The Day's Work - Paintings of C. Litka: April 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

Deeper in Glen Maig

Unlike most of my paintings, this and the previous Glen Maig painting are loosely based on a real place as seen by google's street view. I didn't have the pictures in front of me when I painted these and felt free to take all the liberties I wanted including features, time of day and season, but their real life sources can be found. (Though the name of the glen is fictional.) I'm not too crazy about either of these paintings, even if they were good, I don't like painting picture postcard scenes, which these would be, if I could paint picture postcard scenes. The main reason I painted them is that I'm writing a story set in this glen, and I wanted to paint as well as write it...

12x24" 30x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Friday, April 26, 2013

Glen Maig

A fictionalize Scottish glen from my The Rhymer's Gate story which I'm working on. I was struck while painting this last night how little I know about painting. I'm still just flying by the seat of my pants: just trying this and that to see if I can make it work rather than setting out and getting what I wanted done. More surprises my way, more failures too, I suppose.

12x24" 30x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Friday, April 19, 2013

Pirates...of sort. Study

Another quick study of bumboat peddlers (the "pirates") hawking their trinkets over the side of the Indian & East Mail Cloudship Anjer while calling at Gibraltar. I really hadn't meant to make this sketch so similar to the last one. I had actually started painting it as I had intended to: a view looking towards the ship from alongside it, but my clunky style of painting does not lend itself well to creating any illusion of depth by subtle graduations of textures and shadows; I need clear lines to suggest depth. The side view was just too flat, and with the lack of details, too confusing as well.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Departing for the East

A regrettably quick study aboard the Indian & East Mail Cloudship liner Anjer departing Portsmouth for the Eastern Empire. The cloud cruiser HMCS Kestrel is off our starboard bow.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Friday, April 12, 2013

Cloudships Passing Revised

Completely repainted from the previous post. I wanted to give the scene more atmosphere. I also wanted to revised the cloudships as well, though in the end I decided not to over think things like how they stay aloft... we'll just go with the Barsoomian seventh ray or what ever that lifts them skyward rather than paint blimps.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Cloudships Passing

I'm far from certain that there's any demand for steampunk impressionism, but my art is not market driven, so here's a steampunk impressionist painting of three steam driven roto-ships passing in the sky.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

What I'm Up To

I think artist’s statements are largely needless. Paintings speak for themselves. And yet, here I am set to rattle on about my approach to painting. Now, if you're of the same opinion as I claim to be, skip this and enjoy the paintings, but if you want a hint as to what I’m trying to do, here’s the words.

I approach painting via two different roads that arrive at the same place. The first is that I paint only “studies” or sketches. Back in the day artists painted quick studies to get the colors and features down to use as a guide to paint a finished studio painting. Funny thing is of the paintings I’ve seen together with their studies, I’ve always preferred the loose and spontaneous studies over the stiff and polished finished painting. For that reason I’ve chosen to paint only studies.

My second approach to painting is inspired by a quote from the writer, Raymond Chandler: “I guess maybe there are two types of writers, writers who write stories and writers who write writing.” He considered himself of one of the latter, as do I which is to say; writers who’s words are entertaining in and of themselves, independent of the story. Perhaps painters could be divided the same way: Painters who paint pictures and painters who paint paintings. While I don’t consider one type superior to the other, I aim to be a painter of paintings. I want to paint paintings that capture a moment, inspire or recall a memory or mood, but which, viewed longer or closer, or with one's glasses on, prove to be clearly paintings: paint brushed into shapes on a surface. That these mere shapes can create an impression they’re something else, for a moment, or at a distance is the independent interest I would like my paintings to possess, not because they realistically reproduce branches, or water or what ever, but because they don’t. What I don't want to paint is places or post card scenes, even though landscape are the medium which I use for my painting.

The Day's Work - Paintings of C. Litka