Jaw-Dropper

"Play, Paint, Pointe" © 2014 J Travis Duncan

When my wife and I prayed about me moving into the realm of art, we knew that whatever opportunities arose, I would need to be diligent in taking advantage of any and all of them. When a few friends, Nicole B. and Sarah H., as well as my wife Candace, saw the Applaud the Artist cover contest for the local newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle, they were very quick to encourage me to submit an entry. I didn't have any reason not to, but I had many reasons to give it a shot. Seriously, here I am, just starting out, and it never hurts to try even if you don't hit the target the first go round. So, I decided to start thinking about what I would paint and in what medium.

Being that the subject was Arts in Augusta, I knew that I could paint many things. The arts community here in the Augusta area is quite robust and is constantly expanding. It is definitely a wonderful time to be an artist or just someone who enjoys the arts. Being someone who loves to play music and paint, I knew two of the elements that I wanted to incorporate into the painting. Though my musical skills have been limited to the piano (which I have practically forgotten everything I learned many years ago) and the guitar, I felt that the Augusta Symphony needed a nice nod. That is why I decided to incorporate a cello into the painting. The cello is one of my favorite stringed instruments because I simply love the sounds that a skilled musician can coax out of it with just a bow. Yet this was only the first element that I wanted to use when deciding the composition.

The second was a set of pointe shoes. Why? Well, ballet is quite a beautiful art to watch. It's usually quite colorful and the dances are usually set to classical music, which reminded me again of symphonies. At this point (not pointe), I just had to have those pointe shoes in honor of the Augusta Ballet. There is an elegance to the dancers and the dance itself. Just like music, there is a lovely composition to be found in each performance.

The third, and final, element was a paintbrush. Considering that I am a painter and that the piece was of the visual type, I felt that the brush would be the perfect element to wrap up the piece. Augusta's Artist Row is a highlight for those who love paintings, sculptures, etc. For those who picked up Thursday's edition of The Augusta Chronicle, you might have read the interview they had with me about the piece. I truly love the arts and I see a beautiful cohesiveness when you bring them all about. Each one, in my own experience, has inspired the other. I paint to music. I get ideas to paint from seeing performances. The arts work together and are unified. In order to show this, I had the brush playing the cello while painting a ribbon of one of the pointe shoes. Finally, one of the ribbons is becoming a f-hole (sound hole) on the cello.

That's a very brief explanation of how I decided on the composition for "Play, Paint, Pointe". I would encourage everyone to head downtown and experience the many aspects of the arts that are in Augusta. We have a wonderful community that works together who would be thrilled to have each of you take part in or just enjoy what they have been working on.

As for "Play, Paint, Pointe", it was the winning entry in the 3rd Annual Applaud the Artist cover contest. To say that my jaw dropped when I heard the news would be lightly stating my reaction. It is still surreal to me. It has also taught me a great lesson: work diligently, keep pursuing all opportunities, and above all, trust God with the outcome, no matter if it is the one you desired or not. To see the article of the piece and a brief interview with me, click here.

The Art of J Travis Duncan

Sketchy

Bass (Continuous Line) © 2014 J Travis Duncan

Before I ever held a paintbrush in my hands, graphite and ink were the only mediums that I ever used. As a little kid around 7 or 8 years old, I remember seeing drawings that some of the older elementary school children had created. I was completely blown away by how detailed the pencil drawings were. It was something that piqued and interest in me. I know I've been drawing longer than I can remember, but I do remember making it a focus. Later as I progressed through school, everyone had to cover their books with brown paper bags and tape. Some of you are old enough to not only remember the book covers but when grocery stores carried paper bags instead of the thin plastic that breaks due to overloading. Sorry, a pet peeve slipped out. Memories of the amazing art on these homemade book covers are still fresh in my head. From logos of famous brands, bands, cartoon characters, and cable networks (think MTV logo), it was always exciting to me to see what each student had done with their canvas. All-in-all, almost everyone had become an artist of some sort.

As for myself, I had maintained a regimen of sketching for years. With in the past few years, I had let that constant disappear from my life. Now that my little boy is about to be 4 years old, he has had me drawing all kinds of amazing things. We started to create a little board game and he wanted cards to add to it like Sorry! or Monopoly have for certain places on the board. I drew a litany of fruits and vegetables, plant life, animal life, and items that little boys would love to play with. When coloring these items in with a crayon I longed for watercolors. With watercolors, one usually creates a sketch before adding washes. So, I started on watercolors.

From watercolors to acrylic paintings, I have tried to do various styles. But I had still forsaken my first artistic love: sketching. Armed with graphite pencils and ink pens of various sizes, I decided to start back on sketching. I try to do 1 or 2 pieces daily. It's a great habit that is relaxing and helps me to think about the layout of future artwork. I maintain a lot of my sketches on Instagram (@jtravisduncan for those who want to follow me). However, I want to post some to this page as well.

I might start a separate page on this blog in order to share them without bombarding this front page. I hope that each of you enjoy them. If you have any comments, share them with me. I'm pretty thick-skinned and I truly accept constructive criticism with open arms. One can only get better as they continue to practice and listen to sound advice. Now go find a paper bag, wrap a book, and grab a Sharpie and colored markers. Everyone's an artist!

The Art of J Travis Duncan

Misty Appalachia

"Misty Appalachia" © 2014 J. Travis Duncan

I had posted previously about trying to paint daily, or at least 5 times a week until I reached a total of 30 paintings. The key word was "try". None of us truly know what the next day brings, much less the next hour. Life outside of painting has had a slight of a shocker for me and my family; my father had a heart attack, was eventually released from the hospital, and then had to go back when his kidney (he's a transplant recipient) wouldn't function properly. Thankfully, he is back home, but he seems worse off now than before he went in for the second stay at the hospital. Now, I'm not looking for pity. However, I will gladly accept prayer for my family. I thank you in advance for those prayers.

Getting back into my groove, I haven't had time to procrastinate. Slowly, but surely, I am starting to get some commissioned work. This is a major answer to prayer. One of the pieces needed to be completely soon in order to be shipped off to Florida. It is a palette knife acrylic painting on a 16x20 canvas panel. My client wanted a painting of the Appalachian Mountains, which I believe are some of the most beautiful examples of God's creation. I figured I would create a misty morning with some pale purple and blue mountains in the background with rolling foothills covered in beautiful autumn colored trees in the foreground. I had a lot of fun with this piece. It is very loose, but I feel that it represented the subject matter in a great way. I'm looking forward to this getting to its destination.

The Art of J Travis Duncan

Do You See What I See?

I base most of my artwork off of photographs. Other times, I use what's in my head to produce something on the canvas or paper. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the photographs are my own. The remaining 1% are mainly those from friends (Ryon Collins and Leigh Ann Pratt I'm looking at you both). My eyes are constantly looking at the world through an artist's eye. This has caused a heightened awareness of all things that are around me. I count this as a blessing.

Our daily routines are numbing. We wake, get ready, eat our breakfast, and we go out into the world. Usually, we just reverse the previous steps in order to end the day in bed asleep, prepared to repeat the cycle. Typing this fact simply bores me. Have we become so caught up in the routine that we have forgotten to live?

"Turtle" (sketch) - © 2014 J Travis Duncan

We've been blessed with these amazing things called senses. There's always the case of those who are born without some senses, others lose some as they progress through life, and sadly, some of us take the ones we have for granted and never use them. It really is a shame that some of the greatest gifts we have are never opened and used.

When is the last time you went outside and just quietly observed your surroundings? What does the sky look like today? Which direction is the wind coming from? Did you see the butterfly and dragonfly chasing one another around the tall grass? Did you smell the rain before it made its way to your location? Who knew that the petals on this Gerber Daisy felt so silky? How'd the summer fruit you just bought from a local grower taste? Was it sweeter than that in the store? Was it's color more vibrant? Each of these are just a few questions that beg for more awareness in life.

Every single one of us have been blessed with some gift or gifts. Each of those things brings us to a heightened awareness of some aspect of life. For myself, art has allowed me to see the lines and patterns on a turtle's shell, the way colors in nature complement one another, and an abundance of other astonishing details that I might have otherwise overlooked or ignored. For those without an artist's eye, think about your own gift and how it has heightened a sense, or senses, in you. Whatever you do, don't squander the gift you've been given!

The Art of J Travis Duncan

Unstable, Yet Contained

"Sunflowers" by Vincent van Gogh

Most recently, I've been trying to give some background information on my artwork. I know I've seen a lot of artists "let the art speak for itself", but I don't want to be just a face that uses various tools to create artwork that needs to be deciphered. However, I do think that there is something intrinsic to letting a work speak differently to each person. Looking inside, I know that I am more inclined to have a stronger reaction to different subject matter than flowers, a still life, or landscape. However, there is an exception when such subjects are painted or illustrated in a style outside of realism. It's just what I tend to favor, with some exceptions.

"Sunflower" by Georgia O'Keeffe

Before anyone starts thinking that I hate realism, know that I'm not saying that it leaves me numb, but rather the emotional response I have is short-lived, limited, and not very concentrated. A good example of this is when I look at two paintings by two well-known artists; "Sunflowers" by van Gogh and "Sunflower" by Georgia O'Keeffe.

Neither painting is leaning heavy towards realism, but are somewhat close to it. Both use the same subject, yet the differing styles and colors spark a tiny flicker inside of me. To me, they are wonderful paintings that deserve recognition, but it would be easy to turn to the next page if they were in an art magazine. I could be an anomaly, but I doubt it. On the other hand, there are others that could wax all day about each piece.

"Sunflowers" by Ginette Callaway

I've written about styles before. I am constantly looking at the art of others. It is not because I want to see what I am competing against, but I love to see how each has their own style(s). Though there are art competitions, I don't believe that's a fair word for a show that is judged subjectively. However, can one truly judge artwork objectively? It is not a race, which has a defined winner based on where they completed the event. If I were to choose one of the three sunflower paintings, I would not deliberate for even a brief moment. Ginette Callaway would take the prize based on the style she used to paint the subject.

The abstract way in which Callaway paints sunflowers is electrifying. I can just picture the physical motion in which she applied the watercolors and ink to produce this painting, whereas with van Gogh and O'Keeffe's works, I imagine they were sitting down in a quiet room with steady hands and calm spirits. Also, the colors that are used affects me as well. O'Keeffe and van Gogh use different color palettes. O'Keeffe paints an early morning or late afternoon sunflower growing in the sun, separate from any other flower or growth. Van Gogh's sunflowers have been clipped and sits in a vase to be enjoyed inside with less intense light.  Both are very static. Yet, Callaway does things a bit differently. She opts to use a more varied color palette and does not show any fear in using any of them. In her painting, the sunflowers are growing outside in the wild and the sun has illuminated the sky and clouds in red and yellow tones. The whole painting seems full of motion and unstable, but contained like a wild horse that has been corralled.

Think of a subject. Find a few pieces of that subject that vary. I would enjoy seeing how different each of us view art, express art, and are stirred up by art.

Self-Implosion or Ignition

"Lift Off Into The Black" © 2014 J. Travis Duncan

When painting semi-abstract art, one tries to give enough visual information in order to make the subject recognizable, yet somewhat sensational enough to warrant the word "abstract" in the moniker "semi-abstract". It definitely is a balancing act that requires a deft touch and a deep mode of concentration. Semi-abstract can be a lot of fun, very frustrating, or an amalgam of both for the artist.

For "Lift Off Into The Black", it was my mood that helped me visualize what type of painting I wanted to create. It was Saturday, my family was with me, and they were having a good time playing in a pool while I was off to the side with a makeshift easel ready to "sling paint". I was happy and filled with an air of excitement. My iPod was playing Anberlin's "Godspeed", which is a really driving song about drugs being the downfall of many rock n' roll artists through the years. You know, the common tale of self-implosion. That's a road I never want to go down, but each of us are quite capable of self-imploding with the help of other means besides drugs. The opposite of self-implosion would be self-explosion. However, I would rather think of the explosion as an ignition. This is where the thought of what subject I would paint began.

The Space Shuttle program has been a really exciting time for not only the United States, but the rest of the world. Just take a look at all the accomplishments that have been made by the program. I can remember watching the different shuttles launching from Cape Canaveral and the thrill of seeing a man-made vessel heading into space. The preparations of each launch wasn't something that happened overnight, but took time. There was a constant reevaluation to make sure that things were moving in the correct direction in order to assure a successful mission. Does this not sound very similar to the Christian life?

As a Christian, we should constantly scrutinize our lives. Everything we do should be tested. Isn't it our mission to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as our self? If something is broken or missing, this is impossible. If my relationship with Jesus is broken or missing, the mission is in vain. Just as the space shuttle needs ignition to break from it's platform, we also need ignition to move and act Christ-minded. Where do we Christians get this horizontal lift? Philippians 2:13 states, "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." The Creator of the universe works in us. What more could one ask for?

So, though the painting "Lift Off Into The Black" is a semi-abstract of a Space Shuttle night launch, it is a visual reminder to me that Christ is continually preparing His people to be Heaven bound. All systems are being checked and those things that are missing or broken are being added or fixed. One day, the countdown will happen. We will have lift off. What a ride that will be!

The Art of J. Travis Duncan

In-Flight Refueling

"In-Flight Refueling" © 2014 J. Travis Duncan

Nobody is perfect. We've heard it time and again and, if we are honest with ourselves, we will agree that this is true about ourselves. Since there is only One who wouldn't be painted with this statement, and I am definitely not He, I will give an example of what an artist can do if he/she messes up on an acrylic painting.

"Indian Leaf Butterfly on Butterfly Bush" © 2014 J. Travis Duncan

I decided to paint an Indian-Leaf Butterfly on a Butterfly Bush the other day. Things were turning out quite well, in my opinion. Yet as I progressed, I became more and more dissatisfied with the production. I'm not sure if it was the thickness of the paint or that I didn't quite enjoy the color composition. Either way, let's just say that I felt it was a disaster. Either you clean up a disaster or you find a way to destroy the wreck. I opted for a clean up.

The thick acrylics were not yet quite dry. This allowed me to grab one of my palette knifes and begin to scrape horizontal and diagonal lines in the painting itself. I was careful to only remove paint and not to damage the canvas panel. I also wanted it to be more abstract and made sure that the lines were not straight but quickly removed. 

The second round consisted of changing some of the colors and laying down bigger swaths of those colors in the background. Once I was satisfied with this step, I had to take some time to stare and study the painting because I would need a new subject. It was like an epiphany; a ruby-throated hummingbird it would be. Finally, it needed a name. "In-Flight Refueling" fit perfectly.

The Art of J. Travis Duncan