Happy Birthday Mom

As it is my mother’s birthday I thought I would post this assemblage sentiment that, I am sure, a lot of people feel about their mother.  I never forget her birthday and think of her almost every day in some manner.  She passed away over 50 years ago and her influence still lingers in my life.

 Isn’t that sweet?  Well, I would never say she was sweet nor do I believe she ever thought of herself sweet.  She was a pure breed Welsh.  Not a hard woman but fair and did not take any nonsense from me, brother or husbands.  She was highly educated, particularly for a woman attending college in the 1920’s.  Graduated UC Berkley and grad school at USC.  Taught briefly at a junior college and then went into the business world where she worked all of her life.  She was not a “stay-at-home mom.”

 Her best advice to me was literally her last word on her death bed.  “Don’t let the brassards get you down.”  That has served me well.

Artist John Robertson self-Portrait

This is a self portrait of me monkey-ing around with a self-portrait that the great Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo painted of herself.  If you are not familiar with her work and suggest that you make an attempt to see some of the great images she created.  Here is a great place to see a lot of her paintings:  https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/frida-kahlo/m015k04?hl=en

 Here is what Wikipedia wrote about her.   Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, post colonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society. Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy. In addition to belonging to the post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define a Mexican identity, Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist. She is known for painting about her experience of chronic pain.

County Fair Painting

Our local county fair should be opening relatively soon - but due to Covid-19 it doesn’t look like we are going to have another one after missing last year’s fair also.

This is an old painting created thirty years ago when I first started painting. We took our children to the county fair a lot of years. I have painted a number of paintings over the years, using the fair as subject matter. It’s the start of summer and for the second year in a row - no County Fair. Covid-19 - No fair.

Abstract Art Seascape art Video

When painting abstract art it is more than just painting a bunch of marks on canvas. There is also a third component and that is the idea or concept you are trying to paint. It is the difference between seeing a solid object and the abstract thought about it. In this case I am painting abstract art using my video as reference for inspiration.

Abstract expressionism seascape

For Example:  You see in this short 10 second art video showing breaking waves against a jetty that is close to our home.  As I have said before we are only a couple blocks from the ocean and visit it almost daily and see it everyday. You may or may not see the influence of the waves and the sea.  But I see the different patterns that may show up and the feel of the ocean past where the waves are breaking.  And I see the colors.  Somehow my mind scatters all this visual information in my brain and out comes abstract art.  I don’t know how it works but that is how it comes out. It is an abstract seascape although you may not see it that way.  And that is fine too.  It can be whatever you want it to be.  

Abstract Art Kind’a Hard to Paint

Abstract Art to Paint is Harder Than it Looks (maybe)

 Although most people think abstract is something simple to paint.   It is actually harder than realism.  You have to look inside of you and paint something that does not have a concrete basis.  Painting something that is real is just reproducing it (I do a lot of that)  But trying to paint something you can’t see but only feel is a challenge.

 Aesthetics is the important aspect of abstract art.  It first has to be interesting to the eye, the patterns and the shapes that attract the viewer.  After that the intellect takes over to determine its meaning.

 Our mind always wants to find patterns in abstract art that may have a sense of realism about them.  They show up in the process of painting - that somehow, as a painter we end up painting patterns - and they seem to stem from the shapes we see in nature. If you look at other of my abstract paintings you will see this pattern or design is similar to others.  That is what happens when painting abstract art.  There is a tendency to paint similar colors and design until you have worked out that particular though in your mind. 

Go Skateboard Day Skateboarder Art

Go Skateboarding Day. 

One of the great activities of the last 70 years is skateboarding.  And what better day than to relive the past is to dig out the skateboard buried in the basement or garage and head out to a nice concrete spot and celebrate Go Skateboard Day.

 I did some skateboarding when I was in my teens and early twenties.  Much later, after I was first married we had moved into our first home.  It was in my old neighborhood so some of the neighbors knew me.  But I was older now, married and settled down with a small child of my own.  One day there was a knock at the front door.  A kid about twelve from the group spoke up and asked, “Can John come out and play?”  They wanted me to come out and skateboard with them.  My wife turned to me and said, “Get your skateboard but be home by dark”.

About the Skateboarder Art

 And here is a piece of skateboarder art that I did a few years ago.  I live in a town of both surfers and skateboarders.  Only a few blocks from me is a promenade along where a couple of good surfing spots are located.  So the surfers gather in the parking lot and in between trips to the water some will break out their skateboards.  Others are just skaters coming down to watch the surfers and skate. In the case of this skateboarder, she was standing on the promenade looking out at the surf at Ventura Point in Ventura, Ca.

Abstract Impressionism Art Video Artist Inspiration

Artist Inspiration

Although I am not painting an actual scene when I close my eyes I I get inspiration from seeing something similar to what I have painted. It is as real to me as if it were an actual place. And it will elicit an emotion that is as alive as the actual place. Sometimes I think of a place I have visited and that had some sort of emotional quality that I want to recreate on canvas in an abstract way.

In this short video you can see that I started with the image of the ocean . The quality I am trying to capture is the feeling of being immersed in the surf - the turbulence of the water and the feeling of the waves coming over the rocks.

A Pelican?

You could ask what is the point of the pelicans? The main thing I am getting out of them is their beak and the way the neck twists and turns . It’s shape is interesting to me.

As a viewer you don’t have to see any of this in the painting. You can bring your own feelings and experiences to looking at it and what it means to you.

Abstract Tornado Fire Painting Inspiration and Art

Video showing inspiration and abstract art through expressionism

How do you express creatively what you feel when you feel inside? Imagination and existential forces creates the inspiration. The brush fires season has started up again and is a reminder of the Thomas Fire that came close to us and impacted so many lives a couple of years ago. “Firenado” is an attempt to capture that ‘feeling inside” in an abstract expressionist style of the fire tornadoes. By painting it abstractly it seems more real to me. I am trying to get to the core of what it is. I’m trying to paint the emotion of the sky and the fire storm in this contemporary painting, And the only way that it seems possible to do is to make it modern and abstract it - and then it seems more authentic to try and paint the excitement of it.

Abstract – semi-abstract Art

I title a lot of my abstract art as if they were landscapes. This is the way I actually see and think about them. To me, they are landscape paintings but I know others may not see the same things in them that I do. You may look at the painting and associate the image from something in your memory - recognizing a shape or form or color that reminds you of things past.

Busman's Holiday Artist Days off Landscape Art Wildling Museum

Days off Hobby

On my days off from painting sports art I like to go out into the countryside and create these small impressionism paintings. It’s a true busman’s holiday to take tine away from painting to do other paintings.  That is what an artist’s life can be like.  What I do for a living is also what I like to do for fun. It is a good break away from the demanding large scale sports paintings that I created in my studio. 

Wildling Museum Art Exhibition

 My art is being installed at the Wildling Museum in Solvang, Ca. for an upcoming group show.  I will have 65 small, expressive and impressionistic oil paintings for the upcoming exhibition.  Quote from the Wildling Museum; “Our upcoming exhibition, 'Bio/Mass' will feature an inspiring group of eleven contemporary artists who have transformed their fascination with deep observations of their individual environments into works that help us to see the beauty in the details of our world, celebrating both quiet and dramatic moments in nature”. No date is set but they anticipate a mid to late April opening.

I live close to farm fields and rural countryside so I like to go out and create “en plein air paintings” and as others refer to my impressionistic painting, alla prima. Alla prima painting is described as technique in which the painting (usually painted from life) is completed in one sitting or while the paint is still wet. Painting in this manner is a break form the large-scale sports art created in the confines of my studio.

Landscape Art Semi-abstract Viewer Reference

Reference Point

 When painting my small semi abstract landscapes I feel a need to find a place where the viewer can access my plein air art.  Where can the eye of the viewer find a reference point to start looking at the painting?  The main way I try to achieve this is through the use of perspective.  Even when I paint abstracts invariably there is a line.

 Why the Line

 Years ago I used to wonder why I felt a need to create that line in my art – either realistically or abstractly.  Why the line across the canvas?  Even if there is disruption of the line broken up with objects or other lines, behind those intrusions there is the line.   In my case one would have thought that should be easily figured out.  I say that because since I was a small boy I have seen the ocean almost every day of my life.  I lived either with a direct view or a block or two from the beach.  Even the years when I was in the armed services I couldn’t escape the ocean as I was in the Navy.  And for seventeen years my studio had a full on, white-water ocean view. And for fifty years my home had a ocean view.

 It all seems so obvious now but one time I was sitting on the beach, looking out at the ocean and there it was.  The line I had been seeing every day.  The blue sky – the blue ocean. The horizon was right there slashed across my view.

Online messaging thread with a teacher about one of her student’s art.

The sports art is of cricket players created by a 15 year old art student at Kingsley Academy, West London.

Every now and again one gets an opportunity to have a nice exchange with someone else on LinkedIn. (You can read the chat thread below the sports art.) In this case it was with a teacher, Gillian Turner, art subject lead at Kingsley Academy. The academy is located in Hounslow, a large suburban town in West London. My studio is in Ventura, Ca. and we have never met

My Process of Painting

How I Paint

had received a couple of emails with questions about my landscape art that is on exhibition at the Wildling Museum in Solvang, Ca that will be on exhibition until September.  Mainly they wanted to know my process.

 I’m not sure if the people wanted to know the technique for physically creating the pieces, (tools, materials, etc) or the mental process.  I’m just going to what may be the most importance to me.

 Generally speaking the paintings are created plein air.  I take my easel and other supplies and find a nice spot to paint in some relatively private place and set up camp.  I am not looking for something specific to paint but I do want to be in an environment without many distractions except for what I see and feel in the outdoors.  No studio walls.

 Now that I am set up I look around for shapes and design that catches my eye.  Again, I am not looking for a specific scene to paint.  I don’t look and see a tree or mountains or sky but I am only looking for lines.  I am looking for the chaotic black outlines of the different objects and shapes I see.  I paint those lines onto the canvas.

 Then I start to fill in the blanks- meaning I put paint on the canvas without reference to what I was looking at.  I am not copying what I may see by looking up.  I am just working from the process of putting paint on canvas where I feel a need to put paint.   I do not set up paint colors on a palette.  I look at my tubes of paint and decide what color I want to start with.  A certain color feels like it should be here, in this spot, on the canvas – and there on the canvas.  I put that color down and pick up another color and put it on the canvas in different places.  And one color at a time I paint.

 Rhythm and Action

Decisions are made during the working process one tube and one color at a time.  I do not look at the scenery around me.  I could be anywhere painting anything.  There is a certain rhythm to the movements and action.  I continue on putting color on where I feel it needs to go.  I layer paint on top and work it in and push and move it around until It is done.  How do I know when it is done?  At some point I just don’t want to put anymore paint on that canvas.  I’m worn out.

 When that happens and I still have more time available to paint I just pick up another piece of canvas and start on another one.  And so forth and so forth until the day is done.  And then the next day I will get up and do it again.  I do this in my studio.  I do this in my yard.  I do this at the beach.  I do this in the foothills.  I do this in fields.  I do it anywhere and it does not make a lot of difference where I do this as there are black outlines everywhere.  My big disappointment is that I do notice I return to certain themes of shapes and colors – and my big challenge to try and change that up.

Assemblage “Revisiting Mother’s Day” Momma I Can’t Pay You Back

Revisiting Mother’s Day

 I was thinking about all the posts I saw on Mother’s Day and  what seemed to be their underlying theme. A variety of words come to mind: love, gratitude, devotion, reverence, honor,  and many, many more. 

 it has been over fifty years since I lost my mother and I still think about her all the time.  Like so many mothers she was the strongest influence on me. I still weigh any decision with what I think her position may be on a subject.  She did have good judgement based upon her degrees from UC Berkeley with a double major in psychology  and English Literature  She also had teaching credentials from USC and taught briefly at the junior college level. And this was in the 1930”s when not a lot of women  even went to college. 

I Can’t Pay You Back

 She was not a “stay-at-home “mother and always worked to support  us.  We did not suffer.  I could easily turn this into a mythic tale. But I won’t.  All I can say is what I said in the outsider, assemblage art pictured above.  “Momma, I Can’t Pay You Back”  And like most mothers she would not have any expectations for me or my brother to do so.

The assemblage is an old, wood and metal washboard with children’s blocks. Mixed media. 12” by 20”

Minnesota Vikings Football Art

A few years ago I created a number of football art pieces for the NFL  Minnesota Vikings, US Bank stadium in Minneapolis , Minnesota.   Although I do paint large it was fun to see one of the paintings projected up onto the Jumbotron TV screens in the stadium.  Now that is big.

The original painting of a wide receiver catching a football is displayed in the stairway leading down to a number of suites below.  The art is four feet by eight feet and stretched canvas.  More of my football art is in a variety of locations of the US Bank Stadium.

My wife is originally from Minnesota and still has a couple of sisters in the state. We visit the state quite often.  ONe place is in a small town about an hour north out of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St.Paul and the other is sister lives in a small town in the southwest corner and close to the border of  South Dakota and Iowa.

Home Décor Sports Art

Interior Décor using Sports Art

 Too often sports art is discounted as an attractive piece of wall décor in designing the interior of a home. If your client is a sports fan, and in the case of baseball, you can see how the art makes a nice statement to the home décor.  The design of the room is done professionally and  perfectly composed.  The interior decorator compliments the muted colors of the grey bedspread and headboard, along with the white interior of the walls and then adds the personal touch of the personal character of the homeowner.  They are sports fans. And with its use it gives a nice, clean look to the room without overpowering the interior or drawing too much attention to the art.  It provides a nice balance without the clutter of competing with other parts of the décor.

 It is always of interest and enjoyment for me to see a photograph of how my sports art is used. And I like to see how an interior designer uses my sports art as home décor. I tend to think that my sports art ends up in a den or office space.  But in this case the black and white baseball art is used in the bedroom.  I think that it is a nice addition to the room.

 Sports Art Description

 The baseball art is 24" x 48" acrylic and ink on newsprint and magazine pages mounted to canvas and gallery wrapped.

Phoenix Sun Art Chris Paul Point Guard CP3

Chris Paul Still Going Strong

Chris Paul is still doing it.  You would think he’d be slowing down just a little bit.  But at thirty-six he is staying ahead of other players the other night by having 23 points  and 16 assists with the Phoenix Suns.  We have to remember as one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, he holds endorsement deals with major companies worldwide.

 Chris Paul’s Nick name Cp3

Nicknamed CP3, he has won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, an NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, two Olympic gold medals, and led the NBA in assists four times and steals a record six times. He has also been selected to eleven NBA All-Star teams, nine All-NBA teams, and nine NBA All-Defensive teams.  I’d say he is holding up, just fine.  You may be wondering how got his nickname CP3 Chris Paul's family gave him the nickname CP3 because he, his father, and his older brother all share the same initials.

About Basketball Art Chris Paul

The Basketball Art above is a painting of basketball player Chris Paul point guard for the.  Phoenix Suns.   Painting is 12” x 15” on 14” x 17” drafting film.  Watercolor, acrylic and ink.

Impressionism Art Wildling Museum Exhibition

I like to go out into the countryside and create these small impressionism paintings. It’s a true busman’s holiday to take tine away from studio painting to do other paintings.  That is what an artist’s life can be like.  What I do for a living is also what I like to do for fun. It is a good break away from the demanding large scale sports paintings that I created in my studio.  

  Wildling  Museum Art Exhibition

 Currently the Wildling Museum in Solvang, Ca. is showing 65 of my small landscapes and seascapes paintings in a group show called “Bio/Mass'” Quote from the Wildling Museum; “Our upcoming exhibition, 'Bio/Mass' will feature an inspiring group of eleven contemporary artists who have transformed their fascination with deep observations of their individual environments into works that help us to see the beauty in the details of our world, celebrating both quiet and dramatic moments in nature”. My wife, Lynn Hanson @indigopond on instagram is included in the show.  Currently the museum only has public walk-In hours: Saturday - Sunday, 11 A.M. - 4 P.M but, hopefully they will soon be opened on weekdays too. 

 I live close to farm fields and rural countryside so I like to go out and create “en plein air paintings” and as others refer to my impressionistic painting, alla prima. Alla prima painting is described as technique in which the painting (usually painted from life) is completed in one sitting or while the paint is still wet. Painting in this manner is a break from the art created in the confines of my studio

Art Donation Venice Family Clinic

About the Venice Family Clinic

 This ink drawing on drafting film is this year’s donation to the Venice Family Clinic Art Walk that raises over $800,000 for affordable health care for those who live in poverty.  Venice Family Clinic provides more than 115,000 primary care, specialty care, mental health, dental, and health education visits annually.  For more information about the Venice Family Clinic Annual Event  To visit the on-line auction that features over 200 art works of art by nationally recognized contemporary artists hosted by Artsy.

 This is an opportunity to get one of my sports drawings at a reasonable price.  If you want you can bid my piece on Artsy (click here).  As you may know I have created sports art for a variety of sports teams and stadiums, including Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Bucks, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and many more.  

 About tthe Venice Family Clinic Auction Piece

 “Safe at Second” is an ink drawing on drafting film of MLB baseball players.The narrative of the drawing of a a base runner sliding into second with the ball being thrown late to the second baseman.Ink on drafting film11 × 14 in.27.9 × 35.6 cm.

Baseball Art of Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner

Baseball Art Honus Wagner Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame

 Honus Wagner Hs been considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time.  And most people know that the Honus Wagner baseball card is one of the most valuable sports card around. The reason it is so valuable is because it was recalled in 1909 and all were destroyed except for a few that got into circulation. At the time, the cards were distributed along with tobacco.   Wagner didn’t smoke and he didn’t like to being included in the tobacco promotion because he did not want to set a bad example for children.

 Honus Wagner’s Hall of Fame Induction Speech June 12, 1939.  Cooperstown,  NY.

 Honus Wagner’s Hall of Fame Induction Speech June 12, 1939.  Cooperstown, NY.    “Ladies and gentlemen, I was born 1874, and this organization was started was 1876. When I was just a kid I said, “ I hope some day I’ll be up there playing in this league.” And by chance I did. Now Connie Mack the gentleman that preceeded me here at the mike, I remember walking fourteen miles just to see him play ball for Pittsburgh. (crowd laughs) Walking and running, or hitchhiking a ride on a buggy, them days we had no automobile. I certainly am pleased to be here in Cooperstown today, and this is just a wonderful little city, or town, or village or whaever we’d call it. It puts me in mind of Sleepy Hollow. (crowd laughs) However I want to thank you for being able to come here today.”

Earth Day Alla Prima Plein Air Impressionism Art

Impressionism Art for Earth Day

 This year marks marks the 51st. anniversary of Earth Day.   To celebrate my appreciation of  the earth I paint small, impressionistic art   As an artist I am constantly reminded how beautiful a place is to see, and I try to capture, in some form, with oil and canvas.  Every day is earth day. I strive for green living, protection of endangered species and appreciate what an amazing environment we live in.

My First Memory of Nature

It is spring again and I remember my first consciousness of nature.  I was eight years old and my parents took us on a driving trip north from Los Angeles along route 1.  We were gone for a couple of weeks up into Oregon and Washington.  Our trip was during the summer more than seventy years ago.

 What my most vivid memory is the drive through the redwoods of California.  I don’t remember the towns or highway or the actual time we spent in the car.  But I remember the mist in the forest, and the ferns, and the enormous size of the trees and the moisture from the dew dripping from the branches. And everything seemed to be green and red.   And later, I am not sure if it was another day or just later in the day, I can remember fog lifting and the light changing and beams through the mist shined up the plants into an intense green.   And then a soft breeze passed through the trees.  It was enough to sway branches and bring a gentle feeling comfort.