"Spectral Skies" 16x20" Oil on gallery wrapped canvas

Often while I am driving at dusk, I see some really beautiful gradients in the sky while the sun is descending below the horizon.  Sometimes, there are no clouds in the sky at all, so all there is to see is a soothing transition of colors.

I've captured many photos of these simple skies, because they are so beautiful.  That rainbow gradient really makes me feel so at awe and delighted, in a peaceful and serene way.  It's like the colors are gently guiding me towards the transition into the night. 

I felt called to paint these skies, but I felt like a painting of just a transition of color was too minimal for me, and I wanted to add something to make it more interesting as a painting.  

I have always loved patterns, and especially patterns in textiles.  I realized that I could easily make geometric shapes with a square knife, so I thought "wouldn't it be cool to put a geometric pattern in the sky?"

This feels like the beginning of the merging between my impressionist style and my visionary style.  The psychedelia within me will never truly go away, so I like to think about how I can wield it into my art.  How subtle can I make it?  

I think that combining smooth color transitions with patterns in a subtle way can have a soothing effect on the eyes, mind and soul.  

The palette knife is so experimental that I come up with ideas I never would have thought of on my own if I hadn’t been painting with it. 

This is the first in a set of experiments I'm making, using shape and pattern to create interest in an otherwise plain area.  I have captured a number of very simple skyscapes that feature beautiful gradients, but don't have much else going on in them. 

A painting of the sky with no clouds in it would be kind of boring, but the gradient at the end of the sunset is so beautiful, I wanted to find a way to paint it while also making it interesting.

While I was painting "Canyon Color", I discovered that I could create interesting effects with a straight, rectangular knife by repeating the shapes that the knife created, and communicating form with the direction of the knifestrokes.  I could also make really defined geometric shapes with this specific knife, such as squares, rectangles, and diamonds.

This sparked an idea, that I could use this knife to easily make geometric patterns, and I could add these shapes to areas in the composition that could use something extra to add interest.  

I have always really loved geometric shapes in textiles.  Painting triangles, curves and certain angles would be difficult with this knife, but weave patterns show that you can make any shape using just straight vertical and horizontal lines.  So, I decided to use the patterns from woven textile designs to create beautiful geometric shapes.

Bob Ross likes to talk about happy accidents.  The palette knife is all about happy accidents!  Happy accidents turn into exciting new ideas. 

It’s a kind of creativity that feeds itself.  If my knives could talk, they would say “hmmm, okay let’s just roll with it!”  

My most recent painting as of February 2021, called "Moran Point", gave me some great surprises that I am excited to share!

I chose this composition, because I was drawn to the strong rainbow gradient seen from the red orange of the grass in the lower left, to the more golden grasses above, to the green and blue greens of the bushes, to the cool blues and purples of the canyon in the background.  This gradient excited me so much that I had to paint it! 

It stood out to me the most out of thousands of photos I took throughout my southwestern desert road trip.  Even though it's a pretty mundane shot of some plants, rather than an epic vista view, it's those colors that grabbed me.

But it was as I was painting, that the unexpected happened!  I started out painting the canyon, and using the technique I discovered while painting "Canyon Color", using repetitions of strokes from a square knife.When I started to paint the plants, I needed to create something different than just the square stroke, to add variation.  The plants have a very distinct direction in their form and leaf structures.  So, I took the square knife, and flicked my wrist while applying the stroke, which created an amazing curved stroke that made the paint jut out... this gave the plant dimension, giving it a sculptural look!

So, I explored creating different dimensional knife strokes used on the forms of different plants in the composition.  The green bush at the top has smaller, round leaves, and the grasses have long vertical stalks.  All of these different strokes give the painting variation, and a 3d effect that makes you feel like you're really there!

I'm very excited to continue to explore painting plants with these dimensional knife strokes, and sharing my findings with you!  

Do you have a certain topic that you would want to hear me talk about in my upcoming blogs?  Let me know what you want to hear in the comments!