Life on the Plains

Rain To The West                                             2010  Mark Scantling

Today, as I was driving home to Amarillo from Lubbock, I was entertained by a series of distant summer showers across fields of cotton and corn. Usually in August, Texas heat has parched the landscape, especially in north Texas where we have lived for the last 33 years. One often expects to find Texas (any or all of it) sun-bleached, baking hot, and desolately barren. I won’t argue that it isn’t. But, I will say here on the southern plains I can see an aesthetic beauty as pleasing to me and interesting as anywhere else. NOT as majestic as some others to be sure – but the flatland has its own sense of serene beauty.

I think it might be a -Yin-Yang thing – Land and Sky…  The long, endless, flat earth balanced by the endlessly changing sky full of brilliant blue and/or forming and re-forming clouds and colors.

-Mark

[Side note]

While enjoying the distant showers today, I recalled a painting I did a few years ago about a summer storm that literally blew in to Santa Rosa, New Mexico – as we arrived at the edge of town:

A Summer Storm In Santa Rosa              2005   Mark Scantling

Neal’s Hats Painting Demo Part 2

Step 4 – (Upper left) – Wednesday evening I started filling in the top and four lower hats. When I paint, I mix on the canvas – scumbling in one color into another. In this painting I am applying one color to each hat, then adding another darker color, then a lighter color and white.

Step 5 – (Upper right) – Saturdays I paint at Adobe Gallery and greet gallery visitors. Today we several international travelers – I met people from Britain, Germany, and an artist from Denmark, I believe. I added more color to the hats, then the black, and the upper right. Looking at the original photograph, you won’t see the upper right hat. It was added it to balance out the top of the composition. You can also see that I corrected the curve of it’s brim. There is now a small problem in that two hats of similar color are together. In the next session, I will darken the top hat with a darker blue gray that is truer to the color of the photograph. This will help to balance with the lowest dark hat. It might be a good time to remind folks that as a color blind artist – I chose to change up colors to my liking. I am not a realist painter, so exact color representation in not critical. As I paint, I load up my brush to get thick strokes of paint. For my brushed paintings, I feel texture is equally important as color in telling the story of the subject on the canvas. Today’s colors include Grumbacher Indian Red, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt and Raw Umber, and Naples Yellow, and Ivory Black.

Step 6 – With each of the hats blocked in, I painted the background white. The paint again is brushed on thickly, but loosely – blue beneath is allowed to show through. This will be the 2nd of (probably) 3 layers of color. I like to layer backgrounds with color allowing each layer to peek through here and there. It allows the color to blend optically. In the next session I will continue working with the hats.

[Back story] Neal – the owner of this collection of hats – is retired after 20 years from the United States Border Patrol. Neal has worked his share of hot days and cold nights doing a job that many wouldn’t do. His temper can get up, and he’ll “spit his bit”, but he is a solid guy – he’ll let you know where you stand in no uncertain terms. He recently returned home (Lubbock, TX) and fell deeply in love with his high school sweetheart Deb. Up there on the Caprock, under a sky full of stars, they are both living large as Texas.

- Mark

ARTS GOGGLE, Fall 2009

Rick Bullock’s paintings at Lander’s Machine Shop Gallery

Fort Worth South Inc. promotes ART GOGGLE – twice each year – Spring and Fall. Businesses on the south end of downtown stay open late on Saturday and feature artists and craftspeople – food and drink – and some venues have live music. Mickie, my wife and jewelry maker, displayed her work at Quarles Window Co. on Park Ave. I didn’t show, choosing instead to spend the evening looking at art and visiting with other artist friends. I stopped first at T&P Tavern at the old Texas & Pacific train station to see FaceBook friend Jodi Theodore and her really nice Photography.  Next on my list was DMS Architects. My Twitter friend Kerry Conover curates the show and displays her Photography. Kerry put together a really nice group of artist/photographers. I especially liked Zeena Khalaf’s photographs of Syria. I also enjoyed the paintings of  Hatziel Flores so much – and I bought one.

The south end of downtown Ft Worth is an area of funky old warehouses and soon to be lofts.  One of the more interesting venues last night – and interesting artists was the Lander Machine Shop Gallery and artist Rick Bullock. His work (pictured above) is classified as non-objective expressionism – ranges from colorful shapes and lines to studies of color relationships.  See his paintings at 205 East Broadway. I enjoyed the feeling of his paintings and the “vintage” building vibe but didn’t wander into the next rooms (a band was playing) and I failed to read further on my guide that Ann Eckstrom was showing there too. Major screw up on my part. I’m a big fan of her beautiful paintings and would have enjoyed meeting her.

I can’t finish without a mention of my friend Robert Berry. Robert’s work was at Art On The Boulevard Gallery – the first gallery I joined, several years ago. He and I became good friends – not because of the styles of our paintings – but because of our love of Jazz. His paintings are Jazz based expressions and I often listen to Jazz when working in the studio. Always fun to catch up with Robert – because he is always 3 steps ahead!!

- Mark

Road Trips, Memories, and Dreams

Dream Flying to Taos, 2005                                            Mark Scantling

This painting is from 30 plus years of summer drives from Santa Fe to Taos, New Mexico.  I have been forever fascinated by the glimpses I get of the Rio Grande Gorge as I drive north on Highway 68.  I have even dreamt about these scenes. This is from one of the dreams, me like a bird – a hawk perhaps – gliding along silently above the gorge and Paseo del Pueblo sur, always moving toward the horizon.

For those who are on the road, from the east to the west, north to south, be blessed by the beauty that surrounds you.

-Mark