I Thought Half The Fun...

…of making paintings of water would be getting to go swim an count it as "work." Sadly, getting drilled in the face by oncoming waves gets old pretty quick.


But I must say it does beat the swarms of no-see-ums that lurk in the marsh, so this is not a complaint. And each new challenge necessitates new approaches. This time, a waterproof white balance card is my new favorite solution, pictured here floating behind me:


White balance cards rock because they tell your camera what the temperature of light is, resulting in fairly accurate colors, which is key, especially in the changing light of dawn and dusk. Try it at home by dragging out your camera's manual and looking up "custom white balance" in the index, then use a sheet of white paper for your card. You may be amazed at the results, especially in low or indoor lighting. But the real hero here is my now not so new waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof (aka JB-proof) camera.


Without using this available technology, I'd never be able to take on the level of detail that I try to maintain in my paintings. Or I could, but I would have to spend half a lifetime on one subject (google Venice water paintings or better yet, visit the Getty next time you are near LA), and what is the fun of that? Speaking of my other half of fun, back to painting!


- jb boyd

When Asked...

...what I would do when I finished the big painting of Aspen trees, I would deadpan, "Get drunk for a week" without skipping a beat. I did get drunk that night (thank you friends for the very memorable fourth), but was back in the studio the next morning, err, afternoon. With my solo show upcoming, I've been at it since, morning noon and night. The upside of having a jumbled schedule is usually catching both the sunset and sunrise. Most mornings I can be found out in ocean, photographing the water before the wind picks up.


The downside of such a schedule is that you lose all sense of time. And unfortunately, I also forgot to blog. But I will remedy that over the next few weeks. Here is the first of the larger paintings for the September show.


It is a first layer underpainting, so the hues are bumped in value. The next layer will be softer and more defined, but the colors below influence the subsequent layers.


- jb boyd

The End.

Yup, that says it all.


But before I go, Stuart and Val, you deserve a special thank you. Thank you for your continued patronage. Thank you for leaving two spots in your then yet to built home. Thank you for then commissioning four. Thank you for never asking when they would be done, even though your house was. Thank you for paying well before it was done, when I was tiring of ramen noodles and pb&js. But mostly, thank you for your faith in me and what I do. Without that, this would not be a painting today. It would not even be an idea for a painting. Instead, it is ul 98 (so real).

Woo hoo!

- jb boyd

And Then There Was One.

- jb boyd

Despite My Steadfast Refusal...

...to consider anything but the completion of the big tree painting, time marches on and my show in September looms over the horizon. So besides taking a ton of photography, I have slowly begun working on the show pieces in the gaps of working on trees. Here are the first studies to be completed, and as illustrated, my show in September will deal almost exclusively with the subject of water.


- jb boyd

The (Almost) Last of the Leaves...

...are in! I say almost because I missed at least two, and a few more might pop up, but oh well.


Filling in the details is always rewarding, especially here where the "wrap" of the leaves around the tree makes the spaces appear truly three dimensional.


Once these leaves are dry I will tackle the last of the trees.


Then, dare I may say it, I will be done!


- jb boyd

Two Trees...

...plus a couple of branches to go! And the best part? I get to paint in the last of the leaves today, wrapping the trees in their bright bits of color and suspending them in their respective spaces. More pics to follow...



- jb boyd

Five Trees...

...to go!


- jb boyd

With The Bulk Of Leaves Completed...

...I thought the hardest part behind me. Alas, I forgot that each branch requires two lines tapering towards a finite point, and so I could not put away the little brushes.


Each section is also a maze of lines requiring one to be painted on top of the next, creating depth on one hand, but also creating the puzzle of how not to drag an errant finger or palm through a wet branch while painting another.


So I continue to plod along, but with each area completed and each night at the easel (the detail above being one of both), the painting steadfastly moves towards its completion.


- jb boyd

Delinquent Post

Unfortunately, my hard drive crashed and I have been busy getting it back up to date. But in that process I found a few photos that were meant for posting, but got ignored.


This is a detail from the bottom-center-right of the painting.


This is the same section, after a solid day's work.


Once again, the same section after three days in the studio. The pace is grueling, but at least the leaves are finally almost filled in.


And here they are filled in. Now I am off to paint branches!

- jb boyd