Vanilla Bean Art Show

Many thanks to The Vanilla Bean for hosting my art show in their gallery space. Here's a few images, please stop by sometime between now and Nov. 2 2011 to view the show.

Twilight Maples: Autumn Equinox

Acrylic on 60"w x 36"h x 2"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.

SOLD

Last painting for the show, this one is breathtaking at this scale.

Twilight Maples: Forest Edge

Acrylic on 60"w x 36"h x 2"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.
Not For Sale

I came across a clearing full of large maples and the forest began behind them. The shadows were deep and it was a place I wanted to remain in for a while. This is the largest canvas I've ever painted. Today I travel up the North shore to hang my work at The Vanilla Bean. It will be awesome to see all my work displayed in one place. I also feel that viewing all my recent work together will give me more direction for future paintings. I will finish posting the paintings for the show this week on this blog, and if you're in the area, please stop by the show and sign my guest book. :)

Twilight Maples: Heading Home

Acrylic on 16"w x16"h x 2"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.

SOLD

Just a peaceful little drive through the mountains.

Final Stretch

I've been so busy preparing for my upcoming show that I haven't been posting here my latest work, but I'll get things updated here and also post my new work to my website later this week. I have a nice 5'x3' finished (my largest painting ever!) along with a 16"x16" ... and I have another 5'x3' canvas on my easel already in the works, I feel that these last couple of paintings will really make an impression at my show. I will be sure to get some photos of my work when it's hung. I also can't wait to see all the work together at the show. Stay tuned! :)
-A

Twilight Maples: Peaceful Feeling

Acrylic on 36"w x 24"h x 2"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.

SOLD

My wife had the honor of naming this painting, and she doesn't even know it yet. :) She'll read it here in the not to distant future I'm sure, though. I finished this painting and hung it in the living room to view it as I often do with my work. I sat down and enjoyed the feeling this painting gave me and decided to call it finished. I had plans to add additional elements to this piece but found myself ready to stop when I finished the long shadows in the foreground. This painting is part of series of works featuring fall Maples. I often work in series, exploring sizes and compositions and subtle color differences, enjoying the creative process. What brings me the most joy is when someone connects with a painting as my wife did with this piece as she viewed it and said it gives her a peaceful feeling. :)

Twilight Maples: Sunset Maples Diptych

Acrylic on Two 6"w x 6"h x 2"d Canvases
Click on image above to enlarge.

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These canvases look nice on a wall or together on a display shelf. I added a cool hillside in the background ... shades of purple grow deeper as the light fades down the hill to a deep purple. I'm going to be working in this theme for a while, exploring the effect of twilight shadows on the fall landscape.

Twilight Maples: Five Shadows

Acrylic on 4"w x 4"h x 1.5"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.

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Another small canvas, I'm really enjoying the transparent quality I'm getting out of the paint. It's a challenge as I'm varying the pressure with the brushwork, but it's getting the depth I'm looking for ... a layering of texture and color. Just like a late-Autumn forest floor. :)

Twilight Maples: Larger Than Life

Acrylic on 4"w x 4"h x 1.5"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.

SOLD

I couldn't resist giving this painting the title Larger Than Life as this is the smallest size I've ever worked in. Weighing in at a whopping four inches by four inches ... I must admit I struggled with my brushstrokes and found myself concentrating more than usual with this painting. As I view this work on screen, I find I can see the texture of the canvas, and I'm enjoying the depth the texture is giving to this work. This is why I wish people could view my art in person and not on screen as they are missing a wealth of detail on screen, but my show is coming up soon where people can view my work in person and also I'm hopeful to work with a local gallery or two to display my work on a regular basis. I enjoyed the challenge of this painting though, and will post a few more of these little guys before beginning my next challenge in a couple weeks ... a 5'w x 3'h painting. That size is definately larger than life.

Waves of Mercy

Acrylic on 24"w x 36"h x 2"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.
NFS

This is one of those paintings where the painter wishes to express themselves without agonizing over details. I envisioned five Geraniums in a landscape that had visual form and repetition. You'll notice this painting has five background layers: a white foreground of Sweet Alyssum, followed by the Geranium leaves and flowers, then the yellow perennial bushes, then greens (topped with yellow Daisies), and finally blue sky. The five layers repeat the same shape, reflecting the influence of the Geraniums. I felt that the Geraniums carried the significance in this piece, which is why I labored so much on the color and texture of this piece, wanting it to be right while letting it have a playful feel at the same time. I often feel like we can influence our surroundings and relationships more than we give ourselves credit for. Our lives can have a ripple effect on our family, friends, neighbors and community. I often find myself glancing too quickly at small things while ignoring the larger picture. If we don't judge at first glance but look deeper, we'll find our surroundings aren't so bad. 

For next week I'll be exploring the Autumn landscapes, trying to capture on canvas the special time of year when the Birches and Maples cover the forest in blazing color while brightening our lives. It is also a time of harvest, rejoicing and thankfulness. I have a 2'x3' canvas, a 16"x16" canvas and several 6"x 6" and even 4"x 4" canvases prepped. I'm thinking I'll build some miniature easels to set the smaller canvases on when they are finished for presentation. Stop back soon, I have a feeling next weeks works will be special. :)

Geranium Jive

Acrylic on 14"w x 16"h x 2"d Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.
Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

This painting and the one I'll post tomorrow are a lesson in patience and and perseverance. I wanted to capture the color and texture I saw in the flowers and their surroundings so I worked on layering the blues, greens, and pinks; many with transparencies; to get the color I was after. I don't feel like the photo does justice to the brushstrokes in this painting. I suppose you could count the thousands of brushstrokes in my paintings, but that's not the point. The point is for the viewer to identify with the mood and emotion of the subject matter. I realize that art is subjective and not everyone will identify with a particular painting, but as long as I'm jiving with the painting I know others will. Do you jive?

Geraniums!

This week I've been busy working on a 2'x3' geranium landscape as well as a 16" square geranium close-up painting. While I'm happy with the background in both paintings, I've reworked the flowers themselves as I've really wanted to get the color right. I've looked at them several times in their natural setting in different lighting as well as on a computer screen, and the pink is really a challenge. I've labored to capture the texture of the petals without compromising the color, and I believe I'm getting very close. I anticipate posting the smaller of the two paintings tomorrow and possibly the larger painting by Friday.

I'm excited to start my next landscape series of birches and maples in fall color with the focus being on the vertical lines and hilly backgrounds. I'm thinking I'll try another 2'x3' as well as a 16" square and have some fun with a couple small 6" x 6" paintings as well. Stop back soon!
-A

Twilight Maples: Loaded Maples No. 2

Acrylic on 8"w x 10"h Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.
Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

This painting along with Loaded Maples No. 1 were painted during the time I completed Twilight Maples Diptych. Maple trees have a way of really loading up their leaves. I suppose they don't care for the hot summer sun so they attempt to block it with their leaves. They also keep all of their leaves to themselves in the summer, but they are more than willing to share their leaves in the fall as the leaves fall gracefully to the ground. The leaves provide a colorful textural carpeting for the forest floor and help fertilize the soil and provide shelter for bugs and small fuzzy critters. And a playground for children.

I think the maples smile when they see kids jumping into their leaves. :)

Twilight Maples: Loaded Maples No. 1

Acrylic on 8"w x 10"h Canvas
Click on image above to enlarge.
Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

This painting along with Loaded Maples No. 2 were painted during the time I completed Twilight Maples Diptych. The vision for these smaller 8x10" canvases was to show a maple tree as I always remember them in the fall ... loaded with blazing leaves. There's nothing like a maple tree in the fall, and Northern Minnesota is covered with these magnificent trees, along with Birch, Aspen, and a host of different pine tree species. I'd like to continue this fall landscape theme, but I do need to pause and complete a few floral landscapes that are in the works in preparation for my upcoming show at the Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors.

Twilight Maples Diptych

Acrylic on 2-12"w x 36"h x 2"d Canvases
Click on image above to enlarge.
Reserved

This painting marked yet another step in my style progression. I've been working on keeping a consistent color saturation in my paintings, along with consistent brushstrokes .. yet I went off the deep end on this painting. I painted this one entirely in the square brushstroke style on black canvas and I really enjoyed painting this one. I love the negative spaces between the trees, the long shadows and transparency in the orange leaves. If you've ever seen sugar maples in the fall, you know what blazing color these special trees are able to achieve. Perhaps I'll linger a while here in this forest, enjoying the peace that this complete isolation can bring, listening to the leaves and twigs snap beneath my feet and smell the familiar fragrance of Autumn leaves and the changing of the seasons. Like a good book that ends too soon and you have to say goodbye to the characters in the story who have become like friends to you, I need to move on to the next painting. The next painting is calling me, and I think I'll continue in this brushstroke style for a while to see where it leads. Cheers. :)

Lupin Five

Acrylic on 10"w x 8"h Canvas Panel
Click on image above to enlarge.

SOLD

Last Lupin painting in the series. Lately I've been pulled and tugged between landscapes and florals. The late summer blooms may have something to do with it, as yesterday's family walk down to our neighborhood garden inspired me and I took several reference photos. Next week I'll post the deep woods landscapes I've been working on, they feature deep blues and subdued lighting with sky-high maples in late Autumn color. Can't wait to finish them so people can view them, I might stay in that theme a while longer ... or I may just get pulled and tugged into another floral painting. :)