Saturday

Well I finished off the three 12x16 Amsterdam paintings for the May Gallery. I'll throw these in the car with the rest of the work when I drive down on Tuesday. They have sold three already, so I am hoping more will come. Lets keep the fingers crossed, as they say.

                                 Tight Corner 12x16

                                 Morning Rush Hour 12x16

                                 Bike Ride  12x16

From doing these smaller studies I can see they will also make for some larger, maybe 24x36 paintings.

This other painting I got back from the Howard/Mandville Gallery. So I attacked it with the brush this morning. There were a couple of figures out front that I eliminated and then I played up the light inside more. The building to the right I also illuminated, so now one is drawn to look inside the windows more. Playing on the views voyeuistic tendencies!!! 

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

This morning I was nit picking on the two entry paintings for the Oil painters of America show. With small details to be worked on, one can really get hung up and spend almost too much time on it. The back on the girl in the water needed better definition, as well as a few of the figures reading books in the other painting. I'll shoot new pictures of the works later on.

This afternoon I worked on one of the Amsterdam paintings. It has a nice sense of morning light. So I put a large boat in there before it has to negotiate around the tight corner. This should give the painting a little tension.

Richard Boyer

Sunday

In preparation for the show in Scottsdale I blocked in three small 12x16 paintings today of Amsterdam.  In these starts I have figured out the composition, color and values; so now I can put them aside for a day or two and then bring them out one by one to finish them off. 

With all the decision making finished its going to be fun now just with some thick brush strokes bringing them to completion. I'll shoot for a painting a day which should be fairly easy to do. Its the last week before I leave, so as they say the pressure is on!  

Richard Boyer

Thursday

Yesterday after working on the figure painting of the girl in the water, I decided to start another vertical 24x18 painting of Bruges in Belgium. I spent about two hours on it then, blocking in the area through the archway, basically getting most of that done. So this morning I just had the outside brick and gate to finish off. I added a few large flower pots on either side and some dead leaves here and there to help balance off the composition.  

This was a fun little piece to work on for the May Gallery; and Ron told me he has already sold two small 12x16 Amsterdam paintings.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I decided to try another entry into the Oil Painters of America show. With two paintings I'll stand a better chance of making the cut; although I seem to remember having both tries rejected before…so who knows. Any ways I'll try a nude from the back. I started this a few days ago. This is Sofie as she is getting into a cold stream behind the family farm in Sweden, her shoulders are really shrugged up and you can sense the chill.  The water I'm thinking needs some more work, so its off to the side for now so I have some time to contemplate. 

Richard Boyer

Monday, Jan. 20

Well the May Gallery gave me a loud resonating "No!" when I asked them about adding a few prostitutes to the painting.  Ron felt that might scare away the prospective buyer!  As the artists I find it always fun to push the boundaries a little; but in this case I would have most likely gotten the painting sent back to me several months later!

Okay being the gallery owner I am sure he knows best. So I re-painted and re-designed the right side of the street; adding a flower stand with shop owner. The main figure walking in on the left side was also changed. I took an image from one of the Swedish relatives and used her; now it is much more appealing with a better lead-in to the sun drenched background.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

I spent today working on the Red Light District painting, actually have been the last couple of days.  Now that the architecture is more or less done its time to figure out what to do with the figures. The cafe I added in today and kept the woman walking towards the center of action in the shade.  The blurred figures to the right are the ladies of the evening and I'm still not sure if I want them there.

This I'll just have to think about. We have the crit session tonight so I'll get some of their input

Richard Boyer