When A Picture...

...isn't worth a thousand words, you have to blog about it. Here, I varnished my paintings that have fully dried for a year. Not only does the layer of varnish protect a work like a removable layer of sunscreen, but it unifies the surface into a perfect matte sheen. It is when I consider a painting fully finished, and along with a fresh coat of paint for the frames, it gives me goose bumps of pure joy.


But alas, the photo does no justice. So buy one, take it home on approval, and if it isn't worth a thousand words of pure joy to you, you children, or your children's children, I'll buy it back from you (or your children, or your children's children), plus shipping!

- jb boyd

Sometimes Things Don't Work Out...

...and you have to go to Plan B. Here is what is supposed to be a night time panoramic photograph.


Oh well. Plan B is solid, and if not, there is always Plan C. Anyone have a post hole digger???

- jb boyd

Looks Like I'm Done...

...dragging the ladder for a while. I've found the angle I want, so now the real photography can begin in earnest.


Methodically over the next ten days (and just in time to catch the full moon), I will catch high tides, low tides, bright light to moonlight.


This photograph represents the scale and scope of this series of paintings.

- jb boyd

After Painting In The Reflections...

...this painting is really coming to life.


There are still a few pink spots (from the tinted base layer) showing through, but as this layer will be covered by another, it is not expedient to worry about every last blade of grass. That's what the final layer is for!


Finally, because numbers to me are simply numbers, this pic should help show the scale of the works in progress. The smallest rectangle is a dollar bill. But if you are a numbers person, from top to bottom and in inches the dimensions are: 2.75 x 6, 2.75 x 16, and 8 x 60.

- jb boyd

After Beginning The Day...

...dragging a ladder through the mud, my day quickly was consumed by my computer.



An overdue website update is complete (so if you want a new screen saver, drag and drop it the "photos" section), more angles of Grey Bay are stitched together, emails answered, and prints ready for shipping. Life is good.



Except for Colin and his parents. They have the very hard choice to pick one of these three images for the saw. Colin photographed some amazing vistas along his Appalachian Trail trek...



Which one would you pick?

- jb boyd

Smaller Gets Bigger...

...when you work background to foreground.


It gets easier because you build a rhythm, even though the brushes don't get appreciably larger.


All shapes follow rules, and the more you understand them, the easier it is to replicate them.


But I am excited that this only the dress rehearsal, and the real show is still around the corner.

- jb boyd

Even By My Standards...

...this painting is coming along slowly.


Perhaps I have been distracted by photographing and photoshopping, hindered by my back being out of whack (minor ladder accident) and having to spend a significant amount of time on the studio floor to pull and pry the discomfort out, or maybe I should just reevaluate my standards.


I am a slow painter. I started numbering my paintings in 1998. Fourteen years later and I am approaching 100 landscapes.


Yup, this painting is right on schedule!

- jb boyd

Over The Past Week...

...I have been scouting out the location for my next series of paintings. The subject is Grey Bay, the body of water surrounded by marsh.


At low tide, the bay is nearly empty, except for the exposed oyster beds, while at high tide (and on a calm day), the bay is a glassy reflection pool.


This series of paintings will mimic the range of these photos, from low to high tide, full sun to moonlit.


But right now is all about finding the right angle, and once that is settled, I can really refine the mood, tide, and overall feel for each reference image.


Tomorrow though will once again be about dragging my ladder through the mud to find that perfect angle...

- jb boyd

Photorealism...

...is an often overused term, but in this case it may be apt. The photorealists of the 70's set out to make paintings that replicated photographs exactly.


I usually use photos to capture the chaos and detail of nature, avoiding the gross generalities of plein air paintings. But this little painting is more of the former and less of the later, as I am using only a photo for reference.


The funny thing is our eyes work like a shallow depth of field camera lens, but our brains are quick to compensate to make whatever we want to focus on be in focus. Here, the focus is the foreground orchid, so I painted the background, stem, and second flower wet so the edges are soft and blurry.


Using a razor I can cut or "erase" the flower on top, and painting it over the dry background the front edges remain sharp. Now all that is left is to let these petals dry and paint the next on top, keeping those sharp edges too.

- jb boyd

I Started This Painting...

...perhaps back in May while I was finishing "ul 98 (so real)." It is the first of the three remaining Grey Bay landscapes. I adored the composition, but the companion piece, a nighttime moonlight view of the same scene, scared me on a technical level.


Instead of making this a centerpiece for my then upcoming show, I hid it in storage to be completed at a later date.


Hello today! And if all lines up right, this may end up being my 100th landscape painting, which, bear with me, I may turn into a very big deal, cause, well, I can! I think?...

- jb boyd