Thursday, August 03, 2006

Shovel


As they do every year the city is digging out our settlings ponds next to my house so the water will drain efficiently to our water table. Pain in the ass noise wise, but and easy to get to subject after 5:00, just had to hop the fence. 8x 10 oil on linen.

28 Comments:

Blogger Bill Alger said...

Wow! Beautiful.

But how did you know this thing wasn't going to come to life and attack you while you were painting it?

It looks like it very well might...

8:45 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

I was scared, to many Jack Kirby comics. ;-)
Thanks for stopping by, very cool (Al Wiseman) Dennis the Menace site you have.

8:59 PM  
Blogger Mitch said...

I agree with Mr. Alger.

Reminds me of a brontosaurus.

1:32 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Your right! It's like that frame in Fantasia the moment before the Brontosaurus jerks his head up because he hears the T- Rex off in the distance.

2:13 AM  
Blogger limbolo said...

Especially like these 'non-picturesque' pieces.

6:11 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I like this a lot. I love sketching machines, cars, trucks, there's something abstract in them that I still can't figure out why I love drawing them.
Beautiful William.

6:46 AM  
Blogger Miles Thompson said...

anorther very cool painting my friend - you are hitting a stride and i love it...KICKING BEAUTIFUL ASS!

9:02 AM  
Blogger Karen Jacobs said...

Yes! to all the above comments... your work seems to be evolving even as I read, or maybe I'm understanding it more. KJ

9:09 AM  
Blogger glamaFez said...

I don't know what the spindly rectangular thing in the distance is, but it reminds me of other distant background objects in your paintings and is one of the things that I enjoy about them the most. There's magic in those things.

12:07 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Thank you Neil, funny how in a way there is more life to a machine that a tree.

2:18 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2:36 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2:38 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2:40 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Stef.
They are an abstract form of life in a painting or drawing. All man made things are Frankenstein's creations after a fashion. So the design another artist puts into the things you're drawing is worthy of study and it's especially interesting in context to other man made objects in relation to each other. I call it the colliding design theory. The artist impulse is to organize all these overlapping designs into something new and coherent. I just made this up, but it sounds good.

4:43 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Miles , it only I was kicking my stride and hitiing some ass.

7:30 PM  
Blogger Steven LaRose said...

Its funny, my eyes flickered all over, checking out the sky first. Interesting and successful ballance of opaque blue on thin orange to get that glow. I was logging it in my memory. Staring. When my eyes landed on my favorite moment. The tinted glass of the cab! It is always amazing to pull off transluscence without a glaze. Cheers.

10:14 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Steven, Yes the glass moment was a good one. If you don't get those bits with the first try , It's never as good.

10:46 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

KJ said...
Yes! to all the above comments... your work seems to be evolving even as I read, or maybe I'm understanding it more. KJ

thanks KJ-- Your right about that last night my latest went expressionistic. I was have trouble make subtle colors work so I just pushed it out of frustration and decided I liked it and went with the flow.

11:23 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

glamaFez said...
I don't know what the spindly rectangular thing in the distance is, but it reminds me of other distant background objects in your paintings and is one of the things that I enjoy about them the most. There's magic in those things.

thanks G-that was part of the shovel, a magic handrail so the old wizard won't fall down.

11:26 AM  
Blogger Steven LaRose said...

Hey William, thanks for the comment/input/crit etc. I'm gonna respond late tonight. Man, you are fast on the posts. The main reason I'm writing right now is that my Comics Journal just came in the mail this morning. I cracked it open and BAM there was this painting by comic book super kid R. Kikuo Johnson. I thought you should see it. (Keep in mind this image is a scan of a magazine printed picture of a photo of the painting. . .)

2:26 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Steven,
Yeah I'm in studio a lot right now , getting ready for a show, so it's easy to jump back and fourth from the easel to the keyboard.

I'm kind of over comics, but I liked his little painting. thanks for showing it to me.
Urban is coming in...

2:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning, William.
I need to find me a sky like that. Maybe if I would just face in the other direction, or move outdoors. I am in the studio a lot these days too... hmmmm

4:37 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Robin that sky is a 50/ 50 deal, inspired by nature, but syylized be me.

5:55 PM  
Blogger Bagel said...

nice one. your paintings make me miss my home town of LA. specially in the summer

4:12 PM  
Blogger tonypetersart said...

I especially like the cropping, excellent composition. And the dark silhouette of the backhoe (digging machine) reads very strong. You handled that sky very well, you always make good use of your under-painting.

8:46 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

You miss the summer heat?!!?

9:28 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Tony, I got a kick out of your new paintiing a real departure for you.

11:02 PM  
Blogger A. Riabovitchev said...

Beautiful picture!:O)

11:03 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home