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A Tree 2

This is my latest painting, hope you like it!

I like to paint trees. Okay, that’s a simple but true statement. What is it about the essence of a tree that interests me? A tree is predictable; it stands strong in a storm as the wind tears through its leaves. A tree offers a sort of calm and content beauty in any given season. A tree shares its shade to protect us from the pounding summer sun. So I guess trees have a special place in my life.

As a child I watched my father create tree art with a wood burning tool he used on salvaged planks. He seemed content with the image of a simple tree and I never understood why. He may have wanted the tree’s calm strength like I do now. Funny how life brings us full circle…at some point we will understand our parents to some extent. This understanding is nothing more than empathy. Inspired by the image of a tree, my father and I may have been walking a similar road in life while wondering, "what if I could have the strength and patience of a tree”.

This tree painting is one piece from a new series called “Trees”. Hope you like it and want to see more.

Thanks for reading,

-Jason Towne 

Style: The Elusive Necessity

Style… what is it, and why is it necessary for an artist to have it?

This is what an artist’s style is to me: (a combination of the following in no particular order)

• Medium of choice: Supplies that are consistently used will help the art-viewer distinguish the art as being created by the one who created it.

• Skill set: Whether traditionally trained or self-taught, an artist can only produce art based on their individual skill set. As technique and skills grow and become more dynamic, decisions need to be made like, "What skills will I commonly implement into my work, and which will I omit?"

• Method: How much of the “artist” do I leave on the surface? As an artist we have the option of removing ourselves from the image created. Look at a painting where you cannot even detect a brush stroke. Why is that? The artist has removed him/herself so the viewer can focus on the content and the narrative, without any distractions of technique. On the other hand, look at any of the great Impressionists. They my not have realized what they were doing when making brush strokes so brazenly obvious to the viewer. Impressionists were bringing the viewer closer to them. So the question is, "how much of me do I want to leave for the viewer to see?" What an interesting position for any artist to find themselves in. This is perhaps a subject many artists are completely unaware of, but should take some time to think about.

• Subject Matter: I’ll interview myself to show you how many subjects my art splits into. 

Q: Do you paint trees? A: Well yes I do. Small watercolor trees. 

Q: Do you paint abstractions? A: Yes. I become interested in shape and color as the subject matter.

Q: Do you paint on wood cutouts? A: Yes. 

Q: Do you paint faces? A: Yes. I went through a phase where I painted dramatic faces. 

Q: Do you make paintings of wine bottles? A: Yes. 

Q: Do you create heavy textured surfaces to paint on, or do you paint light enough to have the canvas show through? A: Yes and yes.        

                                

        Okay, so we learned that my style is all over the map. Now let’s look at the necessity to develop a style while maintaining the spontaneity painting had when art was just a hobby.   

Having a huge range of skills is fantastic and desirable to most artists, especially artists who may want to teach art in the future. An artist who’s building an art career however, may find that too much variation in style can be a huge liability. This is particularly true when trying to carve out a niche for one’s art. I agree with Alyson B. Stanfield in her book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio!, when she states that if you produce a wide variety of style, you’re going to need a marketing plan for each style. She is right! Don’t waste your time by spreading yourself too thin. I think we as artists are likely to hip-bump collectors right out of our studios when they discover we don’t know where the hell we’re going creatively. Who could blame a collector for this? As a professional artist, we should ask ourselves, "What is my 'style' going to be? Is my style going to continue to be wildly unpredictable, or am I going to hone it into a concise workable creative method?"

If art is your hobby, fantastic! If art is something you want to pursue as a career, finding your style may become essential.

Thanks for reading,

-Jason Towne

The Wire Tip

Once a painting is finished it needs to be strung up with wire, right?  OK-- so why would I blog about something so trivial? Well it turns out that wire on the back side of a painting is more interesting than one might think!  Working with mounting wire had become a pain in the butt as I was constantly jabbing my finger tips.  When wire is handled, it frays, and allows tiny individual strands of metal to poke through my skin to the bone.  The sharp jabbing led me to find a very simple but effective remedy: Teflon tape!


Yep, plain old Teflon tape.  The kind anyone can buy at a hardware store for only $0.99 a roll. So this is how it works:  Take a 1 1/2" piece from the roll and apply it to the wire where it finishes twisting back on itself.  Wrap the Teflon tape as tightly as possible for maximum staying power. Once this is complete, the painting can be handled by anyone without any finger damage.  From now on my paintings are not complete until its wire is wrapped in Teflon.


Thank you for reading!
-Jason Towne

A Storm's a Brewin'

Rain, rain, and more rain is coming to California and I can't wait!  Nothing says get some hot soup and warm slippers like the rain.  The rain will start tonight with a soft pitter-patter on the rooftop while slowly advancing into a roaring down-pour.  My cozy bed will make it all so pleasantly bearable as I quietly drift deeply back to sleep. I feel this way now- but loving the rain is a very new passion of mine. 

As a child, rainy days felt like prison.  Take for instance rainy day reassess at school. What a bore!  Board-games galore, but no running, jumping, or climbing, blah!  It had to be a conspiracy between parents and teachers NOT to let anyone outside to play and have fun in the rain.  Yep, that sounds about right...

Anyway, that child grew-up and discovered "Jazz music"!  I'm talkin' smooth Jazz with a piano, saxophone, a stand-up bass and brushes on the drums sounding just like rain.  This jazzy sound of rain brings a new life to me.   Jazz musicians like Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, and Bill Evans bring such an exiting inspiration to my paintbrush as well. Their music has started leading me into paintings like "Rainy Night" (shown below). Finishing a painting like this inspires me to do another and  Oh yes- more Jazz/rain inspired paintings are yet to come. I hope you enjoy them.

                 

"Rainy Night" 

16" x 20" acrylic on canvas

Thanks for reading,

-Jay

2012: Keep the Ball Rolling

2012 is starting out to be a fantastic year for my art!  I've already sold two paintings and a third piece has just been commissioned.  Wow- the ball is definitely rolling and I'm doing everything in my power to keep the momentum going!  All of your support is energizing, so keep it comin'!

Hopefully your year is starting out the with the same fire and passion as mine.  If it has, great- share some of that inspiration with people who may be left sputtering at the starting line.  Haven't we all been in that position before (Stuck at the starting line at the turn of a new year)? For me, the answer is yes!  We all need inspiration from time to time so inspire someone to get off the sideline and kick some butt.

Whether your having the best or worst start to a new year, you can still tackle some life-goals and end up with the best year of your life!

Thanks for reading,
-Jay        

First Post

Welcome to the first post on my new blog. I know this will be so much fun for us all!

Thanks for reading,
-Jay