SNOW!?!

Bear Family
John Brisson

We got a dusting of snow last night here in Big Bear. The bears are confused!!

CRITICISM

"One of the most valuable things that one of my art teachers said to me was, 'Don't get upset by criticism. Value the fact that at least someone noticed what you did."
    ~Chris Moss~

On High
Acrylic painting
John Brisson

ELVIS

"I am the foremost collector of velvet Elvii in the city of Chicago," I said at once.

"Elvii?" Macone inquired.

"The plural would be Elvises, I guess," I said. "But if I say that too often, I start muttering to myself and calling things 'my precious', so I usually go with the Latin plural."
~ Jim Butcher,  Death Masks~

Big Cat
Acrylic
John Brisson

WATER MEDIA

Stephen Quiller has been one of my favorite teaching artists for a long time. He just splashes on paint here and there and within a short time, a beautiful painting emerges!!

B.B. Fire
Acrylic on Arches paper
John Brisson

 

PERFECTION

"Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it."
                      ~Salvador Dali~

Snow Cat
Acrylic on Arches paper

ART SPEAK

"If I could say it with words there would be no reason to paint"
~Edward Hopper~



Coolin'
Acrylic on Arches watercolor paper

F.Y.I

Here is another good website for art information. Artistsnetwork.tv has DVDs and video downloads from wonderful watercolor, acrylic and pastel artists. Below is a link to a small sample from Stephen Quiller, one of my favorite water media artists.
http://artistsnetwork.tv/preview.aspx?productID=173

Watching him paint motivates me to get something going again.

Value study for another pastel ??

MIXED MEDIA

This painting started out as a watercolor but, as almost always seems to happen, changed to acrylic pretty quickly. Watercolor...my never ending challenge!

PASTEL ENVY

Reading one of my older art books, I happened upon some pastel paintings by an artist named Dino Paravano. He paints all kinds of subjects in oil, acrylic and pastels. His wildlife work done in pastels is what especially caught my attention. Truly fantastic. He lives in Arizona presently, but grew up in Africa which shows in his work. Time well spent on his website.

http://www.paravanodino.com/

One of my pastels below. Not quite the same!!

SUMMER?

Just when I was ready to get the boats out and ready for the summer season...snow! We never get snow in the middle of May!!

'Coolin'

Acrylic painting on Arches watercolor paper

A FEW MORE FROM 2010

HOLIDAYS II

Spent time with family over the last few days so my art has been on the back burner. I did find time to do one acrylic painting which was quick but enjoyable.

NOT ENOUGH TIME

I have been running up and down the mountain for various reasons and finding it hard to spend much time downstairs in my studio. Just to clear my mind, I did a quick pastel. Years ago I did an acrylic painting of this spot on Ile Verti, but from a different direction.

QUEBEC

Sorting through old paintings and prints a few weeks ago, I found things that have been buried for years. Well, not buried (I do dust occasionally) but out of sight. This is an acrylic painting I did from a photograph I took on a trip to Quebec. The famous Chateau Fontenac. A side note about Quebec, while viewing some of the cemeteries I noticed that there a lot of 'Brissons' buried in Quebec. Don't think I'll visit there again. No need to tempt fate!

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~Scott Adams~

QUEBEC TRIP

A couple of years ago we spent a few weeks back east and then went to Ile Verte, an island outside of Quebec. We rented and old 19th century home overlooking the Saint-Lawrance Estuary. This is a painting I did of my wife Teri, and a friend that went on the trip with us. very relaxing with only radio and books.

DETAIL VS IMAGINATION

I have decided that my paining technique needs to move in a different direction. As I look at things that I have done in the past I can see that little is left to ones imagination. I work way too hard at trying to capture every detail of my subject. Comparing my painting (acrylic) called 'Time' to a painting by Rebecca Elfast, a loose watercolor, it's easy to see that hers is so much more fun!

BIG BEAR HISTORY

In an earlier post I mentioned how traveling in the eastern United States allows you to find so many picturesque scenes that you want to capture somehow in art. I tend to forget that living in Big Bear gives me the same type of opportunities. All I need do is take a walk in any direction and I can stumble upon great subjects for my art.

I did this painting of an historic old log cabin that sits in a large meadow in the east end of our valley. Acrylics again plus some watercolor pencils for small detail.

BACK EAST

This is a painting (acrylic) that I did from a photograph we took on one of our trips back east. I need to go through those pictures again as everything was so very painting worthy back there.

TWO PAINTINGS

I started working (not really the right word) on my art again about nine years ago. Looking around my studio last night, I realized that I've done a lot in the years since. The fruit still life is a small watercolor I did that actually worked for me. The painting is an acrylic of an old house the I photographed up in Los Alamos, California.

ESA-PEKKA

Today is graduation day in our small town. Coaching both football and baseball at the high school over the past twenty years has given me some wonderful friendships. All of the students that I've had the privilege to know and coach, plus teachers that have become part of my life.

Mike Harrison teaches English at our high school and has also taken on the role of one of my 'blues buddies'! His guitar playing is the only thing that gives what we do any chance of being called music!!

Mike asked me to do a painting for him of Esa Pekka Salonen, a conductor and person that Mike has long admired. I look for any excuse to get downstairs so....

Mixed media acrylic and color pencil painting