3 dimensional irish landscape

I've converted one of my paintings into a 3d image.  Just cross your eyes so the two images meet in the middle and take a visit to the Irish countryside.

you may want to click the image for a larger version and take a step back from the computer screen to get best results.

Many more to come.  I'll convert some night scenes for my next post.

Oil on Canvas

Even though this painting is from last year, I just posted it on etsy, so i thought I would share it here as well...
http://www.etsy.com/listing/92528113/18x24-original-oil-painting-oil-on

This painting titled "Oil on Canvas" was painted shortly after the deepwater horizon oil spill in 2010. It is the first piece in my series of Oil platforms which I am still working on.

My oil platform paintings are viewed by some as a testament to awe inspiring feats of engineering by mankind.

Others view them as a representation of all that is ugly in man's creations and our never ending hunger for oil which is surely harming the environment in which we live.

To me they stand as icons. These oil platforms are highly recognizable, monumental structures, which represent the things we value most as a society. I try to represent them as they are; huge and powerful machines within a beautiful environment.

Dragger Oil Painting

 On my last fishing trip, we saw this dragger.  These ships can be especially detrimental to the environment.  They pull a dredge along the bottom of the ocean to collect shellfish and it can damage the seabed. 

As with the oil rigs I've painted in the past, I see a certain beauty in the size and power of man-made structures juxtaposed with the serenity and peace of the natural world. 

This painting is still in progress and there is still work to be done on the ship.  I think i will make the windows in the front of the ship darker.

In this painting i tried some new techniques for making water.  I apologize for the low picture quality, but when I'm done painting it I will take better pictures and post them on www.jayvarney.com

sky and sea

Here are a couple new cloud studies I've been working on:

Destructive Beauty

Here are three new paintings, I just finished.  I'm working on a few others and will post pictures soon. 

A friend has recently been asking a lot about the drips in my work. 

I usually answer by saying "the drips allow me to have a more open mind.  Working with turpentine washes allows me to view the image as imperminent and gives me the freedom to make changes.  Also, puting a wash over the whole piece provides a consistancy and unity throughout the image." 

I might also say, "What is the difference between a brush stroke and a drip?  I'm simply letting the paint do what it does naturally."  I see this as a very Bauhausian idea; exploring what the medium is capable of.

I am extremely aware of the fact that people will read into the drips and think they are representative of some bigger idea and I am very wary of this.  But there is no denying that the drips provide a mood.  This mood, I have realized, is one of Destructive Beauty.  I am fascinated with factories, oil rigs, and cities.  I see them as powerful destructive forces and I see their destructive power as sad yet beautiful.

The piece below, does a good job at expressing this feeling.

more shimmering lights

I'm just starting to finish up a group of paintings right now (I like to work on about 10 paintings simultaneously) and I will be posting them as they are finished.

Here are a few:

Vincent Van Gogh once said, "I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."  I know what he meant when he said this and I agree 100%

A lot of my new paintings are night scenes, concentrating on the presence of light sources within the painting and the reflection of those lights on water.  I'm sort of revisiting and refining some of the same themes I worked with in older pieces such as the two below. 

Cyclops

I drew this yesterday after a dream I had the night before.

This giant cyclops woman pulled herself out of a hole in the ground and smiled at me.  Her look was calming and I was drawn to her even though she was so big I could fit in the palm of her hand.

When I got closer though, a second eye appeared on her forehead and her head split open, exposing her brain.  The split in her head grew teeth and she started to come after me; grabbing at me and trying to eat me with her brain.  I think she wanted to steal my knowledge by absorbing my consciousness and trapping me inside her head.

I know it's really silly, but I was really terrified when I woke up and I couldn't get it out of my head until I made this drawing.

times article

Check out this article about my new apartment in the New York Times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/realestate/13Long-Island-artspace.html?ref=realestate

Jay Varney and The Black Petals

www.jayvarney.com
www.theblackpetals.com

Atlantic Swell

Here are the progression shots along with the final product for the large scale painting I just finished. 

 

"Atlantic Swell" 

240x96

Oil on Masonite

2011

 

 http://c2gallery.com/

putting it all together

 

8ft x 20 ft
incomplete oil painting

swimming in paint

Here's a shot of the large painting I've been working on for the last couple weeks.  I took it with my cell phone, so sorry about the quality, but I promise progress shots and a high quality image when it is finished.  

Almost done.

Hillside

I'm still working on a large-scale (20ft x 8ft) painting, but don't yet have any new progress shots.

Instead, here's a shot of another painting, I'm working on simultaneously. 

 

This nocturne shows a hillside city next to the sea.  I imagine the Mediterranean.  The image still needs some work on the water to really establish it as a plane going into space and to make it look more reflective. 

A Swelling

I've been in the studio a lot lately, working on some really good stuff.
Here's a shot of the painting of a gas station, which I mentioned a few weeks ago.  There are a few final touches still to be made, but it's pretty much in its final state:

I think this piece is about 16x20, just to give you some scale.

Also, I've started a new project which I've been meaning to get into for a few years now.  I'm so lucky to have access to studio space which will allow me to work on such a large piece:

The piece is 20ft by 8ft and will be of an ocean swell, with choppy, writhing waves.  What you see so far in the photos is just a horizon line with a little work on the sky.  The very beginnings of a mammoth project; I will post more pictures as it progresses. 

Etsy

I've recently discovered Etsy.com and just opened up my new etsy shop over the last couple days.  Check it out at jayvarney.etsy.com

doll painting

hey guys,
so I think I just finished the doll painting I've been working on.  here are some progress shots.  let me know what you think.

 

 

oil on canvas

I'm still working on my painting from the dollhouse toys and rather than show you progress shots now, I'd like to show you the progression and the final shots all in one blog.  So let me instead, talk about my next project.

I'd like to do a nocturne in the style of one of my previous paintings, shown below:

The above piece is titled "24/7" and is about fast food in America.  The new piece, however will show a gas station at night, with the overhead lights and hopefully I can capture the same glow as in the above piece.  The new gas station piece will go along with some of my other recent paintings, which illustrate scenes from the oil industry.  One of these, I will show below and is titled "oil on canvas" and another I have shown in a previous blog post. 

My concern is not to criticize or preach, because I am aware that I consume oil just like the rest of us.  Instead, I am interested in the iconic power of such images.  When someone sees an image about the oil industry, they usually feel something and have a pretty strong reaction to the piece. 

duck farms and dollhouses

hey guys,

I'll try to post at least once a week, but its been two weeks since my last post because I've been so busy lately. 

 Two weeks ago I showed you an imaginative painting of some duck farms and, as promised, I have another photo of its progress. 

I usually paint outside when I can, but I worked on this painting on Friday and I had to bring my easel inside while "Hurricane Earl" passed through. I haven't decided whether or not this painting is finished; I'll have to sleep on it for a while, but it's definitely very close to finished. 

For one of my next projects, I borrowed some of my cousins toys for a still-life.

I haven't started the painting yet.  I'd like to wait till night time so I can put a strong spotlight on the still-life and get some hard shadows.  I did do some very quick preliminary sketches a few days ago though. 

Picasso used to say that, "every child is an artist."  I love a child's creativity, imagination, and playfulness.  Art featuring toys can invoke that childlike imagination that exists within us all. 

Duck Farms

Here's a large image (about 4 feet by 4 feet) I've been working on for a long time now and it's just starting to come together.

The image is a night time scene, loosely based on the old duck farms on Gazzola Drive.  Still to be added are a bunch of streetlights and maybe a few windows on the buildings. 

Can't wait to work on this more and post the final product.