Happy New Year

Studio Update:  

My studio is back in order after a small explosion in my building. I sleep well at night and the owners have been stellar. All is good here.

My first year in New York has been very productive:

Artemis is complete and she fills me with joy every time I glance her way. Negotiations are ongoing for a substantial price and I am hopeful for a good outcome for her soon.

I have produced 17 art tutorials online, which are about seeing art in a fresh way. The response has been great, many artists have thanked me for my generosity and, I think, the tutorials go a long way towards establishing my expertise in art. The site has gotten over 35,000 page requests. I am not much for charts but the below is kind of cool.

I continue to work slowly on developing Venus.  I believe I need about 2 months of uninterrupted time and total non-stop focus to finish her. My lighting and color concepts are different for every painting I make therefore there is no exact formula on how to proceed. In some ways I think my process is like a good scientist's; project what you think will work and then check, double check, then triple check the results against the reality of real life and the reality of 2d painting.

Diving too soon into finishing details can be a time consuming disaster, my approach is to juggle with tones and colors in a general way and then have the forms emerge into focus. For example I recently changed the silhouette of the mountains behind her--they had been too symmetrically in relationship to the other more organic shapes in the overall composition.  In theory it's easy to get down on oneself for not having the foresight of a flawless clear-cut path but I think that is bollocks--as the artist I am bringing something new into existence--I simply accept that there will be bumps along they no matter how clearly laid the path is.

That said, I love where the painting is now. I have a sense of my lights and darks, I want to get more green in the middle tones of the rocks which are not hit directly by the light source. After that I think I have the green light for the finishing details across the board. I don't know if I will have details of animal trails in the mountains behind, but they will have quite a bit more detail. The rocks in front will get more detailed form. And though you can't see it here, I will make sure that the finishing touches on her face and hands are lovely. Undoubtedly, that will require some live model time.

Birdrock

Here are a few of the plein air paintings that I have been editing. I am getting very excited about my style beginning to develop. Plein air paintings are essentially oil sketches, immediate and quickly done. They are not meant to be highly realistic or polished, indeed that is quite impractical. There is so little time and sun doesn't help you by remaining still.

One aspect that I am bringing out is a unique color base for each painting. That is a huge challenge because there is not a set formula of color solutions to fall back on, rather I have to create new harmonies--but I enjoy that challenge a lot.

Gold Sweep

The Window

Hamilton Lake in California

Another aspect I am enjoying bringing out in these is a dynamic of the abstract forms. In these three you can see a play of diagonal shapes. Its as if the landscape and the light are zig-zagging.

Rift

Out West

I still have quite a few of landscapes awaiting the editing touches and I will bring them to you as soon as they are done!

Again, best wishes for a happy new year.

Michael Newberry
New York, January 6th, 2007