Radical Impressionist: A Mathematician Paints

The canyons of Ghost Ranch and Chama River are an hour’s drive from my Santa Fe home and I try to go there to paint as often as possible. This was the home of Georgia O’Keeffe. Sometimes I try to channel her style but more often I tend to want to use more color and also to use a Palette Knife (or knives).  I like the feel of working with a knife and you can judge for yourself but the results are often better for me. So, I have done a series of canyon color paintings recently primarily using palette knife. This is of the first large ones (18x24). I actually took some liberty with a nearby ‘canyon’, Diablo Canyon, just up the road from me. Its rock formation consists of tones of grey rather than the colors of the Ghost Ranch area. But I enhanced the color to reflect the early light of dawn to arrive at this: Diablo Canyon, Morning Glow, 18x24, oil. This sold at the Marigold Arts Gallery in Santa Fe. I then continued with he theme, but this time in my chosen venue of Cham...

As I continue to pursue the underlying Mathematics in my painting I also am exploring making changes to my techniques. Not only will I consider the mathematical construction of my composition but also the juxtaposition of the abstract with the concrete.  This blog post will explain my use of a watercolor-like, abstract underpainting combined with the more concrete use of shapes with palette knife. Two years ago I observed the watercolor/pastel technique of Albert Handell and was intrigued. I finally tried this technique with oils alone, using Cobra's water-mixable oils.  At first I applied the paint thinly mixed with sufficient water. Then I began to paint primarily using a palette knife but also utilizing a brush for different effects, with thicker paint on top of the (dried) thin layer. These are my first two paintings based on this technique: both paintings were done with the assumption of the coloring of sunset during stormy skies. Sandias' Stages: The Sandias is ba...