Carmackart

I'm off

2012-02-12T16:10:00.001-08:00

Well, the time is finally here. I head out tomorrow a.m. for Summer Lake Playa to spend 4 weeks working on art, thinking about art, and occasionally just soaking up the isolation. No cell phone reception. And very limited dial-up interent access on a community computer. I hope to barely use it at all.

Interview at Triggerfish

2012-01-18T08:23:00.000-08:00

(Wow. First post since November over here. It's been a hectic couple of months.)
Anyway I did an interview for an online poetry magazine called "Triggerfish critical review".
It is completely unedited including asides that I had not intended to be used, but I guess that makes it all the more honest. I apologize for the typos which are entirely my own as the interview was conducted via email.
You can go directly to the interview here.

(thanks to David Mehler for his interest in my work - I swear we'll actually sit down and meet sometime!)

"Edge of Night" show

2011-11-18T10:52:00.001-08:00

I'm heading up on Sunday to pick up my work from Artswest in Seattle. They were kind enough to email me these pictures from the show. I think it looked pretty good.

Laurie Anderson Interview

2011-11-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

For my other blog I recently interviewed Laurie Anderson. My first interview with anyone ever. It was a very short interview by phone prompted by her agent looking for free blogospheriness (to coin a word that will no doubt immediately take off) for Ms. Anderson's art show in Philadelphia.
Anyway you can see the whole thing here: http://artoutthere.blogspot.com/2011/11/laurie-anderson.html
I didn't exactly plumb the depths of Ms. Anderson's soul. My career as a pro interviewer is still a ways off. But it was interesting and turned out OK I think.
Here's a nice pic of her with long time partner and hubby since 2008, Lou Reed. Despite my wife's urging I did NOT ask her about THAT.

Art in Embassies - Nigeria

2011-10-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

I sent 3 paintings off a while ago to be displayed at the US Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. Apparently the ambassador is from Oregon and they to display some Oregon Art. I just found that the work is now up on this website, which is cool. But the funny part is I have absolutely no idea who the guy in the headshot is. The ambassodor? One of the other artists? Or did some body photoshop my beard off and add a dash of wholesome and a dollop more nerdiness?
http://art.state.gov/artistdetail.aspx?id=152208

A residency this winter!

2011-10-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've been accepted to a residency program at Playa (www.playasummerlake.org) in southern Oregon.
Four weeks from mid February to Early March. My own living space. My own studio. Free meals, lots of snow and stars and most important of all...time. I would never have even considered applying if KJ hadn't encouraged me to do so. Now I've got to start thinking about what I want to get done.

Check out pictures of the cabins and studios here.

Last of the new work

2011-10-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

Here's the last piece called "If a Tree Falls".
It is based loosely on a promotional still for the documentary film of the same name (see below - frankly I think the original photo is way cooler, but whatever)

48" x 36" oil on canvas 2011

from the documentary film "If a Tree Falls"

2 of the new pieces

2011-10-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 of the new paintings that will be in the aforementioned Seattle Show.

"Coda" 40" x 50" oil on canvas 2011

"Into the woods" 36" x 48" oil on canvas 2011

The Edge of Night

2011-10-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

That's the title of a show at ArtsWest in Seattle that opens next Tuesday, October 11.
I'll have 7 pieces hanging along with three other artists
The opening reception will be on Thursday, October 13 from 6 to 7:30pm
(although I don't know at this point if I'll be able to make it).

Here's what the kind Gallery Director (Mark Daughhetee) wrote in the press release:
"Portland artist DAVID CARMACK LEWIS’s oil paintings on canvas interpret the limited spectrums of nighttime light sources, both natural and manmade, and are often populated by what is not there: an empty chair near a small fire, an elegantly lit theatre without an audience. His theatre paintings suggest the striking black and white photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto of empty movie theaters, but with the subtle hues of night. Lewis has participated in juried shows throughout the region, as well as in New Mexico, Arizona and South Africa."
(I'd not heard of Hiroshi Sugimoto before - here's a sample - very cool)

An honorable mention

2011-07-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

So there's this website called MyArtContest.com. Believe it or not they sponsor art contests. Fancy that. There's different categories. Landscape, figures, fantasy, etc. So I had apparently entered my Fox painting in the landscape category and then forgot about it. I received a pleasant email last week saying I was one of 20 honorable mentions. The piece is not on the website but you can see my name in tiny print (they left out the carmack which I'm a little annoyed by). I believe the piece will be included in a print magazine later. Which is always nice.

"The Fox"

Blue Canvas event

2011-07-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

I've got to say that the Blue Canvas event down in LA was pretty crazy. It was quite a crowd. I guess I'll never know how many bigshots scanned my work oh so briefly with their critical eye before moving imperiously on to other things. The whole thing was downtown for the Thursday artwalk. There was a gallery with some really amazing work on the first floor, plus DJs and art cars in the hallway. Then upstairs some live painting under spotlights and bars waiting for the after hours party which apparently went until the wee hours of the morning. I lasted about one hour. But still. Quite the event. And I must say the magazine really looks great and features some very fine work. I'm not sure what I expected exactly but it really is an impressive publication.
You can check it out here: http://www.bluecanvas.com/magazine/current-issue
The blue canvas website will probably be posting some photos and/or video of the event. I'll link to those when they do.

New painting and a trip to LA

2011-07-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

"Backhoe" or possibly "A Bear and a Backhoe"
oil on canvas 36"h x 48"w

So I'm heading out tomorrow a.m. to Los Angeles where this and another painting will accompany me while I proceed to hawk my wares to galleries. Always a good time, that.

They will also hang at a one time launch event for issue 9 of Blue Canvas magazine which also runs an artists networking site. The event is from 7pm to 1am. I wonder if I'll last that long.

Arts West

2011-06-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

I was informed that I'll be participating in a show at Arts West, a theater and gallery up in Seattle, this fall. It'll be a group show with about 5 pieces, maybe. They plan the art shows by choosing artists whose visual work somehow or another relates to, or has something in common with, the plays that will be running concurrently. I like that idea, but I'm especially pleased with the plays that will be running while my work is there. One is a play about marital revenge in which the wife ties up her cheating husband in the woods and covers him with honey to await the bears. The second is "Evil Dead The Musical". My favorite press quote about my work came from the Portland Mercury and described it as somewhere between Vincent Van Gogh and a horror movie backdrop. So something consistent must be going on here.

Note: This is not the actual ad currently being used for the musical, but I rather liked it.

Press!

2011-05-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

I've never been much good at drumming up press. But here's a link to a nice little article on my painting that won first place last month in a show at the Coos Art Museum.
(see my earlier post here.)

Linden Tree

5 new paintings

2011-04-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

The show at Attic Gallery is already up and the reception went well I suppose. With a little help from John Power.
Anyway I finally got the last 5 slides of the newest paintings scanned so here they are:
Click on the images to view them larger!

"Three Acts" 36" x 52" 2011

"City Map" 41" x 49" 2011

This one I'm not so sure about the title. If something better occurs to me I'll change it. For some odd reason the piece makes me think about Thomas Kinkade ("painter of light").

"Focal point" 50" x 33" 2011

"Sister" 50" x 32" 2011

"Transect" 50" x 33" 2011

A Winner!

2011-04-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

I had a painting in a show called "Expressions West" down at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, Oregon. Yes, there's an art museum in Coos Bay. It's actually pretty nice. Anyway I just found out last night that I won first place. And that comes with a check. Sweeeet.
You can see the winners here.

"Linden Tree" oil on canvas 34" x 52"

Finishing up "3 acts"

2011-03-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know that it's 100% percent finished but it's close enough. Once it's stretched I'll get it and several other pieces properly photographed, without all this damned glare.
(the problem with documenting a work in progress is you have no idea ahead of time how well it;s going to turn out. I feel like I something got lost somewhere with this one. But there's still time to make some small changes and often that's all it takes.)

This image shows approximately the final cropping after stretching.

3 acts - Blocking it in

2011-03-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

So here's a glimpse of what I did last night. This is the easy part (or the cartoonified underpainting part if you prefer). Now I can either make it a really nice painting or ruin it. If you don't see any more about this one then I guess you'll know what happened.
(it takes a while to get the actual painting going, and I'm not sure how much time I'll have over the next few days, so don't hold your breath)

3 Acts

2011-03-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

With only a month before my big show in April I'm starting a new painting. I had done 2 theater pieces earlier (see below) that I was quite happy with but I really felt the need for one more. Here's the initial sketch roughed out on the canvas last night. I'm tentatively calling it "3 acts". It may be hard to see but there will be three small chairs on the stage (click on the image to view it larger). Of course everything could change. I just hope I can get it, and the 3 or 4 other paintings I have in progress, done in time. There's nothing like deadlines.

"Performance" oil on canvas 43"w x 33"h

"Rehearsal" oil on canvas 36"w x 45"h

40 Works

2011-02-17T10:11:00.000-08:00

I'll have 4 pieces in a show in Eugene OR, at Lane Community College called "40 works"
The exhibition runs from February 22nd to March 10th.
And check out the fine print! No charge for admission!

Here's the deets from the press release:

40 WORKS, REGIONAL JURIED ART EXHIBITION OPENS FEBRUARY 22nd

EUGENE, OR - The Lane Community College Art Gallery is proud to present 40 Works. This exhibition consists of artists from Oregon and the greater Pacific Northwest. This exhibition is a collection of work from 10 artists. Each artist is being featured with a small series of 4 works. The works in this exhibition will contain a wide variety of mediums, including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and mixed media.

This exhibition will include works by the following artists: Rob Morrison, Jan Madill, David Carmack Lewis, Danuta Muszynska, Anne Godfrey, Nathan Lucas, Katy Keuter, Dorene Steggell, KC Hancock, and Kevin Farrell.

The gallery is located in building 11 on main campus, 4000 E. 30th Avenue. There is no charge for admission. The Art and Applied Design Department phone number is 463-5409.

New Blurb

2011-02-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

“I paint at night. It’s often the only time I can. I paint alone. I would hardly know how to do otherwise. These two elements then, not only pervade my work, they are my work. They are the things I paint. My paintings are rarely premeditated. I approach every blank canvas with a kind of depressing horror at my inadequacies as an artist. The only way around this is to simply start. I draw a tree, a house, a line that may or not be a horizon. Unformed ideas develop directly on the canvas, the concept sometimes evolving throughout the painting process. With short breaks to clear my mind I peer out of the studio door. The night is there, dim lights of the neighborhood prying open pieces of the darkness. I’m alone. I listen to music. I listen to lectures. My thoughts stray. This is how I work. This work is my mind when it is left alone to wander. In the dark, of course. This is what I find there.”

A New blurb to use in the promotional material for my upcoming solo show in April. I think.

Hazel

2011-02-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted much lately, due in part to the recent birth of my second daughter who turns two weeks old today. Here's a very quick doodle of her.

I'll have another show announcement soon and new paintings to post one of these days. I swear.

"Fresh Air" show in Boise

2011-01-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

My Painting Crescendo was selected to be included in a show called "Fresh Air" at the Visual Arts Center in Boise, Idaho. The curator was Courtney Gilbert, curator of visual arts at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, so thank you Courtney!

I've shipped it off and hope it's a great show... But since girl number 2 (we're down to 2 possible names) will be either imminent or newly arrived, travelling is pretty much out the window.

Of course, if anyone else happens to be in the area it might be worth checking out.
The opening reception is January 28th (6-8pm) and the show runs through February 25th.

"Crescendo" oil on canvas 45" x 43" 2009

BlueCanvas.com

2010-12-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of social networking sites for artists and I've posted on several of them. Can't hurt, right?
Well, I was happy to find out one of my images is featured on the homepage of one of them this week (Dec. 21-27 2010). Kind of cool.
Check it out: www.bluecanvas.com

New Paintings

2010-12-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

I just got slides back the other day from Jake over at Blue Moon. Thanks again!
So without further ado...
(click on the images to view them a good deal bigger!)

"Underworld" oil on canvas 2010
It started off with a fox but I just couldn't get it to look right. So then I decided it didn't really need a character at all. And then late at night I changed my mind again and added the bunny. Okay, rabbit. But bunny is funnier. Anyway I like it. It make me laugh.

"Prelude no. 2"
at least that's the title for now, in reference to "Prelude to an Encounter" which would be no. 1
This one is very simple but I'm proud of it. At least for now. My opinion of my own work is as variable as the weather.

"Map"
I stole both the concept and title for this piece from this very different image by Nick Sheehy (aka Showchicken). You can see his work on his Flickr page.

Currently untitled
A cedar tree. "Cedar"? "Barrier"? "Between"? I don't know.

"Rehearsal"
The slide on this one had a lot of glare on it. I was able to fix it up pretty good in Photoshop but Jake's going to reshoot it anyway. This is only my second theater/public space painting of which I hope to do many more.

I'm a tiny little virus

2010-12-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

So someone (a Maria Rodrigues) posted a whole pile of my paintings on her blog, called Dark Silence of Suburbia (I like the name) and a lot of them started getting re-posted all over the place. It's very strange to me. I've been blogging away, for my own entertainment mostly, for 2 years (here and on my other blog) and have never see anything like this. The people who are re-posting stuff have already moved on to posting new images just minutes later, so I expect the whole thing will die out before the hour's through. Not exactly a pandemic, but who knows what new hosts may keep my tiny little virus alive. Thanks Maria!
Check it out: http://darksilenceinsuburbia.tumblr.com/

Linden drawing

2010-10-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well I don't post very often here, mostly because I don't get that much new work done, although I should have some new slides in a couple weeks.

So I thought I'd post some work by Linden who is now a few months past her 2nd birthday. I thought what she was working on last night looked pretty good.

She's using washable markers and went at it with a sponge toward the end.

River Styx magazine cover

2010-09-01T09:33:00.001-07:00

This just came in the mail yesterday. It looks very nice.
River Styx is a non-profit literary magazine that comes out three times a year (for 35 years now). You can check out their website here: www.riverstyx.org

The cover is "Crescendo", the back cover "Under The St. John's Bridge"

Man on the floor

2010-08-26T14:48:00.001-07:00

Another Mummy doodle

2010-08-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ramses II - profile
in ballpoint pen

King Tut

2010-08-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Upon reflection maybe I do know why I love mummies. Skulls are passé. Skulls are just the skeletal remains of dead folk. Mummies (at least Egyptian mummies) are the remains of dead folks who really really really did not want to be dead. And THAT is a proper Memento Mori.

King Tut from National Geo 9-10, ballpoint pen in small sketchbook (approx. 4"x6")

The Elder Lady

2010-08-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I love mummies so much. But every time I see a good mummy photo I want to do a sketch of it. So this month's National Geographic gave me something to do, with stunning photos of the mummies of King Tut, his ma and pa and this elegant lady, Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III, his grandmother.
Not a perfect likeness, but OK for a quick work break sketch.

Neck Brace Friday

2010-07-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

I was proud to be featured recently as part of Neck Brace Friday on the Firm Handshake Network.
Further explanation is impossible but no actual injuries were incurred.

Opening in Corvallis

2010-07-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

I went to the opening for the show at the Corvallis Art Center called "Away" but what I thought of as the train show. I forgot to bring my camera. Stupid. It's a great looking show and up for another three weeks.
Here's a nice quick overview from the Gazette-Times.

A bit of process

2010-07-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

I took a snapshot of the early sketch stage of "Performance". I'm not sure that it's worth much as an insight into my process. So I'll also offer this observation from my journal on finishing a painting:

"This is how I know a painting is finished: I realise that the last substantive brush stroke I made was about an hour ago and that all I've done since is nitpick at the details."

2 more paintings

2010-06-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

These are also recent although they are not scheduled to be included in any shows so far unless they make it to my annual exhibition next April. I'm particularly happy with the piece "Performance" and may do some variations on this them at some point.

"Performance" oil on canvas 2010

"Under Water no.2"

two new train paintings

2010-06-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm putting five paintings in a train themed show in Corvallis, Oregon (at the Corvallis Art Center).
three of them will be older paintings but I did two new pieces for the show. There will also be some photography and some kind of work using maps I think. I don't have the names of the other participating artists yet. The centerpiece of the show is going to be an elaborate model train set that they plan to suspend from the rafters. If you've never been to the Art Center it is an old church and I'm thinking it's going to look pretty damn cool.

The show runs from July 15th to August 14th with an opening reception on Thursday July 14 from 5:30 to 7pm. I'll defintely try to be there.

Here's the two new pieces:

"Time Transfixed (after Magritte)" oil on canvas 2010

untitled so far

Studio Visit Magazine

2010-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, I take it back. After my grumpy post yesterday I got home and the actual magazine had arrived in the mail. It actually looks pretty damn nice. There's some exceptional talent in the pages, including Chelsea James who I featured on my blog All The Art Out There not too long ago. I look forward to looking at some of the other artists' websites as well. I guess I was just feeling the bleak negativity of a Monday morning. And I have a tendency to feel that if I get into something like this it only proves that it couldn't have been particularly competitive or prestigious to begin with. Low self esteem is always fun to have around.

The magazine is not generally available, being distributed primarily to galleries and curators. Although if anyone really wanted a copy I'm sure it can be ordered by contacting them through the website: www.studiovisitmagazine.com

Studio Visit Magazine

2010-06-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well... I got into a thing called Studio Visit magazine a while back. It's published by the same folks who put out New American Paintings. But New American Paintings it ain't. I wasn't sure whether to enter or not. It's a money making endeavor and the deal is this: enter for free, if the work gets in, you pay a publishing fee. I think it was a couple hundred. At the time I felt I could afford to take the chance... and hell, it was write-off.
Well the book is finally coming out and they've got a page up with links to all the artists websites. I haven't looked through everyone yet but so far the difference in quality between this publication and the aforementioned New American Painting is pretty significant.
Oh well. Live and learn. I'll post images of the book when I get my copy.

Last Two Paintings

2010-03-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

These are the last two paintings that will be included in the April Show at the Attic Gallery (opens this Thursday, April 1st, 6-9pm)
The slides didn't turn out perfectly. There's a bit of glare on them but it's too late now to reshoot. No big deal. I wasn't sure I'd put them on the website anyway. But for the 6 followers of this blog (!) and for my personal record, here they are:

"River Crossing" 33" x 43"

"Birch Grove" 32" x 42"

New Show opening April 1st

2010-03-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a flyer for my show which opens April 1st at the Attic Gallery.
All the details are on the flyer.
click on it to view larger.

Teleconference Doodles

2010-03-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have a day job that has nothing to do with my art. It eats up a lot of time and that's part of the reason I rarely sketch. But late last week I had to sit in on a teleconference to which I had little (i.e. nothing) to add. So for the hour plus that it took I doodled. It was a lot like high school in a way.

(ballpoint pen on copy machine paper)

Horror movies and Van Gogh

2010-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

I have little to no press concerning my work, so I put together a little press release (only my second ever) for my upcoming show and got this sweet little blurb in the online version of the Portland Mercury:

"New paintings from an artist who's been haunting the local scene for a decade. His paintings fall somewhere between a horror movie backdrop and Vincent Van Gogh, playing with light on starry, shadowy nights."

I like it.

Narrative Art

2010-03-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

(I jotted this down a couple weeks ago on some scrap paper while painting):

"I am and always will be, unapologetically, a narrative artist. Life itself is an unfolding narrative event. Those who think story telling is beneath the dignity of visual art have lost touch with it’s original purpose."

Some art critics are dismissive of narrative art, presumably because they are intellectually stuck in the pretentious post-modern mid-twentieth century. Or they think that the effort to imply a story through art is some kind of a cop-out of artistic intention. I should think that at least one of the primary goals of any verbal story teller is to create images in the mind of the listener or reader. Just so, one of my goals as an image maker is to create stories in the mind of the viewer. Nothing is more vital than story-telling. Stories are how we derive meaning.

Bill Watterson Dinosaurs!

2010-02-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently published a short email interview with artist Bill Watterson. You know, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes! It got me thinking about what Mr. Watterson may or may not be doing with his artistic spare time these days. I assume (or at least fervently hope) that he continues to paint for himself. Since he no longer needs to earn a living he can enact the motto of recluse pianist Glenn Gould who said the best artist to audience ratio is 1 to 0.
I thought about his painting of dinosaurs that graced the back cover of his "Lazy Sunday Book" collection, but was unable to find an example posted on the internet. Shame on you Bill Watterson fans! So here it is.
(click on the image to view it larger)

The light

2010-02-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

All those fires in my paintings have gone away. Recently what I've noticed is that I'm creating that same weird warm limited light source but as if it were emanating directly from the point of view, as if I or the viewer were illuminating the scene simply by looking at it. Like my imagination is itself a light, and to prove it I only have to paint it. It's a little weird but I like it. I think I'll see where it takes me. Or what it shows me.

New slides

2010-01-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

So I finally got some more slides done. I'm having some color issues which is weird since I'm supposed to be the color control guy at my day job (which I don't want to get into, because it is lame). When I post them they seem garish all of a sudden.
Anyway the titles here are mostly tentative.
You can click on the images to view them a little bit larger.
Enjoy. Or don't. Whatever. I'm feeling ambivalent myself.

Studio at Night
(In which I pretend that the end of the world is imminent while I'm absorbed in making my little pictures)

"Linden Tree"
(one of the trees in the park near our house after which my daughter is named)

"Muddy Road"
(My wife and the guy who takes my slides don't like this one but I thought it came out pretty good. But then I'm rarely the best judge of my own work)

"The Fox"
I had this one re-shot because the previous slide had some glare on the left.

"Three Blind Mice"
(More of a joke than a work of art. Maybe a nice illustration for children's rhymes)

Aaargh...

2010-01-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

[A rant written during my last painting session back in mid-December]

The truth is I have no idea if I'm any good. I paint scenes that look good to me and then think to myself, "I have no idea what that would really look like". I use photo references when I can but mostly I'm just painting completely out of my head. If I pay special attention and try to copy the details out of a photo I think the painting usually comes out better, but I always want to make it all up anyway. What the hell am I doing?

[and now... back to work. painting tonight. wish me luck cybervoid.]

The Experiment

2009-12-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Here's another short animation from my college days. This one is very similar to the previous "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hatrack"
the walking at the beginning is pretty awful but the rest came out ok I think.

Facebook test

2009-12-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to figure out how to get my blog posts to automatically show up on my Facebook page.
Here goes.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hatrack

2009-11-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

This is a flip book I made... ohh...25 years ago? it's only 15 seconds long. Animation is time-consuming!
I have a couple more animations from around the same time that I will eventually post as well whenever I get around to scanning them in.
Sorry the quality is not so great.

New Slides!

2009-10-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Just scanned in slides for my latest paintings. They came out pretty nice for the most part. I have to get 2 of them re-shot because there was too much glare. I'm including one (the fox, currently untitled). The other was just too bad.
Click on the individual images to view them larger.

"Stars Falling down"

"Direction"

"Commute"

currently untitled

A dumb comparison

2009-10-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

I saw the picture of Jim henson and the Muppets the other day and, for some odd reason, immediately thought of this painting by Heironymous Bosch. Funny.

My drunk Artist Statement

2009-10-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

(Or... Thinking About Myself When The Family is Away)

The night I paint is not the real night. It is not informed by photography (references are, if any, daylight shots) nor do I work "Pein Air". I'm sure as hell not Vincent van Gogh.

My night is of the imagination, of a longing for night when life keeps you shackled, oh so surely, to the day. Night is solitude and loneliness, two sides of a coin I keep bright and polished in my pocket.

Being happily married and a father keeps me from fetching out that coin as often as I used to, so I paint what it represents. It is another life, full of uneasiness and mystery, humor and fear, possibility and sadness. It is a life I only dream about, because I choose to be awake. That way lies madness, but there are some pretty pictures to be got out of it.

I win.

2009-10-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well, me and 4 other people. Anyway I had a painting in the "Around Oregon" art annual in Corvallis. I was honored with a "Juries Choice" recognition. It came with a check for $100 which sure as hell beats a punch in the eye. Thanks Arts Center! thanks Juror!
the show has no obvious link and the space's site is under friggin' construction. Oh well. 100 bucks, right?

Blogged

2009-10-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

I got a very nice blog review today.

thanks Eric.

see the post at:
http://www.paintblog.ca/2009/10/05/david-carmack-lewis/

The House Studios

2009-09-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

Phoenix, Arizona

For a While I lived solely off my art. Not very well mind you. and my rent was $150 per month. That was because of the House studios, an old crappy house that Robert Anderson turned into a little commune of sorts. for a while it was a strange little idyllic place in the wasteland that was downtown Phoenix. Eventually we all moved on. Then it was an abandoned house once more.
Now it has burned to the ground. There's a painting in this for sure.

Oct. 2008

Sept. 2009

The upstairs of this separate building in back was my studio.

Here's a link to the actual fire.

George Fox University Show

2009-09-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well the show at George Fox University looked nice. "Trial by fire" was the title. All those fire paintings in one place. Very warm. With ceramics and another 2-d artist (not shown, sorry Kim).
The opening was from 5-6:30 so of course we got there a little after 6. That was because traffic through the hell that is Tigard was unbelievable, i.e. normal for that time of day. Our nerves were a little frayed because the baby woke up long before we got there and started practicing her screaming, which she's getting pretty good at. KJ tried to help by climbing in the back seat with her but that only got us pulled over by the cops.
I was ready for some whiskey but it was a dry opening and anyway, I had to come to work this morning so it's just as well. Our host, artist, university proff and gallery coordinator Tim Timmerman treated us to nice gathering at his house afterward. Thanks Tim.

A Detail

2009-08-25T15:03:00.001-07:00

I never took detail shots of my paintings before. But for some reason I liked the way this truck came out in just a few simple brush strokes and you can barely see it in the slide of the whole. Don't know what else to do with it right now so I'm posting it here.

detail

"Prelude to an Encounter" 2009

Why?

2009-07-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

I always used to think I did art because I enjoyed it. But the older I get the more I think I do it to stay sane.

Pallette and Rag

2009-07-13T10:36:00.001-07:00

Bear and Squirrel

2009-06-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

Seems like the only drawing I get done these days is the occasional idle doodle while at work.
This one made me smile.

I'm not sure how Bear and Squirrel became friends (or learned to build fires) but they clearly enjoy their camping trips on the weekends. Squirrel especially enjoys toasting marshmallows.

Scar and Kolash

2009-05-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Since I'm hardly doing anything else these days I thought I'd post this drawing for a friend. He's upgrading my linux computer.
I haven't done fantasy or superhero drawings since college so considering the 20+ year lapse I though it turned out OK. Now I just have to add some background figures (it's supposed to be a tavern scene, see) and then ink it.
I know I'm a nerd.

Three Preludes

2009-04-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

Because it started as a doodle posted here, I'm posting the end result.
My wife convinced me that it required a more open ended title for my show. So it became "Three Preludes". Which I like.
see posts Aug.20, 2008 and Dec. 8, 2008

Technique

2009-03-19T15:27:00.001-07:00

I was just thinking about technique. Something I don't do very much.
I think I can best sum up my technique this way:
Since the age of 4 or 5 I've been trying to learn how to draw. For the past 12 years I've been trying to learn how to draw with oil paint using a no. 8 brush. All through high school I was an obsessive pen and ink cross-hatcher. I'm working in much the same way now but with a blunt instrument on a larger surface (and in color of course).

Near the Airport

2009-01-13T13:44:00.000-08:00

...or another 20 minute lunch break sketch.

the night

2009-01-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

I think my obsession with night scenes stems in part from a childhood conviction that nothing particularly interesting happens during the day.

Obligatory Raven Sketch

2009-01-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

It seems everybody has to sketch a crow or raven at one time or another. Very few can actually capture the presence of these extraordinary birds. I certainly did NOT. but it more or less looks like one.

Old Cottonwood

2009-01-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

More and more into trees lately.

UFO

2008-12-09T08:42:00.001-08:00

In progress.
I laugh.
I am not a serious artist.

Scenes for Mysteries

2008-12-08T08:31:00.001-08:00

One of my first entries was quick little doodles of this idea. It amused me too much to let go so I started painting them on board. Wanted to keep them fairly small. These are about 18" square. Haven't gotten very far since I'm focused mostly on large canvas still. But thought I'd post them because I have nothing else to post.

In order:
"Scene for UFO"
"Scene for Bigfoot"
"Scene for Lake Monster"

Carafe

2008-11-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

Empty, of course.

Other Artists

2008-11-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

Instead of placing the works of contemporaries and links to their websites here, I've created a new blog for that. It's called "All the Art Out There"

De Blinde

2008-11-20T13:49:00.001-08:00

A sketch I did quite a few years ago of a painting in Antwerp by Gustave Van de Woestyne. Wish I could see the original again. The sketch does no justice to it.

Moonlit Winter Landscape

2008-11-19T15:14:00.000-08:00

click on this image to view large. Please.
Remigius van Haanen 1812 - 1894 "A Moonlit Winter Landscape"

I just don't sketch enough

2008-11-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hell, I work full time and I'm a new dad and I still paint. So filling this blog with nothing but my boring sketches would be a little slow. So I'm adding occasional and curious images that intrigue or inspire me. Here goes..

Tree House

2008-11-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

Was thinking about a silly story I wrote a while back about a squirrel who gets lost and almost drowns but doesn't because of a friendly beaver and it's all very sweet and stupid. Anyway it made me think of his home in a tree. His is much higher up I think, but this one is kind of intriguing.

Back Yard

2008-11-13T09:19:00.001-08:00

Fairly dull sketch of my backyard.
Haven't added anything in a while though.

Medieval Village

2008-10-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Drawn from someone's photo of Saint-Cirq Lapopie in France.
Dropped some background landscape to emphasize the cliff face.
Don't know why I've always been so fascinated by the middle ages. In high school I drew a lot of castles not much different from this.

Winter Road

2008-10-08T14:30:00.001-07:00

This painting resulted from the sketch below.
It was never titled.

Untitled 2008

Cellar

2008-09-29T14:43:00.001-07:00

Cyclopolot

2008-09-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

An old doodle.
It make me laugh.

Mummy's head

2008-09-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Why all the morbid images?
Perhaps it's just that so many people have asked me (with such warm and hopeful light in their eyes) how the birth of my daughter would affect my art, that I can't resist a bit of sarcastic visual response.

A skull

2008-09-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Interesting paintings

2008-09-13T16:10:00.001-07:00

If what makes a painting interesting is something that must be explained then there's not much point in painting it.

Cityscape

2008-09-11T07:42:00.001-07:00

a piano

2008-09-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

Started a very typical painting last week, of a road at night. Of course there's a fire in the middle of the road because I can't resist putting a fire in everything, still. At first I placed the single wooden chair in front of the fire as usual. But that seemed a bit tired so I changed it to an upright piano.

Much better.

A burial

2008-09-03T15:29:00.001-07:00

from a photo in an old Smithsonian magazine.
The photo was far more eloquent than this sketch.

become an artist

2008-09-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

To become an artist requires at first a modicum of talent followed by ever increasing amounts of stubbornness and vanity.

To become a successful artist requires something else as well. Probably a lot of glad-handing, but then what would I know about it?

Battered Bugle

2008-09-02T08:06:00.001-07:00

Birdnote

2008-08-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

Vaux Swifts at Chapman School

2008-08-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

The swifts are back in town.
I did the following sketch last year while watching them swirling down for their nightly rest (or an eternal rest as it were for one hapless swift that fell victim to the talons of a hawk perched upon the threshold).

Later painted it up in the studio.
It's not my intention generally to show finished paintings on this blog. I have a website for that. But I don't often paint from sketches and I thought the comparison might be interesting.

Tree trunk

2008-08-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

A tree near my day job.
Nice tree.
Bad job.

Magic Portals

2008-08-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

As a child I imagined and longed for a magic portal through which I could enter another world. Now that I'm an adult I know that magic portals exist only as a means for other worlds to enter ours.

Monolith

2008-08-21T09:58:00.001-07:00

Pencil doodle.
Why?
What?
?
?

A cat

2008-08-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

doodle of a cat named Kashona.

Scenes for mysteries

2008-08-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

Scene for Bigfoot

Scene for UFO

Scene for lake monster

Everyone's doing it...

2008-08-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Since everyone and their evil twins seem to have a blog I thought I might see what all the fun and fuss is.
Here's a picture.
Fire. I love fires.

So what is this BLOG all about? Who knows. Who cares. I'll just put stuff up now and then, or I won't. We'll see what happens. Or Only I will. Probably no one will ever know. Perhaps I will never tell anyone. That might be kind of amusing.