Enjoying the Ride

Treading Slowly & Using What You got

Afraid to Throw & Head Above Water

Walking on Water and Savoring the Surf

water series

I've been working on the water series..am very excited about it and the penile colony one.I'm attaching a bunch of the water series ones that I've completed. I'm looking at water as a metaphor for life.It's all about the choices that we make. Some people just give up. Others embrace it and jump right in. have more ideas than time to do them right now....

Working with a model

It's been a long time since I worked with a nude model..but I wasn't able to find and work with the type of images I wanted. I wanted more unusual perspectives (mostly extreme angles from above or below or with extreme foreshortening)so I contacted a former student,Tom Lail, who is a art professor at HVCC. He helped put me in touch with one of his steady models. Had the photo shoot about a week ago. Got most of the poses and angles I wanted, but it was hard. My model kept dancing around trying to show me the various yoga poses he was capable of.I wasn't interested in that type of pose , but he wouldn't stop. And he wouldn't stop talking.The things I was looking for wouldn't look like the stiff and artificial things he was doing and it was hard to get him to relax into the poses I wanted so they wouldn't look like he was posing. I felt like I was in a Saturday night skit and wished I had it all on video.Picture dancing,arms swinging, doing arabesques, sitting down tied up in knots.It's a good thing I manipulate all my images.

Since I started working with a palette knife..the initial stage of a painting has gotten even faster...but then it slows down drastically.
This one had the background laid in with a palette knife, then the next layer with a brush. It's gotten alittle further along than this version..but it's slow.

More nudes

This one was recently finished--at the same time as Peaches and Cream--also done with a palette knife. Nothing too special..but a journey.

Click here: H. Wesley Wheeler :: Saatchi Online - Show your art to the world

OK..this post is about just one things. Check out Wes at Saatchi. Wes is a friend of mine..his work is suggestive of Rothko , though done in a totally different manner.

More penile Colony

This is called Peaches and Cream. It's 24 x 36"...done primarily with a knife. Maybe it's just the normal newness and delight in a new work.....but it's my favorite piece ever (at least today).

It's been forever since I've updated. That's because for a two and half month period I have a life that doesn't allow for extras....like updates./Coaching, while starting the school year as a teacher does that. Coaching is over for awhile..and soon I'll upload images of all my recent work. Been focusing a lot on the Penile Colony series. Also started a new one that looks at ways we move through life and I am using water as a metaphor for life and it's challenges. the image update will clarify this...no limit to were I can go with it and it's fun. Though I don't know if I enjoy the Penile Colony series more..we'll see. My work reflects a new influence. I have a friend named Wes Wheeler..his style is very Rothko-ish...contemporary color field work. I'll put up a link to his work soon. Anyways..he paints with palette knives. I love the textures he gets with palette knives and also the smoothness they are capable of.Since I am very interested in textures and patterns it made sense to see what would happen when I included the knife work. C'est bon!!!

Bodies

It's interesting how many things bodies can be a reference for and how they can inspire so many different things. A photo of a woman pulling her hair up inspired the start of these three paintings....could do an infinite number of paintings inspired by the pose. Again...these are just started...

Bodies

Just a few of the things I've been working on.Clearly not finished..but sometimes I like them at the different stages.Bottom one is an old painting that I decided I only liked a few parts so I applied gesso over it and created textures. (Same approach I've used with most of my abstracts. An under layer of textures that flow around the surface.)

More of the Penile Colony

Just a few more of the penile colony series.


Been working on different things...obviously the impact of light is one of them. The other, although equally obvious, is about looking at something with different eyes.

Been working on my Penile Colony series this summer. Reactions have been interesting. Many of my art friend/teachers are a bit shocked or seem to think that the images are a bit risque. Everyone else seems to think that they are not over the top...but the funniest reactions are from men that I date.When a man asks what is my art like I just tell them to go to the website. The next time they see me or talk tome...well, the response among my dating field seems to be uniform:Who are your models? Those pictures are awfully detailed..how close do you have to get to do them? And somewhere alongthe way there is always some stuttering..

Detail from graphit drawing "R We Human?".one of the pieces in upcoming Tagged show.

Something about blogging dates me...the concept seems very ego-centric...but then most artists have to be that at points.This, however, is mostly meant to be an accompaniment to the website..a way of updating news, without fiddling with the main website. Upcoming shows..at this point..the next show for me is TAG-YOU"RE IT...opening the first Friday of September at UAG on Lark St. did work in graphite...used frottage as a technique for some of the bigger areas..