CHANGE IS IN THE AIR
Here we are in September already. A change of seasons is beginning in parts of our country. This year is flying by, and yet it seems like not much is happening in my part of this world. Maybe that is because I have been hiding in my cave painting. With the heat of the Arizona summers I can't get out much at all and not out to paint even a little, my breathing being as compromised as it is with asbestos, makes routine things I never even thought about next to impossible now. Consequently, I have become a studio painter exclusively.I have known this was coming, but somehow did not think it would be so soon. Apparently the "Golden Years" are not what they are said to be. That to can change and I am planning on it.

Now with that negative sounding start, let me tell you I am doing my best to make a change in my career and turn this to the positive. One of the first obstacles is subject matter. I have always painted real locations in my landscapes, but over the past few years, I have exhausted most of my material. Plein air pieces, photos, and the like. So what to paint? Well I believe I mentioned previously here or somewhere, but I can do people pretty darn well, I can do florals and still lifes, I can also use some of my previously used material to do a few landscapes. In fact for the winter season here in Scottsdale, I am working on a 36x48 Grand Canyon. I have painted the Canyon so many times in the last 30 plus years I can almost do it in my sleep, so using a photo here, a part of a plein aire oil sketch there and knowing the Canyon features and formations as I do I have put together a brand new painting different from my previous ones. Composing it was kind of like putting together a jig saw puzzle with all the partial images in different scales, size wise. This as you can imagine made for a lot of drawing! Several days, nearly a week before picking up a brush to put a wash over the white linen. I received a bonus from this exercise and that is sharpening my drawing skills after doing very loose, but to scale "outlines" done with a brush and very thing transparent paint. This big jigsaw puzzle made me pick up the charcoal pencils and get to work.

I don't like showing a large painting to people unfinished and having to explain what I have done and what I will be doing, as most of it they don't know what I am talking about because further work is all in my head which they are not privy to. Thankfully. but for a blog I will do it and remind all who see this, this is only about half way through and a lot of painting, adjustments in color and value are yet to be done. Some areas, particularly the foreground tree is barely blocked in and only because I needed some reference points of what in the Canyon would be showing and what wouldn't be. I do not want "ghost" brush work in the shape of formations in the dense dark leafy areas of the tree. Being that it is shadow for the most part these "ghost" marks would really show up under gallery lighting. Not to be making excuse.... well, not that much of an excuse this photo was taken on the easel, quickly, as I just realized I had not taken a picture yet to post here. I did not bother to adjust any studio lights and it is to dark outside to use natural north light, so that is glare on the left side as you are looking at this, and no Photoshop correction have been done. OK! End of qualifiers and excuses.

NOTE: I have removed this photo. Every time I look at the photo the glare on it looks worse, so I made an executive decision and removed it. The picture did not do it justice and I learned my lesson not to hurry photos for publication. This one unfairly misrepresented the painting and what I am capable of doing. Sorry.............John

36"x48" Oil On Linen

At this point, I am working in areas that will be seen through the tree foliage and branches. Lots to be done,but from this point the changes will be noticeable and start bring color and values together I am basically working from a roughly 8x10 pencil sketch since trying to handles and keep track of each individual area which maybe a painted panel or a photo and maybe only a small part of a photo is needed.

Alrighty, while still on the subject of landscapes here is a landscape painting I did for my catalog piece for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Show at the Old West Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming this past summer. and I will follow it with four smaller landscapes that are available at Broadmoor Galleries in Colorado Springs, Colorado at this time, but I am getting ahead of myself.

                                                      "Misty Morning At Firehole River Falls"
                                                              18"x24" Oil on Dibond Panel
                                                                             $4000
This painting was in transit and apparently was dropped very hard, as it split the left side of the frame moulding. The painting being on Dibond was not harmed at all. It now has a brand new frame, identical to this one in the photo and is now available from my studio, for now. When I take other paintings into the gallery at the end of this month this will be in that consignment group unless sold before hand.

This next painting is brand spanking new, and I am very happy with the way it turned out. I am considering the possibility of making a Giclees of this piece. I feel it is one of my best floral pieces. It is shown here in the frame it will be on display and offered for sale, but it need so dry more so I can varnish it and instal it in the frame securely. It is just sitting in the frame and a small piece of wood propped against the back of the panel so it looks as it should for the picture. I am getting a lot of good feedback when it was shown on Facebook yesterday. I feel this one will sell quickly, so if anyone is interested in owning this piece, contact me soon. Like the landscape above, if it does not sell from the studio before the gallery delivery date it will be at Biltmore Galleries here in Scottsdale. (480) 947-5975 or www.info@biltmoregalleries.com and ask for Maureen Husberg. You will find the ladies in both galleries extremly helpful and a joy to work with.

                                                                   "A Rose For Rose"
                                                                  12"x20" Oil on panel
                                                                           $2600

The following paintings are available through Broadmoor Galleries in Colorado Springs.  (719)577-5744
or at www;info@broadmoorgalleries.com and ask for Krista Steed-Reyes, the gallery director.

                                                                    "Moose Falls-Yellowstone"
                                                                        12"x16" Oil on panel
                                                                                 $1850

                                                                 "A Yellowstone Morning"
                                                                    12"x16" Oil on panel
                                                                               $1850

                                                                                "Dusk"
                                                                       9"x12" Oil on panel
                                                                                $1250

                                                               
                                                                      "Autumn Moon"
                                                                     9"x12" Oil on panel
                                                                            $1250
          

 These landscape paintings in this post, will be some of my last landscapes for some time as I will be concentrating on other subject matter which may mean a couple more galleries for me, that handle subject matter I will be doing. I want to be a good fit and do a good job for the gallery and myself, of course. I am, in a manner of speaking moving to the next season of my career, and would like to close this final summer season of this year by finding homes for these paintings. It will be good for the galleries and good for me not only monetarily, but somewhat emotionally. Placing these in peoples homes will make space in my studio for all the new work and make wall space ni my galleries for my new work. It is always a challenge to begin something new, particularly at this later stage of my life, but I am ready, willing able and excited to do so. It means meeting new people, maybe new galleries added to my two fine ones representing my work. It will be fun.

I truly believe that this coming work will be better than the last, it is my true forte and as much as I love landscape painting, it is somewhat my second choice now. I always tried to put my best effort forward and always used the best quality materials and practices in each painting. That will always be at the foundation of my work. I promise good things are coming very soon. Stay tuned to this channel........John                                                                    

                                       





       
                                                              
                                                                          







                              

 "I Dream Of Jenya" ......and more

It's been several months, about four, in fact since I last posted. Between some health issues and commissions with deadlines to meet, I almost bit off more than I could chew. But, "Here's Johnny!" Still down on energy, but much better than I was. (Thank you VA Healthcare.)

The two commissions I did presented challenges. Neither had a live model to work from and both had to look like the persons they depicted. The hardest one was a portrait of a father and child. The photo was old grainy and a flash was used to take it, but it is the only photo available. I know better than to take commissions with this kind of reference, but the client s are good friends and it was to be a Christmas present for one of them. The father depicted is 40 (at least) years older and lives in Southeast Asia now. The child shown at about age two, is now middle aged, so you can see my problem. No people to work from, bad reference material, no choice in composition, and having to fake a lot of things. Here it is in progress. I took this one evening after dinner still on my easel. Because of my health issues I was up against the deadline and unfortunately I did not get a photo of the painting finished. Since I know the people and they live in my area, I will get a photo, hopefully the next time I am over at their home. It is quite different finished, as you can imagine.

As you can see, I still have a long way to go and starting with finishing the toddler.

This painting is done on Dibond 24"x18", that I sanded lightly to take the shine off the metal, primed and put an oil ground on it. I really like the finish to paint on. Paint goes on like when using oil primed linen but without the linen texture. No adhesion problem as I prepared it pretty much the same way I used to prepare aluminum race car bodies for a custom paint job. Yep, I was a car painter in another life, doing race car paint jobs.

My second commission was for another friend and a tribute to a model and photographer. Again, I had no access to the model, or the photographer. Normally, I do not use other peoples photos. No matter how good they are, and in this case excellent, they are not mine or my "vision" of the subject and how I wish to paint it or her, in this case. Also almost no compositional choice as my friend wanted this pose and lighting. It is also more risque than I normally do figurative paintings. Consequently I am only posting the drawing in progress here, but the finished painting is in my figure paintings tab on this blog. Please understand I recommend, adults only. Yeah I know, that statement just invited every kid who looks at this blog to take a look, but how else to tell people?

This is also using Dibond as a support. It is prepared the same way as the previous commission. This is the drawing in progress. It is to scale on the Dibond.

Hmmm.... Maybe I should have placed a black censor strip across the drawing. Well we're all adults here. Right?

The painting is titled "I Dream Of Jenya." It is a 36"x24" oil painting. This image is being done with a charcoal pencil. It is a painting of Eugenia Diordiychuk, a Ukrainian model who is now living in Los Angeles and working for Playboy. She is also the model for some video games, does work for an American fashion company.

Doing this painting is not my normal practice, but I did it, for a friend. I do have to admit it was a joy working on this and paying tribute to her beauty and the incredible photographer, Pasha Lisov, who's name is listed with mine on the front and back of the painting This is one of the most beautiful ladies I've seen in many years and would love to work with her someday and do all original work of my own.

I will be posting more often now, but the subject matter will be paintings for my gallery, Biltmore Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, and for a group show in Wyoming this coming July. The catalog painting for this group show is nearly finished, an 18"x24" landscape. No naked ladies for this show, folks.

Small Treasures
Well, I have been missing in action on this blog lately. A couple of personal issues, and painting, mixed with procrastination of typing. A lot of that, in fact. Hey, I'm a painter not a writer. So finally, here goes the latest installment.

Recently, I became aware of a number of known artists selling small drawing and paintings for very reasonable prices. The reason for the price reduction is the gallery commission is not added in and the works are unframed. The actual artists cost and labor is not reduced other than the framing.

With gallery closings leaving me, like others in search of new galleries to represent us and new ways of marketing our work, I decided this is not a bad idea. Then there is the issue of my own situation of not being able to get out in the mountains or desert anymore to do plein aire landscapes and having to do my work mostly in the studio using models and still life set ups became one more mark on the plus side. It is a win/win situation. I work in the studio, painting what and how I want and it gives friends, past clients and collectors as well as potentially new clients a chance to acquire a piece of my work at a very reasonable price.

This initial "roll out" will not be the last. I plan on making this a regular offering both here and on my website
http://.www.johncoxfineart.com . Each month I plan on having another group of new paintings to add in the "My Store" section of my website.

As most who know me or my work and the work presented here, I am a versatile artist. I believe an artists need a strong drawing foundation and to go along with that able to see shapes and proportions and put them down on paper or canvas. What this does is allow one to draw anything they can see. Now obviously if someone is not familiar with some object, they may not paint it as well, but once the do understand what they are seeing, they are likely to be able to do it as well as their other subjects. Understanding the subject is part of the craft and the learning process.

For me this has allowed me to paint all the things I enjoy  and hopefully convey to you the viewer and collectors what I see and feel and we all make a connection in that way. I hope you enjoy this new and ongoing project of mine. If there is something you would like and don't see it here or on my site, contact me and let's talk about it. I can probably help you with what you need.

The sizes are below each painting. The commission and cost of frame have been subtracted, but because of the rules of use, the actually price is on my website. Sorry about that, but I want to follow the rules I agreed to.

 Grand Canyon Morning

6"x8" Oil on panel

Incoming Tide- Big Sur

6"x8" oil on panel

White Rose

8"x6" Oil on panel

Full Bloom and New Bloom

6"x8" Oil on panel

 Staghorn Cactus Blossom

6"x8" oil on panel

A Tasty Snack

6"x8" oil on panel

Iris

8"x6" Oil on panel

Veggies

6"x10" Oil on panel

Calla Lily

8"x10 Oil on linen panel

Rose

8"x10" Oil on linen, panel

Cactus Blossoms

8"x12" oil on panel

Woodland Falls

8"x 12" Oil on panel

Loose Flowers

8"x14" Oil on stretched linen 

Flowered Branch

8"x12" Oil on panel

French Bread

9"x14" Oil on panel

Canyon Lake Pillar

9"x 12" Oil on panel

Oriental Bowl

16"x12" Oil on stretched linen

Now, some of you will see that some of these are already posted else where on this blog, but I am including them in this first offering of Small Treasures.  Take all you want, I'll make more. Thank you for looking and I hope you enjoy them                                                                                                                                 

SEVERAL NEW POSTS
 August 2,2013
 It has a busy day slaving over a hot blog today. Not only did I post some new miniature paintings in the Still life and Landscape pages, I finally got my first WIP, "How I Do What I Do", on the painting techniques page. With the distractions and dealing with some unexpected items of real life outside the studio, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find time to do the text to go with the photo that have been ready for almost two weeks! I hope you find some interesting information that may help you in your own paintings.

Along with the miniature paintings I posted and there will be more coming each week, on average. I say it that way as there will be times when I am working all week on a large painting, or have responsibilities away from the studio. Being sort of a one man band, can  over load a person at times.

Back to what I wanted to say about the miniatures I was speaking about posting today. These are all gallery quality, but of subjects unlike what I show at Biltmore Galleries, here in Scottsdale and Hayden Hays in Colorado Springs. The subject matter will be still life's, floral's, a few small landscapes and seascapes. There is likely to be a figurative piece soon also, since I am beginning to paint more of these. What you may find interesting is I am taking a page from a few other known artists who are selling oil studies at an  affordable price that most people can afford when they can't afford a major gallery piece by these artists. The difference in what I am doing is painting finished, gallery quality originals and offering them at a price less the gallery commissions and the cost of a frame. By offering these unframed drops the price even more.  The paintings can be seen here and in the "Store" on my website, http://www.johncoxfineart.com

As a teaser here is a couple without going to the still life and landscape page. Hopefully you will though.

                                                                            "Iris"
                                                                            8"x6"
                                                                      Oil on Panel

                                                                   "A Tasty Snack"
                                                                          6"x8"
                                                                    Oil On Panel
I enjoy painting these miniatures and feel they are a way to not only fulfill my creative needs with things I can set up and paint here in the studio now that I am pretty much a studio painter now and expand into some new markets and introduce myself to new collectors. I really hope you like this opportunity.
John

Harder Than It Looks

WOW! This blogging is harder than it looks. Maybe it is because I am not used to doing it, but I find it funny that rarely am I at a loss for words until I start to write something for this new blog. I suddenly become a babbling idiot with fingers, white knuckled and frozen in fear over the keyboard, even though an hour ago I had all kinds of great ideas for it. I'll need to work on my way of doing this and maybe write down those great ideas when they come to me. Maybe this is why I am a painter and not an author.

Anyway, I just finished a small Grand Canyon piece and have a few words to say about it on my Painting Techniques page, you can see on this blog. This painting is similar to my last and even the same size. You will see and read what I am talking about. Fortunately one of my best collectors purchased this painting and is waiting for it to get dry enough to put a light coat of varnish on and ship to him. Thank you Peter.

                                                        "Sunset Near Powell Point"
                                                           18"x24" Oil on Canvas

Another thing I will write about and give some short basic information on is limited palettes and some of my practical thoughts for their use. I would not attempt to out do the extremely fine and informative article by James Gurney http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/01/limited-palettes.html James Gurney's Blog has some outstanding information on just about anything one would like to know about art and painting and done in an entertaining and interesting way. It is one of my top recommendations whether you are a beginner still trying to figure out which end of the brush works best, or an experienced gallery and museum quality painter. It's good stuff!

So now, it is past time that I should be at my easel doing my best to figure out what the heck am I doing.

June 22 2013

FUNNY, BUT OH SO ACCURATE

Don't all of you plein air painters love this commercial? I get a laugh out of it every time I see it, as I have experienced everything they show and plenty more when painting outdoors. The only one I haven't is the tide coming in as the one place I have not had the opportunity to paint in plein air is the sea, but all the others I certainly have.

I live in Arizona so a dust storm, or a sudden downpour is not unusual. Or like this past February we expected a cold from with rain, but actually got a snow storm that laid down three to four inches of snow in Phoenix, of all places!. Anyway, I thought they did great with this ad and the kicker at the end with his lady hanging the picture upside down. Here is the full length version, last a full minute, not just the 30 second spot shown on TV. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9WpDp6DwQU

The Journey of a Working Artist

Since I became a working, selling, gallery represented artist, there have been several changes in my art work.
I began as a watercolor artist, painting American historical scenes of the west. The first change was primarily
to improve and expand effects and the quality of my work. Oils offered the ability to do many things that I found limiting for me in watercolor.

"HedgeHogs" Sold

I know different now as my knowledge in handling both mediums has improved, but the secondary reason for changing to oils was marketing. I was selling in areas where many people were traveling and did not want to deal with the issue of glass over the watercolor painting. Clear plastics were just not an option as a substitute for the glass needed to protect the watercolor painting.

So the first change was from watercolor to oil. I still painted the historical western scenes, but phased in the oils and phased out the watercolors. Not a big change really.

The next change was in the subject matter I chose. I became more aware that I had an increasing desire to paint just the landscapes I went out to paint and photograph with the intent of using them as backgrounds for the western scenes.

I began doing a few pure landscapes. As long as I kept them small, the gallery that represented me would hang them along with my westerns. Soon, the landscapes were out selling the westerns and the more I painted them the more I wanted to. The gallery wanted me to keep doing westerns even though they were a secondary subject for me. This precipitated a change in representation for me. It was a blessing in disguise. It was 1984 and O'Briens Art Emporium, a 140 year old gallery took my landscapes and began selling it
immediately. At that time O'Briens represented some of the best artists working in this country. I was with them for 14 years at which time circumstances caused them to close their doors.

"Morning Magic" Available through  Biltmore Galleries

Since that unwanted change in gallery representation, I have been involved
with three galleries locally since moving to Arizona over 30 years ago, all good galleries and several others nationally.


Now, I am at another crossroads. this time it is age and physical limitations. Since 1999 I have had to deal with a number of health issues. Some are military service related, exposure to asbestos, heart problems and age related joint problems. Admittedly some are due to the old saying, "If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. I have no complaints though. I loved being in the service to this country, I loved my years in the sport of auto racing and I'm still glad, after all these years to be on the green side of the dirt.

I have always been able to adapt. So the change I am making now is just an adaptation of the situation I live

in now. It is really just a new chapter of my career and if it goes like the last chapters, it will be even better. One door closes and another opens.

I learned early that if one learns to see and draw shapes and pays attention to color temperature and values, they should be able to paint anything they wish. This lesson has served me very well, but not as well as it

"Pima Canyon Saguaros"  Sold

serves me now. Since realizing a couple of years ago that hiking the Grand Canyon or going deep into the Rocky Mountains was not a good idea for someone with joint, heart and breathing issues, I have started looking around for other subject matter that excites me to paint. One of the things I quickly realized when I did this is something I have known for many years. The world is full of great and exciting subject matter.

One of my pet peeves has always been the way galleries and some clients want to put artists in a specific "box." What I mean is they like an artist to specialize in one subject matter and one medium. There are a few artist out there that have escaped being placed in the "box." I am not one of them. This new change is also joining these "free" artists. I have decided that since I need to make a change to more accessible subject matter for myself and I have always found many subjects interest me enough that I want to paint them, why not do just that. This means changing from the more predominantly western galleries to galleries with a wider scope of subject matter as I "open" my scope of subject matter that I paint.

"Reverie" Available through  John Cox Fine Art

So this change is somewhat bigger in ways than the others that were almost a natural evolution of my work. This is a wholesale change. I will be changing the type of galleries I work with, I will be painting subject matter such as still life's, people, both nudes and people in everyday life. I will be doing florals and a few
landscapes as well. I will work mostly in oil, but my true love has always been watercolor, so I intend to "listen" to the subject and paint it in the medium best suited to show others what I saw,felt and why it excited me enough to paint it. This is a change in gallery representation, subject matter and some change in mediums, as I will paint in both mediums as the subject dictates.

It has always been my goal to produce the best paintings I possibly can. Many collectors have given me the blessing of making a living doing what I love. I owe them as well as myself, the very best work I can possibly do. I truly believe that this change will take me much closer to that goal than any of the other changes I have made. In the near future I will list the new galleries handling my work.

It is my hope you will enjoy this new chapter in my career. I want to thank all who have contributed to helping me come to this place in my career, through purchase of my paintings, gallery promotion and moral support, other artists who have generously shared their knowledge with me and the good Lord for blessing me with this desire and ability to share His wonderful world with others. John Cox, Phoenix, Arizona 2013

"Colorful Lady"
12x12 Oil on Canvas
2008
Sold