Art, Nature & Soul #46

Earlier this year, summer 2020, I was able to attend the MONET Exhibit at the Art Institute Chicago. Having been creating art since I was a young child & having been in the art, design & custom framing business low these 35 years past, I’ve come to understand that art is a lifelong pursuit, passion & learning experience. Currently on my larger more detailed artworks I’ve been doing more layering of color, especially in my mixed media pieces. Having got up close & studying these master works of Monet’s, I observed, that from a distance, like in a photo our eyes averages the image to their beauty, but that viewing just inches from the surface and having done some reading on the subject, discovered they are but layered amounts of pattern and paint done not, for the most part, in one sitting(alla prima), but many outdoor sessions (en plein air)and finishing up in the studio. As with all things, I’ve taken a more unconventional way of achieving my own goals, in observation and in execution, and in this case a more abstract realistic approach in my artwork, thus ‘Stairway to Heaven’ lyric is constantly playing in my head. But alas, here we are .

“If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
Don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on
And it makes me wonder”

Zeppelin (Songwriters: Jimmy Page / Robert Plant)

I work from life, photos & my imagination. In this case I took 5 different photos and created the desired composition and dynamic you see here. Each of the photos had different elements I wanted to show and express, from the varied flowers, color & shapes, to the grown over path that runs through the center of the piece. From creating the composition, until its completion took about 3 weeks. It’s all about the layered in mediums and the slow build, in these type works.

In this piece I wanted both the muted undertones, as well as the bright light high key ones. I began, as always with a drip and splatter underpainting, this one in an acrylic prism violet. Then, using a brush, laid in the colors intended, taking my palette knife and blending them together, to a muted coloration, while blocking in shapes, thus creating the preliminary composition to build off of. Once achieved, several palette knives, scratching tools, brushes and tissues were used to move the the paint around to create the image of a natural flower garden. Ebony pencil & 18k gold pen were used to enhance line and give depth. Oil pastel was then used to give more texture, color & pattern, enhancing the broken color and giving the more free design elements of scribble. My trademark of 18k gold leaf was laid in at the top, in the path as light hitting the edge. Taking my palette knife and pure color straight from the tube, I moved about the canvas dropping in bright happy color, thus scratching in my signature, it was complete & posted on social media.

*Me~ Woke up about 1:30am and couldn't get back to sleep, rolled out of bed about 2:30am...had some tea, read some Vonnegut and completed this 48"x24" mixed media piece, but it needs a title, any ideas???

One of the many, many responses was from a collector of my artwork. While I had been reading Vonnegut’s ‘Bluebeard’ ( a tongue in cheek romp through the abstract expressionist movement of the 50s) earlier that morning….Chris’s sentiments reminded of another of K.V.s novels.~

Chris G.

“Visions of Vonnegut. Very cool.”

In 79’-80’ish I read 'Slapstick' it was my first Kurt Vonnegut read. I was immediately hooked. If you haven't read it, it's a futuristic tale in which all the people of the world are assigned middle names, of flowers randomly. Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain, is the main character. Which ever flower you are, connects you to all the other like flowers, as family, so you are never alone. I'm partial to sunflowers, so that makes me Richard Sunflower-1 Sperry. What’s your flower? Are we family? Here’s where we all gather, mingle and dance, in the sun and a light breeze. After some thought a variation was settled on.

'Vonnegut's Garden' 48"x24" framed (a white traditional frame, as seen or a more contemporary clean line, black frame, its your choice) mixed media on canvas, $2400.oo. (plus a complimentary mini-me 12" square oil of your choice a $350.oo value). Message me with further questions on how this can be acquired. It can be shipped. (free mini-me of your choice with purchase of ‘Vonnegut’s Garden’ expires 12/31/2020)

preliminary underpainting, an abstract

Vonnegut’s Garden/completed

Center detail

framed in a traditional white, though a contemporary clean line black, works well too.

a more contemporary, clean line, black frame

Art, Nature & Soul #45

*For me, the best thing about Facebook, has been connecting with friends and family, meeting new people from all over the country and even more so, the world. Early November last year 2019, one of my Facebook friends, an artist in France, posted that her grandson had passed on. I was moved, even more so feeling compelled by an overwhelming sense of compassion to create a memoriam, a tribute, a painted 'Homage to Francis' , her grandson, a person I did not know, for a person I know only through Facebook. I gathered from her posts the information needed, hoping to honor his life, in some small way, from the brief glimpse I was allowed to share in. My greatest desire was to convey that when a young person is taken so soon, when they pass on, that you are not alone, for the whole world mourns with you and for them. To create a visual assertion that sometimes what may look like the sun setting, is really the sun rising. To say, we are one, of one world, one love, and in this oneness that we are not separate, but completely, utterly and powerfully connected...always.

After gathering images & info to work from, I choose a 36” square stretched canvas and did a tonal drip & splatter in prism violet as a base color in which to do my preliminary figure sketch & wash upon. Using my oils blocking in the shapes, the figure began to emerge. I tend to work wet in wet, however in this piece some dry brush enhancement and details were added over time. Next, using ebony pencil & 18k gold marker, a bit of graffiti was added in both word and symbols. Each symbol & word, were meaningful additions to the memoriam. Some were direct pieces of information & images from his life. A few like a victor Hugo quote, important dates, his name FRANCIS, were all carefully added, as were the symbolic imagery, such as my trademark figure 8 or mobius strip, representing eternity. Also the signature addition of 18k gold leaf was added toward it’s completion. In this case, depicting the soul as an angel. A multitude of others exist within the composition if one takes the the time to look for them and ponder their meaning, as does the expression on his face suggest. As usual I tried not to over think my approach, but let my emotions & more intuitive instincts prevail.

"I say that on the tomb , which on the dead closes - Open the firmament . - And what here below we take for the end - Is the beginning ." ~Victor Hugo

Upon completion, I contacted & messaged my Facebook friend showing & telling her what I had done and affirming that it was painted with the utmost respect & love, asking permission to post it. She responded~

“Many thanks dear Richard for your paint , I like very much your hommage of Francis , je vais partager”

J.R.-R.

The response was a success & overwhelming, the ‘Homage to Francis’ seemed to speak to and reach the hearts of those I had hoped to.

Art should speak volumes to the time in which its created, to the thoughts, the people, & places of those fleeting moments we call life. My sincerest hope is that this piece does.

As always your comments are welcome.

~Richard

'Homage to Francis' 36"x36" mixed media on canvas

Homage to Francis’

Detail

Art, Nature & Soul #43

Mini-Me’s~Are a more raw & direct approach to my painting. Most certainly completed in one sitting, they assert & express, my more intuitive & free associative natures. These are the pieces I most experiment with, pushing the color combos, textures & general approach, with a matter-of-fact intent …Alla-Prima.

Playing in the paint, immersed in the color, & bathing in the light, my tools are ready to translate the world around me. I had in the past been working on various size canvas/panels for these smaller artworks, but this year I’ve decided to stick to the 12'“ square panel format, as I had a great carrier created for traveling with them. Initially intended for my Plein air works, it also works as a perfect drying rack. Working mostly from my own photo references, life, imagination & plein air work, over this past year, as the pandemic has limited my abiltity to travel and get new references. Recently, I have on occassion also incorperated, when inspired, Facebook friends & family, photos, as references for these studies. Usually a big no-no for me, as I have always worked from & used my own experiences & references in previous years. Now, though, inspiration is sweet inspiration, besides I’m not a literal interpreter of the more realistic.

My aresenol of supplies & tools, are an expanded palette, of color, color & more color. Having learned the limited palette of Rembrandt near 3 decades ago and knowing how to expand the color variety within that limit of, Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre & Venetian Red, I now challenge myself to create, blend, layer & mix new colors, to push the palette to a sublte extreme. As stated I’m using panel, ‘Richeson 12”x12” gessoed hardboard to paint on, for the most part. Then a variety of brushes, palette knives, scratching tools, sculpting tools, make-up applicators, kleenex, my fingers, medium & finishing varnish.

These artworks can be framed or placed on an easel, as they are. They are small, so they are easy and inexpensive to ship. Whether a collector, or new to the scene, they’re a great way to expand or start an art collection.

As always, feel free to comment or contact me if interested in acquiring a ‘SPERRY’ original.

Thank you

Richard Sperry

Art, Nature & Soul #42

My Muse~Beginning about 10 years ago, my daily routine included a 5-10 minute, morning quick sketch. A doodle or drawing of a facebook friend, from some photo they’d posted. It was usually a person or animal, that would catch my attention. The idea was to force me to see, apply an automatic drawing sensibility, to how I saw and put it down on paper without over thinking it. It was great fun and the results were an enlightening excersize. Sometimes their natural state of beauty & vulnerablility, being of both a physical & emotional presence, captures my attention & imagination. Such is the case with Nathan, which began with a simple gesture, a line sketch of his face, that exudes an uncanny depth of character & soulfulness, you know “je ne sais quoi”.

After contacting Nathan and getting his permission to continue drawing him, I found a beautiful person & compelling subject in him, and so I began painting him as well. What intrigues us, compells us to create. Faces are always of great interest and intrigue to me. They have the possibility to speak volumes in a single look. The soulfull eyes of a free spirit penetrate all, in their gaze. A unique nose has always fascinated me, as well…Personality, with a fearless zest for life, he wears every piercing, gage, tattoo and line in his face as a triumphant and well earned, battle scare of sorts, in some unwritten tribal & communal right of passage. For all those who take the road less traveled, he seems to say, “this way, I’ll leave a trail.”

From simple line drawings in pencil and pen & ink to portrait studies in acrylic and oil, my muse captured my imagination. So, we’d work a pose as I began to paint full figures, as well, some in real space and others in imagined. At one point I painted him more realistic, but in an abstract space, in oil, then still another, and finally merging him in one more piece, more recently, a comtemporary abstract realist painting, a mixed media, all with my signature mark of 18k gold. Drawing and painting someone, over and over again, is really a quite intimate affair, whether admitted or not. It reveals as much about the artist as the subject, again reuntiting my inner rebel & my former youth. What I have realised most, is that I have a unique & ever distinct way of seeing, one that goes back to middle school, of my first recollection. It seems, more than a likeness, but a way of capturing the essence & energy, of the true spirit of that person of interest. It’s with much gratitude, to all those who serve as inspiration and models for my imagination that I say thank you, with special recognition & appreciation for having served for many, many years as my muse, Nathan…one of the beautiful people.

As always, feel free to comment & ask questions,

~Richard

Nathan

Art,Nature & Soul #41

I was working at a higher end art gallery & frame shop, & had taken a brief 4 year respit from painting, to learn the business well, & from trying to make my mark on the world. HA! Toward the end of 2004, we took a trip to Bar Harbor, Maine, third week of October. It was B-E-A-U-T-F-U-L. I’d not uttered that word, that often, before or since. I think it was, in part, the fall colors and light were especially spectacular that year. In any case I began painting some more post impressionist landscapes, some with figures, in oil. I’ve always embraced experimentation in my artwork & have a had a great many influences, from both the living and dead artists club. Before long I was getting in the groove, again. About a year later, a loved one took ill & in a few short months, passed on. During this time, with these things happening simultaneously, I had begun a series of paintings, that would change the direction of my life.

Being the highly sensitive person I am, and with a departure from my regular post impressionist work, I began drawing on some ideas and techniques I began playing with 15 years prior. Cathartically, as a therapy, the drip & splatter beginnings are my way of finding and getting in touch with the rhythms of nature…life. Hence, nearly all my artwork begins with a tonal colored, drip and splatter,base coat of paint. Utilzing acrylic paints, in layered glazes, then incorporating both irridescent & interference paints, that both reflect the color and refract the light, the process becomes a meditaton as the layers are applied. Using primarily earth tone paints, both brush and palette knive were used to create some of the pattern and the more representational aspects of the composition. An abstract with a horizon line, plus both drip & splattered opaque colors were used over the more translucent ones. My emotions were high, when not caring for my friends health, I worked on these artworks, creating 6 pieces in my sorrow and grief. He passed on and I completed the series, soon after.

I suppose the imagery & symbols, are obvious to most. The tree of life, transendence and the oneness of being, all life connected, stardust and collective unconsiousness. Oddly, in hindsite, the image created was one I had concieved when I was about 13, during the passing of another loved one. So, I brought them in to the art gallery, I worked at, all 6 sold in an unsually short time & I was in in awe. My mantra became “Just do it, with pride” and I began daily painting and marketing of my artwork. All of us, everyone of us is worthy of being and doing whatever it is we want from life & there’s an audience for each of us. Time is fleeting, there are no guarnatees. If you have a notion to be someone more then your are now, to create, to dance, to paint, to write, if you have a song in your heart, let it out. The worst that can happen, is you will have created something, the best thing will be that you’ve shared yourself, your humanity with someone else.

Feel free to ask questions or comment,

Richard

‘Transitions 1’ 68”x56” framed acrylic, Sold, in private collection

Art, Nature & Soul #40

Contemporary Abstract Realism~Again, I turn to Fractals, like patterns within patterns, where as the echoe creates & defines the whole of the big picture. Chaos, is the unlike variable within all scenarios, that are inevitable, if not invited. Here I’ve created a composition using representational images, landscape, buidings, and figures, breaking them down to their essential elements to create a more abstract expressionist composition. A bit of grafitti, drawing and words have been layered within, to provide both context and a more contemporary image. Where by, each viewing, can be a new discovery for the viewer.

This is a commissioned piece, entitled, 'Gold On the Green' at 74.5" x 50.5" and has been delivered and hung in its new home. It was a challenging piece, based on the St. Andrews Golf Course, Scotland. If you look closely, you'll find the City of St Andrews, the old clubhouse, a monolith, the Swilcan Bridge, 2 golfers, a map of the the old, new and adjacent courses and numerous golf terms , written in throughout. This piece took months of building up, and tearing down, to create a contemporary, yet desired balance between representational and abstract qualities. It now hangs in the collectors game room, which has an ample play area and a mini-golf course, taboot.

It's a mixed media piece, where the the splash of 18k gold leaf, has become my trademark signature of sorts, in these type artworks. I began by layering acrylic paint, including both interference & irridescents, in my drip & splash manner. Then began adding oil, blocking in shapes & color. Glazing over to knock down, having to many literal representational figures, leaving just a suggestion. Then added oil pastel for enhanced contrast and line. Ebony pencil is used to add more line, symbols, maps, words and text within the layers. Finally 18k gold paint is used for enhanced line, 18k gold leaf is applied, then a final glaze, in this case, for added cohesion.

Al always your comments & quetions are welcome.

~Richard Sperry

‘Gold On The Green’ 74.5”x50.5” framed mixed media on canvas SOLD, (in private collection)

GOLD ON THE GREEN 72”x48” mixed media on canvas

DETAIL

Framed. in it’s new home.