The countdown begins, and the race is on to figure out how best to use this new year. I think perhaps, it will just fall into place like every other new year, not really needing me to usher it in.

It has a way of just happening. Time marches on.

Where does the time go? I really get absorbed into the fabric of life, and forget about all the cyber-tentacles that I should attend to. What I mean simply is this. I should catch up on my sites, and respond to all of you nice people who have taken the time to view my work and leave comments. A big thank you. I hope to be more attentive to this soon. Please excuse my absence.

Hoping to give more quality time to my viewers in the future.

Thanks

I have been absorbing images and impressions on a daily basis. Soon it will be time to put these to canvas. The well is almost full, and the paint will soon flow.

Highway to Spring

16 x 20 

acrylic on canvas

painting is available for purchase

People ask me if I make a living as an artist. The answer is,....  Artists survive. They earn what they need to feed their art. They support their paintings like a father or mother supports their children. You do what you have to do to paint another day. Its not about making money, it about making art, and learning to survive by doing it. That, becomes  a living. Learning to survive by doing your art, and consequently, living by that credo. In fact, you are living from the doing of it.    ....... more on this another time.

Nice Little City

16 x 20 

acrylic on stretched canvas

painting is available

You don't actually have to be in a place to paint a place. Sometimes, all that is needed is the sense of place, from memories, sights, sounds and experiences. This painting is just that. A culmination of the many nice things that I remember about a lot of little cities that I have visited.

I was recently asked about my life as an artist. The things I have done to arrive at the point to where I am now. How did I become what I am, where I learned things, who I studied under, and how I do what I do. I never thought much about this being interesting to anyone, and therefor have not really put this to much thought. I find it curious, that so many people have asked me, and it doesn't seem to be a random thing. So, I guess, in some of the continuing blogs ahead, I will discuss some these things as well as anything I can think will add interest to the pot. 

  A good art patron and acquaintance of mine, who runs a chain of coffee shops and sandwich shops, prompted this essay into my life. It may help some of you who may wish to travel the life of an artist on their own. So, keep on checking  back every now and then, for updates and additions to this journal I will keep active. Life happens as you do it, and so will this blog. 

I hope, it imparts a picture of the path that I have traveled to be where and what I am.

Three Sails

16 x 20 

acrylic on canvas

sides are painted white

painting is available

I like the loose gestural quality of the brushstrokes and the open feel of the ocean. Its simple yet complete. One of my favorites.

Tidal Creek

16 x 20 

acrylic on canvas

available for purchase

I'm seeming to like the use of a palette knife lately. I'm also, liking other non-brush applications. Somehow, the less in the way between me and the canvas, the more I can get the message through. It's something I am exploring further, and will do so. Texture is also a very compelling thing for me and this technique lets that element live very well on the canvas. I'll include more of these type of paintings in the future, to let you see where I might be heading with them.

It's the season of doing outdoor festival and art shows. Its certainly an all encompassing  activity that consumes up ones time and energy like fire burns up oxygen. Not much time left for the canvas, although at this time, its usually best to keep a sketchbook handy for impromptu scribbles that can be used to turn into paintings eventually. Many of these will go the way of the trash can, but others have been known to blossom into full and mature works of art. 

  I hope I can unwind from some of these shows soon, and take a breather to get back to the easel.

The best time it seems to be fully productive, is the winter. Nothing but nothing to interrupt. And plenty of dead space. 

 As for now, I'll squeak in what I can, and I'm sure I'll certainly get in some paintings, if not in a desired time, then on the fly at least. 

  More later...

for now, that is all.

Sometimes, it's not enough to just have your paintings represent you. Sometimes, I need me to represent me. So here I am. Not my best happy face, but I don't actually recall any photos of me with a big toothy grin. 

  My wife and I were on one of our jaunts into some wildlife refuge, or conservation area, where this photo was taken. She took the pic. I, as most people always think, don't really think the picture really makes me look like me. No matter, I  just thought it was good etiquette to let you have an image of this artist to go with his works. 

IN THE FLORIDA KEYS

15 x 15

acrylic on panel

One of my feel good wish I was there paintings that I occasionally do, probably because I need a vacation.

I love the warm tropical colors in this painting and the inviting boat waiting to be boarded.

The brushwork is impressionistic and the subject visually entertaining. 

This painting is just one of the many beach and ocean paintings that I have recently been working on. I am producing paintings of the New England coast as well as the coastline in the southeast. Georgia, the Carolinas, Florida and the Keys.

This painting is available for purchase

Painting for me can evolve from my response to a subject, a feeling, a mood, a memory, a dream, or the pure act of creativity. Just letting the hand, mind and soul search and explore the canvas, until something emerges. What ever was going through my mind when this came out, I can't really say. What's important, is,... it is, what it is. My art.

This painting is for sale.

 16x20 Luncheon at the Villa

 

Stretched wrap around canvas painted  black on the sides, no need to frame, light varnish finish, gestural quality, painterly.

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I painted this from my impressions of scenes I have seen in Italy, especially of Tuscany. The family is setting the table for the noontime meal, and in the distance are hills and valleys where grapes are grown.

If time permits today, I will be cutting some large panels into workable paintable sizes. These, I will prime and prepare for painting. I love the look of a blank white surface that I can mess around with. What comes forth of the  painting process is always exciting.

Today I'm going to try and carve out some time to get to work on something from my sketchbook, on my larger canvasses. Small is nice, but I like to feel the paint move under my brush, and that only happens with movement over a larger surface. 

The Blue Green Sea

18x24

acrylic on stretched canvas

One of my most recent paintings. Inspired by salt water, slight warm breezes, and sand between my toes.

Painting has been sold

I can't wait to get back in my studio. The marketing aspect of being a professional artist has its way of chewing up time. I feel like I need to paint, and paint now.

THE STAFF OF LIFE

8x10

acrylic on panel

Sometimes images come to mind when sitting in a coffee shop, or just while listening to music. 

Not all paintings are done with the classical subject planned and assembled like a bowl of fruit. Artists, I think, should try to strive for the spark, and strike when it is hot. We all fall into the, .. ho, hum, what should I paint next? But, while that is happening, it may be a perfect time to let your mind feel its way through the layers of life, and just paint what seems to be a moment of unplanned creation. 

  This painting is one example of that. I didn't see it for real. I wasn't looking at a photo of it. I did not set my easel up next to the scene, ... but I did have a culmination of feelings and experiences that led me to paint this. I bake my own bread. I visualize the warmth of the sun growing the wheat. The staff of life, out there in the fields, waiting to be harvested and milled into flour. And, the smell of the end result when the hot bread emerges from the oven. What an aroma! From the wheat fields to the table. What a miracle of sequences.  From a stalk of wheat to a loaf of bread to sustain life. Go figure huh?

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This painting is available for purchase

Cabbage Cove

16x20

acrylic on stretched canvas

If you have ever been to Maine, you might have looked for the mythical Cabot Cove that was the residence of the mystery writer, Jessica Fletcher on the television series, Murder She Wrote. I didn't find it, but I did come across this place which, not knowing the name... I dubbed it "Cabbage Cove" in honor of the real imagined place.

This painting is available

On the Wharf

16x20

acrylic on canvas

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some info:

The place where Richard Dreyfus as "Hooper" met Chief Brody, in the film "JAWS"

 Place: Martha's Vineyard

Edgartown, Ma. Off the southern shores of Cape Cod

This painting is available

A note to my readers

If for you would like to email me for any further information or questions about my work, or to contact me for purchase considerations, please do at: rpotak@verizon.net, otherwise, go to russpotak.etsy.com to see my sales gallery there.

Thanks

Evening Sail

16x20

acrylic on canvas

This painting is available for purchase

Quiet Bay

9x12

acrylic on panel

This painting has sold

Downwind to Ogunquit

9x12

acrylic on stretched canvas

This painting is available for purchase

By the Sea 


16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas

Welcome to my world! I hope I can let some of my thoughts and processes be here for you to contemplate and illuminate my daily existence on this planet. Because I am an artist, my ramblings will always be leading back to my art and the process that motivates me and leads me to produce the paintings that I do. I would like you to be able to follow the steps I take on a daily basis, and see why and where my brush and palette are put into action. It may be life in a nutshell, but I hope to show you my life as an artist. 

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This is my blog. Its brand new,, and in the process of beginning.... but all things start with the beginning. So, now it's begun.

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