How paintings choose me

I am intoxicated with the creative process. There is something extraordinary when an idea takes on a life of its own and really dictates its own outcome. That was certainly the case for 'In the Club', the painting of a 1949 Cadillac.

This painting began life while I was visiting my friend John at his antique shop, The History Room. On the wall he had displayed a number of old license plates from various states and years. My first thought was how cool it would be to tie a vintage plate into a painting. That got my head spinning with thoughts of sanding and priming a square directly on the center of the plate for the painting. That idea immediately presented several challenges such as dealing with working on the uneven surface of the raised numbers. This idea also raised the concerns of altering an actual '49 plate. I settled on creating a painting  that would sit above the plate rather than altering the vintage piece.

The painting itself usually dominates my thoughts in the early stages of the process however with this piece, I found myself wrestling with the manner in which it would be displayed. I knew that the work needed to be suspended above the plate without damaging it. The solution came in attaching the painting to a pane of glass in the middle of the frame. The pane would be invisible and not touch the plate at all. This brought me to my friend and master woodworker Larry Rancourt of Larry's Custom Woodworking to figure out the details of this very unique frame. I described to Larry what I was trying to achieve and he immediately took the ball and ran with it. The choice of the framing wood always goes hand in hand with the painting. Knowing it would be a vintage American car as the topic, we ended up deciding on Mahogany with an inlay of Maple.

Now that the frame was under way, it was time to turn the focus on the painting itself. This was the first time that the frame construction was put before the painting itself. I had a 1949 Massachusetts plate so I needed to find a great car to go with that plate. It didn't take long to settle on the incredible 1949 Cadillac Club Coupe. The image for this painting came from John Filiss of Serious Wheels.com. It was the perfect image in that it showed all the beauty of the car and prominently displayed it's rear plate which I wanted to replace with my MA plate. From there it was business as usual getting the painting done.

Once the painting was finished, it was installed in the frame. One modification that was made was that the glass that the painting was mounted on needed to be tinted. The plate was visually very powerful and needed to be muted to separate it from the painting. The skill of Diamonds Window Tinting got the pane of glass perfectly tinted.

The result of all this was a painting that literally instructed me the entire way through the process. It is without a doubt where the most successful pieces come from. 

19 Seconds

I have a friend that writes the most incredible songs. The biggest reason I find them so incredible is that she has the ability (and courage) to write songs about the things that are not so bright and shiny in our lives. Her music forces us to look within ourselves at the place that gives us pain because she knows that facing it is the only way to overcome it.

It inspired me to make the same attempt with my work. To reach inside myself and tell a story with paint that my own voice did not have the courage to tell. '19 Seconds' is the painting that was the result. It is all about the pain and regret of not having the courage to make a connection that is really important. Regardless of the outcome of that connection, not having the courage to even try yields far more pain and regret.

I chose the old 1980's phone to represent my youth. It sits unconnected on a teak desk that we also had in the house as I was growing up. The frame of this painting is also solid teak to echo the painting.

Finally the title for this painting comes from the 2011 movie 'We Bought a Zoo'. In that movie, actor Matt Damon's character describes a philosophy that he lives by. The idea is that all he need is 20 seconds of courage with anything that needs to be done. He puts aside all doubts and fears for only twenty seconds when faced with a challenge. More times than not that is all the time that is required. Since this painting examines my lack of courage in similar situations, I named it 19 seconds. I wonder if I had only found the courage for a few seconds more how different my life might have been. 

Everything finds its place

There are so many incredible ways to get our voice heard these days. As artists, we work hard to make sure that it is the art that speaks the loudest yet it is always great to get the chance to offer the 'director's commentary' on a painting. To give the viewer of the work the background and inspiration that helped pull the piece into reality.

Over the past few years, I have found that social media has become an excellent way to keep my work and its progress in front of people that were interested in it. Where my website is my virtual gallery,  Facebook became the visit to the studio for people. Facebook gives people a chance to follow along on a day to day basis with the painting process here. Everyone now has the chance to get involved with the work individually by leaving comments and asking questions.  My blog and twitter accounts did not find their place as fast as the website and Facebook did however. It involved taking a step back and looking at the big picture at the strengths of each to help find their place.

This blog is now going to be the place to get that director's commentary on the paintings that I am producing. Eventually it will be the spot where you can come if you see a painting that strikes you and get an in depth description about how it came to be. This blog will also allow for comments and questions to get even more information on the works.

Finally the twitter account will be the place for instant updates and thoughts about the industry. Tweets will allow people to know when something new is happening on the easel. In the coming months there will be a special giveaways to help boost awareness of both this blog and of the twitter account.

On this Sunday morning though, I need to start pulling together the materials for the Twitter giveaway! Stay tuned for the details!!

Longfellow Fall

Easily one of my favorite commissioned paintings to date is the painting for American Anchor. The job parameters were wide open. Boston skyline with a widow washing squeegee wiping a path clear in the image.

All I was told was that it needed to be on a razor blade. Knowing that the company was based here in Massachusetts and specialized in installing anchor systems for high rise window washing gondolas, helped to bring things together quickly. The result was the was the Boston skyline with a widow washing squeegee wiping a path clear in the image.

American Anchor

After finishing this painting, I found that there was still a personal need to revisit the Boston skyline as a topic. It took some time but I eventually settled on a view of Boston from the Longfellow bridge. I love this view of the city because it shows all of Back Bay including the Hatch Shell. I also decided to show the scene during the fall season to really feature everything that New England has to offer.

The painting would be my fourth industrial landscape and while some techniques were already hashed out like the development of the water from 'Mors Ex Tennebris' and the breakdown of the buildings from 'Through Sabine's Eyes', I was still anxious to develop some of the shortcomings of those same techniques. For example, in the American Anchor painting of Boston, I tried a scratching technique that was hopefully going to allow me to get some very fine details. What I found was that the paint that I was using hand a slightly rubbery surface tension. That caused it to pull larger amounts of paint up rather than simply create thin lines. With 'Longfellow Fall' I was able to take that and mix in a reworkable illustration paint with my normal colors. This allowed me to incorporate the scratching technique successfully this time around.

Mors Ex Tennebris

Through Sabine's Eyes

 Each painting has to be a step forward. Even the smallest move forward compounds with the next making each painting better. There are mistakes and failures in every painting, it is what we take from those shortcomings that created the successes in future works.

The next series of paintings to come have their steps forward in the presentation more than the actual art. I truly love painting incredible cars and this new series will tie together a bit of the actual history of these cars. Stay tuned!!

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Learning to be Lewis and Clark

Yesterday was a fantastic day. I was invited by my good friend and incredible artist Keith Hanson to share a space with him at the 3rd annual  Wounded Vet's Run at Suffolk Downs in Boston. Simply being there was a once in a life time opportunity in light of the Boston Marathon bombings. The Boston and Watertown Police were honored right along side of the Vets and it was truly a day to remember. Keith donated a custom painted POW helmet and I donated a custom painted dog tag. There were literally hundreds of other donated items on the raffle tables which also showed me that despite the acts of senseless cruelty, there are many, many more acts of kindness in this world.

So I suppose that you are wondering how Lewis and Clark fit into all of this. Well, it is always interesting to me to see the reactions that people have to my new work. However, in choosing the path of a style of art that is not understood and rarely believed, I have learned that my marketing plan needs to be as unique as the artwork itself. I tried various methods of talking to people that stopped. Some I just let browse, some I jumped right in explaining all the details and methods. One reaction that I found most common was that people assumed they were photographs. That is certainly an honor and  really one of the benchmarks I set for myself when painting however, it sort of backfires when someone just passes by assuming they are photos. One very nice lady even smiled at me as she was walking by and actually said, 'Lovely work, my husband used to be a photographer.'

So here I am this morning sort of like Lewis and Clark mulling over which direction to be taken in the dark. The marketing goals have evolved (again) to closely look at what will allow the true details of my work to speak for themselves.

Evolution of the journey.

My hope is that everyone is enjoying the first day of a very happy and healthy 2013.

With the New Year, it is fitting that this blog entry is about change. We are creatures of change and adaptation. This is how we grow and evolve. As a young art student, my number one fear was not being able to find my artistic voice. I was very concerned that my art would blend into the crowd and never be unique. Change is a powerful friend of the creative process. It forces us to look outside the boundaries of what we already know and it forces us to take chances. For me it was simply stumbling across the request to paint something small that changed the course of my creative path. Granted, it has not been a particularly easy path, but the voice is so loud, it cannot be ignored.

Listen to what your artistic voice is telling you. Feed it with knowledge, practice and challenges and it will reward you a hundred times over.

With that, my artistic voice is now calling me again. I’ll be posting updates of all the new paintings for 2013 on the facebook page and as always, thanks for checking in!!

New Happenings

There are a lot of great things brewing here around the paint bench so I thought that I’d take a breather for a moment and outline a few of those new things on the horizon for the fall and winter.

After bouncing around a bit this summer trying to locate the right spot to hold classes, I have made the decision to resume my airbrush classes at BearAir in Easton. The first one will be the introduction to Airbrushing Class in January with another to follow in April. I am very excited to get these classes rolling again! Classes can be purchased directly at www.BearAir.com or shortly at www.stevenleahy.com.

Next bit of news is the addition of a store to my website. This has been planned for a while and it is fantastic to know it is in the final stages. From the online store, you will be able to sign up for classes, purchase artwork (both reproductions and originals) and even possibly airbrushes through Richpen. Look for the brand new store very soon!

Third event that has started brewing is the next solo art exhibit. The process now is at the stage where I am drawing up a proposal for the show and beginning to look for a venue. The show itself will feature the miniature artwork from the past year. One of things that I have found is that for as great as the online reaction to these paintings has been, it is nothing like the experience of seeing them for real. Everything from the beauty of the custom built frames to the actual artwork, it is the impact of the total package that makes the experience. The rough date for the opening will likely be in May of 2013 so stay tuned.

Finally, the workbench has been buzzing lately with commissions. That is always good for keeping the lights on. The latest has been the razor blade painting for NASCAR driver #96 Ben Kennedy. The challenge here was to pull off the sponsor logos in a way that would look real. Once this painting is clear, I have two more commissions to get done before I start digging into some of the new paintings for the show in May. My artistic passion is really fueled there as I can take chances on my own pieces that I cannot take on someone else’s. Keep an eye on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/StevenLeahyArt for daily updates on those and all other studio projects.

Thanks as always for checking in and seeing what is new!!