Sketchbook to Watercolor II

String Theory - 12"W × 9"H - Pen, Ink and Watercolor

Of late, Ive been focusing on the larger abstracts and smaller humorous paintings, but I continue to fit in watercolors around the edges. Here are some fairly recent ones with the sketches from my sketchbooks upon which they were based. See more of my watercolors: Click here.

Soaring - 12"W × 9"H - Pen, Ink and Watercolor

A Change of Scenery - 12"W ×9"H - Pen, Ink and Watercolor

What'reyagonnado, Eh? - 12"W × 9"H - Pen, Ink and Watercolor

Compartmentalization - 12"W × 9"H - Pen, Ink and Watercolor

Two New Humorous Paintings and a Twist on Presentation

I've tried a little something different in the way of presentation with these last two paintings. Prior to these I have always built a box on the back of the paintings which brought the depth up to 1 3/4". The sides were painted with a color that complimented the painting and the presentation looked fantastic. The problem , aside from building the box and sanding the sides smooth ( which took a considerable amount of time) was one of space. The finished pieces took up alot of storage room. So with these paintings, I built a smaller box, which, when hung, gave the paintings the appearance of floating on the wall. Also they take up much less space.

Prints of these paintings are available on my humorous print site: www.humorousprints.com 

The back, with hanging wire yet to be added.

What's Not to Like? - Acrylic on Wood Panel - 12"W × 16"H

Good Morning - Acrylic on Wood Panel - 12"W × 16"H

Vermont Studio Center - 2014

My studio was at the far end of the Wolf Kahn Studio Building in the Kahn Barn

Last week I attended Vermont Week at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT for a week of intensive painting. Approximately 60 other Vermont visual artists and writers attended, so not only did I have the chance to immerse, I also had the opportunity to hang with some very cool people, most of whom I had never met. Each resident was given spartan accommodations and a spectacular studio in exchange of a modest fee and six hours of work that had to be completed during the week. Meals were eaten communally in the Old Mill dining room. Three fantastic squares a day, complete with artisan bread and locavore salad bar.


I had a great week. It's not often that I get a chance to work uninterrupted by emails or the phone. I continued to work on large abstract acrylics on canvas and finished five pieces as well as several small watercolors. This was my third residency at the Vermont Studio Center and I want to thank the VSC powers that be for allowing me to return.

The mess monster at work. Thanks to Diana Henry for taking this photo.

Underneath the skylight was a desk, but I mainly worked from the center table where I had a painting going on either side.

View from the skylight end.

The Mill Building: the top floors house the administration offices, the main floor is the dining room and the bottom floor houses a lounge with a large flat screen TV and a very well stocked art library.

The grey building on the right is the Maverick Writing Studio, which houses 16 writers. The red building on the left is  the Firehouse Studio, which is a ceramic studio and one of two sculpture studios. In the background, the white church is the Church Studio, one of three painting studios.

Here are some of the paintings that I completed last week in the order that I did them.

Pomp X - Acrylic on Canvas - 30.5"H × 43"W - Normally my word paintings have a matrix of black lines. This time I took a cue from a word drawing in my sketchbook and worked with words only.

Bruin - Acrylic on Canvas - 41"H × 66"W - Limited palette and a bit more bold and graphic than how I usually work.

Whisper - Acrylic on Canvas - 40"H × 65"W - I started out with loose gestural circles to establish a rhythm and then started subtracting and deconstructing. This is a poor photo, but I think the effect is calming, hence the title.

Pink - Acrylic on Canvas - 30"H × 43"W - This one started out with very quick pencil marks, some of which are still evident in the final state. A bad photo. You'll have to trust me that this is a nice pink rather than a muddy pink.

Village - Acrylic on Canvas - 40"H × 65"W - Again, a different approach. I got in over my head with this and sat in front of it for a half hour one night figuring out what to do. The next morning I started blasting away with white, keeping the areas that I thought were interesting.

White

Lately I've been bouncing back and forth between word and abstract paintings with a short sidestep into watercolors when I ran out of fluid acrylic white paint and my supplier was shut down for a couple of days due to incliment weather. C'est la vie. Here are several new abstracts that I finished last week when my white paint ship finally came in.

Peekaboo - Acrylic on Canvas - 31"H × 39"W

Signal - Acrylic on Canvas - 27.5 ×30"W

Catbird Seat - Acrylic on Canvas - 30"H × 40"W

Zuma- Acrylic on Canvas - 34"H × 66"W

Hartford Courant review of Mercy Gallery Show

Charming, Whimsical Paintings Of Hal Mayforth At Loomis Chaffee

Windsor Exhibit Features Works By Vermont Artist-Illustrator

 

By Susan Dunne, The Hartford Courant,

10:48 am EST, March 6, 2014

 

Hartford-area residents may have seen the work of Hal Mayforth before. He's created illustrations for articles in dozens of national magazines and the Courant. His recurring character is a little guy with bulging eyes and a huge nose, wigging out over whatever situation the subject of the article puts him in.

The new exhibit of Mayforth's work at the Mercy Gallery at Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor doesn't feature that little guy, but instead a wider range of Mayforth's loopy sense of humor. The exhibit of watercolors and acrylic paintings is so charming that visitors may find themselves immediately going online to mayforth.com to buy a print, if they can't afford a piece right off the wall.

"I don't draw from life. I draw from my mind," Mayforth, of East Montpelier, Vt., said during a gallery walk-through. "I seldom start drawing with preconceived notions and I never know where it will take me." His primary goal? "I just want to put a smile on someone's face."
So he comes up with paintings titled "Do you really need that cupcake?," "Turn all your crap off once in a while," "Persistence will wear the bastards down," "Don't hold your breath waiting for thunderous applause" and "Floss the ones you want to keep."
Fifteen of those "humorous word paintings" are in the exhibit, along with three of a different style of word paintings.

These paintings feature a random variety of pop-culture references — pumpkinhead, moonbeam, periodic table, some mother's son, presto changeo, turning piont, Willie Nelson — looping around each other in multilayered spirals.

"They're just free-associated, but I'm sure a therapist could make something of it," he said. "I think two years of college majoring in liberal arts helped me. I know a little bit about a lot of things."
Other paintings in the show are grid paintings, with different images placed in neat rows, in a style inspired the pictographs of abstract expressionist Adolph Gottlieb. "I like the combination of vintage-looking cartoon characters and abstract marks," he said.

The silly tone of the exhibit is clear from the start, beginning with what Mayforth calls "The Dreaded Artist's Statement." "To be honest, there is not a lot of philosophical hokum behind these paintings," he writes. "My paintings are conceptually all over the map. The thread that runs through them all is a certain off-kilter sensibility."

HAL MAYFORTH will be at the Eugene Mercy Jr. Gallery in the Richmond Art Center at Loomis Chaffee School, 4 Batchelder Road in Windsor, until Thursday, April 17. Details, including hours: www.loomischaffee. Information about Mayforth: www.mayforth.com.

 

 

Sketchbook Word Drawings - Feb 2014

I've been trying to fit several of these drawings in a week, fitting them in during my morning drawing sessions. If you'll notice, I date each one and on most of them include a brief description of the weather. It's been a brutal month.

Peekaboo

Wonder Wall

The Intruder

Emergency Exit

Oink

Vox

Over, Under, Sideways, Down

See Saw

Neptune

A Show at the Mercy Gallery and an Artist's Residency at The Loomis Chaffee School

On Sunday, February 23, I headed to south with a car full of paintings, to hang a show, open the show and do an artist's residency at The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, CT.. The gallery director and chairman of the art department, Jennifer McCandless had seen my show at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts last year and invited me to show at the Mercy Gallery on the Loomis Chaffee campus. On Monday we hung the show. I was assisted by Al and Ron, two maintenance staff members and both avid woodworkers. Here's what I learned. Woodworkers make excellent show hangers and laser levels can come in very handy in such situations. In the afternoon I did a watercolor workshop for painting instructor Chet Kempczyski's class. The facilities at Loomis Chaffee are outstanding. I was housed in a beautiful studio suite on the upper levels of the Richmond Art Center.

This was the studio part of my apartment. I managed to do several watercolors here during my stay.

 My idea for this show was to show a number of different aspects of my work and tie them all in with two walls that were papered with sketchbook reprints. I think it was important to show my sketchbook work, as that is the basis of all my work. In the show were humorous paintings, grid paintings, word paintings, recent abstract work and an entire wall of watercolors.

On Tuesday I presented a powerpoint presentation of my work to an auditorium full of kids and spoke about how important sketchbooks have been to my life and gave an overview of my career.

The Ellen Magurn (my lovely wife) Method: One of the many life lessons that was shown to the students of Loomis Chaffee in the course of my presentation.

 Tuesday night was the opening and there was a good turnout. It coincided with a show of student work from the previous semester. I had the opportunity to speak with a number of kids and parents. One of the highlights of the evening was the appearance of Randy Enos and his wife, Leann, whom I had not seen in a number of years. After the show, we headed up to my apartment and shared stories for a couple of hours. It was so cool to see them both.

I'm not normally a fan of odd typefaces, but this one, whatever it is, seemed to sum up the flavor of the show. Good call, Jen.

The south wall.  Reprints of sketchbook pages on the left, with a grouping of 15 humorous acrylics. Photo by Mike Taylor.

The west wall: 3 word paintings, a grouping of sketchbook reprints of word drawings and 3 abstracts. Photo by Mike Taylor.

The north wall: a grouping of 18 small watercolors. Photo by Mike Taylor

The east wall: a grouping of 11 grid paintings. Photo by Mike Taylor

I headed back to Vermont early on Wednesday morning, as they were predicting snow. It never materialized. I was a great adventure and I would like to thank Jennifer for hosting my stay. Our standard poodle, Maude was very happy to see me. She is my beloved studiomate and didn't at all dig being alone for a couple of days. I gave her a couple of biscuits and then it was back to the studio, me to work and Maude to snooze.

Maudie