Thanks for Listening 2021

As this year closes, let me take a moment to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of you that have made this such a great year.

For those patrons that purchased work, you may never truly understand what your support actually means, I work to pay for the necessities so I can continue creating art. Your patronage represents more than a monetary or financial reward, it is encouragement and artistic freedom.

Again, my sincerest gratitude and a Happy New Year!

Jim

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For my loving wife Linda, no words can express my appreciation for you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I am so grateful to have you in my life. Thank you for making me feel like the luckiest man in the world every single day. I love you with all my heart.  Happy Anniversary

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"People need beauty.     They need the sense of being at home in their world and being in communication with other souls."      - Sir Roger Scruton

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Lemons in a Bowl - WIP

Lemons in a Bowl, oil on panel, 8 x 10 inches, Jim Serrett

Finished. About time too, the lemons hung in there as long as they could. This piece took far longer to complete than expected, but you must do what is right for the picture to best communicate your intention. Art takes patience. Trusting the process helps me to be patient.

Progress shots, drawing, first pass, color mixing, final pass.

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Button Jar

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." -unknown

I have wanted to paint this jar of buttons for a while now but was always afraid of how it would read to the viewer. How to visualize so much confusion in such a small space. It was more conceptual painting than the optical paint of what I see. For a realist artist this is the balancing act.

Button Jar, Oil on panel, 10 x 8 inches, Jim Serrett

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Bosc Pears with Copper Vase - WIP

Bosc Pears with Copper Vase, Oil on panel, 9 x 12 inches, Jim Serrett

 The Bosc pears barely made it to the end of this painting, the gnats in the studio were a message to finish up this piece. Pears tend to be a theme I repeat, as do many artists. Not exactly sure what attracts us to them, maybe the organic shapes and variety of colors. The little vase came from Italy.

 Progress shots, drawing, first pass, second and final glazing pass.

 

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Happy Independence Day

Washington Crossing the Delaware.by Emanuel Leutze – 1851, oil on canvas, 149 x 255 in

One of the most recognizable images in the history of American art. The subject is from one of the turning points in the American Revolutionary War. It commemorates General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on the night of 25-26 December 1776.

The Colonial cause appeared exceptionally bleak as the year 1776 came to a close. In a military move that navigated the fine line between brilliance and desperation, George Washington led the Colonial army across the Delaware River shortly after nightfall on 25 December in order to attack the Hessian encampment outside Trenton, New Jersey. Washington and his army achieved an unprecedented tactical surprise and delivered a much-needed military and moral victory.

Happy 4th of July!

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Silver Bowl with Apples - WIP

The cloth was an interesting subject to paint. The lace work was challenging to translate. I tried not to overstate it and compete with the apples. I kept thinking about the ying-yang of negative-positive spaces, the play of light and shadow through the open fabric and simple truths. If art is hard work, it is because you are struggling to go beyond what you know and looking for that poetry in your art.

Progress shots, drawing, first pass, color mixing, final pass.

Silver Bowl with Apples, Oil on panel, 8 x 10 inches, Jim Serrett

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Silver Bowl with Pears - WIP

The silver bowl had several value variations with subtle temperature changes. I used warm and cool color strings of grays working back and forth between the two to model the form and state the reflections. The “palette”, where little piles of colors are mixed and pushed around is mesmerizing to us paint nerds. Those little puddles are storytellers, they are a living chronicle of the painting’s creation.

Progress shots, wipe-out, first pass, color mixing, final pass. 

Silver Bowl with Pears, Oil on panel, 10 x 8 inches, Jim Serrett

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Thanks for Listening 2020

In what has been a remarkable and difficult year for us all. 

I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for visiting the website and the Studio Blog. 

Your support and interest in my work is greatly appreciated.

I hope you had a great Christmas and that 2021 brings all the good things that you wish for.

Jim

Happy New Year!

Have a spectacular 2021.

And to my loving wife, Linda

These have been the best years of my life.

Happy Tenth Year Anniversary.

Your devoted husband.

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Happy Independence Day

The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 

Artist John Trumbull, American, 1756–1843

Oil on canvas, 12 ft x 18 ft, 1818

This painting depicts the moment on June 28, 1776, when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress. The document stated the principles for which the Revolutionary War was being fought and which remain fundamental to the nation. Less than a week later, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration was officially adopted, it was later signed on August 2, 1776

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." 

                                                         -Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

Happy 4th of July

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Craftsman

I had not done a full underpainting in a while; I forget how magical this process can be. Glazing color over the grisaille creates an illusion of depth that is hard to achieve in any other technique. Progress shots, drawing, umber wipe -out, grisaille, color pass.

Grisaille – (griz-eye’) fr.- grey an underpainting done entirely in monochrome shades of gray.

Craftsman, oil on linen panel, 11 x 14 in, Jim Serrett

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