Friday, December 14, 2007

More Winter

What can I say? Winter's grown on me a little bit. I think it's the puffy coats. So here's a couple new paintings. The first one is based on a childhood memory when my family lived in a small village in Korea. We spent a winter morning on the rooftop of our building, waging snowball wars and building snowmen.

"Tiny Companion" Gouache on Clayboard 6" x 6"

The second one is still drying, so here's a terrible photograph for now. Not based on anything in particular. (edit: replaced bad photos with color corrected scan. Wheee!)

The limbs of the manzanita trees are seemingly arched in a smile at him.... the colors he wears remind them of their green branches and flaky burnt orange bark in the summertime.

"Hope springs eternal beneath the boughs of her manzanita grin.
Look below and you'd never know where she ends and he begins."


"Beneath Her Manzanita Grin" Oil on Masonite 16" x 20"





9 comments:

Bruce said...

Do you even get snow there? If not, swing on by the Detroit area. We're supposed to get around 6-12 by the end of tomorrow. Or so they say.

I like them both, but I think that I like "Tiny Companion" best with that pose and how the snowman looks. I've never worked on clayboard before, does it support most mediums well?

Vera Pino said...

Wow ! Your work is really great ! Kongratulations ! I love that u like Barcelona, my city...

Anonymous said...

I'll buy that last one if you ever sell it! Real cool. :P

Mike Dutton said...

Bruce-
I'm seriously done whining about bad weather out here. haha. Well, I do remember what it was like living in blizzard territory, but time has sweetened my memory twenty years later, thus the snowman illustration on a calm winter morning.

Textured clayboard has been a godsend for me. I highly recommend trying it out. So far, it accepts most of the things I put on it. Gouache, watercolor, and oils. It's quite absorbent, so be warned that whatever you put down will dry extremely fast, sometimes creating pastel-like results.

delaverobum - Barcelona was a great town! I just couldn't believe my luck that for all the beautiful weather you have there, it was nearly storming when I visited! Talk to you mayor about that, please. ;)

Eduardo -
I'm glad you enjoy the piece. There's a print available, but you'll have to wait if you ever hope for the original! I'm a little attached to it at the moment. hehe.

Thanks for the comments, gang.

Valerie said...

Hello,

I Just wanted to let you know that you are one of my favorite artist right now! I love your themes and your rendering!

Valerie

Catalina Alvarez said...

WoW!!!! See your art is always magical and wonderful!
Absolutely beautiful images plenty of marvelous details and extraordinary textures.
Happy Winter tou you!
Cata, your fan!

Unknown said...

Awesome Mike- saw these for the first time on CA.org, and fell in love. You almost make me want to be thankful for our freezing weather...almost. Honestly, the world rarely looks as beautiful as after a new snowfall. I'll have to take pics for you our next snowfall and you can view them from your beach chair while getting a tan.Happy Holidays dude (and to A. as well :) !)

Unknown said...
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Matias Hyde said...

Greetings from Madrid!
Wow, these paintings are beautiful! Congratulations, and happy new year!