"Poolside"

 

 

12 x 12"

oil on panel

What says summer like a swimming pool and being this is the unofficial start of summer I'm posting one of my new paintings for a group show Looking Forward, held at Robert Lange Studios and opening July 2nd.  

 

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) 1972,  is one of many paintings David Hockney used a swimming pool as his main subject.  While flying into Los Angeles from England, his birthplace, he marveled at what he saw below.  ‘I looked down to see blue swimming pools all over, and I realised that a swimming pool in England would have been a luxury, whereas here they are not.’  Without realizing it, he found one of his greatest subject matters for the following two decades.

Hockney's first attempt at this composition, after months of working and reworking it, ended with a total wipe-off.  He set off to take multiple photographs until he found the exact reference he was looking for - imagined months ago.  With just four weeks until a gallery show opening, he worked 18 hours a day and completed the finished painting the night before the shipper was to pick up the piece and get it to New York City.

46 years later, Hockney's most widely-known and loved works of art sold for a record $90.3 million in Christie's auction.  In 2019, he left Los Angeles after residing in California for 55 years, and now lives in Normandy, France where he says he'll live out the rest of his days.  The 82-year-old artist describes a normal day is working in his studio in the morning, breaking for an afternoon meal and maybe a nap, then going back to his studio for the evening.  

Now that's the life.

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Taz

5 x 5"

oil on panel

A gift for my neighbor on this 4th of July - the late and great Taz digging the pool.

Have a safe and happy 4th my friends.

"Poolside"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

My new painting, a study for a larger piece, was both a blast and challenging.  David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) is vivid and patterned and awe-inspiring.  I am thrilled for David Hockney, who is still alive and well and producing fabulous paintings - at a recent Christie's auction, his painting started with no reserve at $15 million and fetched $90.3 in the end.  So deserved for its recognition and worth.

Hockney is known for his brilliant pool paintings of course.  This was inspired by two photographs next to each other on his studio floor.  A double portrait.  Hockney worked on it for about a year - looking at a due date of just four weeks until he had to ship it off to New York for an exhibition.  That lead to working 18 hours a day for two weeks just to get it done.

"Borrowed Time"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

My good friend and neighbor enjoying the last few days of pool time.

"Tanning Tubes"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

I took a week off of painting for some spring cleaning - meanwhile the sun and the warmth finally arrived.  Yay.   This new painting is an ode to late spring and the anticipation of floating in a swimming pool as soon as possible.  Plus I just got a new tube of Quinacridone Violet for that hot pink I wanted.  

"Going Swimmingly"

6 x 3-7/8"

oil on panel
sold

You may think you know how to paint a figure until something like an elevated view or water distorts it - then you're truly forced to paint what you see and not what you know.  I love the wiggly form of her body under water, very challenging and fun to paint.  An ode to swimming pools that help me tolerate the summers in Georgia.  I think I'll go find one now.

"Double Dip"

5 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

Inspired from my short span of attention on a sunny afternoon and a stronger desire to jump in a pool.

 

"Pool Room"

6 x 6"
oil on masonite
sold

Ode to the swimming pool. Without it, I'd really hate summer and probably have moved back up north by now. Today, we bid farewell - until next year. Alas.

My good friend enjoying plenty of room to float.