Paul Wolber Art Studio

I originally drew this water buffalo into the “Karst Mountain” painting on my blog masthead, however I realized while working on the painting that the buffalo would distract from the view of the mountains reflected in the water so I painted him out. If you look carefully at the Karst Mountain painting you can see an oval ring in the water where the water buffalo has just submerged. In this new painting you see him just after he surfaced still eating vegetation he has brought up from the bottom of the lake.

The water buffalo in Asian culture is still used to plow rice fields and to pull heavy loads much as they have been used for thousands of years. There are also in Thailand, China and Vietnam cultures annual bullfights for water buffalo, but these bullfights are not done in the same way as the Spanish bullfight where the bull is killed. You can read the story about a Chinese bullfight I observed in 2001 by entering the words water buffalo in the search block at the top left sidebar of my blog page (just above the slideshow). This search should also bring up my painting of a water buffalo plowing rice paddies in China.

Holiday Glow
7” x 5” (17.8cm x 12.7cm) acrylic on hand primed board unframed $125 with free shipping in USA and Canada.
For more info email Paul at: wolberinchina@hotmail.com
To purchase or see all my past work on this blog click HERE.

There is always a special feeling that one grows up with during the holidays, so this image is one that evokes those sentiments for many. Whatever ones background, the holidays can bring a warm glow.

Someone recently asked: Do you paint on site, from photography or from your minds eye? My response is as follows:

I do all of the above. I like to paint on site when possible, but obviously some paintings can’t be done on site or plein air as some like to call it. In this case I’ll work from still life set up or photos, but only photo’s that I’ve taken so I know the space and light. The mistake of the amateur or beginner is they don’t always understand the space and light when working from a photo so the painting looks like a copy of a photo. It’s pretty easy to spot these.

I’ve painted long enough so I can usually create an idea from my minds eye, but I’ll usually want some supporting information or material for reference and clarity. Actually, now, it is possible to create an image out of fragments and I’ve sometimes even put fragments of my photos together and composed them in PhotoShop before I paint, but that can be dangerous because one has to be careful to fully understand light source and ambient light color. I’m well aware of both so I don’t think I will make that mistake. I hope this helps to give you an idea how I think about starting a painting.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

To Grandmother’s House: A Carriage Ride
5” x 7” (12.7cm x 17.8cm) acrylic on hand primed board unframed with free shipping in USA and Canada.
SOLD
For more info email Paul at: wolberinchina@hotmail.com
To see all my past work on this blog click HERE.

While I’m in the mood for doing horses, this was done with the cover of a Christmas card in mind. The purchaser would have permission to use it for that purpose or simply as a reminder of the way our ancestors traveled on Christmas Day.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

Here’s the finished stage. You may not be able to tell from this
small image the additions I’ve made to the horses, but they are
obvious in the actual piece. The harness arrangement is very
interesting to me so I spent some time on that. I’ve also created
the space of the field and hedge row trying to keep them as
simple as possible to avoid distraction from the foreground.
If done properly I find each stage of this process interesting and
almost a finished work on it’s own.

I had little time in the studio today, but this evening I began to rough in more of the color on the horses and fill in more of the foreground. Next I’ll need to work on shadows and details of harness that ties the horses together, then figure out how to deal with the background area to give more space and depth to the image. Keep watching.

Now I start to lay in the color composition starting from left to
right with the Amish man seated on the plow. The Amish don’t
wish to have their image taken so I’ve obliged that a bit by covering
the mans face with his hat ostensibly to cover his eyes from the sun.
I’ll continue more posting as I develop the rest, so check back later.

Detail Amish man

Second stage was to paint the ground color. I used a pink/orange
ground here to set the tone of the late afternoon sunlight as the
ambient light for this painting. Next, after transferring the drawing,
I like to lay in the darkest and lightest tones to set the range
of values in the painting.

The first stage was developing the drawing. In this case I did the
drawing on paper since I wanted to work out some of the movement
in the horses gait and to show the person who requested it. Next
step is to transfer the drawing to the hand primed gessoed board
on the ground color you can see below.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

Colour, Obsession, Joy and Torment
The Daily Painters Art Gallery 2008
Announcing our first ever Daily Painters Guide Book!

To purchase a painting or view all my past work on this blog click HERE.
my page (click on the page to enlarge)

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

Jingle Bells: Dashing Through The Snow
5” x 7” (12.7cm x 17.8cm) acrylic on gessoed board unframed $125 with free shipping in USA and Canada.
For more info email Paul at: wolberinchina@hotmail.com
To purchase or see all my past work on this blog click HERE.

While doing research on sleigh bells I discovered the song “Jingle Bells” was originally written as a Thanksgiving Day song by James Pierpoint in 1857. It’s popularity caused it to be repeated as a Christmas song and has been recognized that way since.

The sound of sleigh bells reminds us of the “good old days” when going to grandmother’s house for Christmas dinner was a family tradition. Most of us today either no longer have grandmother or we live so far away it is difficult to travel so far. Now Christmas  has a different feeling for many, so sleigh bells can be a reminder of the days when families were a more closely knit unit.

© Copyright by Paul Wolber

Regal: Red Wing On My Bike Trail
7” x 5” (17.8cm x 12.7cm) acrylic on gessoed board unframed with free shipping within USA and Canada.
SOLD

For more info email Paul at: wolberinchina@hotmail.com
To see all my past work on this blog click HERE.

Each painting I do comes from some experience that inspires or attracts some interest or idea giving me the motivation to follow through and complete a painting. This one I saw on the Falling Water bike path here in Jackson County, Michigan. It took some time to capture the Red Wing on the cattails near Lime Lake causeway. Here you see the result.

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© Copyright by Paul Wolber

Into Another World: A Keyhole Glimpse Into The Past And The Future
5” x 7” (12.7cm x 17.8cm) acrylic on gessoed board unframed $125 with free shipping in USA and Canada.
SOLD

For more info email Paul at: wolberinchina@hotmail.com
To see all my past work on this blog click HERE.

Images often suggest things not seen on the surface but give us a glimpse of something deeper. When I saw this door with an open view through the large keyhole, it suggested a view into another dimension. Whatever is behind this door is something each viewer can imagine or speculate about. It suggests there is more to our universe than meets the eye and thus shows us how a painting or work of art can lead us into a world of imagination giving new understanding to our unfolding experience and causing us to think new thoughts or see new possibilities.

©Copyright by Paul Wolber