Waves Of Sand And Time

  

                                                      An original acrylic painting, on canvas panel 

                                                      24 X 18", unframed

                                                      $1,800.00,  ( plus $30.00, pack and ship )

                                                         ( click on image to enlarge )

     Shifting sands have symbolized the passage of time, and the brevity of life, 

since ancient times, especially so following the invention of the hourglass, to

measure the passing hours of our days.  The old philosophers and religious

teachers warned us that our lives, like our houses, must be built on a firm

foundation, and not on an insubstantial bed of sand.  But time eventually turns

even the foundations of our finest plans and dreams, into grains of sand.

     This painting is the story of another life and another dream which has been

lost to unrelenting time and tide, and the shifting, wind-blown sands.  An old,

fishing boat which was once the pride and joy of its owner, gradually wore out

and deteriorated over the years, to the point that it could no longer be repaired,

and so it was abandoned to the dunes.  Now the shifting sands and beach grasses

are capturing this faded relic of a forgotten man's enterprise.   A passing seagull 

looks down at the derelict  boat as if expecting to see the old fisherman cleaning

his catch-of-the-day, and tossing away some tasty fish-heads.  But the fisherman

is just a fleeting ghost.

     The composition of this painting is one which is often referred to as a Zed

( or letter Z ) composition,  using a pattern of overlapping triangles and diagonal

lines which zig-zag up from the bottom of the picture-plain to the top, thereby

leading the eye of the viewer to proceed up from the foreground, to the middle-

ground, and on into the distant background.

 

                                                                   Gene McNerney

                                                                    

    

Sapphire Ballerina

 


                                                An original mixed-media on illustration board
                                                10 X 8", unframed, (mat size, 15 X 13")
                                                $110.00, - ( plus $15.00, pack and ship )


                                                           ( click on image to enlarge )

     This is one of a number of different color-studies I did of this subject, in
preparation for doing a larger painting of the ballerina.  In each case, I used a
different, dominant color of jewel-tones, as I decided what color would best
express the feeling I wanted to create in the final painting.
     A great deal of the fairy-tail magic which we see on stage during a ballet
performance, is created by the carefully arranged blends of the stage-lighting.
It is that evanescent glow of color washes which is a challenge and pleasure to
try and capture.
     Whenever I work on this kind of painting subject, I can't help but think of the
artworks of Degas.  He was certainly the master-painter of dancers, whether they
were on-stage, or waiting in the wings, or in rehearsal.  But we can all explore
the same subject matter in art, without necessarily imitating the work of those
who have mastered it before, in there own particular style.   Perhaps I will
photograph more of these color-studies, and post them in this blog.

Freeze Warning

     Spring officially arrives this weekend, according to the calendar and the passing
of the vernal equinox.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature does not always agree with our
time schedule, and she is a particularly fickle and temperamental  regulator of the
weather here in the middle of the country.  The center of our continent is where the
cold, dry air from the north is forever battling the warm, humid air coming up from
the gulf, which creates our dramatic weather changes and storms, including more
tornadoes than anywhere else in the world.  This spring is another example of the
fickle nature of our weather.  We began with an early warm-up, which soon started
the growing season in earnest, turning the lawns green and convincing the flowering
trees, shrubs and spring bulbs, that it was time to put on their show.  They were all
in full bloom when we got the news yesterday, that we would have a few nights of
below freezing temperatures, along with some snow showers.
     Such betrayals of our promising springs are a fairly common occurrence in this
region.  Everything is beautiful one day, and the next morning it is all brown and lost
for another year.   The loss becomes all the more poignant as we reach an age which
makes us question how many more shows of spring we are likely to see.
     I did go out last night and stumble around in the twilight, picking a few daffodils,
tulips, forsythia and magnolia blossoms, to look at them a bit more closely again
before they were gone.  Today I photographed some of them.  Perhaps I will use
them as subjects for paintings, or perhaps not.  Life and Spring are both unpredictable.
Mother Nature doesn't offer us any guarantees.

Tired cowboy, ( composition study, No.3 )

                                            An original charcoal and pastel drawing, on Strathmore paper
                                            14 X 11" unframed - ( mat size, 19 X 16" )
                                             $75.00,  ( plus $10.00, pack and ship )


                                                           ( click on image to enlarge )

     Art collectors sometimes enjoy seeing the preliminary drawings and studies
which artists use, to work out problems of composition in a painting, before the artist
starts on the canvas.  This is one I did for the previously posted painting called
Saddle Weary.  This drawing is a bit more fully developed than most quick studies.
In this one I was working on some ideas about the color and the lighting of the subject,
to create a more dramatic use of shadow, and better contrast of tonal values.

     A finished painting is a final summation of an artist's efforts to express something
about his subject, using all of the skill and craftsmanship at his command, to make it
look effortless and natural, with none of the difficulties showing.  A preliminary
drawing such as this one perhaps lets the viewer have a glimpse into the mind of the
artist at work, looking for some solutions to the problems he poses.  But of course
there is never one perfect solution, there is only the constant quest.  Leonardo da Vinci
said that he continued his studies in bed in the dark of night, retracing in his mind, the
outlines of the forms which he had previously studied, particularly those which had
appeared the most difficult to comprehend.