Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fishing Boat New Hazard..finished


"New Hazard"
12" X 16" Oil on Canvas
All finished up with the New Hazard. You know...painting a scene like this takes me forever because of the boat and surrounding details. No matter how hard I try to loosen up to speed things up it just doesn't happen. I almost hated this painting after working two days on everything but the water. I'd paint for a couple of hours and then walk away to get away from it. It got to be like hating to get back to painting it each time I stopped. Some paintings are like that though....not just marine paintings. Still, in general, marine work always take much longer to work on for me. I paint the water last so I can hardly wait to get to that point, haha.
I'm always reminded when painting marine scenes that you just don't have much control over your "style" of painting. Your painting "style" is governed by the painting gods and not you. I used to look over the marine (and cityscape) works of a painter friend of mine from Canada named Brian Simons. I absolutely love his loose, effortless style of work and drool looking at his boats and harbor scenes. Brians' work has that fresh look of a painter who is at the top of his game and the work looks vibrant and spontaineous. I used to wish I could paint in his style, or that style..any style that had that look. But....you don't make your own style the way you want it. It just comes out of you subconciously. I like to think that "your style is what happens while you're busy painting". So, I don't worry about how my marine work looks anymore, I worry about not painting more of them.
I'll let this one sit and dry and take another good long look at it to see if there will be need for improvements somewhere that I don't see at this moment. I'm happy!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Great job Ron. Love it.

Ron Guthrie said...

Thanks Mick! I appreciate you checking it out and your comments too.

Suetois said...

I started reading this post, got to your first mention about wishing your style was looser, and thought, "His style is perfect for this subject." For starters, it's recognizably you. Everybody seems to want to be more spontaneous, but then we'd all look alike. I think the real key is to make it look effortless even if you're sweating blood to get that effect. IMO the contrast between the gritty, rusty, detail of the New Hazard and the silvery light on the water is what makes this painting.

Sue

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Sue,
Thanks for the comments. I guess all painters see others work that they wish they painted like...only natural I suppose. I like that whole look that Brian is doing but I don't think I'll ever paint the such a manner.

I paint the way I do so I worry less about painting in another style and concentrate on just trying to make my painting get better as I go along.

Thanks for all of the good words Sue.

Christine Brallier said...

I took a look at Brian's work and I love his bright colors and energy. What I love about your work is the peacefulness of your scenes. They make me feel so calm and happy. Two different styles, both wonderful. Still planning on visiting your studio. Be sure to send me an invite!

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Christine,
I look at his work and feel like he just walked up, set up his easel and painted the scene in an hour or so. I love the idea of that but no way could I do that at this point, haha. I have to settle for my studio sessions to get it one.

Thanks for the cool comments Christine. I'm glad you like the feel the work gives you. Calm and happy both work!

I'll email you soon about the show.

Christopher Volpe said...

Fantastic - This has such a great feel. It dazzled the viewer because, I think, the palette is so restrained and the lion's share of this is in the neutral value / gray family, but the subtle differences SING - the perfect tonalities and textures of the boat and the water - and just marvelously subtle touches of additional color throughout. Brava Ron.

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Christopher...(hey, that's my middle name!),
I'm really glad you mentioned the variations in greys. One of the things that slowed me down in painting this one was making sure that I varied the greys throughout the painting...and there were a lot of them so a lot of mixing and you're right...keeping the mixes as subtle as possible. Your mentioning them makes the effort worth while! Thanks a lot for that brother.
Ron

william wray said...

liking the boat paintings Ron-- Been a while-- nice to take the tour.