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Artist R.L. Gibson

Tag: abstract painting

Watercolour 100417

watercolour 100417 (on 140 lb. paper, 5"x7") by R.L. Gibson
watercolour 100417 (on 140 lb. paper, 5″x7″) by R.L. Gibson

Any time I get new brushes is a good day.  4 hake brushes & 3 natural bristle chip brushes later, I had a glorious day of painting.  I’ve been struggling for a while now, but today was a break through inspired by Chinese brush painting. Landscape-y, I know.  Some days are just good days.  And this…

…this was a very good day.

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SEPT 2017: 30 Paintings in 30 Days

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offered me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice.

Here’s is a collage of all 30 Days of Paintings by R.L. Gibson…

30 Paintings in 30 Days by R.L. Gibson

DAY 30: Salvo

Salvo (5"x5" watercolor) by R.L. Gibson
Salvo (5″x5″ watercolor) by R.L. Gibson

We made it to Day 30 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge!  What a roller coaster it has been. Today’s painting is “Salvo” (watercolour, 5″x5″).  Last night’s show was fun, and I’m the speaker for a conference on getting into juried shows in an hour at Scarlet Seven Gallery.  And, then I will get on the road headed for home with another stop over in Pennsylvania.  Plus, it is the final day of the challenge.  I needed the work.  I needed the process.  I needed the rollercoaster.  Maybe I didn’t need to share it all so explicitly, but I did.  So there.  I feel like I have fired a canon into the world and wait with baited breath to feel the impact. An aggressive act of happy expectation.  I am guilty of that –choosing happiness.  It gets me in trouble.  So here I am.  Here it is.  Trouble.

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offered me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice. 

Until next time…

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DAY 29: Waft

"Waft" (6"x9" watercolour) by R.L. Gibson
“Waft” (6″x9″ watercolour) by R.L. Gibson

It is Day 29 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge; today’s painting is “Waft” (watercolour, 6″x9″).  I am on the road today driving from Pennsylvania to an art opening in New York.  All this time in the car has left me with a lot time to think.  I’ve done a lot of over sharing during this 30-Day Challenge.  I really took this challenge to force me to show my painting to a world that only knows me for xerography & digital illustration.  I didn’t expect to react quite the way I have.  On Day 27, I wrote of being sodden with overwhelming possibility.  Today I feel lighter.  The possibility feel lighter, allowing me waft through instead of sinking under the weight.  It is interesting how subtle the difference in feeling is and how equally subtle the difference between the work is on these two days.

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offers me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice. 

How do I end the challenge?  Day 30 is upon us.

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DAY 28: Murmur

Murmur (5"x5" watercolour) by R.L. Gibson
Murmur (5″x5″ watercolour) by R.L. Gibson

It is Day 27 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge; today’s painting is “Murmur” (watercolour, 5″x5″).  I am on the road from Virginia to Pennsylvania on my way to New York tomorrow for an art opening.  I am excited to have eight pieces in a show, and happier still to be able to attend the opening.  But, I have whispers of other work needling me.  I have all these paintings and that equivocal, nagging doubt about media that I don’t normally show to the world.  I have a new series of xerography work just budding, but I have to walk away for days to celebrate the work already here being shown. I’ve already been hyper-emotional mess this month; the last thing I need are these pulls at my artistic self that make me feel a little crazy –like voices murmuring.  But here I am anyway.  So, I’ll just make the art.  This is what murmuring feels like, fuzzy edges.  Happy with a shadow.

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offers me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice. 

I’m oversharing again.  I’ll try to reel it in on Day 28.

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DAY 27: Sodden

Sodden (6"x9" watercolour) by R.L. Gibson
Sodden (6″x9″ watercolour) by R.L. Gibson

It is Day 27 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge; today’s painting is “Sodden” (watercolour, 6″x9″).  After having such a hard time yesterday, I feel sort of, well, emotionally hung over.  Artistically, I am a little all over the place.  While I am trying to build a new xerography show, the work I’ve spent a lifetime developing, I am also trying to prove to myself that I’m not a one-trick pony by returning to paint.  Because I am struggling to redefine and elevate my new xerography, I find that any and all failure at painting causes swelling volumes of torturous self doubt.  I get so tied up in expectation that I end up a bit sodden with possibility

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offers me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice. 

We’re headed in the right direction… on to Day Twenty-Eight.

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DAY 25: Tenebrific

Tenebrific (5"x5" watercolour) by R.L. Gibson
Tenebrific (5″x5″ watercolour) by R.L. Gibson

It is Day 25 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge; today’s painting is “Tenebrific” (watercolour, 5″x5″).  I had a such a hard day; an icy blue ugly day.  Everyone has had one of those days.  A day when you would have been better off pulling the covers over your head and waiting out the next revolution of the earth.  This piece is that bottomless pool whose weight around your ankles keeps pulling you down while lulling your into complacency.  How do I find the surface?  Tomorrow is another day.

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offers me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice. 

Fingers Crossed Day 26 is better.

DAY 24: Slough

"Slough" (5"x5 watercolour) by R.L. Gibson

A month of painting is winding down. Or is it?  It is Day 24 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge; my offering is “Slough” (watercolour, 5″x5″).  This piece began as a study of complementary and split complementary color layering, and ended feeling like a sloughing off of previous days’ works.  I have struggled with this 30 days of painting while trying to build a larger series of works.   Allowing myself to produce bad work is necessary to break the need for perfectionism, but producing bad work doesn’t get easier.  I have produced some real stinkers this week that I haven’t shared.  With the challenge coming to a close, I realize that these daily paintings have been the bright spot in a frustrating struggle with my other larger work.  Maybe this is the beginning, not the end.

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offers me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice. 

Should I end the 30 Days by sharing larger work?

DAY 22: Broadcast

"Broadcast" (acrylic on paper 6"x6") by R.L. Gibson
“Broadcast” (acrylic on paper 6″x6″) by R.L. Gibson

I can’t believe I’ve made it all the way to Day 22 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge; my offering is “Broadcast” (acrylic on paper, 6″x6″).

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offers me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice.  This piece started as a technique study for a larger work.  I was testing my acrylic consistency for the alcohol disbursement, but I fell in love with the colors and forgot all about the bigger work, ha.  I am sort of in love with the pink, but it wasn’t intentional.  I got the pink when I was too impatient to let the cadmium red layer dry completely before adding the zinc white.  It is a beautiful accident.

Where should I go for day Twenty-Two?

DAY 21: Bosky

Bosky (5" x 5" watercolour) by Artist R.L. Gibson
Bosky (5″ x 5″ watercolour) by Artist R.L. Gibson

It is Day 21 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge; my offering is “Bosky” (watercolour, 5″x5″). 

As a xerographist, my work tends to be, almost exclusively, representational.  The 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge offers me an opportunity to revisit abstract painting as an alternate voice.  Limiting my palette often ends up informing content and composition.  Maybe we’ll visit the other end of the spectrum in the days to come.

Let’s see where watercolour takes us… on day Twenty-Two.

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