"LOST in Transition"

18" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas
Available for purchase
$350.00

 
This painting was a challenge indeed. Not just because it is not the painting I started out making, but because I was trying to film it and kept having tech problems as well.

All was going pretty well until the first glitch hit and my phone stopped recording. I lost a lot of the sky work to the gremlins and came back to it with this idea that I was done with the sky when I wasn't.

I then drew on my tree and afterwards realized I hadn't finished my sky to a low enough point. Originally It was just going to be a big green tree against a blue sky, but I had a horizon line to fill in and need the midground trees and bushes to fill that space. Having done that, I couldn't just drop a big green tree in front of them, even if it was good, it would be lost from a distance and we can't have that now, can we?

So this is where I decided to do the color shifting tree and abandon the idea of the summer green tree. Now I know that a tree with this much shift is near impossible, but I think that is what makes it striking. You might see greens and yellows or yellows and red / oranges, but you wouldn't often see all of them together and this is what I wanted to create.

All in all it is what it is and I had a blast doing it. I think it came out great and I hope to be making something new as soon as possible.

There is also a video on YouTube.

No longer FREElance

Freelance isn't free anymore as New York City by a vote of 51-49 becomes the first city in the US to attempt to seal the deal for freelance workers.

The Freelance Isn't Free Act is the first bill passed in the US that will actually give freelance workers a legal right to uphold their contracts and I hope the rest of the US will follow suit. This is a great thing for artists as the client can not just worm their way out of paying for work done, as long as a contract was signed.

"The Freelance Isn't Free Act will make sure all workers can get paid for their work, on-time and in full," said Council Member and lead sponsor Brad Lander.

The bill also establishes a formal mechanism for the director of the Department of Consumer Affairs to enforce the labor rights of freelancers who are stiffed by employers.

While it still needs final signing by Mayor Bill De Blasio, but his staff has said that he is indeed in favor of passing the Bill.

This is long overdue in the US and I hope it gets its final approval as soon as possible.

“Pumpkin Pile”

Just in time for fall I offer you my latest piece of art. This drawing/painting is a pile of pumpkins from my own reference that would look great on your wall.

This Color Pencil piece was made using (25+ year old) Prismacolor pencils… you know, when they were still good pencils, and blended with Mona Lisa odorless paint thinner. (a la Lachri)

I started by sketching out my subjects loosely but maybe a bit too much pressure, this was my first attempt with these materials and this was definitely a learning experience for me.

Then I added a single layer of my base orange colors with a little red orange thrown in for depth.

After this I blended the entire thing out to soften the look and really get that color onto the paper and into all that tooth, even though it was fairly smooth paper.

I then went in and added a second and third layer of highlights, shadows, and darks. While also making sure I was getting my lighting right and creating form.
Then I blended that out as well.

I then went in for a fourth and fifth layer that will not be blended softly. And give it those little details that finished it up.
After that I added where my highlights would be in a yellow orange and added some browns to where the shadowing was.

I hope you like the finished product and prints will be made available soon through Fine Art America and directly from Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by.

Joseph

4TH of JULY SALE

For the first time ever, I am having a sale. Please take a look at the prints I have available for 5% off and the 60" round beach towels that are sizzling hot this summer with free shipping.

Click here for store.

Use Coupon Code : NSMSDD

 "First Light"

18" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas
Available for purchase
$250.00

I always start with my title. I know that many others go the opposite direction in this, but for me, this is what works best. I thought about it for a day or two and came up with the title...

"First Light"



Once I had the title, I began thinking about what elements I would like to add. 

The challenge called for something astronomical (stars, planets etc) and since I have always loved pictures of space, I immediately thought of the Milky Way as viewed from Earth, which I should add, I have never lived or even been somewhere where this is visible to the naked eye. I have however seen pictures of this thousands of times and I knew what it looked like. I also love the look of the full moon so I figured both should be included.

Initial sketch

The second thing was something that swims, and my first thought was sharks, but that seemed to aggressive for what I was seeing in my minds eye. I gave it some more thought and eventually settled on dolphins and/or whales.

The third thing was something that flies. Since my title was first light, I first thought of something that would glow, but then pondered the idea of the phoenix and its inherent concept of rebirth. This is what lead me to the concept of the moon as the egg the phoenix was breaking free of.

I had been contemplating the idea of painting Undulatus asperatus clouds (clouds that look like the underside of ocean waves) and this I thought could add a new dimension to the painting. I could have the dolphins and whales swimming in these clouds.

Now since I am mainly a landscape artist I knew I wanted elements of a landscape in it and a mountain could also be a choppy wave so those two concepts merged.

Playing off the light concept in my title is what lead me to the thought of the mountain ridge silhouette. I played with the idea of having a small boy or girl pointing up at the moon and phoenix but it seemed a bit too much. So I scrapped that idea entirely.

So now I had my pieces and all my ideas on a pad so it was time to sketch something up.

Work In Progress

"Rolling" with the failed background.

This is a "Work in Progress" post. I had started this painting almost three years ago and was never quite satisfied with the way the daylight side’s background was coming out. As I started painting the rolling hills in the foreground, it just (to me) made the background look far worse and it wasn't coming together quite right.

I eventually put it aside and moved on to another project, always with the hope that someday I would eventually come back to it and get the painting I wanted out of this attempt. That didn't happen... until now.

"Rolling" with the reworked backgrounds first layer.

I finally decided what I wanted to do with it and have started to rework the failed background. I have decided to go with a much brighter and warmer background and this is the first layer of color that will go over this old background, one more should cover all the old background and really add some more dimension and overall appeal to the entire thing.

Keep an eye out for further WIP images of this one. I think it is going to be a beauty.

A new Website appears.

I have been building a new website for my artwork and such,

Working on getting some stuff sorted out, but it is coming along nicely.

Hope you all find it enjoyable.

http://artofjosephfinchum.weebly.com/

The Holidays are coming

The Holidays are coming

Wouldn't a piece of art make a great gift for someone you love this holiday season.

   Every year we all struggle with trying to find gifts you really think the recipient will truly appreciate. We go out of our way to hunt down and search for that perfect gift. Is there a perfect gift? Maybe, but I don't think its that easy to find. Why go through all that trouble when satisfaction could be just a click away.

     How about art? Art can become very personal to the person that receives it. Everytime they glimpse it, it can remind us of emotional context and bring the giver directly to mind. The good feelings they got when the received the gift and all the warm memories they have with you. Art is an excellent gift for anyone.

Art is the only gift you can give someone that is purely from your point of view. Don't give them art they want. Give them art you want and they will like it much better and it will be like giving them a piece of you.

So this holiday season, forget the stale old ties and clothing they might not wear, or knick knacks they will return days later, and get someone a beautifully crafted piece of fine art that will brighten all their days, their home and most of all, enrich their whole lives.

Art Prints available at:

http://dedjezter.deviantart.com/

"Twisted Moonrise"

"Making a Splash"

"Floating through
the Seasons"

"Falling Water"

"Above the Clouds"

Tiger Lily Abstracted

Background roughed in

        This is the process I used to put this painting together. I started by roughing in the background parts. They didn't need to to be very finely detailed because they were all going to have an outline around them that will help define and to help hide the rough lines made in the painting process.

Lily blocked in

        In the second part I added the fine lines separating the backgrounds individual panels and used a fine brush to get the lines as straight as possible. I then blocked in the white background of the Lily itself that will act as a boarder around the flower and started adding the orange over it. This being over the white helps keep the vibrancy of the orange, but because of that, it needed multiple coats of the thin acrylic paint I was using.

Minor details applied

        In this third picture I started to add in the flowers details, like the color changes of the petals and the light orange stripe that goes right down the center of each and used some light glazing to bring more orange into the brown and light orange that I used in the petals of the flowers. I also used a slightly lighter glaze to bring in a little bit of highlights onto the section of each petal where they begin to fold over themselves.


        In the fourth image I Brightened the center stripes and add even more highlight detail to make the petals pop a little more from the background orange as I thought that they were falling into this area of being hard to identify.

More detailing and highlights

        In the final composition I added the last of the highlight details to each of the petals as well as adding in those fine little brownish/black spots that naturally occur in every Tiger Lily. I then added in the stigma by fine lining some bright yellow and then glazing over each with a very light green and another glaze of light orange to give each a little bit of depth and reflected light from the petals. The anthers at the end of each stigma were the last parts added. Starting with black, then brown, then lighter brown as a highlight and finished off with my signature to seal the deal.

     I hope you like it and look forward to reading anything you might have to say about it. Enjoy.

Final finished product "Tiger Lily Abstracted"        by         Joseph Finchum

"TIGER LILY ABSTRACTED"

24" x 18" Acrylic on Canvas Painting

Available for purchase $225

Prints will be made available at a later date.

This is a 16" x 12" Acrylic painting that is brand new.

Painting is a Tiger Lily on an complimentary abstracted background.

The Art of Blatant Theft

         There are far too many people that are pre-programmed to ask for forgiveness after stealing your artwork than there are those that would ask for your permission to use it first.

       Some time ago I was fooling around with the Google reverse image search functions. I fed in about a dozen photos of designs and paintings and around the 13 or 14 one, something happened. It kicked back a whole bunch of results. Here was one of my designs being used without my permission all over the web. There were 28 hits in total. 27 were all one guy that had my design up on different t-shirt sale websites, and one from a university.

      

        First I contacted the websites one by one and started asking them to pull it down. If needed, I emailed them copies of the original pencil sketches, inked drawings, and even linked them to where the exact version of the picture was taken from. Which made it obvious that the design was indeed mine. This was slow going but I eventually got them all pulled, and the guy got banned from all of them. Not that I think that will stop him from doing it again and again and if not with my art, than maybe yours. 

        

        The university was another story altogether. They were adamant about their design being done by their designer who was highly respected and blah blah blah. After much pushing on my part, they eventually asked the designer. He told them they paid only enough to get him to throw something together quick. He grabbed a random image off of an art website that fit the criteria and used it. He admitted his fault and the school stopped using it immediately. They nicely sent me a letter of apology and went about their business in my good standings. Since they were not selling anything with the image on it and not making a profit from its use (A few flyers and banners for their sports team) I did not see any need to pursue further.

        I would suggest that all artists start a quarterly reverse image search of your works and make sure you are not being robbed as well.

        Protecting your intellectual property has always been a difficult task and the Internet has only served to complicate matters. The web has become an unoriginal designer’s one stop shop for endless material to shamelessly ripoff. there is an immensely blurred line between inspiration and theft. Exactly where that line lies is perhaps different for every designer. But for me, it boils down to just being plain wrong. If you can't be a decent creative person with out stealing from someone else... Stop claiming to be a creative person. But then again Pablo Picasso did say that "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

Work in Progress

Floating through the Seasons

Work in Progress

     So I have been working on this new painting for about a week now and was wondering what people might think of the progress so far. It is slowly coming together.

      I have had a small set back as I was trying to make a timelapse video of the work, and the camera I was using decided to crap out on me and I lost the last 2 hours of work that I filmed. It was all work done after this point (pictured) but mostly detail work. I am hoping to use my phone to continue this, but it will take some time to get it all worked out.

      As of right now I have figured out how to set most of it up, Deleted a mass amount of stuff from my phone to make room for footage and am eagerly looking forward to getting back to it.

      Hope you like what you see so far and any comments or questions or suggestions are always welcomed.






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Reflective Sunset

"REFLECTIVE SUNSET"

24" x 18" Oil on Canvas Knife Painting

Available for purchase $150

Prints are available on Fine Art America by following the link in sidebar.

This is a 24" x 18" oil painting that is brand new. Knife painting is a delicate and messy approach at first, but a fun way to get different textures and effects out of the paint.

All comments are welcome, any opinion appreciated. 

The Art of Procrast… Distraction

Squirrel by E H Paulson

I was going to write an entry on the subject of procrastination, at least that was the original intent. I figured I would make a list or something to see if I could find out why I was procrastinating, at what times did I do it more, and were there specific things that I tended to put off more than others.

I started making my list and got distracted. I then realized that I had indeed gotten distracted and went back to my list, until I was once again distracted by something else. So what’s the point?

There are two kinds of people in this world. The first is the kind that can finish lists… Why do we get distracted?

For me, it seems to be entertainment and I am easily entertained. I like movies and television and often keep it on as background noise while doing other things. However, I find myself frequently watching rather than doing. Not to the extent of impeding my life in any way, but enough that I have started to notice that I do it. This is when I realized that I was going about the subject in the wrong text.

I don’t procrastinate… I am just easily distracted. These are obviously two different things. One is a lack of motivation and one is a problem. There just seems to be a little nudge in the back of my mind that pushes me to do other things, but not in a multitasking kind of way. I just grow bored with the things I have at hand, and move on to something else. 

(Okay I’m back, no I wasn't distracted... someone needed help with something)

Now where was I? Oh yeah, I think it has to do with the way I taught myself to paint. I use a wet on wet technique but I do it in layers. One layer, wait until dry, then do another layer some time later. I used to work on multiple paintings at a time and this was a good way of using my time. Now however, I put more effort into a single painting and concentrate on doing the one over doing many. This is where that extra time is coming into play and not being utilized well. I wait for things to dry and sometimes start new projects altogether, forgetting to go back to the other.

So now that I have finished my actual list. I am going to implement some things to try and get myself back on track. I am going to leave the TV off while painting or reading/writing. I am going to go back to a slower version of multiple paintings at once to see if that helps with my time management and see if I can limit how often I am distracted by outside influence.

Do you get easily distracted or do you have a problem with real procrastination? Leave a comment and let me know. I am always looking for new people to share Ideas and tips with. If you like this blog, please feel free to +1, Like, and Share it your friends. No pressure though.

It's Monday on Tuesday

Well I went to the Art Expo in NYC this weekend and I got to see a lot of really well done, well-crafted artwork. However, I did see a lot of what the heck is that artwork as well, but you know what they say, one man’s art is another man’s junk. There were some pretty talented painters exhibiting there as well as some very technical sculptors and their works were simply impressive.

I got to see Tim Gagnon and his artwork in person and being able to see just what the textures and colors look like to the eye as opposed to seeing it on a color monitor, was very much a benefit to his art. I was also glad to see that he sold a few. I also found it interesting that an artist from Maine was being hosted by a gallery ten minutes from where I live on Long Island. It certainly is a Small world.

A few other artists that caught my attention were GehryWelty, whose Geometric paintings are mathematically accurate to a point that they are in the correct perspective no matter what angle they are viewed from, were very impressive. He is also a cinema artist and has worked on movies like Iron Man, Robocop 2014 and Inception to name a few.


Alexis Silk had some amazing free handed glass sculpture that looked extremely delicate and were hanging from large industrial steel hooks giving that sense of their impending breakage.

Beatrice Vangreel Had some cool looking line art works that had a vibrant green color that could accent a wall very nicely.

I was also very happy to see Stan Lee had some work there. He was not in attendance, which was a bummer, but his paintings were in the presence of many fine artists.

There were also two other artists whose names I failed to get, bad Joseph. One had some painted wood pieces that really accented the form and patterns of the wood grain with bold splashes of color and fine lines, while the other did some impressive textured paintings that used the application of the paint in a way I had never seen before and thought was a very interesting technique.

All in all, I would say there were some really talented people there and it was well worth the visit. Maybe I will go again next year, but maybe… just maybe, next year I will be in the show rather than just a patron of the arts.

With that said I am sharing with you a sold painting of my own today. This one sold about a year ago and is actually two paintings on one canvas. I hope you like it. All in all, I would say there were some really talented people there and it was well worth the visit. Maybe I will go again next year, but maybe… just maybe, next year I will be in the show rather than just a patron of the arts.

With that said I am sharing with you a sold painting of my own today. This one sold about a year ago and is actually two paintings on one canvas. I hope you like it.

   Summers Winter By Joseph Finchum  18" x 32" Oil on Canvas

"Summers Winter"

18" x 32" Oil on Canvas

Sold

Prints are available on Fine Art America by following the link in sidebar.

This is a 18" x 32" oil painting that sold a while back. It depicts a mountain landscape with summer colors on one side and winter colors on the other.

All comments are welcome, any opinion appreciated.

Social Media Interaction

How do you interact with other artists on social networking sites?

I have some basic guidelines that I set up for myself. These guidelines are set up in a way that allows me to interact, ask questions, and give critiques to any number of artists and either gather new information or just shoot the breeze from time to time. Both can be just as rewarding if your goal is simple interaction or learning something new. I use these guidelines to not only gain exposure for myself and my artworks to others but to make it simpler to interact with more real people and artists. Because that is what people do, we interact with others, even online. We are social creatures at our core.



My guidelines:

• Never add a +1 or a Like to something that is not by the artist themselves or a promoting service helping the artist get more exposure.
        The reason for this is time management and concentrated efforts. If someone posts a picture of another artists work and doesn't include a link or even their name, then that  person is getting and more likely taking the credit.
  
• Only engage with artists that are willing to engage you back.
        If someone doesn't take the time to interact back, then they might not be worth the effort. This does not count against the occasional poster. Only those who are very active but don't take time to engage with their audience. Why have the social networking account, if you aren't being social.
  
• Never +1, Like, or Share something that is asking or begging to have it made so. If someone is asking me to do these things I immediately get that feeling that that is all they are really interested in... their personal numbers. Facebook can be an exception since they limit your views and numbers so that you will pay them to increase it. Ask away on Facebook.
        I get that numbers can be important and that the rate they go up can be thrilling, but this should not be your main focus. I also, will not add one of these requests to anything I post, mostly because it comes off as needy. Yes I want my numbers to go up, who doesn't, but let's not lose control and become lost.

These are my guidelines, not yours, and yours may vary greatly. Do you have any personal guidelines for promoting yourself and your artwork on social networking sites? What sites are you on and or using? Anything you do or don't do? Any tips or tricks?  Whatever you want to talk about is always open for a good discussion.

Hope to hear from many of you.
Joseph

Edit to add this video: Check it out if you have any questions about Facebook ads.

Making a Splash

It's Monday and so that means I am posting another of my paintings for you all. I hope you like it and that it can bring you just as much joy as it brought me while I was creating it.
This one is a little on the traditional side for me but I still hope you like it.

"Making a Splash"

24" x 18" Oil on Canvas

Available for purchase $200

Prints are available on Fine Art America by following the link in sidebar.

This is a 24" x 18" oil painting is brand new.

All comments are welcome, any opinion appreciated.

Setting Realistic Goals

Being featured in a gallery within a month is not a realistic goal. Could it happen... absolutely, but the chances are slim.

I have been trying to set myself some realistic goals. Ones that will be fulfilled, hopefully in short amounts of time and aren't that far removed from the possibility of completion. Goals should not be monumental but tiny at first. If your initial goals are to hefty, you might not be able to bare the weight of the amount of work needed to reach it.

My first new goal was to establish a presence on social media. I already had some accounts but needed to brand them a bit and make them more coherent. I started by creating a Facebook fan page specific to my fine art works. I edited my profiles on other sites like Twitter and Google Plus to reflect this as well. This goal took less than a few hours to complete and gave me that overall sense of accomplishing something. A great boost if ever there was one.

My second goal had two parts. Create a blog to feature my works and to get my likes on Facebook as well as followers on G+ and Twitter to reach over 25 each. Like I said, small goals. This took about a week and again has given that feeling of getting something done. This is a great motivator for anyone. It helps to know that there are at least a few people out there that like the works I create. A few nice comments and all seems right in the world.

My third goal was a timely task. To keep this blog going for over a month... check and check. As of this post, I have been at this for exactly one month. This was far harder than I thought it would be. I have never been the best communicator, in written or spoken words. I also thought I wouldn't be able to find the subject matter to talk about. Did I indeed have enough to say without creating a blog that just wastes your time as well as my own time with useless trivia and quotes from others or could I actually find it in me to express my personal thoughts on the matter. This has been a great way to get some of my thoughts out and relieve a little stress in the process. Just writing about things has been a thrilling way to both entertain myself and free my thoughts for better things.

So what are your goals, in life, in business, or in your own works of art?
Have you set goals that were just too big to control?
Do you have any stories of goals set and reached?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Sporadic Video Wednesday

This is just a small preview of the painting coming on Monday. I hope you enjoy it.

Wu Wei Tribute

Wu Wei Tribute Misty Mountains

"Misty Mountains"

24" x 108" Ink on Paper Scroll

Available for purchase $NFS

Prints are available on Fine Art America by following the link in sidebar. This is a 24" x 108" ink painting that I did a while back.

These misty mountains gracefully float as if suspended on clouds. Drips and runs created on purpose as a tribute To Wu Wei.

Wu Wei was a professional painter who worked both in and out of the Imperial Court. In fact, he worked at the Imperial Court several times for several Emperors of the Ming Dynasty, having at times withdrawn voluntarily and at times being handed the pink slip by bureaucrats who disliked Wu because of his disdain for “important people.” This may have been due to his background, having come from a literati family that fell on hard times during his childhood. This caused his training to abruptly stop. However, he was a lucky man who attracted the patronage of a wealthy duke in Nanjing that launched his career as a professional painter. - Franklin Tom, East Asian Art Council member

The reason I made this originally was to show as an example of Wu Wei’s style. He was often drunk when he painted and allowed the ink to drip and run as if he didn't care. You could say he was an impressionist ink painter in his later years. He gestured the feelings of object like rocks and trees, rather than making perfect interpretations.

His behavior in these times was seen as highly objectionable but he was basically given a free pass since his artworks were so well loved. The aristocrats of society would have let him do almost anything as long as he kept painting.