Quick sketches

Here are my early attempts at using this new calligraphy pen. It's not a bad implement but maybe a sumi would get better fine lines and thus the variety of thick to thin would be greater. We''ll see. Maybe I'll do a head to head comparison with this in mind. I do like using an ink pen as it forces me to be accurate with each stroke, and hopefully improve my eye.

Also I'll have some news about my one man show in Seattle next month at the Cole Gallery.

Yellow vs. Blue Show Collection

A big thanks to Robert and Megan for bringing in a great crowd on opening night this last friday, April 10th.
How do I know you ask? Well, I watched it via their webcam on the website. A lovely little touch that helps bring art into the modern age and allows those of us, who had work in the show but couldn't attend, a connection with the event. I watched for quite awhile and as an artist I just love people watching.

If you didn't make it, like myself, here is a look through the show, minus the crowds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me0jna3dBDs


-joshua

New Website

Hey Everyone,

I have put up a new website. Got see it at www.joshuaflint.com
The new website will be a formal endeavor where only my paintings and show schedule will be posted.
But don't worry I will still keep the blog rolling, and it could possibly free me up to get a little crazier with my posts, here. Maybe I'll just start ranting about stuff, could be art related, could not. Who knows what's going to happen, now that this will be an 'inside the artist's studio' blog.

Anyways go check it out, it looks like this:


www.joshuaflint.com

Upcoming Show and Demo

Robert Lange Studios
151 East Bay Street
Charlseton, SC 29401
www.robertlangestudios.com



Final Painting, titled "While the Winter Waits":


My process and studio shots:


Hey All,
I am in a Group Show at the Robert Lange Studios in Charleston,SC. Opening Night is April 10th and will be up for a month. If you are in the Charleston, SC area or happen to be in this lovely city during the show dates go have a look. With 20 Artists showing, it will be an excellent event with a plethora of quality work on display. I have four pieces in the show including the above still-life demo. The theme of the exhibition was Yellow vs. Blue. This is my 'blue' contribution. A pair of Grand Central Station paintings will also be hanging. I encourage all of you to have a look at the website.

Sketchbook pages

Here are a few sketches from me using a new calligraphy pen. I think it's going to take a little more practice to get used to its qualities, but so far it been a nice change from a pen that can't get thick and thin lines quickly. Although picking out small details with the ends of the pen has proved to be tough. These are all 5-15 min sketches from life. In one you can see I've added gouache later on.

I've got a few shows coming up in April, May and in July that I will put up on the blog as they get closer.
Also, a new website is under way and should be up in the next few weeks.

Thanks for having a look.

Steel Bridge, PDX

Steel Bridge, 36" x 72"



After much ado, and neglecting my blog, I need to get this commission painting up, now that it's done.
I had a great time with the piece and feel the overall intention that the client and I were going for, came out in the final painting. I had the liberty to stylize certain areas, like the cityscape. Since the scene is largely made up, this only added to the enjoyment in doing the final, as I didn't have any strict guidelines governed by the reality of the scene.

DETAIL:


(I've also notice that images become less saturated and less colorful when posted on Blogger, anyone else have this problem? Let me know if you have that same issue.)

Anatomy of a Painting

Early Stages



Here are a few work in progress shots of my commission piece.
Just blocking in all the big shapes and getting the shadows in.
It's coming along nicely.
I'll have some further pics of its development as it gets to closer to completion.

Commission Painting

Currently I am working on a large scale commission painting. The collector and I have come up with a great idea of a portland cityscape centering around one of the oldest, and coolest bridges, the Steel Bridge. We wanted to incorporate more than what's actually in view from this vantage point on the east side of the river, looking at the bridge to downtown, and beyond. It is more a panoramic sweeping vision that you can't get unless you turn your head in multiple directions. I thought it would be brilliant to bring it all together in one image that will measure 3 by 6 feet. As you can see I have forced the perspective of just about everything in sight, skewing buildings, enlarging the bridge so it seems more grandiose and powerful, shrinking the cityscape, and bending the Willamette River so we get a view of the Burnside Bridge, and of course the waterfront and skyline.

I moved through a series of pen and ink thumbnails to find the right dynamic, and in the earlier sketches you will see that I haven't yet included all the elements that I spoke about in the above paragraph.



During this stage I am writing notes to myself in the margin about how I would treat the color and application for the final painting, even though I am working with black and white shapes, I am still thinking of the stages to come and visualizing what it will look like in my head. You will notice that at this point I am really dealing with how your eye is going to enter the right side of the painting and onto the bridge. The second one with the train tracks I like but I don't feel I am quite there yet and satisfied with the image.



These last two were the picks of the bunch. Now I just had to decide between seeing the bridge as a super hero, like the first sketch, or try to incorporate more of this panorama idea and distort the perspective. The second one had a little of everything I previously talked about and I decided that was the right direction to go in. As you can see the more the cityscape came into the picture plane, the more I liked the idea of a huge bridge and a small cityscape. The design is a nice contrast of big vs little shapes.



A little larger refined drawing focusing on those same dynamics from the last sketch but with more detail. This is a chance to get to know the subject matter more and firm up the idea, eventually leading to a more solid approach when I switch over to canvas and oils. On to the color color study.



I pushed the color of the Steel Bridge to be more rust colored and warmer to play off the really nice punchy blues of a crisp fall day here in Portland. A nice variety of light and shadow in the buildings off in the distance, that will fade out in the atmosphere while the river bends away from our view.



I built the canvas from ten foot lengths of stretcher bar and have the canvas primed and ready to go.



I will be posting different stages of the painting as I go, so check back for more.

Artists Emerge

I took part in an online competition through an art organization out of San Diego, CA, called Artists Emerge. They are for promoting artists and art in communities around the globe.

I was awarded 2nd place for a juried competition about creating a series of paintings. My Apercu Series focusing on Grand Central Station in NY was chosen as a excellent body of work, enough to impress the juried committee, it looks like.
With over 200 international entries I was honored to have merited a place.

I was the lone painter chosen with the other award winners all photographers, including the honorable mentions, not bad huh.

Have a look at their organization and what they do for promoting art at www.artistsemerge.org

Apercu #15

Between These Hands_20"x8"


Here is the latest from an ongoing series on New York's Grand Central, in case some of you haven't seen the blog before, which is probably either a ton of people who check out the blog, that I don't know about, or no one at all. So there you go, maybe in between. I really like a panoramic format when I paint whether its horizontal or with this painting a vertical. I have been working on a lot of smaller works in the last month. Maybe a few will be a larger painting. Just searching in general, as I need to see what works well or doesn't without the commitment.
I do have a grouping of larger paintings I am planning but right now I am wrapped up in a commission for a local collector. If I get the go ahead from him I'll put up the preliminary work in the coming days.

Also I know the blog here has been neglected at times, but no more! It is a new year and thus I have a new commitment (which I'll end up breaking, as that's the way these things work) to post about my art but also about other subjects that I really enjoy or not.

Some new year randomness to start it all off.

Music I have been listening to, to help reach my creative levels:

Steven Marley: Mind Control Acoustic Set.
Quite possibly the greatest reggae album put out in the last thirty years since his dad, the venerable Bob. Mind blowing.


Whitest Boy Alive:Dreams
Excellent euro pop from Berlin (blended with some 80's ska?) Totally brightens your day, if its raining, like now in P Town.


Milosh: III
Electronica with vocals and heavy beats(no really it totally works). Thoughtful, insightful, dreamlike.


Give em a shot cause you might like something new.

new years brings new boundaries

A little fun experimental 8"x10" oil . . . .
possibly opening future painting avenues . . . .
I don't even know yet, I'll have to see what 09' brings me . . . .

Best for you in this new year! Do good . . .
no do better.

Paintings Update

The Daring Act of Change_5.5"x10"


This Was The Point Of Everything_16"x10"


Time Travel_20"x16"


The Fulcrum Of Our Day_24"x30"

Time For Change . . . .

I liked this illustration by Patrick Moberg, kind of puts things into perspective, visually. Discover tons of great artists, illustrators, and designers and other cool things at www.drawn.ca.

Don't forget the Open Studio tomorrow night. Details of the event below. See you there.

Open Studio This Saturday!

Two Grand Central Paintings

The Way We Orbit One Another_ 36" x 24"



We Pivot Like Constellations In the Sky_24" x 30"


I just dropped these paintings off at the Cole Gallery and they will be on display there, in addition to the small works show happening later this month on the 20th.

As always comments are welcomed.

Cole Gallery Group Show

Here is a reminder for the Cole Gallery Group Show that I am going to be taking part in this month on the 20th. Denise Cole, the owner, is doing a great job advertising for the event in American Art Collector magazine. My painting of an apple titled 'The Promise of . . .' is featured on the bottom row, far left. Should be a really great exhibition with plenty of small works on display by a selection of fine artists.

Upcoming Event:

Cole Gallery
Small Works Show

Opening Night: November 2oth, 5pm-9pm.

Many, Many Pounds. . . . . .as in British.

Lucien Freud paints people, has for decades. At 85 years young he is still at it, influencing modern figurative painters around the world. In May, a painting he did during the mid nineties shattered the current world record for the most expensive painting done by a living artist. It sold at Sotheby's for $35 million dollars. It's title is: Benefits Supervisor Sleeping. Ok, I'll give you time to pick your jaw up off the floor. Alright, you ready, I'll continue. However, you do have a little bit of drool that you'll want to clean up.

I too was floored to read about this. It may be old news for those on the forefront of what's happening in the World Art Market but it hit home for me as a painter perpetually fascinated, perplexed, stunned, annoyed, and every other negative and positive superlative in the dictionary that describes our efforts in life.

I feel figurative painting has been shunned by the vast majority of the art world for being concerned with only beauty and therefore presiding as more illustration than fine art. However, slowly it is finding its way back into being placed alongside the other leading areas of contemporary art which makes me extremely happy to see. Not for the price paid but for the subject matter and medium.

Below is a portrait done by Freud in 1947 of his first wife, which is also brilliant.

New works underways . . . .. . . ..

I have been cranking on some new work in preparation for a group show in November. Since I got nothing to show for it as of yet I figured I would put up a shot of some sketches. Possibly future paintings. Two new works will be posted by the end of the week.

I am continuing with my Grand Central Station series and so far they have been well received. Thanks for having a look and for all the support.

More "New" NY Paintings

Dreams of Near and Far_24"x24"




Although most of this series focuses on movement and the quality of light, the top painting certainly has more of a story to it than the others. So far the palette I have used throughout this collection of work has been a totally new range of color and color combinations, and might be what's excited me the most. The painting below is the largest in the series to date.


New York in April_30"x40"

Children's Cancer Association

I was asked to contribute a piece of art for a fundraising event put on yearly by the Children's Cancer Association. First off, I was flattered to be recommended as an artist for the event, and excited to be contributing in any way possible to a terrific cause. The theme for the event was Magic Carpet Ride. My work isn't a direct correlation to this theme but alludes to the creativity that children have in abundance. I think getting lost in one's imagination can have therapeutic qualities and are of great use when faced with difficult times. I used my niece as a model for the image and I think it turned out nicely for me. Hopefully, it will help contribute to the much needed funding to provide for these children and their families.
Some of the drawings are hers and I added one in as well, plus I scribbled in the CCA logo which I felt went with my idea.
This is oil on board and 18"x24" in size.

And framed:


to learn more go to: www.childrenscancerassociation.org

New Stuff

Apercu Series:

I have always been drawn to train stations, by the comings and goings. Peoples lives intersecting but never touching. Everyone using the station as a temporary portal to their eventual destination. A state of impermanence. A transitory phase. A dot in a string of dots that forms our path, everyday. We see glimpses, blurs, and snapshots of these commuters, travelers, and passengers. Everyone is in motion, constant motion.
Grand Central Station in New York is a vast chamber that oozes a sense of history. 500,000 people go through Grand Central everyday. It is a place that marks a persons path not the destination. The immensity of this cavernous room keeps the air heavy and the light dim. As if it is swallowing up the light that is trying to bring clarity to the passengers. That is, until they cross the shafts of light cascading from the ceiling. These beams create a striking contrast to the surroundings. Everyone gets a chance to be illuminated, much like life, as they traverse this enormous building. Even if it is for a brief glimpse.

*Apercu | aper soo |
A comment or brief reference that makes an illuminating or entertaining point.


Hurrying Home_24'x30"_oil on canvas


Like someone caught in prayer_22"x28"_oil on canvas


Remember me as a time of day_16"x20"_oil on board


The grand entrance_12"x16"_oil on board


Life floods the concourse_12"x16"_oil on board


These are some of the paintings I recently displayed at a solo show at the Astoria Fine Arts Gallery. This isn't the entire series, and I have two more pantings from the exhibition that I will post later next week, plus a few others I am still working on. In addition to this set, I also displayed the Life's Not Still Series which I had previously posted.

In the last month or so I have had two shows, one solo and one group exhibition, in two different cities. I have run a workshop in conjunction with the first solo show. I have contributed to a fundraiser and will be donating a painting to the Children's Cancer Association next week. So all in all it's been wildly hectic. I will add details of these events soon.

Thanks for checking in! More news and events to follow.

What Happens Between Daylight and Dusk

Here are a couple of pictures from my studio window the other night at sunset.
Have tons of work in progress for a series of shows coming up in August and September.
When they are polished up I'll post em. . . . should be soon.

Nectarine . . . . .

Here another fruit portrait.................