Saturday, October 9, 2010

Upcoming Art Show(s)

I have 2 shows coming up, and one of them is just around the corner. I'll be exhibiting at the Studio Gallery in San Francisco, from Oct. 13th-Nov. 7th. The reception will be this Saturday, the 16th, from 2- 6. There are 41 paintings focussed in three areas, the Sierra, the Grand Canyon, and local views and foliage studies. I've done 4 studio pieces for this show, and the rest were all done on location. An online catalog of the entire show is available here. Selecting 'view slideshow' allows you to see all the images without having to click on each one. Meanwhile, here's a few of the pieces that are in the Studio Gallery show with notes.

Black Butte Aspens I

Black Butte Aspens II
I spend a week in Oregon every year at a family reunion/vacation at Black Butte Ranch. It is one of the places I first started using pastels outdoors in the mid-90's. There is an enormous meadow in the middle of the property with a bicycle path running across it, bordered on the south side by small aspen groves. I have been whizzing by them on my bike for over 15 years, but this year I stopped, and spent 3 quiet afternoons working in this dappled space with flickering circular aspen leaves and pale trunks exhibiting beautiful colors. I'll probably be sitting here next summer as well.



Emerald Afternoon
This is a studio piece from a packtrip to Pear Lake in Sequoia National Park in 2009. I had already stopped at one lake to paint, and walked off the trail to look at this one, but wanted to keep moving. This small lake had several great rock falls, cliffs and beautiful green depths of water.

Granite Shoreline
This was from a non-mule, weekend packtrip out of Tuolomne Meadows to the Ten Lakes Basin. I brought with me a very small
set of pastels, and did several studies while I was there. This one was a good candidate for a studio piece, due to the level of complexity in the smaller forms. You can see the field study for it in this post.

Grand Illumination
I have ten pieces in the show from a Grand Canyon trip I made in 2008. I hope to return there and paint some more.
It really is an overwhelming experience for an artist to be immersed in a world of such complexity, scale, and the strength of reflected light and color into shadows. Combine that with 100+ degree heat, 48° river temperature, thundering rapids, and all your senses are fully loaded. I could only paint when the rafts were pulled over, and we were on the water from about 8 am to 5, so we motored past an extraordinary number of views I desperately wished I could paint. This image is a typical example of me gawking at a massive display of reflected light into a shadow as it casually drifted by one morning never to be seen again. That's where the studio comes in.

In Deep

Even in the confines of the canyon, one could periodically see a fair distance, and when the light got low enough, quite a bit of atmosphere was visible. The river would make a turn, and suddenly you were looking down a long corridor towards the light with large shadowed portals on either side. You were always in motion on the water, so the scale was dynamic in nature, as a slow parallax effect told you how 'big' the world really was.

I'll also be participating in a group show of Pixar artists that opens in early December at the Holton Studio in Emeryville. Tim Holton handcrafts beautiful hardwood frames, and also maintains a gallery space. The other artists are Ernesto Nemesio, Dice Tsutsumi, and Sharon Calahan. I am excited to see what everyone is doing, as we've all been busy at work on different projects, and I haven't been out painting with any of them in quite awhile. I'll post more details on this show when I finish the pieces, and the opening date is firmed up.

I hope to see some of you at the reception this next Saturday, the 16th at the Studio Gallery.

11 comments:

Sonya Johnson said...

These are breathtaking, especially those of the Grand Canyon. I've spent much time there, usually on backpacking trips, and you captured the magical light and shadows found within its depths so perfectly.

The aspen, in their intimate setting, are lovely - my favorite tree!

I'd love to see these works in person at your show, but will wish you the best since I can't be there.

ddd said...

It is a pity I could not be there to see all this work in person. Enjoy the showing!

Jared Shear said...

Really beautiful work Bill! All the best on your show.

Urchinator said...

I have never been to the Grand Canyon, but I am enjoying your impressions of it! (more so than some photographs I've seen that I suspect don't do it justice:)

David Westerfield said...

These are great Bill. Good luck on the show. Wish I could be there to see them in person.

Kei Acedera said...

So beautiful!!!

Vicki Smith said...

They are stunning!

Bill Cone said...

Sonya: The Grand Canyon trip was immersive in the best sense of the word. Some of the biggest lighting setups I'd ever seen at such close range. Thanks for your comments.

Dalibor: Today is the reception, should be fun. A lot of family and friends will be there.

Jared: Thanks for your good wishes.

Urchinator: The eye and mind see differently than the camera, but the camera is a pretty useful tool
for augmenting the eye and mind.

David: Luck has been good so far. Quite a few pieces have sold.

Kei: ;-)

Vicki: You're very kind.

Time for coffee and start on some new work for a show in December. Thanks everyone for your remarks.

chris said...

Beautiful work. Anytime you want to come back to the Canyon I can show you some great painting spots. I've worked on the Trail Crew here for about 15 years and have a few favorites, though they require some back-packing to get to.

Anonymous said...

Any chance of getting a copy of the catalogue of the show, Light, Water & Granite? Stephanie

Ariana W said...

Thanks, great post.