Erin Timothy Needham

pitcher

2009-12-30T11:51:00.003-05:00

This is the last of the kitchen trio that my wife requested. Again, satisfied with the painting, less so with the photograph. On this painting I used a stand oil-based medium hoping to flatten the brush strokes some. I suppose using more medium would have helped accomplish that better.

in process

2009-12-27T19:51:00.004-05:00

In this unfinished painting I am experimenting for the first time with what is usually referred to as the Flemish method of painting. According to what I have read, this method was created in the 19th century and was believed to have been the painting method used by the Flemish masters but recent research indicates that it probably was not. This method uses seven layers. This photo shows the painting after the imprimatura, umber, and dead color layers have been applied.

pepper grinder

2009-12-27T19:46:00.004-05:00

This, along with the green apple image, are a series of paintings that my wife, Wendy, has requested to use in decorating the kitchen. Once again, I am disappointed with the quality of the photograph. I am pleased with how the actual painting looks. This one was a struggle. As so often happens I had a period in the middle of painting this where I felt completely lost and quite afraid that I wouldn't be able to pull it off. And, as so often happens, patience and perseverance payed off with the image finally coming together.

green apple

2009-12-27T19:35:00.004-05:00

I've recently started painting on panels that I have prepared myself. The smooth texture has worked well for the small sizes that I have been working with. The lighting in the photo has exaggerated the texture of the paint film and washed out the flesh of the apple. In spite of my photography background I am having some trouble with this kind of copy work.

cup

2009-11-09T16:46:00.001-05:00

I painted this last night. It's a small, simple image. The flow was there. Things were working, at least as well as they ever do. I find that at least through the first half of the process of making a painting I feel lost, confused and entirely uncertain what the outcome will be. When things work, at some point that feeling changes. "Seeing" happens and changes in the details begin to reinforce the whole. So, a significant part of the process is simply about accepting that period of uncertainty. I don't really like that. The feeling of coming out of it, though, is sublime.

apples

2009-11-01T21:11:00.004-05:00

I've had run-ins with painting before. I was self-taught and it showed. This Fall I joined a class run by Karen and Jack Winslow. On Thursday evenings a number of students show up at the Winslows' studio. We each set up a still life and get right to painting, with occasional suggestions and interventions from Jack and Karen. For several weeks after joining the class I worked only in black and white. Here is my first color effort under their tutelage.

Welcome to my blog.

2009-10-31T23:21:00.002-04:00

This is the first entry of my blog. My art practice, in its varied forms, is usually about mindfulness and the process of observation. Lately I find it satisfying to use traditional media and to be left with a tangible artifact as a souvenir of that process. I will use this blog as an occasional record of my practice.