Paul Wolber Art Studio

Photo of my workshop where I prepare painting surfaces. NFS

A lot of people have asked if I prepare my own Masonite panels or purchase them. The answer is I prepare them myself. I have a small workshop squeezed into an “L” shaped corner of my garage with all the necessary tools to cut and fabricate anything I need to prepare almost any size board or canvas. It’s a very compact space but with enough room to easily cut and prepare small boards. I use 100% acrylic gesso with as many as 5 sanded coats to prepare the panels. If I need to work on cutting larger shapes the table saw and ancient radial arm saw are on wheels so I can roll them out into the larger garage area to cut and put together large sizes as needed. I really do keep my car in there during cold Michigan winters. I’ve actually prepared 6 ft x 14 ft surfaces for murals as large as 40 feet long in this way. Recently I’ve been doing mostly smaller sized paintings but have worked on a variety of sizes for shows and commissions as well.

My novel way of preparing small paintings for shipment is to glue a 1/2-inch strip around the edge so it is a bit like a stretched canvas. The edge is painted off-white. This way the work can be hung like an unframed canvas although many of my collectors seem to eventually have them professionally framed. It's more work but that's the way I like to do it.

You can see a sample of this on my blog on the May 1, 2007 posting. Just click HERE then scroll down to the Tuesday, May 01, 2007 posting.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

I needed a new challenge, so decided to paint a white rose. I cannot remember painting rose petals before, at least not in close up detail as in this painting. So this was my first rose painting. Actually it’s my second start, since about half way through the first beginning I realized the feeling wasn’t what I wanted so I made some adjustments to the way I was working and started over. Here you can see the results. It surprised even me to realize after painting for so many years this was my first painting of this subject. There is always something new to learn.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

As I've said before, this blog is as much about sharing the process of painting and enjoying art ideas as anything else. It is my pleasure to have you visit this blog and share with me the ideas and creative process of making art. Please feel free to stop by and let me know you are here. If this is your first time on my blog or if you've visited before, I'd really enjoy hearing from you so I know who is watching. You can do this by sending me an email or leaving a comment below if you'd like.

Paul

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

The Old Barn Door
5” x 7” (12.7cm x 17.8cm) acrylic on gessoed Masonite®.
SOLD

In modern day life not much has changed. We often still seem to function this way, when we try to solve problems after the damage has been done. This could be an idiom for a lot of things in our world today.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

In Michigan this time of year the sky is always beautiful but often we get a lot of “Mares Tails” clouds sometimes called “Fallstreaks”. There is a beautiful old building on M60 near us where I saw this sky and wanted to record it in a painting.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

Cup and Egg in Wall Niche
7 in x 5 in(17.8cm x12.7cm) acrylic on gessoed Masonite®
$110 unframed with free shipping in USA
For international shipping send email to: wolberinchina@hotmail.com

Detail larger than actual size

The cup and egg were not just chosen at random but selected because I wanted to attempt a composition based on a classical motif of curved and straight forms. The idea of curved or rounded forms contrasted against geometric or linear forms goes back to classical design as in Greek motifs of Egg and Dart patterns on architecture.


Egg and Dart motif

Hospital of the Innocents (Ospedale degli Innocenti), Florence, Italy

It’s a classical concept that I chose to use for this small painting.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

Natures Work (texture study): A Trompe L'oeil painted wood surface
7 in x 5 in(17.8cm x12.7cm) acrylic on gessoed Masonite®
SOLD

Above is the finished second small texture painting. The two pieces form a Diptych of two works, which can be displayed together or as separate works. I found these forms on the side of an old barn in Michigan with the first the wall of the barn and the second one a sliding door, which caused the scarred marks on the door panel over time. The two forms created a visual pattern of moving forms that fascinated me and caused me to want to do a painting of the two parts.

Splash of Color (texture study): A Trompe L'oeil painted wood surface
7 in x 5 in(17.8cm x12.7cm) acrylic on gessoed Masonite®
SOLD

Detail larger than actual size

These wood pattern studies follow two paintings done back in January and once again show the beauty of textures seen in nature. When viewed up close or as an overall design one can see the apparent patterns nature creates. The second painting in the series seen "in-progress" in the small insert will be posted tomorrow.

The detail shown larger than actual size shows the abstraction that can be seen in nature even without knowing what the subject matter might be and reminds me of a Kandinsky painting. Nature has a way of modifying what humans create and eventually taking back those things to their natural state. I find it fascinating to study these forms when doing a painting such as this.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

China Door Triptych
20 in x 48 in acrylic on gessoed Masionite®

China Door is one of the larger paintings included in my Gifts of Art exhibition at University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This painting was finished in 2003 and has been shown in a number of exhibitions. It consists of three panels including an old man, Chinese wardrobe doors, and a small child in a courtyard.

While we were traveling through a small village in China, I saw this old man sunning himself by his doorway and later a small child ran out of another doorway right toward us. The courtyard the child came from was filled with smoke from his mother's outdoor cookstove. Later I kept thinking about these two images and wondering how this child’s life might be different from that of the old man. I included the doors as a symbolic image of future intrigue and possibility connecting the two.

You can see more information on the Gifts of Art Exhibition here
Contact information at UMHS for a specific work is available on this web page as well.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber