This is a recently completed 24"x 30" oil painting. Maybe I am trying to counter the extreme heat that we have experienced this summer in upstate NY. This is a scene from this past February in my neighborhood. Early morning with bright, clear sunshine, ice cold, snowing at least an inch or three every day and these dynamic shadow shapes grabbed my attention immediately. This is a continuation of my current direction with oil paint. I do not do any drawing on the canvas before I start right in with paint on my brush. Although many would think of this imagery as realism or even photo realism, I could not disagree more. This is a very direct, raw approach to painting that has no hint of over rendering or blending. I am influenced and inspired by the impressionists and the great Edward Hopper when it comes to this type of work. I put my brushes down to stop painting long before I could because I want it to feel like a painting. NOT a photograph. Once it feels right to me viscerally in light, atmosphere, mood and thought, I force myself to stop. A younger version of myself would have kept over working this piece to somehow show evidence or proof of technical facility.
