If at all possible, I try to work the topic of art into a conversation.  I do this in a totally natural way, like, “That was excellent cous cous.  Hey, have you seen my paintings?”  It’s amazing though.  When you talk about art, artists start coming out of the woodwork and before you know it, you’ve made ten new artist friends.

Most recently, we had an artist over for dinner and I sheepishly showed him some of my work.  He gave me some excellent advice and commented on my being in “the discovery phase.”  I was oddly encouraged by this categorization.  I’ve been trying everything, painting every subject, expanding, expanding, expanding in hopes of finding what fits.  Upon asking him how long it took him to find his style, he said, “a couple of years.”  A couple of years sounds like a long time, and yet not if you’re having fun.

So here is the gamut of subjects for me this week.  First, a valley in Patagonia, as seen on someone’s Facebook wall (see, cyberstalking does have its benefits).

Jan 28, “Patagonian Valley,” Oil

I didn’t feel like I had achieved the depth I was hoping for, so I tried again, sketching with pencil instead (and a bit of ink).  I’m still unsatisfied, but I might revisit this subject later.

Jan 28, “Patagonian Valley 2,” 4B Pencil and Pen & Ink

Continuing in the geography category, I tried this abstract inspired by an aerial of the Bouregreg River in Rabat.  This painting exemplifies a common problem I am having with oils.  I have so much fun moving the paint around the canvas that the subject gets overworked and the colors muddied.  But the end product reminds me of a topo map.  And if there’s one thing I love more than painting, it’s topo maps.  So I think I might be onto something here.

Jan 25, “Bouregreg,” Oil

Now, onto still life.  A giant mug of dirty brush water.  The colors aren’t the best, but I think I did a decent job depicting the subject.

Jan 23, “Dirty Brush Water,” Oil

And just to prove that you can find your inspiration anywhere, this was inspired by a powerpoint slide from last Sunday’s sermon at Rabat International Church:

Jan 27, “Wave” Oil

Moving on to urban scenes, I attempted a classic tourist painting of Chefchaouen, a mountain town I visited recently.  The painting makes me gag because most tourists paintings make me gag.  What’s worse, I didn’t even do it well.  But perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on myself.  I think I would have butchered it even worse a couple of months ago.

Jan 24, “Chefchaouen” Watercolor

I gave it 1 Van Gogh for the effort.

Urban scene #2 is Woolworth’s in Downtown Gastonia, North Carolina, 1970’s.  This was kindof a bonus painting.  I had some extra paint on my palette and figured I should use it up before it dried.

Jan 27, “Woolworths Gastonia,” Oil

And lastly, my favorite, I think.  It’s a digital portrait of my brother Jack in his finest attire.  I employed a similar rogue sketching style used on the bugs and it seems to work for me.  It works for Jack too I believe.

Jan 22, “Jack” Sketchbook Pro on Ipad

I’ll celebrate my discovery phase.  At least for now.