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Gedney Park (Chappaqua, New York). November 2011. It was a beautiful day. It was a dream. The sunshine was so incredible. I have two best friends (Mark Sherritt and Alex Antunovic). My best friend Alex had recently purchased a house, and across the street there is Gedney Park. Wishing to be able to able to spend time with my friend and his family... so a working vacation. When Alex went to work. I used the park as my studio to paint. For 5 - 6 months I had been working on the Summer Series of paintings. It is a very structured series. The park, nature, sky, tree, wind... organic free. My mind was very conditioned to structure. My personal life was or is very turbulent. Living in Ottawa - only five minutes from downtown. Structure, architecture, buildings, home renovations. Inside my mind and soul I was needing structure. I found it challenging to digest the park. Creatively an inward and outward tension was being wrestled out on canvas. The freedom of Jackson Pollock inspired me. But there was no chance of that level of freedom. Monet, A.Y Jackson, Soutine, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Modrian, Rothco... all these artists have been so inspiring. Too excited, so pumped to paint. There was no time to build an easel. Alex had a few moving boxes in his garage. So I used those as table / easel. Like a child eating candy on Halloween night... I loaded up my palette with paint. I was so happy. Wow. Joy, Pure. The colors in the landscape I put on my palette. The palette and the canvas started to communicate. The palette knife was translating. The painting started to speak in another language. I was lost in the process. I felt like a kite blowing in the wind. On my first day I managed to complete five paintings. At the end of the day I was so fucking tired. I say fucking... for it was like making love all day. Gedney Park where many people walk their dog. I was so lucky to meet so many incredible people. An extremely kind, warm, encouraging, and generous individual named Hilde Schuling visited me to say hello every day. She gave me an art book, invited me over for dinner, her words were such a gift. There was also Julie. She was also really amazing. Chappaqua is such a great community. I feel so welcomed. It is my intention to visit Alex every couple of months and painting in the park. Sunshine and dreams Patrick |
painting in the park... day one.
The warmth of the sunshine... so beautiful.
Photo taken seconds after completing Season of Joy painting.
Season of Joy. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. November 2011. Price: $3000
photo taken seconds after completed.
Sunshine in the Park. Oil on canvas. 18 x 24 inches. Price $1500.
Sunshine in the Park, Oil on Canvas. 18 x 24 inches. Price $1500. Same as above (cropped)
Gedney Park. (Chappaqua, New York). oil on canvas. 18 x 24 inches. Price $1500
same as above (cropped image)
The line / structure starts to present itself.
Gedney Park (Chappaqua, New York). oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. Price: $3000
Gedney Park (Chappaqua, New York). oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. Price: $3000
My palette had no black. I love ivory black pigment... but this week I never opened one tube of black. Smile.
Gedney Park (Chappaqua, New York) - Kiss Red, Yellow Sunshine, Green is Gold.
Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. Price $3000
Day Two... the weather was pretty poor / rain.
I moved my paint set up around the park three times... I had a hard time getting centered
The next day / morning I completely painted over this work.
Here is the painting / canvas the next morning - reworked
November in Chappaqua. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. Price: $3000
November in Chappaqua. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. Price: $3000
another photo of painting. (With the dark colors it was difficult to get a good photo of this painting)
November in Chappaqua. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. Price: $3000
Natures Kiss. Oil on canvas. 18 x 24 inches. Price $1500
Natures Kiss. Oil on canvas. 18 x 24 inches. Price $1500. (Cropped above image)
This painting has so much paint on it. I think this is the most paint I have ever put on a painting this small.
Starting another painting
Was thinking about Marco Martins... thank you Marco. (Marco Martin's collection)
Painting - starting a larger work
working on the painting
November in Chappaqua. (Cloudy day / letter to a friend). oil on canvas. 18
x 24 inches. Price: $1500
November in Chappaqua. (Cloudy day). oil on canvas. 18 x 24 inches. Price:
$1500
same painting above
photo of paintings in Alex's garage
Building a Dream. Oil on canvas. 32 x 40 inches. Price $3400.
I started this painting outside in the park.
My mind was so clear. I really had things working so pure.
But then it started to really rain hard. The weather was very wet. I continued.
But the paint would not hold, it was time to stop.
So I moved everything back to the garage. Later that night I resumed painting from about 8 PM - 2 am. It all came together.
Working late in Alex's garage
Working on the painting Building a Dream
I bused down to New York Saturday. Spent Sunday with Alex. We went to Home Depot. He recently purchased a beautiful property.
But there was a few things that they wished to update. So we did some shopping at Home Depot. Later Alex took me to Pearl Paint on Canal Street.
I loaded up on art materials. And in 3 to 4 days I completed the 9 above paintings.
I used over 120 large tubes of paint and used up approximately six thousand dollars of art materials.
I had such an incredible time seeing Alex and his family. We had the best Turkey dinner ever. Wow. This meal was insane.
| Hey Pat,
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