The Alternative Art Space

450 Harrison AVe.

First Fridays in SOWA, Boston

Paintings By: Jill Pottle
Ordinary Objects


Opening Reception: Aug. 6, 5-9pm

Beverages will be served

Gallery Hours: Aug. 7-13, 12-5pm

Call to confirm and/or to make an apt. to see the artwork
and meet the artist.

(978) 582-0985 Pottleart@verizon.net
http://pottleart.com http://jillpottle.blogspot.com

This is a landscape of my backyard. And I am doing this to aid my students who are in my landscape classes. I didn't put up my thumbnail drawing, which I always do before I paint. I need a plan of action. What is my design, what attracted me to this subject matter, where is the light coming from, how much sky, mid ground and foreground. Then I draw on the canvas with charcoal to work out other issues. The prep for the painting is ever evolving as I sketch it onto the canvas. Then I seal the charcoal with my Acrylic Matt medium and let it dry. My first round of colors are loose, gestural and lots of complimentary color combinations. I do my under laying with acrylic and let it dry over night. Then I begin to paint in oils making sure to keep checking with the balance of the painting in color, value and of course still paying attention to design. I will put up the final painting when it later this week. I love letting each color from each layer to come through the top layer of paint.

This is not quite finished and it will be a little out of order because I will post the next stage when I get to it.

Landscape

Bacon

Bacon

Painting has so much to do with what you do with the edges between forms. The painted edges have to be handled with such care to indicate form or the lack of. I still remember Louis Gippetti crit. my work and said, it is all about the edges. He was a masterful figurative painter. Today I started a painting of bacon. I have a painting of three eggs and toast. I love having fun with the subject matter. I start with acrylic paint with marble dusk in it and then I lay my oils on top. It is not resolved as of yet but quite the fun beginning. The bacon is so interesting with such a rich terrain of colors and values and this is in contrast to the white plate. The only difficult part of painting food is it spoils and changes quickly. Also my cat got up there on my break and ate half of the bacon. Hmmmmm. I am using a photo for reference.

This is a landscape I started a few days ago. I started with acrylic and I work on top with oil..... I don't know if I am finished or not yet.....

Teaching art is a non linear process. Even though I write up a syllabus I find when I get into my class that the students guide the direction that the class will go in. My portrait/figure class this morning at the DeCordova Museum School was changed by the feedback of my students. After all, the students are the ones that need the guidance and when I hear a need to develop or explore certain issues that are important, I am on it. We did our 10- 2 minute gestures which is great for a warm up but I noticed the desire to hold onto the form with line. Which can at times limit the ability to create mass. There was a question about enlarging the head and running it off the page and how to develop the concept of features on the head and needing to build mass. That is when we jumped into charkole (brand of charcoal), erasing out the form and drawing it back in. This is where the eraser becomes a drawing tool and not just for getting rid of information. I did not tell my students the length of the pose for fear they would lock into their drawings. And the freshness of seeing the whole drawing would leave the room for the sake of trying to achieve "a pretty drawing'. The exploration of drawing and the experience of gesture needs to happen throughout the artwork....start to finish. It's so exciting to see growth with my students in a 3 hour session.

Please don't forget to view my web site at: pottleart.com.

At last I have a minute to update my blog. There are so many things to keep up with these days. I am on facebook, linkedIn, email and this blog. I teach at two places: DeCordova Museum School and the Corwin Russell School and I do private lessons out of my studio or in student's studios. I need time to paint!!! AS always. Here is a 38X38 inch painting of a pot. Sometimes the most straight forward subject matter can be the most interesting. I made it interesting by focusing on all the reflections on the surface. I love the challenge to get the reflections to wrap around the surface.

My latest paintings which I will post once I get photos of these, are an abundance of glasses, another dress painting, (another in a series) and 3 fried eggs. Believe it or not the last painting I dreamt about and had to do a painting of this. It's funny how my brain works. The painting is 36X36 and I loved all the blisters and brown crust that I had to paint to create an illusion of three fried eggs. Subject matter is everywhere!!! Just look around.


And finally an announcement:
Is Proud to Announce the Addition of Jill Pottle to our Roster of New England's Finest Artists
Canvas Fine Arts Group represents some of the most exciting, emerging and established artists in New England. Please stay tuned to future Canvas Fine Arts Group e-mails to be the first to know about shows featuring these fantastic talents. Suzanne@canvasfineartsgroup.com