painting

Spoiler Alert: How I Don’t Use Black Paint

When The Sun Breaks Through possum animal art wildlife painting contemporary abstract athens georgia Will Eskridge
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Hello again! I hope your week is going well! A couple weeks back I let you in on the secret that I don’t use black paint in my paintings. Well I’m here this week to give you a short story on how I don’t use black paint:

The palette is lined with various piles of colors. The time has come in the painting process to push some areas into the background. It is time for black.

My brush swipes a big dab of deep, dark, and rich Pthalo Blue from the top of the palette and places it at the bottom right corner. Without hesitation, an equal amount of the beautifully dark and almost greenish brown Raw Umber is scooped up with my brush and placed in the same vicinity as the blue. Both colors are showing me how dark they can be on their own. But what if forces were joined? Could it be a black that is blacker than black?

Round and round my brush slowly pulls these colors together into a new hue. A quick, small visit to Cadmium Red brings in a subtle amount of warmth and the hue is finalized. 

The resulting color is chromatic. It brings in elements of all the rainbow. This is my black.

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No Canyon Too Deep

coyote painting art wildlife artist triangle gold will eskridge
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rough: 
a. Having a surface marked by irregularities, protuberances, or ridges; not smooth.

b. Unpleasant or difficult.

No city was too hot. No canyon too deep. But the coyote was alone. Roaming the darkest alleyway to the driest mesa. 

Trekking across the land, the coyote accepted each obstacle as a new challenge, adapting to the surroundings. 

The lone coyote’s paws were blistered by hot asphalt and earth. Marked and bruised from the day’s hunt, the coyote was determined to make it back to the other side.  The treacherous ups and downs of the canyons and valleys wore the flesh, but not the heart.

Meanwhile, miles away, the family waited patiently at the den. The stillness of the prairie surrounding them provided little solace as the the sun faded. It was a rough time.

Then, just as the last blur of purple hazed gold from the day fell below the horizon, a familiar howl pierced the night. The family’s ears twitched and turned to the direction of the howl. In the distance, a deep purple shadow emerged from the abyss of the forest. The family howled in response to acknowledge. The coyote had returned with the day’s bounty for the family. Its fur tattered and matted, filled with dirt and brush. The coyote quietly, but swiftly approached the den and collapsed next to its family as they greeting it with gentle, feverish licks. After their feast, they nestled each other like a jigsaw puzzle as the thunder rolled through the night.

This is just one of my original stories that I have been writing here and their for the last few years. (While writing this one, I imagined the coyote was actually in a painting of mine, traveling over the hills and valleys of the thick paint.) It has been a little while since I have written one, so I hope you enjoyed this new one. I wanted to let you know that I am tossing around the idea of compiling a book of these stories (with illustrations, of course). Is this something that you may be interested in? If you could let me know with a simple yes or no reply that would help guide me as to whether it would be feasible or not at this time.

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Is A Painting Only Skin Deep?

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surface: 
a. the exterior or upper boundary of an object or body.
b. an external part or layer.  

Clearly the idea of surface comes up many times in my life. In art we talk in great depth about the surface of a painting or sculpture. Is it rough or smooth? Is it hard or soft? The paradoxical nature of a surface is that there has to be depth of some sort or the surface would not exist. 

Anytime I imagine the word surface, I am immediately think of those fantastic illustrations in grade school text books that show a slice of the earth and all of its layers. Remember those? I was enthralled with those illustrations and the concept of layers on top of each other.

I see a painting as not just skin deep. It is the sum of all of its parts: from the nails, glue, and wood of the stretcher bars, to the canvas and staples, to the primer on top of the canvas and finally to the multitude of layers of paint that make up what we actually see. This is one of many reasons why I build may painting substrates. I find the canvas construction process as part of the painting as a whole. Like a house, there wouldn’t be that beautiful front door if the foundation was poorly construction and collapsed. 

Enjoying these posts? Why not sign up for the Explorer’s Club for more posts like this direct to your inbox, discounts, behind the scenes art studio sneak peeks, free content and much more: all exclusive to Explorer’s Club members. Sign up today!

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Could You, Would You?

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wood: the hard fibrous substance consisting basically of xylem that makes up the greater part of the stems, branches, and roots of trees or shrubs beneath the bark and is found to a limited extent in herbaceous plants.

Could you imagine a world without wood? Wood has been one of our most important materials from early Paleolithic times. Ever since humans discovered the use of the materials around them, wood has been used and modified. From wood, a variety of human needs have been met in farming and industry, in peace and war, humans progressively learned the unique and fantastic nature of wood. Through experience, trial and error, and eventually thorough research and observation, its properties have been fantastically understood. 

Wood is an essential part of my art making. Since I hand build all of my painting substrates (wood panels, stretcher bars for canvases, etc.) I want to be as environmentally conscious as possible. All of the wood I use is Forest Stewardship Council whose mission is to promote environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the world’s forests. This week let’s celebrate one of earth’s and its inhabitants’ most righteous resources.

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What Do You Find Bizarre?

Inner Phases black bear animal artist art painting bear grizzly wildlife artwork Will Eskridge
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Bizarre: strikingly out of the ordinary.

Ever since I can remember, I have been called weird. It never bothered me and in fact I sort of took pride in going against the grain and being the black sheep.

It’s not that I was weird for the sake of being weird, I think oddballness just spoke to me. (although there were times in my younger days I did certain thing to get attention – purple hair, anyone?)

I won’t lie, it was hard many times in my school days. People are taught to be fearful of things they do not understand. Eventually I found like-minded people that embraced and celebrated weirdness. “We ARE the weirdos, mister” and I “grew up” a bit too. Well as much as this guy can.

These days I like finding bizarreness outside of myself and in the wild. Like how male Dayak fruit bats (a little-known, small flying fox of Malaysia) can lactate. Or the presence of extremely long canine teeth on the Chinese Water Deer. And how a Panda Bear has a digestive system of a meat-eater, yet they are vegetarian and feed almost exclusively on bamboo chutes. Bonus: Be sure and look up the “harp sponge”.

All of this is one of the reasons you may find “hot pink” or tinges of a bright teal and nuances of purples in animals that for all intents and purposes should just be brown or black. But I so “see” these colors. I love discovering the little bizarres in the animal.

So tell me, What Do You Find Bizarre?

One of my beloved wildlife sanctuaries here in Athens, Bear Hollow Zoo, could use some relief. They are in desperate need of major facility upgrades. From today until June 30th 30% of all art sale proceeds will be donated to Friends of Bear Hollow.

The Friends of Bear Hollow, Inc. is a nonprofit group of volunteers dedicated to supporting Bear Hollow Wildlife Trail (aka Bear Hollow Zoo) through fundraising and outreach. Friends of Bear Hollow believes in the zoo’s mission of conservation through education with native, non-releasable wildlife. You can read more about them at https://friendsofbearhollow.org/.

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New! Will Paints Live!

Will Paints Live Bear animal artist art Will Eskridge
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Would you like to get behind the scenes of my art studio and discover what goes on beyond the art galleries and shows? Become a fly on the wall in Eskridge Art Studio and watch as I paint live every Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. Swing over to Instagram, be sure to follow me, and tune in at 2:00 p.m. to see my entire painting process from start to finish (sans building the canvas –  I may post a video of that in the future)

Watch along as I push and pull the colors of paint, creating textures and expressions for my one of a kind animal art paintings. Feel free to comment and show the live casts some love. No holds barred! Pieces are for sale at the end of the session so let me know which piece you would like. First to comment, first served! The magic starts today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Click here to watch today!

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Paint-o-Matic is here!

Will Eskridge Paint-o-Matic
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You have been wanting a Will Eskridge original for some time now. That drab wall is begging for a new piece of original art to amplify your space. Make a statement with a thought-provoking piece that celebrates the animal kingdom. Discover the possibilities with my Paint-O-Matic customizer. You get to decide which animal. You get to decide which geometric shape. You get to decide which color. Starting at $40 for a 5×7 inch original painting, you will be on your way to loving your surroundings.

Poke the big ‘ol bear painting below to enter the Paint-O-Matic customizer and get started. Fresh art will be yours because you deserve it! Questions?

Universal Secrets animal artist art painting Will Eskridge web

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Underway Wednesday: Embracing Simplicity

Ursus bear outdoor animal art sculpture Will Eskridge
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Last week I posted about some new artwork that I have been creating in the background for the last 8 months, “Vanishing Silhouettes”. Sometimes it is hard for me to know when to stop a painting or other piece of art. I tend to get so microscopic and “in the zone” that I forget what is around me and start focusing and focusing. The great artistic genius Leonardo Da Vinci once said, “A painting is never finished only abandoned”. What he meant was that there are nuances in the early stages of a piece that are effective in the overall artistic aesthetic. But mainly h meant that an artist can work a piece to death, continuing endless details and changing colors, etc. for absolute perfection. An artist can always go back and touch up a painting. They can always find an imperfection (even in photorealism). Centuries later, a group of artists would take this idea to the extreme, leaving canvases blank, or with single colors and simplified shape. The idea that less is more.

Through my career I have always tight-roped the line between too much and not enough – pulling out minute details in areas and leaving some areas in their raw (some would say “unfinished”) state. I rather enjoy this push and pull between the two. With this new series, I decided to pick a side and I have embraced the minimalist way of thinking – pulling back before I have done too much. Letting the outlined shape hold the chaos of the spray paint and mark-making safely within itself. The stark flat black background surrounding the shape representing the unknown future and allowing the shape to jump off the substrate with ease. There is something genuine and innocent to these pieces. I had an epiphany over the weekend while discussing these ideas with some colleagues. I came to the conclusion that these silhouette pieces lend, nay, they beg themselves to three-dimensional form. So, I as prepare for the next stages of this series, I’d like to show off a preview of a piece in progress utilizing three-dimensions. This cut out bear will be floating on a black substrate to be hung indoors. However, upon propping this little guy up for this photo, I hope you will see what I am planning for the future. Think Metal. Think Yard. Think Art. Oh yes, it’s going to happen. Stay tuned…

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