A walk with Seagulls

What I love about this painting is the mental walk I can take through it. The warm sun, the sounds. It all comes back to me. I took my inspiration right off Carolina Beach and brought into my studio and on my canvas. I was here at this site. I hired the seagulls with a bag of Corn Pops cereal and photographed them. I must have shot 100 photos or so. For my painting reference I used 10 images.

For this art, I wanted the paint thick, the colors abstract and broken. My biggest take away from this painting: Go thicker on the next one. Keep the layers wet.

Title: A Walk with Seagulls

Medium: Acrylic

Original Artwork Size: 20”x16

Artist: Michael Glass

Year: 2018

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Nest painting

Oil paint study of nest 2. Oil on linen. 14×11”. By Michael Glass

Own this painting today. $180.00

Old tractors meet my paint and brush

The subject matter in this oil painting are of 3 abandon John Deere tractors set on a rolling landscape of scrap farm equipment. I visited a junkyard in late January 2018 to search out ideas for landscape painting. I was blessed with 50 degree sunshine and discovery.

Title: Tractor 1, Proud Stories Size: 24”x18” Medium: Oil

I thought of all the stories that surrounding each tractor. Who were their owners? What long thoughts did the drivers have while working long days? What hands built these machines? The owners could only be fictional characters in my mind and my canvas.

Out of the endless locations to paint, I choose these three because I loved the rhythm and depth the objects offered. The main tractor sits as the dominating focal point. A tractor in the background almost sinks into the ground while it is missing the front tires. In the foreground we see just a tire and part of the engine block quickly cutting into the frame in of the lower right side of the canvas.

There is an overwhelming visual chaos to this painting. When you squint your eyes the abstract beauty blends object and land to form an amazing landscape. To me this location offered a truly challenging but rewarding opportunity to paint something new.

This painting is bittersweet.
This oil painting presents the viewer with abandon cold rusted metal sitting in an open grassy field. The machines most likely will never fire to life. Each object serves to rebuild another by harvesting scrap parts. If you focus on just those aspects, then it is a bit depressing. But it is the harmony of color and memories that makes these sculptures a thing of beauty. Stay tuned for future work in on this subject matter.

This one of a kind painting is for available for immediate sale

Nest in Tree

I painted this work back in 09. It had been tucked away in corner. I had been hiding it. At the time of completion I did not like this painting. Maybe the plan result never came to light or I just was not feeling great. Fast forward 7 years and i feel like i have never seen this painting. The image is of a nest tucked away in a tree. The overall appearance is almost this full-blown tactile abstraction of an eye level. It’s as if the is was ad design that exploded then quickly assembled itself. The only story i can see in this painting was my experimentation of dropping paint onto a surface.

Artwork Specifications
Title: Nest in Tree
Medium: Mixed
Original Artwork Size: 48”x48”
Artist: Michael Glass
Year: 2009
Painting Unavailable

Bluebird on Fence Post

When driving around Darke County in western Ohio, I often come across a quick visual treat. A bluebird zipping low over fields and grasslands of the farming community I call home. Once you learn what a bluebird looks like they are often hard to miss. My wife always reminds me that they look like grumpy old men. I think of them as dashes of cobalt blue. I live on what used to be a farm. The bank barn and tobacco barn are long gone. There are still remnants of old fence posts that were made from Catalpa trees. Any bluebird aficionado will tell you once wood posts were replaced with metal posts the birds population started to fall. Thankfully bird lovers across the United States took to building special wood birdhouse that are specifically designed for the blue grumpy birds. We still have a few of these boxes out in the 5 acre pasture.

The painting evolved from a quick sketch on a napkin. The bluebird is caught in a moment before flight. The foot on the right is lifted up and the rest of the weight will follow down. The fence post is weathered and old. The barbed wire is crudely wrapped around the post and is intentionally disproportionate. Both look painful and unforgiving. The dead wood and weathered metal contrast the colorful life of the living bird. The background is more a quick action strike of color. Is the background a landscape or rusted metal? There is a sense of volume and realism to this painting.

Art prints on paper, canvas and heck even coffee cups are available at the following LINK.
I trust these guys. They do good work. They stand by their 30 day money-back guarantee.

If you think there is a bit of gloom to this painting then I suggest hearing the bluebirds song. The jamming tune these feathered friends chatter and chirp can break the mood of any rainy cold monday morning. Zip A Dee Doo Dah

Bluebird sound: LISTEN.

Rhino in Black and White Painting

This painting is not so much about the subject, but the exploration of black and white. They are the basic colors most artist start out with when learning art. It’s good to step back. I felt the need to look at the basics: value, line and shape. I’m combining this simple limitation while still creating expressive art in my ever evolving technique. This painting feels more like a drawing.

The image is of a black rhino. While I was painting I could not help but think about the trials this endangered species faces due to man’s stupidity. These majestic creature’s home can be found in South Africa. There are roughly 200 in North America that are in captivity. The black rhino is considered small to other rhino types even though they weigh in at 4000 lbs (heavier than my Toyota Camry) . The animals are illegally hunted for their horns which mostly consist of keratin. This substance is used in traditional asian medicine and ornamental products that are found on the black market. In the 1960s there were over 70,000 black rhinos. Today it is estimated to be around 5000. I hope these wonderful animals will be able to stick around.

Are you interested in a reproduction print?

Best Rhino Song ever: https://youtu.be/3IyTipBayj8

Artwork Specifications

Title: Rhino in Black and White

Dominant Colors: Black White

Medium: Mixed

Original Artwork Size: 40”x30

Artist: Michael Glass

Year: 2016

Pheasant and Fox

This original canvas artwork by Michael Glass depicts a pheasant caught in a state of surprise by a passing fox. The fox also appears to be caught off guard, pleasantly surprised even, by the presence of the pheasant. It’s a tale as old as life itself, a creature is forced into ‘fight or flight’ in order to survive. The focal point of the painting is the bird’s head, which brings intense bright colors to the forefront. The eye of the pheasant is shown peering out at the viewer, as if pleading for help. A large portion of the painting is taken up by the bird’s frantically flapping wings, followed by its tail which wraps around the fox, continuing off of the canvas and reappearing in the extreme upper right hand corner of the landscape.

Once your gaze moves on from the pheasant, you will notice the fox subdued in the background. The placement of the fox gives extra depth to this intriguing nature scene. It appears that the fox was merely strolling through the field of tall grasses or brush until the startled pheasant jumps into action, causing the fox to turn its head back towards the commotion. By the fox’s glare, you can almost feel that, as the aggressor, the animal is instantly transitioning into fight mode – at the very moment that the pheasant is taking flight in an attempt to escape the fox’s grasp. The winning prize of this instinctive exercise is survival.

For a sense of motion and excitement, add this artwork to your living areas, game room, office, lobby, or anywhere else you could use a great conversation piece.

Artist’s Inspiration

As with all of my paintings, I began this nature art by sketching the pheasant and fox with pencil and paper. I then enlarged the drawing and penciled in the landscape on a primed canvas. From there I used a variety of techniques to apply the acrylic paint, including dropping, throwing and dragging. The foreground of the finished piece is made up of a variety of lines. This was meant to give the feeling of overgrown tall grasses and brush. The pheasant almost jumps from this ‘nest’ of grasses sending the whole composition into an explosive event. A second earlier the pheasant would have been camouflaged by the natural elements of its surroundings. Another thing I love about this painting is how the coolness of the fox’s mantel and muzzle explore the temperature of white. One question I would have for the viewer is this: Where do you see yourself in this painting? Are you the pheasant, the fox, or a nearby observer?

Artwork Specifications

Title: Pheasant and Fox

Dominant Colors: Yellow, blue, red, umber, earth tones

Medium: Mixed

Original Artwork Size: 70”x50”

Artist: Michael Glass

Year: 2016

Sketching bees,flowers and thinking of late summer

The painting starts here

This has been a mild winter. Later this week I believe we will get snow. With no hope of warm weather in the next 10 days, I smile and think of the summer that will be. My summers are mowing grass, playing soccer with my little girl, observing distant thunderstorms, drinking wine with my wife.God I love summer. Its those thoughts that fill my head when I sketch or randomly doodle. I draw and think, think, think, draw, draw then SNAP! an idea takes shape and I start to see the beginnings of a painting.
I tell myself stories when drawing. On this sketch i can see a silly hungry bee. It will be disproportionately fat to its little head. The thick overweight legs will grasp the yellow center of the white Aster. Can this old frail flower support the massive weight? How will the variations of yellow play with each other.

Monarch on Blue

Because Monarch Butterflies are among the most beautiful of all butterflies, they are considered by many to be the ‘king’ of butterflies – hence the name ‘monarch’. Much like the butterfly transitions through its various stages, from egg to caterpillar to pupa to finally an adult butterfly, this expressive painting of a gorgeous monarch butterfly on a vibrant blue field came together through a series of transitions. I had been on a roll letting the paint drop creating dots. But I missed the line. A thick or thin line falling with no hope of stopping, is immediate. A line hits and it is done. Final. The only thing I can do is lay another line over it or add dots of color.” The end result of this artistic merging of lines and dots is the stunning painting you see here.

The dark divisions within the butterfly’s wings combined with the sections filled with bright colors mimics the beauty of stained glass. Close inspection of the painting brings to mind the silkiness of the butterfly’s body and paper thin delicateness of its wings. The blue background helps the butterfly pop off of the surface. Add this artwork to any room in your home where you want to add a splash of color.

Artist’s Inspiration

I decided to paint a monarch butterfly because I have so many fond memories of them. The majority of my paintings begin with a positive idea, feeling or memory. I start by creating a series of drawings which I then recreate in several stages and pencil in on a primed canvas. Once this prep work is complete, the paint is applied using a variety of techniques by dropping, throwing or dragging it. My tools include everything from brushes, twigs and screwdrivers, to bamboo, spoons and forks.

As I was progressing through the stages of this painting, working with the thick and thin lines and dots of color, I was so worried the final product would come out looking like a wicker collectable figurine you would see at a flea market. However upon completion of the piece, that worry was gone. When I step a few feet away from this painting, I get a sense of movement – nervous energy. There is also this weird effect of the dark lines imitating stained glass framed in a fire. The complimenting cool colors make the warm colors glow. Balancing this effect, I see intense energy in the lines.