Location: Canada
Being a painter is not a choice. It is not a chosen profession. Painting is a compulsion. It is a need like breathing or eating. If fact it regularly supersedes both. There is no choice in whether or not I will paint only the when and often not even that. Away from the studio I think about the canvas that sits there unfinished, calling to me, challenging me, maddening me.
I am a painter.
“If someone can talk you out of painting, they should!” Chuck Close
These machines are sculptural, massive works in cast iron and steel, rubber and tin and so often painted brightly. After years of wear and use with rust rolling off them they start to blend into the landscape becoming part of it
a collection of watercolors
flying
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
5.5 in (13.97 cm) x 5.5 in (13.97 cm)
My bike was a rocket, an airplane. It took me down the road to my friend’s house or up into the clouds. Until I owned a car, my bike was my freedom and escape.
16 in (40.64 cm) x 20 in (50.8 cm)
watercolor on maidstone 90lb paper
I think Dad had more fun building Mr. Frosty than we did.
going out
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
7.25 in (18.41 cm) x 7.25 in (18.41 cm)
Occasionally we would all pile into the truck – my cousins, brother, and I in the back – and head into town.
grama’s rhubarb
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
9.75 in (24.76 cm) x 5.5 in (13.97 cm)
A generation ago, the family home was a drafty, cold place with no privacy or what we would now call entertainment. Stealing some of Gramma’s rhubarb would have been entertainment.
wrench
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
9.75 in (24.76 cm) x 9.75 in (24.76 cm)
How many times have I gone to the toolbox to find that perfect tool for the job at hand? How many times has it not been there? Lost at the last job…
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neglected spade
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
9.5 in (24.13 cm) x 5.5 in (13.97 cm)
One of those lost objects I found in a shed, rusted and abandoned, a history written patina.
dad’s screwdriver
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
9.5 in (24.13 cm) x 5.5 in (13.97 cm)
The tools a man holds describe him, shape him, and define him, both for himself and for the outside world.
white tail
watercolor on maidstone 90lb paper
30in (76.2cm) x 44in (111.76cm)
I am fascinated by the functional beauty of skulls.
a special dress
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
7.25 in (18.41 cm) x 7.25 in (18.41 cm)
There may have been few occasions to wear your special dress but when they came along, it was magic.
hamming it up
watercolor on Arches cold press 140lb watercolor paper
16 in. (40.64cm) x 9.25 (23.5 cm)
Owning a camera was rare then, and the cost of developing film was even harder to come by, so when I find a photo of someone “hamming it up”, it’s always special. A moment of true spontaneity.
firewood
watercolor on bfk Rivers printmaking paper
8.5 in (21.89 cm) x 6 in (15.24 cm)
Most of the places I had lived before leaving home were heated only by a woodstove. I miss the smell and the feel, but not the trudge through the snow to the wood pile.
“the Last time I saw her eyes”
the Last time I saw her eyes
oil on canvas (diptych)
60in (152.4 cm) x 100 in (254 cm)
On a trip to Temagami I found myself thinking of someone who had touched me deeply yet was no longer in my life. It was a wonderful weekend that ended with me feeling grateful for the time I had had with her. She would always be in my life.
Like fire, water invites refection and thought. It mesmerizes and stops time. I love stopped time.
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“here I could feel the distance 53.5282, -105.3241”
here I could feel the distance 53.5282, -105.3241
oil on canvas
48 in (121.92cm) x 60in (152.4)
On the 120 north from Meath Park, there is a spot the fields and hills pile up against one another building the horizon.
I’ve stood there many times, watching the distance.
two hours from home
oil on canvas (diptych)
36in (91.44cm) x 120 in (304 cm)
http://richardajacobson.blogspot.com/2010/03/q-uite-by-accident-i-came-across-and.html
first barn
oil on canvas
48 in (121.92cm) x 40 in (101.6)
The history of this building echoes my own family’s history. A barn, with grain in the corners, shows it was a granary. The wallpaper shows it was a home.
hoegl’s barn
oil on canvas (diptych)
36in (91.44cm) x 120 in (304 cm)
Barns represented work to me, but they also offered space to be on my own to daydream. The hayloft – full of dry straw and sunlight – was a great place to read comics.
“double massey”
“massy-harris”
“pullies”
“gmc cap”
“thrashing machine”
“auger”
“41 dodge”
“flying”
“the four of us ”
“going out”
“grama’s rhubarb”
“wrench”
“neglected spade”
“dad’s screwdriver”
“white tail”
“a special dress”
“hamming it up”
“firewood”
“here I could feel the distance 53.5282, -105.3241”
“two hours from home”
“first barn”
“temagami shore”
“One minute longer”
“hoegl’s barn”
“Shattered light”
“shades of blue”
“Does sadness have weight?”
“Lost in a common place”
