are easy and inexpensive to ship. Whether a collector, or new to the scene, they’re a great way to expand or start an art collection.

As always, feel free to comment or contact me if interested in acquiring a ‘SPERRY’ original.

Thank you

Richard Sperry

Art, Nature & Soul #42

My Muse~Beginning about 10 years ago, my daily routine included a 5-10 minute, morning quick sketch. A doodle or drawing of a facebook friend, from some photo they’d posted. It was usually a person or animal, that would catch my attention. The idea was to force me to see, apply an automatic drawing sensibility, to how I saw and put it down on paper without over thinking it. It was great fun and the results were an enlightening excersize. Sometimes their natural state of beauty & vulnerablility, being of both a physical & emotional presence, captures my attention & imagination. Such is the case with Nathan, which began with a simple gesture, a line sketch of his face, that exudes an uncanny depth of character & soulfulness, you know “je ne sais quoi”.

After contacting Nathan and getting his permission to continue drawing him, I found a beautiful person & compelling subject in him, and so I began painting him as well. What intrigues us, compells us to create. Faces are always of great interest and intrigue to me. They have the possibility to speak volumes in a single look. The soulfull eyes of a free spirit penetrate all, in their gaze. A unique nose has always fascinated me, as well…Personality, with a fearless zest for life, he wears every piercing, gage, tattoo and line in his face as a triumphant and well earned, battle scare of sorts, in some unwritten tribal & communal right of passage. For all those who take the road less traveled, he seems to say, “this way, I’ll leave a trail.”

From simple line drawings in pencil and pen & ink to portrait studies in acrylic and oil, my muse captured my imagination. So, we’d work a pose as I began to paint full figures, as well, some in real space and others in imagined. At one point I painted him more realistic, but in an abstract space, in oil, then still another, and finally merging him in one more piece, more recently, a comtemporary abstract realist painting, a mixed media, all with my signature mark of 18k gold. Drawing and painting someone, over and over again, is really a quite intimate affair, whether admitted or not. It reveals as much about the artist as the subject, again reuntiting my inner rebel & my former youth. What I have realised most, is that I have a unique & ever distinct way of seeing, one that goes back to middle school, of my first recollection. It seems, more than a likeness, but a way of capturing the essence & energy, of the true spirit of that person of interest. It’s with much gratitude, to all those who serve as inspiration and models for my imagination that I say thank you, with special recognition & appreciation for having served for many, many years as my muse, Nathan…one of the beautiful people.

As always, feel free to comment & ask questions,

~Richard

Nathan

Art, Nature & Soul #33

More important than trying to copy the world around us, is how we see, then how its expressed and conveyed in our non rep and representational forms in our artwork.

Earlier this past fall 2019, out walking one morning, I noticed the first light hitting just the top of this Maple Tree, some 15+ years ago, I noticed that this is where the color changes first happen on the leaves. It was at the point where the leaves where glowing that yellow, orange, red, punch color…or a glowing Ranier Cherry one. It occured to me to paint one version as an abstract and another as a representational interpretation. How we build up the details, or take them away will determine the translation between more design orientated and realistic paintings.

For as long as I can remember I’ve drawn as well as painted both abstract and more realistic images, seperately, then have merged them into mixed singular concept. A great many, dare I say, most people like more representational art. It’s easy to relate to, identify with and put your self into it. I get that, that said, many, many peope ask me about abstract artwork, because they don’t get it. Over the years I’ve found the most simple way to explain it and show it. For the most part, abstract work is about breaking down the design elements of what we see and the more realistic is building up those elements & the details to various degrees. Then I’ll show them, by creating a square or rectangle window, using it as a viewfinder and placing it over a section of a representational artwork. In picking a more interesting area of a painting, showing that all the same design elements apply, thus creating an abstract.

In these studies, these paintings, I specifically set forth or average the amount of detail in both, approximating them at a similar level. Neither is to broken down or built up, in detail too much, as to mis the point. Sometimes I paint on location, other times from photos, still others from my imagination. In this case all 3 apply. I began with a toned canvas, decided on a more high key lit color and went to work. Here’s the results. For the abstract translation, I painted just the upper section of the tree against the sky and for the more representaional one, the whole tree, & treeline against the sky, keeping both on the subtle line of impressionism. Here are the results.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions.

~Richard

Fall Maple Translation 1 & 2, 18”x18” each oil on canvas

Art, Nature & Soul #17

What is ART? More importantly who decides. Are the answers based on academics or emotive ones, is it because it's realistic or non-objective, does the fact that a painting was done in oil rather than acrylic have any weight, or perhaps it's the fact  that it was painted 'en plein air', instead of in a studio, gains us some insight.

Whether, it's highbrow/middlebrow/lowbrow, who cares. Van Gogh, Monet, Vermeer and El Greco are several visual artists, who had gone, rejected or un-recognised in their own lifetimes, someteimes both. So many others were discovered and advocated for, by persons of influence and decisiveness, within their lives, such is the case with Jackson Pollock. Personally, I know of at least three instances of persons being summoned to the court of high success. What they all had in common was the abitlity to put themselves out there, at all costs, until they gained an audience with that person or persons of influence, sometimes by happy accident. Once this happens, your in, it's art, for many this happens posthumously,  their efforts go un-recognised until some future date and sometimes never.

 What can be known for sure, is that being an artist of any sort is an uphill battle all the way. It takes an unbridled passion, discipline and fortitude.  As for me, my 'pallete' is extremely large and varied, when it comes to 'what is art'. It's an endeavor, often thoughtful, historical and relevant, to its time and speaks to the context of the creator.  It's what inspired a person to create something of a non-utilitarian purpose. A person who is merely struggling to grow as a human, as artist and make their statement about life and the world around them, as they experience it, see it.  The history of art, what it is, and who decides, is as long and complicated as the story of human history itself.  Whether you started creating at age, 1 or 101,  create in crayons, oil or other materials; are the most apt realist or most compelling minalmalist abstract artist, who decides if it's art are the people who purchase your artwork, show it, collect it, now, or in 25, 50 or 100 plus years, later.

While you may 'like' or 'not-like' it, if it's in a museum the broader concensus, is that it's art. But, that's another subject. fore it ,speaks to your personel sense of aesthetics. That said, most people,  seem to rely on the leaders, for their decision making, as to whats good, what's art, and fall in line with such. So when those persons of influence, that gallery that took a risk, the art fair that juried you in, that exhibit you were allowed to participate in, that magazine that wrote an article, those individual family members, friends and persons from around the globe, decide to purchase and acquire a piece of your work, declaring it to be art. Thank them, for in the final analysis, what art is, is in fact in the eye of the beholder, so it's most important to be grateful to those who behold yours, declaring it 'ART'.

Thanks everyone; family, friends, patrons, collectors, sponsors and benifactors, for your continued support and as always feel free to comment. ~Richard

'Eye of the Beholder' 36"x36" acrylic on canvas (yr.20  ) in private collection

Art, Nature & Soul #16

I love a road trip, heading down the highway, an adventure to destinations unknown. Growing up, I remember my family driving all over the country on various trips. Mostly camping, or visiting family, although sometimes they would be to explore historical sites. As I grew older, hopping on the train, or taking off in my car seemed second nature. To this day I still get that adrenaline rush of anticipation as I turn up the music, have the camera ready and hit the road.  Life is about the journey, not the destination.

During this time frame I was taking representational subjects and breaking them down unto their abstract forms. Dripping and splattering the paint attempting  to control the chaos. Besides having a vivid color palette, which colors I applied first became crucial to the dynamic dimensional aspects conveyed. Putting the sky in last, allowed the blue to drip across the entire landscape creating layers of depth.

These artworks seemed to have a theraputic value, a cathartic aspect to them, plus they were so fun to do. As always feel free to comment.

'Meditations 8, the road trip, 22"x10" acrylic on linen, (yr. 2011) in private collection    

Art, Nature & Soul #6

From my earliest memories of drawing, my primary interests were of people. There are even ones in crayon, around my studio, that were done when I was 6 or 7 years of age. Throughout my childhood you could find me doing drawings of the people around me, mostly cartoon or caricature in style. Sometime in middle school my interests in Leonardo Da Vinci and a more realistic approach took hold as did my medium of choice being pencil. Later in high school, pen & ink cartoons, of all my classmates and teachers, then followed by some commissioned portrait works in soft pastel. While I found realism a struggle and favored the more stylized or caricature works, I had it my head to become a portrait painter and studied that for a time. In my 20s, I really wanted to study with a local rococo style portrait artist, but did not happen, then later took a Rembrandt style portrait class at the SAIC. Life is demanding, our priorities are often dictated to us, as such my openness to to impressionism, post impressionism and expressionism opened up a wide berth of creative outlets and opportunities for artistic growth.  I explored these arenas of art and found them more conducive to the particulars of my life. Over the past decade or so my primary subjects tend to be more landscape and abstract, either building up those basic design essentials or breaking them down into their essence. However, I still love people, doing realistic figurative work and sometimes I have the opportunity to do such. This was the case in this piece and became a merging of learning, mediums, subjects and ideas. Feel free to comment or ask questions. 

Thank you for your support. ~ Richard

'Dream Sequence #50' 24"x20" mixed media on canvas