Sunday Service; St. Marks March 18, 2012

Moon Over St . Marks  8x6 oil/board

A few years ago I went on a Surreal Bounce Journey with Robert Eringer, and his imaginary friend, up to a little hamlet North of Santa Barbara called, Los Olivos. We traveled there to view the full Lunar Eclipse. The town has a, "No Street Lights" ordinance making the evening skies more enjoyable to view. This was one of three sketches I did that evening waiting for the big event.

The Blue Rider Vase of Flowers: Water Color Demonstration #8 March 15, 2012

Blue Vase of Flowers,  Water Colors

Teaching day: Working in watercolors with the wet on wet paint application, and the use of a single one-inch sponge brush.  The objective is to restrict the variety of color variations; and limiting the palette to a cool blue harmony.  All colors will be influenced by a some quantity of blue.

The Blue Rider  bu  Franz Marc

This is nothing original: 20th Century Expressionists France Marc and Wassily Kandinsky created paintings motivated by the colors based on this Blue Harmony...

Now, just put on some Rythem and Blues,  mix yourself a Bombay Sapphire Blue Martini, and then paint away the blues!

Watercolor Demonstration #7 Harmony in Yellow March 14, 2012

Vase of Flowers    14x11    water color on paper

Color Exploration: Harmony in Yellow.

The challenge: how to create a painting where all the colors have some quantity of yellow as an ingredient. 


Collection of the artist 

The Abstract Impulse March 12, 2012

Every representational painting begins with an abstract statement; poetic marks coming together in harmonious relationships. 


The Zen-like philosophy of saying more with less; one brush stroke instead of 50, is one way of insuring a lasting, lively vitality of a painting.


Pushing the paint around while using a large brush instead of a small one, also serves an artist technically; to let go of control, and make bigger statements. 


Using an abundance of paint; with some colors mixed on the palette, and some mixed directly on the canvas, is another way which is bound to invite greater possibility of accidental brush strokes emulating a glimpse of genius.


Get out of the way, be the channel for the life force to create through you, and beyond you.  Merely witness the process and celebrate the dance with paint.  

But remember, if one works too long, too fast, or too hard into their subject, the  original lively poetic abstract may turn in to a labored thesis that is prophetically painted in prose.

www.thomasvanstein.net

Sunday Service, Santa Cruz Island March 11, 2012

Moon  Over the Cross, S.C.I.  10x8 oil  2002

I found this JPeg of a painting I created around ten years ago when I went out to Santa Cruz Island to paint with the OAK Group. It's an honest rendition of the Moon, high over the giant red cross that rests on the grassy hill just above the Stanton Ranch.


For all I know the cross has been out there on the island since the 1860's, from a time when people lived more religiously and relied on the hope of God's support and guidance: they weren't afraid to see this symbol as a guiding light.


In the 21st Century, this symbol is offensive to many, and I am sure the ACLU would like to abolish it as Santa Cruz Island (except for the Stanton Ranch), is now controlled by the National Park Service.  

As an artist who sometimes lives life on the edge, the cross and what it symbolizes keeps and has kept me from going over the ledge.