I Remember Running Through the Wet Grass

One of the problems with painting is deciding you are done. This is a relative concept, of course. It is only done when you decide it is, and in many cases, a piece can be considered done at many points in its development.


The decision about when to stop, for me, tends to land near the decision on the style of the piece.The more abstract I want the image, the earlier I stop laying shapes and colors and start refining them. A few more passes at the canvas and it's a passable Impressionist piece. The further I paint, the closer I get to Realism.

The poor quality of the images don't help the argument, but these are some in progress shots:

The canvas started out rather Kandinsky-esque as
I blocked in sky and laid out color tones for the field.
The canvas came to me already painted red, which is nice, as I like the undertone.
It helps the image stay warm with all those cool blues and greens.

I almost stopped at this point. I may even try to recreate the feel of this image.
It has a bit of a Diebenkorn feel, without the vertical angularity.

A little more refined. Totally could have stopped here.
Like a Chase landscape

The finished piece.

Desperately Wanting
2012 Guy Gondron
24"x36"
Acrylic on canvas

I could probably work on it forever if I didn't get tired of seeing it on my easel.

Long Gone Day

The name for this painting was inspired by the poppies, of course. I wanted to go a different route than the usual, and I was looking through song title to get an idea for a lyric or something that could inspire a name. My brain drifted to favorites and fell on Mad Season, Alice in Chains' singer and guitarist's side project. The band tied in because of their infamous heroin use - poppies, and the lyrics fit the mood of the painting pretty well.

11" x 14"
Acrylic on canvas

See you all from time to time
Isn't it so strange
How far away we all are now
and I'm the only one who remembers that summer
Oh, I remember
Everyday each time the place was saved
The music that we made
The wind has carried all of that away

Long gone day
Mmmm, who ever said
We wash away with the rain

I had painted it mostly because the poppy series has been very popular, and my friend Ivonne had the last one bought out from under her, a situation most artists would be very happy with. I am happy to be painting and selling, but I definitely don't want to fall into some weird niche where all I paint are poppies.

Either way, I was happy with the way the painting turned out, for the most part. and Ivonne bought it right away. She's happy, I'm happy. All is right with the world, for about ten minutes.