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New Work at Powers Gallery
My paintings “Crystallum” and “Warming Up” are now available at Powers Gallery in Acton, MA. For more information, please contact the gallery by phone at 978-263-5105 or by email at Lawrence@PowersGallery.com
Guardian
The Story There are no rules in art. But, there are suggestions, some of them quite strong. One of these is that paintings should not be completely symmetrical. Although a design with a strong central feature can be very stable, too much symmetry is usually felt to be undesirable – the risk is that it […]
Head and Shoulders
The Story The title of this painting is a simple pun. Not only is there a triple self-portrait (featuring basically head and shoulders), but the middle creamer towers – head and shoulders – above the other creamers. Taken together, they form a pyramid, which is the simplest and most stable compositional design. The reflections of […]
Catching up
Still catching up in the studio following last weekend’s show. This one is about halfway there. It will be a hard push to finish it by Tuesday evening, and then on to the current week’s painting.
Contemplation: Break for Tea
The Story Shows have a way of disrupting everything – especially production schedules in the studio – which is exactly what last weekend’s show did. Fortunately, they only occur twice a year, and it only takes about a week to get fully back on track. This is actually last week’s painting – the current week’s […]
Show this Weekend!
This weekend I’m having one of my semi-annual shows, offering you the opportunity to see my latest paintings in person. It’s being held Friday through Sunday in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Click the “Learn More” button below to see more information. Please come – I’d love to meet you!
Crystallum
The Story The story behind this week’s painting has less to do with the painting itself than with how I make paintings. I arrange most of my compositions in a shadow box positioned to the right of my easel. It works well, and I’ve used it for years. But, it limits me to a certain […]
Beacon
The Story The title of this painting is pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t dwell on it. I don’t generally care for paintings with lighthouses in them, but for some reason I wanted the challenge of putting one in a still life, at least in symbolic form. This painting took it’s start from the antique silver […]
Springboards
The Story Still Life is a genre that suffers from bad naming. It leads people to think of it as a quiet and sedate kind of art – even a little boring. Unfortunately, a lot of still life paintings fulfill those expectations. I suppose what we call it in English is better than what the […]
Huddle
The Story I very nearly called this painting “Castle Rock”, since it almost seemed to describe a Medieval fortress. The brick especially helped with that impression, since castles are often built on rock outcroppings. In the end, though, I was a little more drawn to the idea of the objects huddling together – for warmth? […]
Warming Up
The Story All the paintings so far for this year-long project have featured purely black backgrounds. I love the drama and simplicity of paintings set against such a backdrop. At the same time, I felt like having a lighter painting this week. So, I decided to work against a beige background (introducing some dramatic spotlighting […]
Race to the Top
The Story The story for this week’s painting unfolded as I worked on it. In fact, it grew out of a change I made to the design midway; see the technical discussion below. One of the pleasures of the creative process is that sometimes good ideas lurk just below the level of conscious awareness. This […]
Unity
The Story This week’s painting has two meanings – one semi-political and one very personal. I don’t think I’m being particularly controversial when I say I’ve had enough of the rancor in American public life – from both sides. I know it’s not going away anytime soon. I also know we’ve been through much worse […]
A Quick and Dirty Perspective Trick
Many artists – even established professionals – have an uneasy relationship with perspective. That’s understandable, given how involved it can be to figure out, say, the proper perspective of a complicated geometric shape with multiple vanishing points. It’s good, and I think necessary, to know how to do this. But, in the real world, I […]
The Grisaille Underpainting
There are multiple approaches to making an underpainting. A Grisaille is the simplest form, done with just black and white. Other forms include Verdaccio (done with shades of green), Brunaille (shades of brown), Dead Color (dulled, muted forms of the final colors) and so forth. An artist working with underpaintings will choose an approach based […]
Framed and Ready for Delivery
This commissioned painting is framed and ready for delivery. I gave the collectors several options for the frame, and was excited that they chose this one. It was my choice as well. It’s a gold leaf frame, about 2.5 inches wide, with some simple Arts and Crafts – inspired detailing at the corners. I think […]
Reorganizing My Studio for Better Workflow
I’m off to a scary late start to this week’s painting. Instead of getting to work on it Monday, which is the normal rhythm, I didn’t start it until Wednesday. And I still need to finish it by Sunday evening. Meanwhile, I’ve spent the last two days reorganizing my studio to improve the workflow, and […]
Your Cup of Tea
The Story This week’s painting is one of those that doesn’t have a specific story behind it. Instead, I was aiming for a dramatic mood, along with the solid reassurance that a good cup of tea can bring at just the right moment. Even when there’s not a specific plot, I still think of the […]
Painting Metal
How did you do that? From time to time I’ll get a nice compliment about how I paint metal. This is often followed up with questions about how I do it. Unfortunately, there’s not a simple secret that I can reveal. I approach metal the same way I approach any other type of object: Observe […]
Cultivating the Habit of Beauty
Keeping it Beautiful at Every Step Sometimes a minor shortcoming can illustrate a larger point. The image above is the completed underpainting for this week’s project. One thing you might notice is that the tones get cooler and bluer towards the bottom. As I got to the end of the working day, I ran out […]