Sunday, December 29, 2013

Final Offerings of 2013


Landscape and Songbird (Paisaje y Pajarito). 30" X 60". Oil on Linen.


Temple of Delight. 30" X 40". Oil on Linen.



detail from Temple of Delight.

Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veiled Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.

-Final Stanza of Ode on Melancholy by John Keats

Monday, November 11, 2013

Poplar, Oak, and Sturgeon Dreaming


Tulip Poplar, Montrose Park (20" X 16", oil on canvas)


Sun and Oak (60" X 40", oil on linen)


Sturgeon Dreams Under Key Bridge (36" X 48", oil on canvas)

Long Railroad Bridge


Long Railroad Bridge (30" X 40", oil on linen)

I have painted this bridge a number of times from the Hains Point side. This I painted from a photo I took from the Virginia side, by the Yellow Line bridge, looking toward Hains Point. I think it is successful, but I'd like to do what Van Gogh did with his repetitions. I'd like to make a copy of this. I think it will flow and accentuate the pleasing properties in a way that I failed to achieve in the painstaking process of working from a photo. But for now, I am eager to make a success of this 36" X 48" painting that is underway. It will be called something like Sturgeon Dreams Under Key Bridge. It will accompany Shad Dreams Under the Q Street Bridge at my January solo show at the Foundry. Mark your calendars for the Friday, January 3rd "First Friday" opening, please!

Monday, November 4, 2013

An essay from nearly seven years ago that has refreshed my drive to paint

On Painting

Painting is a visual, mental, and spiritual exercise. It is an athletic/technical discipline, a dance of the eye, the mind, the palette, and the hand. The canvas is the stage and the landscape/subject form the set/cast. The paint is the words and motions and thoughts of the painter/actor.

Painting is a voyage through reality to the core of being, a reflection of the artist’s internal life and his power to process the external. Painting is a creative voyage, an extended and focused ride on the interface between the painter’s internal organism and the universe of time-space, matter and light. All are in constant flux, presenting the paradoxical challenge of generating a fixed, static record of the voyage onto a given canvas, a canvas that itself changes very little over the course of a lifetime, though its appearance changes according to the light and according to the personalities of different viewers. Even the shifting moods and ongoing maturation of a particular viewer change the canvas’ appearance.

[The essay goes on and on but is pretty good. I've tagged it onto my artist's statement on my website: www.edwardbearmiller.com]

Thanks to Bob Stark for excavating and sharing this with me this morning!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Adirondack August

A few gems resulted from my time up in Keene Valley this August. I failed to photograph most of them, but here are a few.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Southwestern Colorado Series

Went to Telluride this weekend. Colors down there are amped up. Greens, purples, oranges smother and fill the mountainsides. This is my first crack at deciphering and transmitting the effect.


Mountainside (16" X 12", oil on linen)


Approaching Rain (22" X 28", oil on canvas)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

On the Chama River


River Wall (24" X 12", oil on canvas)


Rivershine (16" X 20", oil on linen)


Canyon Trees (16" X 12", oil on linen)

Over Fourth of July weekend, Sonia and I floated forty miles through the heart of Georgia O'Keefe country in NM, taking the inflatable kayaks out of the water just below Ghost Ranch. We were led and cared for by old buddy Josh Munson (best friend in Ecuador from '98-'99) and his lady Shanti and other remarkable friends of theirs. Encountered two more rattlers and a bull snake, but none within striking distance.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Denver-based Works


Mounting Fear (oil on canvas, 18" X 24")


Morning Escape (oil on canvas, 18" X 24")

I've been getting my Colorado on the past few weeks. It is a long-deferred dream finally activated through the logistical and spiritual support of Ms. Sonia Begonia. Denver is brimming with galleries and public enthusiasm for art. There are fifteen galleries just in our Santa Fe neighborhood and many more in other art districts around the city: http://www.denver.org/galleryguide. First Friday here is a very festive, folksy affair, far wilder and on a grander scale than First Friday in Washington, DC. And the Denver Art Museum (DAM) has a dynamite collection of strong contemporary painters, plenty of American chestnuts, and a thrilling show of Nick Cave's latest productions.


The View West (oil on canvas, 11" X 14")

The landscape is BIG and HIGH, like Vermont on steroids and hallucinogens. Scorching heat, wildfires, and the constant threat of rattlesnakes make plain-aire work more punishing than I had anticipated. I've had two very close encounters with rattlesnakes already, not to mention two other encounters that were less death-defying. Really shoulda gotten bit the second encounter when I didn't see him till after I'd stepped over him (literally) and Sonia cried out. I couldn't see the first one. He was in the shrubbery next to the trail (next to my left foot) at a switchback. He rattled his eerie rattle and I crept away, moaning and whimpering like a four-year-old. Coulda-shoulda got bit both times, really. Getting my nerve up to get paintings started in pre-dawn light, but breakfast at Wimbledon has become irresistible. And our balcony (from which The View West was painted) is shaded and snake-free. That's Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans (tallest in the state) we see on the horizon.


Begonia Afloat (oil on canvas, 22" X 28")


Wild Ride (oil on linen, 16" X 20")


Dome and Pines (oil on linen, 20" X 16")


Painter's perch across the canyon from the Dome


Begonia just below the summit of Mt. Bierstadt


Painter on lead, North Table Mountain

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Adirondack Sojourn

I arrived to Keene Valley for Memorial Day weekend and to celebrate my mother's birthday. Various paintings from last summer greeted me in various states of incompletion or unsatisfactory completion. Filled with fresh mountain spirits, I knew just what to do and in a flurry of inspiration during a stretch of rainy days I repainted one after another, mostly heightening contrasts of values and hues and outlining forms to lend heft and a more sculpted presence.


Pool of Yesterday's Tomorrows, 20 X 16"


Ann's Young Pine, 48 X 24"


Awaiting Irene, 12 X 24"


Batholith Ablaze, 24 X 36"


Brook Nymphs, 12 X 24"


Chapel Pond North, 16 X 20"


Northern Hourglass #1 (Chapel Pond), 24 X 36"


Northern Hourglass #2 (Chapel Pond), 40 X 60"

And these are some new incomplete projects started that week.


Harry's Watchers with Marcy, 22 X 28"


Sunblast on Chapel Pond, 16 X 12"

I am in Denver, Colorado for June and July, getting my Western spirit revived and gearing up to rock out a Begonia-based series here.

Monday, May 20, 2013

My website is now EdwardBearMiller.com

For a fuller collection of my works, go to www.EdwardBearMiller.com

Sunday, May 19, 2013

St. Simons Island in Georgia.

Relished a fine few days down at Musgrove Plantation this month. Here is the weekend's harvest.


Fearless Host, Brother Bags (20 X 16)


Big Pine by the Pond (24 X 18)



First Sunrise (12 X 24)


Second Sunrise (12 X 24)



By the Boathouse (16 X 20)