Art quotes

"For the last 20 year period I've been working with ideas conceived as a child." -Red Grooms

Friday, November 15, 2013

Snowy Inspirations

     We are having our first measurable snow fall on top of mounds of oak leaves. We usually go for a late autumn walk in a nearby county park that has a stream flowing through a wooded preserve. The air is crisp and colors are brilliant, all inspiration for future paintings. The milkweeds are in the going-back-to-the-earth phase of their life cycle. We hope they have nourished the next generation of Monarchs and that the butterflies will return next spring. … so far one inch of snow during this writing.

On Hold  16x20 oil on canvas
Winter Trail  oil on canvas board 9x12
     Michigan’s encouragement of the film industry has had some interesting opportunities for artists. We delivered a dozen paintings to a film shoot and hope to have some of the paintings appear in this full-length feature film.  As artists, we always try to get a good look at those background paintings. If this new adventure does take place as we expect it will, I’ll let folks know. In the meantime, keep looking at the paintings in the background on TV and movies.  … so far one and half inches of the white stuff.
Blue Ice acrylic on paper 22x24
   
     We have received a few very nice comments on the Xanadu Gallery experience, thank you. Several paintings can be viewed in the online Xanadu Gallery, search under artists, then Joel F Ellis. Xanadu has a walk-in gallery as well in Scottsdale Arizona.

    Outreach is an interesting experience. The actual non-painting time of this artist’s life is sometimes challenging, especially trying to get the paintings “out there” for visibility. Speaking of “out there”, the snow is accumulating. Time to get the snow shovel. Oh the price we pay to live in Michigan.
Joel

Early snow 18x24 acrylic on board
Winter Barn  18x24  acrylic on canvas