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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

_________________________________

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. 

---------------------------

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.

________