Thursday, July 9, 2009

Still Life!


I painted a still life. The first one in about 5 years. It's great! No bugs, rattlesnakes, poison ivy, rednecks, blazing heat, chiggers.....nothing.
We have a group that Jason Saunders rounded up to paint in his studio every Wednesday night. He has this wonderful studio space that he sets up maybe 6-7 different still lifes in the center and you can rotate around the room and paint as many as you want. We had around 12 people there and it was an experience of painting out of my comfort zone. But I can learn to love this still life stuff. Jason has his studio climate controlled by this wonderful invention called Air Conditioning. I didn't have to apply any chemicals to ward off the effects of vermin or deadly UV rays. Nobody approached me in a beat up pickup truck and walked up and said,"Hey, you ever seen that Bob Ross guy on T.V.? Man, he's good." And the best part? THE LIGHT DIDN'T MOVE. Not an inch. The light was the same when I finished as when I started. I could have painted all night and it would have been the same. No ducking behind clouds, no setting, no haze. No moving or changing at all! Sweet!
Yeah, that plein air painting is for chumps. The only issue I will have to deal with is after painting the rugged wild back country of Tennessee for so long I found painting little pink flowers a bit emasculating. But if they sell, I'll paint 'em in a dress and make-up if I have to.

10 comments:

Keith Tilley said...

"But if they sale, I'll paint 'em in a dress and make-up if I have to."

You certainly couldn't do that outside!!!
Very nice painting by-the-way.

Chris Ousley said...

Good work Kevin! Headed to the Adirondacks in Upstate NY Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the encouragement on Wed. I look forward to trying again... I'd love guidance if you ever want to offer! I saw your OMG entries.. really, I was still impressed at your first attempts.. but can see the tremendous growth you've made in 6 yrs. I hope to grow up too a lot over time. I appreciate the opportunities to see ya'll paint!

Kevin Menck said...

Keith- Yeah, there are definitely areas in Tennessee that you would not want to get caught wearing a dress. Have you ever seen Deliverance?
Ouser-I expect tons of posted work when you get back!
Tiffany - Let me know if there is anything I can do for you to keep the ball rolling so to speak. I said when I started this that I would do whatever I could to help anybody climb this mountain and all you have to do is ask. That and keep painting!

Doug said...

painting little pink flowers, eh?

You may have to turn in your Man-Card, Kevin. : )

Kevin Menck said...

That's pretty big talk for someone who has a sock monkey for a logo.

Doug said...

...oops!

mike rooney studios said...

dude
you love the chiggers, rednecks and sun slipping behind clouds! you cant fool me LOL
thats why we do what we do. you'd be bored of still life after a week and go paint a cloudy day just to get out of there.
nice single tree in the foreground of this one BTW!

Kevin Menck said...

Mike- Ya' know you're probably right.There was a certain "boredom" just starting to creep in at the end of the still life.Maybe I could get someone to move the light around the room and throw snakes at me.

Jason A. Saunders said...

I'll get you a mattress next time and you can just stay the night. The lights about the same in the morning too. Instead of snakes and chiggers, I will send my kids to wake you up. That can be just as annoying.