Soon, I hope.

That's when I'm planning on, hoping for, a return to the easel. My wife and I just recently bought our first home and I've spent the last month or so working on it, and then moving. My new studio is not even close to being set up, but I'm hoping to get it to a place where I can at least throw a little paint around within the next week.

Wish me luck!

WORK IN PROGRESS

30"x40"

Mixed Media on stretched canvas

Not even close to being finished on this one. I like the direction the clouds have taken, though the yellow peeking out at the horizon line will have to go. This sky seems to be heading in a less ominous direction than the last few abstract landscapes I've painted.

"Spontaneous Structure"

36" x 48" triptych

Mixed media on stretched canvas

SOLD

Wow, it's been a long haul on this piece. At least, it seems that way. For the longest time, I had been stumped, looking for the movement in this painting. I had most of the pieces in place, and yet, it was still missing something. Now that it's finished, I feel like I was wrong. I thought it was lacking movement, when all along, the movement was there, but not the structure. It needed polarity. And polarity is a word I think of when I think of the client for this commissioned piece. The client is very structured in his work ethic and linear thought. He's a very smart guy. That said, he also has the ability to be silly, playful and very spontaneous. I don't know if I was able to capture that in this piece, but I sure as hell tried.

I used two different kinds of gauze, jute, and copper leaf. The piece is to be hung in the client's dining room and surrounded by neutral colors, so I really wanted to the piece to have a lot of texture to jump off the wall, and layers to pull the viewers closer.

I'm in the home stretch on the commissioned piece.

I'm going to try and keep my momentum going by starting a new big(ger) abstract landscape today, while I wait for the commission to dry a bit. D wants something with a big of purple in it.

There's no finished painting to post today. I have been working on the commissioned piece the last week or so. It's still not finished, but I do see light at the end of the tunnel.

"Past the Rain"

30"x40"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

$1000

SOLD

(Cue the "2001 A Space Odyssey Theme")

Wholly crap!

Could it be?

Is it?

...

It IS!

Ladies and gentlemen, kids of all ages, Jeff Bowser has completed a painting! Alert the media! Crack the bubbly! Smoke 'em if ya got 'em, and keep the women indoors!

Man, it's been awhile. I just finished running the Big Sur Marathon last weekend. The last two weeks have been spent preparing for that. I've been working on this piece for a while now. It's my first full-sized abstract landscape, originally conceived for our mantel, but being sold to a good friend instead. I'm happy she'll have it. It'll have a good home.

It's tough to see in the photo, but under the clouds there is rain falling in the distance.

I'm stumped.

I've been working on a commissioned piece for a while now and I've reached a place on the piece where I need to move forward, but by doing so, I run the risk of messing up the work I've done thus far. As I write this, it occurs to me that I could probably just go ahead and move forward. If I mess it up, really, how much further behind will I be, especially given the wall I've been staring at for the past few weeks?

Be brave! Go forth and prosper!

It's the movement in the piece that's got me a bit stymied. I will get it, though, and I refuse to fall into a situation like I did with the war painting I did last year. No, I will not allow that to happen again.

"Outside the Box"

24" x 30"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

$400

Your eyes do not deceive you. This piece is very similar to a piece I painted like it a year ago. That's because it's the same piece. On DailyPainters.com we were to post a piece for their "Outside the Box" themed painting. I've been hard-pressed to find time to really sit down at the easel lately, so, rather than miss out on the opportunity to post over at Daily Painters, I figured I should repost an older piece. Is it cheating? Perhaps, but hell, the piece is called "Outside the Box", I mean, c'mon!

"Desert Sunset"

8"x10"

Acrylic on stretched canvas

$45

SOLD

Finally, I finished a jewel. I wanted to incorporate a bit of the landscape that I see on my trail runs in the desert and in the mountains.

I haven't posted a painting in a while. I haven't been a total slug. The auditions picked up for a bit there, before that I was working on that commissioned diptych, and I shot a short film over the weekend that really took it out of me.

I'm hoping to get back at it on monday, and get some more jewels finished.

I hope you're all well.

"Sailors Delight"

8"x10"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

$45

I feel like I may have gotten a few things right on this jewel.

"A Little Sunlight"

8"x10"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

$45 

Another jewel, this time, with a bit of the sun poking through...

"Up the Beach"

8"x8"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

$40

I took the title of this piece from a Jane's Addiction song of the same name.  It's a painting of a beach, and I love Jane's Addiction... so, why not, right? I've used gauze and some textured media for the clouds, and a bit of the texture media for the earthy areas on the shore. 

Untitled Jewel

8"x8"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

$40

Say what? 40 bucks?!  That's a deal at any price!  

That's right, just doing my part to help the U.S. economy, pull itself up by the collective bootstraps.  It's raining again today.  I think the weather may have influenced the piece.  

WORK IN PROGRESS

36"x48" Diptych

Mixed media on stretched canvas

Here is where my commissioned piece is at.  It's getting there, but as I look at it, I can't help but notice it's lack of movement.  It feels somewhat stagnant.  I need to be patient, and I'm confident it will eventually reveal itself to me.  I will be pulling the blue back in it when I work on it next.

WORK IN PROGRESS

54"x36 Triptych

Mixed media on stretched canvas

So, here is the piece that I've been working on lately.  I began it 6 months ago, then put it aside, just not feelin' it.  I've been working on it for a couple of weeks now, along with the commission I got over the holiday.  I will post a photo of the commission tomorrow.

This piece brings back the boxes, and the feeling of something emerging.  I'm using jute, gauze, gels, and some texture mediums as well.  Since this photo was taken, I've worked the top square, (brown one) a bit more, making it pop more, bringing some shading into the bottom of the box.  It is difficult to see on the photo, but the boxes are made by single strands of jute pulled taught.  I like the effect the single strands have, and in the future may employ more weaving techniques.  

"Abstract Landscape With Green"

9"x12"

Acrylic on stretched canvas

$50

Your eyes are not deceiving you.  It really is a new jewel. 

It rained here off and on for the better part of a week.  It's sunny today, but we're expecting rain again tomorrow.  I'm excited.  "You need to get out more."  You may be right, but here in Los Angeles, we don't get much rain, and when we do, it's the lead story on the local news.  Man on the street interviews, some poor slob sitting out in it, showing you what water looks like when it falls from the sky.  For those of you in different parts of the world, you may think I'm joking, I'm not.  I grew up in Wisconsin where, like the Eskimos, we've got different names for the stuff that falls from the sky.  Snow.  Wet Snow, Blowing and Drifting Snow (when it's really cold out and the snow is "dry"), Rain.  Freezing Rain.  Hail.  Sleet.  When you grow up being able to look at a cloudless sky and declare that it "feels like rain" or "it's too still, stay near the house" only to have a tornado warning come an hour later, you miss weather, actual, real, scary, weather.

The sky looked something like this the past week.  I'm hoping tomorrow brings more of the same.  

For all of you suffering from subzero temperatures and up to your eyeballs in snow- I know, I'm an asshole.  

"2gether"

9"x12"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

$50

Ta-da!  A new painting!  A post!  I've been hard at work on two other, larger pieces, and I've been busy writing as well, so that's the reason for the lack of posts here.  

This piece is headed in an interesting direction, but it's just a germ of an idea right now.   "Daily Painters" wanted a Valentine's Day themed piece for tomorrow and so, that's what I've done. 

I'm still painting that commissioned piece, and it's coming along nicely.  It's not finished, but I am relatively happy with it's progress thus far.  I also picked up another piece I had put aside for months.  That piece is also an abstract on stretched canvas, it's also a triptych, and it's also got mixed media on it.  It measures 54"x36".  I want to make a concerted effort to get some jewels going next week.  

Just a quick note to say hi, and state, for the record, that I have been painting!  

It's been a busy new year acting-wise, which is always a good thing.  I'm also currently working on a new commission I got over the holiday break.  It's a triptych measuring 36"x48" with texture and warm colors.  I hope to try and begin posting some smaller jewels next week, in addition to the work on the commission.

Happy New Year, everyone.  I hope '09 brings us all health, wealth, and happiness...