Demo

Figure No. 27 (18x14) oil on vellum
SOLD!

Yesterday I was invited to do a demonstration painting for the Society of Washington Artists in Vancouver, WA. About 35 people showed up and I had a nice time chatting with them and answering questions about my approach. The demo painting (above) turned out quite well for an hour's effort and then sold the next day to another artist back east when I posted it on Facebook. All in all, a profitable experience and a good exercise...

NEW FIGURES FOR SALE!

I have new figure sketches for sale in time for the holidays! Each Sketch is unframed,  oil on vellum paper, 14x11 inches... Perfect for the art student or art appreciator in your life....or a gift to yourself! (add $10 for S&H)

Interested parties, please email me at eric@ericbowman.com

 Figure No. 24  (14x11) oil on vellum

$300

 Figure No. 24  (detail)

 Figure No. 25  (14x11) oil on vellum

SOLD!

 Figure No. 26  (14x11) oil on vellum

SOLD!

Figure No. 26  (detail)

New Show!

A new show at Brian Marki Fine Art in Portland, OR opens November 6th and runs thru December 31st with reception on Friday, Nov 7th from 5 to 8pm.  

I will have approximately 15 new pieces in this show ranging in size from 6x8" to 48x60"

This is a 3-person show along with fellow Northwest painters, 

Aimee Erickson and Scott Gellatly.

If you're in the area anytime between November 6th and the end of the year, come by and see the show!

http://www.brianmarki.com/ARTIST-PAGES/EricBowman-NorthwestImpressions.html 

American Masters at the Salmagundi Club

 Potiphar's Wife (24x20) oil on panel SOLD!

I am very honored and excited to be showing in this years American Masters Exhibition and Sale at the historic Salmagundi Club in New York city! The exhibition runs October 14th thru the 24th -- a relatively short run, but the company of artists there is a real who's who of contemporary representational painters --

 Eventide (12x16) oil on linen

This show which has been a fixture for several years now boasts works by Burt Silverman, Christopher Blossom, Quang Ho, David Leffel, Matt Smith, Don Demers, John Stobart, John Traynor, and many more!

Fisherman's Rock (6x8) oil on linen SOLD!

If you're in the area, please check out the show -- a rare collection of some of the best current representational artists in the country!

Goodbye Summer...

 Point of Departure (12x16) oil on linen

Wow! What weather we've had! I was at the beach this last week for a few days, and all of them were perfect, blue-sky and summer like (even though this is October!!). I found a new spot to paint on the central Oregon coast too that I never knew existed...

 Sunday Light & Sea Foam (8x10) oil on linen

I stumbled (literally) across it and almost didn't stop to investigate...sure glad I did though, and stayed the whole day painting these pieces there -- I could have done more, but spent some time hiking around and exploring the area...definitely coming back here!

 Fisherman's Rock (6x8) oil on linen

So grateful for the extended summer we have had... I know it all has to end at some point (especially here in the Northwest) but I'll gladly hold on to this last shot of warm sunshine as a reminder of what to look forward to for next year!

Goodbye Summer!

15th American Impressionist Society Annual Exhibition

 

 

Very honored to be juried into this national exhibition and sale that opens tomorrow at Abend Gallery in Denver, CO!  This painting was accomplished with the aid of the Oregon Culinary School here in Portland, who allowed me to photograph their students preparing a lunchtime meal for the public (something they do each day)...

 

 "Glazing" (16x20) o/c

More from Sonoma Plein Air...

  Bodega Head (8x10)

 Vintage Vespa (6x8)

 September Country (9x12)

Hill & Vineyard (6x8)

Sonoma Plein Air 2014

 Sonoma Skies (8x10)

Just back from Sonoma Plein Air 2014 and what a beautiful place to be and not just to paint; perfect sunny weather and gorgeous landscape and coast to explore. Here are a few of the dozen or so pieces I did there...

 California Cloudscape (8x10) SOLD

It was also great to see and paint with some friends that I only get to see a couple of times a year at events like these -- these are "my people" who understand the artist in me the most, who face the same trials and tribulations that creatives have to deal with...

 Moonlight Drive (12x16) SOLD

So while we encouraged one another, we commiserated some too, to vent our frustrations and compare notes on what's not working and what is...

 Silver Sonoma Coast (6x8) SOLD

But the best parts were sharing the excitement of caravaning thru the pre-dawn hours to reach the coast and capture the first light on canvas, and spontaneous dinner parties at the end of long days painting to share fun stories of triumphs and failures -- camaraderie among artists is a very special and needful experience (and it also elevates the homesickness I often feel away from my girls back home).

 Summers End (8x10) SOLD

This piece (above) was the first of mine to sell on Saturday and was painted on the Annadel Estate Winery where I was given full access of the grounds, and a complimentary glass of award-winning Chardonnay before I left (thank you Abi!)...

Bodega Rocks (8x10)

At Bodega Head on the Sonoma Coast there were dozens of paintings in every direction; zero wind, zero clouds, zero crowds -- just nature at it's finest! I only wish I had more time to explore better compositions, but the richness of the day will last me for months to come. Can hardly wait to get back next year, but what a way to close out the summer -- thank you everyone at SPA for a great time and to my host, Bev Raaka for another comfortable stay!

Double Exposure!

I have an 8-page, step-by-step "how to" article in the October 2014 issue of International Artist magazine...AND am a featured artist in the "Artist To Watch" section of the October 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine -- On news stands now!

http://www.southwestart.com/articles-interviews/emerging-artists/emerging-artists-eric-bowman 

Pacific City and the Dorymen...

 Minus Tide (8x10)

We've been having a really nice summer here in the Pacific Northwest this year (doesn't always happen)...so we headed back to the beach and found some great weather there too (which is also "iffy" when it's warm inland). I spent several sessions painting at Pacific City's Cape Kiwanda where the famed Dorymen launch their boats...

 Dory Rocks (8x10)

For more than a hundred years in all kinds of conditions, dory boats have gone to sea from the shelter of Cape Kiwanda. There is no other harbor, port, or fishing fleet anywhere in the world exactly like this. 

The dory's origins come from the turn of the 20th century surf dories and Nestucca River gill net boats that sold their fish to the salmon cannery established in 1887 near the mouth of the river.

After 1927,  commercial fishing was only allowed in the open ocean. Since the Nestucca had a shallow, dangerous bar accessible only at flood tide, a new larger surf boat was needed to be launched in the lee of Cape Kiwanda.

 

Cape Kiwanda Morning (8x10)

 When ocean conditions allow, Pacific City dories fish the waters off of Cape Kiwanda, launching from, and sliding back up on the beach in the lee of the Cape.

The dory fleet is renowned for its incredible safety record. Dorymen are often the first responders to distress calls and other marine emergencies. In 100+ years only 6 known dorymen have lost their lives at sea, making the Pacific City dory and the men and women who sail them some of the safest mariners in the marine environment.

North Side Cape Kiwanda (8x10)

 In 1996, the Dorymen's Association was founded; a non-profit organization with the primary mission to preserve and protect the historic traditions given to us by the pioneers of this fleet. The Association supports Oregon's public beach laws and regulations and works with local, state, and federal agencies.

New Stuff...

 The Mystic (16x20) linen

 Passing By (8x10) o/c

 Daisy (16x20) o/c

Garden Path (8x10) o/c

Asymmetry Rules!

 "Library Creek" (9x12)

Nature is chaotic, yet there is "design"...I know, it's an oxymoron of sorts; creation exists within certain laws and conditions, but there seems to be little oversight from an artists perspective...and I like that.  I like asymmetry too. I also like random patterns (another slight contradiction in terms) where your eye can wander throughout a scene of similar yet slightly different directional shapes, find interest and still have a way of escape...

"Oblique Floaters" (6x8)

A lot of times, painters are concerned with a focal point -- this is good, but it's not the entire goal of a good composition. The best landscapes have a focal point, or maybe even two or more that are arranged in a hierarchical manner with one being dominant. However, I have found it beneficial to also balance those areas with passages of respite along with an exit strategy. 

Troubling compositions are those whose focal point ends in a cul-de-sac, trapping the viewer.  Better compositions have a balance of action (or focus), tranquility and a clear exit (a lead-in/ lead-out pathway). This can often be accomplished with a large mass of little detail that borders one side the picture plane. Asymmetry (an unbalanced divide of proportions or information) can often create this as a bi-product via an interesting visual arrangement of shapes. 

As children, we often start out drawing pictures that are symmetrically balanced (for comfort and security I suppose) but shaking things up a bit by shoving everything to one side or the other can be a lot of fun too...

As Ed "Big Daddy" Roth once said, "Asymmetry Rules!"

Recent plein air work and a beach trip...

 Yamhill Evening Colour (8x10)

Been having great weather so far this summer! Found a new area to explore in Yamhill county, about 30 miles west of our place with plenty of hidden valleys and mostly oak covered hills (which is a nice change from the pine trees) ....and kind of looks like northern California...

 Nestucca Moonrise (6x8)

This was a last minute quickie as the light was going fast on my way back to the beach house. There was a new observation deck built overlooking a nature preserve in the Nestucca Valley about a quarter mile in from the beach facing east...

 Arcadia Monolith (12x16) oil on linen

This was done at Arcadia Beach, a nice spot just south of the town of Cannon Beach. The base of the bluff is to the right, but I wanted to focus on the interesting shape and size of the large vertical rock formation...

Painting on the beach at minus tide...

Was able to actually drive south down the beach (just north of Pacific City) for about half a mile...painted these rocks during a very low tide, but the terrain was very flat so the tide could rise quickly...kept the keys in the ignition just in case, and it wouldn't have made for a bad Subaru commercial either!

Thankful again to visit the lonely Oregon coast -- a wonderful place to paint and recharge...

Landscape Variables:

 "Harmony in Silver" (12x16) oil on linen

This piece was painted in Spring near our home in Oregon just before a late afternoon rain storm hit (from behind me). Some of the best 'sky-drama' is right after or right before a storm; clouds are moving, colour is changing -- the design of the sky can determine your entire composition, and often become the focal point of it...I packed up and ran to the car just in time!

 "Sonoma Sunrise" (6x8) oil on panel

This little sketch was painted at dawn (and sold) during the Sonoma Plein Air show in California last October. I knew from the previous morning where the sun would hit first, so I was already set up before light. The intense blue is due to the moisture in the valley and made for a stark contrast of temperature as the sun hit the hilltop -- a very fast, but rewarding execution that I would never have captured with the same spontaneity from a photograph...

"Oak Cluster" (9x12) oil on canvas

This one was done on my way home from the beach in Oregon wine country (not sure what town it was closest to). Early in the evening, I was fortunate to find a spot to pull off the road where usually there is none (as local farmers like to plow every square foot of soil). This was last summer when the sun was low and colour was most intense. Setting sunlight on a subject can make for a more interesting composition with long-stretching shadow patterns like these...

Eric Bowman (1960 - 2057)

(6x8") o/p

Feeling optimistic...

 Red Robe (16x12) oil on panel

We've painted dozens of models in my studio over the years; so many in fact that I can't recall the names of the two depicted here... I like variety, so I try and get different a one each time, but still manage to hire some of the favorites from time to time. Once when I invited a group of friends to paint and the model didn't show up, I felt responsible so I got up on the stand myself (clothed of course)...

Lady in Black (14x11) 

oil pastel on paper

Boy, what an eye-opener! You tend to think (if you think about it all) that a model doesn't have to work that hard -- just hold still. Well about 20 minutes into the first session of a 3-hour long pose, I was getting a whole new perspective! By the time the pose was finished, I was stiff with back, leg and neck pain and very, very tired...and I was sitting in a comfy chair! 

I have had a very healthy respect for artists models ever since...
My hats off to them --

Better than a Love-In!

I'm swingin' the doors wide open for my first-ever Open Studio SALE this Saturday from 9am to 5pm. Drop by for some refreshments, a free signed poster and take advantage of hundreds of original works of art at low studio prices!!

Peace, Love & Plein Air!

Dusk.

"Dusk" (12x16) Oil on Linen

I will take this post to make another shameless plug for my upcoming Open Studio Sale... HUNDREDS (about 350 - 400) paintings and sketches for sale at loowww "studio prices". 

These are pieces that either already had their shot in a gallery, or haven't left the studio yet; some are non-exhibited plein air studies and some were painted in competitions such as Plein Air Easton, Sonoma Plein Air or the Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational (among others). 

There are also many figure paintings in oil, pastel studies and small nudes in oil on vellum, along with a number of sketches that were made to assist me in completing larger canvases. 

The sale will be Saturday, June 14th from 9am to 5pm at my studio in Oregon... Please drop by if you're in the area! There will be free posters and refreshments -- hope to see you here!

7311 SW Pine Street  Tigard, Oregon 97223 

Open Studio Sale June 14th...

STUDIO SALE!

I have been meaning to do this for quite a while; after painting for a number of years, you get a back log of paintings, studies, sketches and the like piling up in the studio... Some are smaller studies for larger paintings that went to galleries, some are things returned from galleries that haven't sold -- a lot of competition pieces from various shows,  and some are things I just never let go of because....who knows why? 

Of course the dogs and failures I toss or paint over, so everything in this sale is frame-worthy (according to me anyway). There are between 350 to 400 plein air paintings, figure studies and some pastel drawings (even some old illustrations if you're interested)...

The studio is the big building behind my house in Tigard, OR on Saturday, June 14th -- come by for a snack and a free poster if you're in the area!

9am to 5pm  7311 SW Pine Street 97223 -- hope to see you here!