Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Lot





We've been back from the Gold country paint out for a few days, but I have trying to catch up on work so it's been hard to find time to reply to letters and post about the show. I still don't have copies of the paintings I did either, but will do a blog on the show when I get them.
The painting above is one of my around town backyard series I'm doing. 12x16 oil. This was photographed on a dull day during one of our bike rides, but I tried to overcome that flat light with an understated richness and variety of color. I tried taking my own advice on this one and changing colors from life that didn't translate well into a painting. Often we get locked into our reference or view and are to literal in our interpretations. I hope I "walked the walk" here.

24 Comments:

Blogger Chris Ousley said...

Yes indeed! Love the lavender against the distant hills. Red flowers are a nice intro into this painting.

4:09 PM  
Blogger rob ijbema said...

that is a beautiful grey day bill,beautiful...

4:48 PM  
Blogger BoneDaddy said...

I like that lonely little patio chair sitting by the broadside of that...garage?
Anyway, give me a guitar and jug of Mountain Dew, I could fritter away the day on that chair.

5:27 PM  
Blogger slimjohnson said...

WW: I really like the way you've repeated those little orange (flowers) and rust colors that lead us in and spot us around the painting. Really nice work!!

8:23 PM  
Blogger Cara said...

Wonderful painting. I rememebr playing in vacants lots as a young girl - now there is almost no such thing anymore. How sad...

I appreciated your text. I suffer terribly from literalism. I find it hard to break free of what my eye see and allow for interpetation based on emotion rather than eyesight.

I hope this is a curable condition -

10:54 AM  
Blogger Stefan Nuetzel said...

At the first glance this picture doesn´t look so spectacular but then, these muted colors draw you in and lead you to the white chair where you want to sit until the rain comes.
A great piece, William!

1:14 PM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

I agree with what everyone else said but I'll make an additional observation. The power lines, something I might have unconsciously left out, add a certain drama and depth.

My blog is sick today. I hope it responds to medication later on.

2:19 AM  
Blogger Chloe Cumming said...

Your paintings make me want to go and photograph America!

You seem to be able to distill things that to me seem like 'the whole point' of painting a thing.

I love the red flowers.

9:37 AM  
Blogger tonypetersart said...

Sweet painting man, nice harmony. The foreground is a nice contrast from that turbulant sky.

3:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wonderful backside. I think you will be in the Guiness book of records as to the most Do Not Enter signs you have disregarded.

10:43 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks C.! I love those little California native poppies or whatever they are.

10:54 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Rob I'm kind of happy with it...

4:15 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

cdr-- breaking away form reference comes with confidence and confidence come with mastery of your media-- Workshops darling-- I took a whole bunch of them and will take more.

12:19 AM  
Blogger Urban Barbarian said...

Kicks ass! Strong and confident. Looks like you saw something and masterfully executed your vision. If there was any indecision you hid it well. Everything looks well laid out and crafted.

8:03 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey BG that's a cinderblock wall-- I imagine quite a bit of drinking does go on there.

12:25 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

slim J-- that was a big part of what sparked me to take a picture---

12:26 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

stefan-- Gald I could sneak up on you.

12:27 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Tom-- yeah they point to where I want you to look too.

10:27 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

chloe thanks-- it took me a long time to believe I could make real paintings about the normal stuff around me. for a long time I thought I'd need to go into a time machine or something to find interesting subject matter.

10:29 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thatks Tony-- I owe it all to you.

10:30 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Robin--- I should have been keeping a record.

10:31 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Dan, like most of the ones I like, it came out pretty fast--

10:32 PM  
Blogger Ryan Khatam said...

dude, it's awesome. you're really kicking ass. i love the flowers in the field.

3:48 PM  
Blogger sandy said...

I really really like this one.

11:53 AM  

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