Author: wjacobr

Visual artist, poet, novelist, activist & Street Medic, living in North. Penn Name: Jacob Russell My blog is a confluence of art, writing, politics. my Art portfolio: Art-by-Willard.com

What if? What then? Where now?

I would like to paint on surfaces that are not rectangles… this painting I’ve just finished (see work in progress, below) ) … I’d like if some of those shapes on the edges were cut into the rectangle, so the shape of the painting and it’s support are not two different things. I don’t have the tools or the means to realize this.

For so many years I’ve lived in the city, with few opportunities to get out–and none for any length of time. I watched a video of David Hockney talking about Van Gogh… and found myself wondering, how different my paintings might be if I were to have spent this time observing woodlands and fields and open waters–or if I were to move out of the city and spend the rest of what little is left of my life in a cottage by a lake in the woods.

This painting, and #1206 below) of the last suggest new ways of organizing what I see… new for me, at least, and making me feel like much of what I’ve done before is so much splish splash of color–searching for a visual idea and falling short. Maybe this time I’ll find my way









View more work at Saatchi Art, and on my web portfolio: ART BY WILLARD For photos on this blog, click MY ART on the right panel and scroll

#1206 “Yes, Sleep will Come…”

28×18, Oil on Canvas. This began as an image of ASL sign for ‘sleep.’
What I think about when I paint….
…if the brush makes two marks on the canvas, my eye looks for a third. When I see the third, I set out to see where it leads. If it leads to a fourth, and no further, I’m disappointed at the early end of the travels. So much depends on where that third mark will appear. This is how painting is like music.

View more work at Saatchi Art, and on my web portfolio: ART BY WILLARD For photos on this blog, click MY ART on the right panel and scroll down.

#1204 Windy Day!

First chance I’ve had to use my set of super fine brushes.

20×16 Brush & Ink, watercolor on Schut 115lb Extra-Raw Extra-Rough Coldpress

View more work at Saatchi Art, and on my web portfolio: ART BY WILLARD For photos on this blog, click MY ART on the right panel and scroll down.

#1199 …The Mask… again

I did more work on this and ruined it. This is my attempt to save it.
11×14 pen & Ink, watercolor.

View more work at Saatchi Art, and on my web portfolio: ART BY WILLARD For photos on this blog, click MY ART on the right panel and scroll down.