Bukowski Painting- Studio Wall

I think it is important for an artist to keep taking in ideas and images and constantly filter the information. The studio wall is like a living scrap book where you can keep ideas or inspiration for when you might need it.

This is a photo of a small portion of my studio at Bethany Lutheran College.

Bukowski Painting- The Word was with God

Detail:
Painting in progress- still wet

I was listening to a choir concert recently, and the words of the song kept repeating, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God..... I found the lyric very compelling and was wondering if I could use it to title a painting. I was tiring of the same kind of titles: Garden Path, Morning Light, Summer Garden. I think when you look at gardens so long and hear the lyric, you could think about the nature of God. I know it is John 1:1 and I am thinking about it.

Bukowski Painting- Mankato Sibley Park

Detail- the path in Sibley Park
2008 December

I finally bought a few wider brushes and let loose, at least so far.
The brushstrokes are part of the search for the rhythm of the garden. The subject is still the same, the so-called English Garden at Sibley Park. A winter version has not tempted me because it implies snow, cold, death, darkness and those themes don't interest me too much at this time. Who knows....

Bukowski Painting- Decorating the Residence

New Beds- Late Summer
2007 oil on linen

The Minnesota Governor's wife, Mary Pawlenty saw my painting in the State Fair and requested a painting of mine to hang at the Governor's residence. I worked with her assistant and came up with this painting. It is on display in the governor's residence on Summit Ave. in St. Paul. The house is nicely decorated for Christmas and I think the painting will hold it's own in the collection. I like the fact that it is of Sibley Park and Sibley is the first governor of Minnesota.

Bukowski Painting- Panoramic Garden

Panoramic Garden
November 2008
detail
oil on linen

I have finally started a larger painting using loose and large brushstrokes. With this painting, I am laying on very brushy paint and gradually sharpening the focus. It is totally fun. I think it is important to find your images, but also to realize the best size and type of mark. I am looking for "big" things in the future.

Bukowski Painting- In Progress

William Bukowski
Peak Summer-Morning
In progress 2008

It is funny what a few new brushes can do to help along a painting. This is the scene every morning
of summer in late July. I am working on the streams of light that come in in places in the painting.
The layering of the Russian Sage is very complicated and the hot spots add an interesting contrast.
This one is wet on the easel.

Bukowski Painting- Cottage Series

William Bukowski
Evening Swim
oil on canvas 1990

This is from the family collection and it is a painting done from life near Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
Paintings like this one hold a lot of nostalgia. The cottage in Rhinelander has some great sunsets
and swim after supper was a must. Mark was with us and the kids were small, but willing models.

Bukowski Painting- Cottage Series

William Bukowski
Path to the Lake
oil on canvas 1996

This is one of my favorite cottage paintings. It shows Amy on the path and Jenna in the water.
This is a small painting done from life. Many summers were spent painting at the cottage.
These family paintings were a big part of my work for quite some time. Probably the late 80s to the late 90s. This particular painting is part of my personal collection.

Bukowski Painting - The Series continues.....

William Bukowski
Afternoon Garden
oil on linen 2005

Yes, this is an older painting relatively speaking...but with my next paintings I expect to be larger, brushier, looser and more colorful. I guess we will see.....

This painting was on display at the Lutheran Brotherhood gallery at the headquarters in MInneapolis. It sold to an employee.

Bukowski Painting - In Progress

William Bukowski

Summer 2008

This is a picture of the Reformation Lutheran altarpiece in progress. It was a challenging because I had to work from multiple sources and imagination. I was looking at Delacroix and Rembrandt for those reasons. There were some time constraints so I had to keep pushing. The crowd scene in the central panel went through some changes. I began with some brown tones and tried to capture the light as if they were partly in shade. I painted the Christ figure a little larger to scale to enhance his presence.

Bukowski Painting- Dedication Service

I was in Portland, Oregon last weekend for the dedication of the altarpiece. Actually it is at Reformation Lutheran Church in Hillsboro. In this picture I am standing with Pastor Steven Brockdorf. I was thrilled to be able to meet the congregation and present an art lecture after the service. When a conservative church body commissions a work of art to enhance worship, it is something to celebrate. It is most satisfying to do a work of art that supports the Christian faith. The artwork directs the thoughts of the congregation in a way that blank walls and brick can't possibly, and in the media drenched age we are in, this is an exciting event.

Bukowski Painting- Longing to Paint

Bukowski Painting
Summer 2008

One of the problems with real life is that you can't paint all the time. There is a host of necessary distractions you need to deal with in real life. The memory of warm light and summer has to carry you for many months. Luckily, I have a good memory.

If you like Robert Hughes check out the Mona Lisa Curse on Youtube. He rips the current art scene in New York. The problem is that art is simply investment fodder and we've lost the meaning of art and more importantly- great art.

Bukowski Painting - Away from the Garden IV

William Bukowski
Sermon on the Mount, Center of the altarpiece
Reformation Lutheran Church 2008

With the central panel I was commissioned to paint the Sermon on the Mount. This was challenging because I wanted a group that may resemble the people of the congregation. The landscape is accurate based on a trip I made to the Holy Land, though it is simplified. The shade from the tree made sense to me and allowed me to break up the light as it spreads across the figures.
The Christ figure is large in stature and visually dominates the scene. I liked the agitated skies of the side panels in contrast to the calm blue skies of the center.

Bukowski Painting - Away from the Garden III

William Bukowski
Right panel, Reformation Lutheran altarpiece detail
Moses, oil on linen 2008

When I was preparing to paint this work, I wanted an intense man for Moses. He didn't have to be big and strong, but very intense. He is looking at us, confronting us with the law. The landscape is bleak and the law is severe. If we only had the law, we would have no hope of salvation. It is a reminder of our need for Jesus as our Savior. It is symmetrical to the Luther painting on the other side.

Bukowski Painting - Away from the Garden

William Bukowski
Luther, the Bible and Christ Crucified

Oil on linen, side panel altarpiece 2008

This panel shows a version of Martin Luther that incorporates the portraits of Lucas Cranach from Luther's time.
The background is the Wartburg Castle where Luther hid and translated the Bible. He is looking to Jesus for salvation and holding the well worn Holy Bible in his hands. The season is fall for the Reformation. The carved crucifix emphasizes Christ paying for our sins with his death.

This is part of a commission for Reformation Lutheran Church in Hillsboro, Oregon. Dedication is set for November 2, 2008.

Bukowski Painting - Away from the Garden

A commission I recently finished was shipped to Hillsboro, Oregon. The subject center is the Sermon on the Mount, and the sides include Moses and Martin Luther. It is painted on linen in oil. It was particularly challenging because I normally work from life and this is based on art theory and principles, memory and research.

The most important part of the altarpiece is making the Christian themes that will successfully enhance worship. In the next week it will be installed and dedicated at Reformation Lutheran Church and the congregation will be confronted with compelling images to look at during every service.

Bukowski Painting - St. Paul Art Crawl

This weekend marked this season's version of the St. Paul Art Crawl in St. Paul, Minnesota. I saw the opportunity as a chance to have an artistic presence in St. Paul besides the State Fair. The openings were at the Rossmor Building. I was assigned to a space on 4th floor with several other artists. Though everyone said the traffic was slow and with the poor economy there weren't many sales, it was still an opportunity to meet some interested people and to talk about the paintings. Most people wanted to know where the garden is? or did I make it up? How long did it take? After a while the artist next to me, Chris and I would just watch how people walked past the art or tried to avoid talking to the artist. It is always harsh to have someone walk quickly past the work.

The natural light gave the paintings a nice glow.

Now I know how the people feel that work the trade shows. After about 12 hours you just want to have a nice conversation or a little appreciation for the work on the wall.

Bukowski Painting - Sculpture in the Garden

William Bukowski

Sculpture in the Garden 2007
oil on linen 48" X 24"

I did a short series of vertical canvases and this one
shows a new sculpture the park featured last summer. I like how it refers to the ancient world and the figure.
This painting was out on approval and the audience didn't like where the water was coming from the fountain.
From my perspective, it was the way I saw it at a particular time as accurately as I could paint it. I can't help the way
other people see it.

Bukowski Painting - Earlier in the Series

William Bukowski
Second Summer in the Garden
oil on linen 30" X 40"

The summer I did this painting, I started three from basically the same spot. I moved over about a foot and started a new painting. They were all done from life and I felt like I was just really discovering what this site had to offer. I like the odd hedge of shrubs with almost rabbit ear shapes. The painting was interrupted because my Dad was sick and I drove several times in between doing the three paintings to see him. A painting like this really brings back the experience of the location and the summer.

Bukowski Painting - Looking Back in the Garden

William Bukowski
Looking Back in the Garden
Oil on linen 40" X 30"
Summer 2008 Mankato

By looking back I am referring to the fake Greek fountain. We are looking back at ancient culture and how it has filtered down to the garden at Sibley Park. I still like the sculpture and the forms add a figurative element to the gardens. This painting in real life got away from me. The garden kept obscuring the view and not necessarily fitting my visual desire. I finally abandoned it. I think it works, but it was a struggle. I like the space and the variety of brushstrokes and how it fits into the series.

Bukowski Painting - Last of summer from life.

Bukowski Painting
Path in the Light
Oil on linen 2008

I had my momentum going full tilt when summer ended and school began. This painting was the last painting I started during my summer stint at Sibley Park. I could tell that the garden was dying though and recently visiting the garden. It is more like a symbol of death, or the coming of fall. I haven't been interested in portraying that theme. I have alot of ideas for works until the summer comes again.

Bukowski Painting - Away from the Garden

Altarpiece for Reformaton Lutheran-in progress.

William Bukowski

I've decided to post a work that I have been busy with since July, for Reformation Lutheran Church in Hillsboro, Oregon. This picture shows two panels in a three panel altarpiece. Luther is on the left and the large canvas represents the Sermon on the Mount. Quite challenging since I usually work from life or experience. I have been to the site of the Sermon on the Mount, but when I was there, I didn't realize I would be doing such a painting. I have enjoyed putting these images together. The third panel depicts Moses. More to come.

Bukowski Painting - Long Live Painting!

William Bukowski

Detail: Full Sun, Full Garden

I was reading about Bonnard and on a postcard he sent his friend Henri Matisse, he wrote, "Long Live Painting".  He wrote it because when war ripped through Europe and newer styles and art forms became the rage, Bonnard was looked at as old fashioned and his image oriented paintings a quaint thing of the past.  He and Matisse corresponded and encouraged each other and bought each others artwork.

In 1930 the poet and surrealist Louis Aragon wrote," It can be stated that in the near future painting will be an anodyne amusement for young girls and old provincials."  

 I glad he was wrong.

Bukowski Painting - Evaluate the Summer

William Bukowski

Full Sun, Full Garden

oil on linen  2008

As I look back at this summer I need to figure out what I have accomplished in my paintings.  I want to realize the full color experience in the sun.  I want to loosen up the brushwork and try to find the rhythm of the growth patterns in the plants.  You can really get lost in the globs both of light and of paint.  But I think I found my way.  

Bukowski Painting - Immersion

Immersion

oil on canvas

2008

William Bukowski

This one is still wet.  I was trying to look into the sun light and capture the immersion of light, leaves, dew and flowers, that you feel standing on the path.  This process was challenging because of fleeting light and changing growth.  It was also hot.  It was painting the panic of nature that goes on or "grows on" without you.

Bukowski Painting- Garden Still the Thing?

William Bukowski

oil on linen        30" X 40"

New Beds in Early Summer

bukowskipainting@yahoo.com

Some of my students and friends ask if I am still going to do the garden paintings or if I am still working on the Sibley Park series?  The series has been very rewarding for me these past four years.  The image keeps changing, the real garden is new every year.  This particular image is from last summer and the new beds were just growing.  This same spot this summer, was entirely different.  I have enjoyed going to the park to paint in the summer and working on the imagery in the winter.  Painting based on memory and a digital library forces me to think in a different way, but the paintings don't suffer.  I want to continue to improve, to feel nature and sense light and grow as an artist.  The park still does it.

Bukowski Painting- Minnesota State Fair

William Bukowski

Mattina nel Giardino

oil on linen    2008

I entered the State Fair in St. Paul this summer with this painting.  I was a little disappointed with the show in general.  There was a lot of realism, but much of it was a kind of academic realism from the 19th century American school.  The problem with it is that is seems to be based on "rules" and "how to"  it doesn't really have a place for individualism or accidents or invention.  There was also a lot of brown tones and dull color.  It didn't suit me.

I titled my painting in Italian just for the fun of it. I hope it is translated correctly.  I think is says morning in the garden.  By the time summer ended, this scene didn't exist anymore.  The flowers became gigantic and were overrun with stuff.  I was happy with the painting.

Watch for the St. Paul Art Crawl in October.

Bukowski Painting- Garden Path

William Bukowski

oil on linen      2008

Shadows on the Path

Certain paintings fall together faster and easier than others.  This was the last painting I started of the summer.  It isn't the last one I finished, but the last one I started.  Some outgrew me before I had finished on location.  I like the motif of the path because it literally takes you  into the painting and can sure metaphorically as a life.  At a certain point you go into the painting, but you can take an obscured right or a clear left.  Both are uncertain, but you will take one or the other.  You can linger with the light and flowers in the middle but at some point you have to keep going.  There is more to see if you go to the right and more flowers and a path through the trees....more light, more color, more brushstrokes....

Bukowski Painting- End of Summer

The garden is dying and school starts on Monday.

  It is sad to see summer end.  The garden is still on the crest of full bloom but starting to loose the blossoms.  The Sibley Park Garden is the best it has been in the four years that I have been painting it.  The variety and fullness and care has been outstanding.  I can't wait for 345 days until it is at it's peak again, so I have to consider the digital "sketches" I've taken as subject matter.  It does evoke the memory of the garden.  It is a poor substitute for standing in the sun on a random August morning racing with the rising sun to catch the effects of light on the greenery.  The sun always wins the race, but it is really fun to be in the running.

Bukowski Painting- Painting from LIfe II

So painting from life is an iffy proposition.  When you go out and take a deep breath and look out at the world, something has to move you.  You need to find the right combination of light and form that means something to you that you want to convey to someone else.  At first you are aware of factory smell, truck noise, bugs and heat.   hmmm....when does the inspiration kick in?   and then it hits you-

Is that inspiration or the sun in my eyes?

Bukowski Painting- Painting from LIfe

Does it really matter to "paint from life"?  It is kind of an archaic activity from a pre-technological age.  The romantic idea of the painter going out with the palette on his/her thumb and a straw hat and doing a Van Gogh or Monet.....

why?  what is the point?

It only matters in that it is a way for the artist to connect with light and space.  It is a way to convert feeling into brushstrokes and try to evoke the experience of seeing or being- right now, right here.

But, it isn't for everyone.  I wouldn't try it if I were you.  Stay in the studio, make stuff up, play with ideas and forms....leave the out side to the old fashioned and out of touch.  

Bukowski Painting- The Mural Progresses

Dutler's mural is really coming along.  It is my largest painting that I didn't paint.  Malia and Laura have done a great job of recreating my Sibley Park motif on cement block in direct sunlight.  

The space has been turned into an outdoor bar area and is still "in progress".  After spending so much time at the real park, the giant painting looks very inviting.  After a while, you don't notice the cement block lines.

The painting can be seen from 169 as you come into Mankato from the north.  You can stop in, see the mural and bowl a line.

Bukowski Painting- Panic painting!

The garden is dying, the light is changing and I have meetings all day long!  I am approaching the final days of painting of the summer.  I still have next week, but it is clearly the end.   It has been productive, but it all goes too fast.  The best garden painting was only for about 10 days in the beginning of August.  It is hard not to panic and try to go too fast.  I did document the best 10 days in a series of digital images that may inspire a larger more complex series.  But nothing beats standing outside in the park.

Bukowski Painting- A Rough Start

William Bukowski

Sibley Park

30" X 40"

Oil on Linen

So far I've decided to call this one "a rough start" at least so far.....  I am looking into a full garden with flowers changing and growing every day.  The light changes in minutes, it is hot with the sun shining right in my face.  It is extremely challenging.  Sometimes it is very annoying when this kind of painting is written off as out-dated and old fashioned.  The process is very alive.  It is not as easy as the end results would suggest.

I do feel privileged to be standing in a park staring at little brushstrokes blowing in the breeze. Sometimes the hardest thing is to be patient and let the painting paint itself.

Bukowski Painting- Hitting Your Stride

William Bukowski

Full Sun, Full Garden

2008     oil on linen

Finally the garden is peaking and I feel like I am hitting my stride with painting from life this summer.  My ideas have outstripped my canvas and paint supply.  Hopefully this will fuel some large works this fall.  The painting depicted is not finished, but so far I am happy with the quality of light and brushstrokes.  I think the next painting should be in the shade.  At least the heat and sun keep most of the bugs away.

Bukowski Painting- Beginning and End

William Bukowski

Summer at Sibley Park

oil on linen

30" X 40"

Painting in the garden in the morning has been hot, but it has provided me with some great images and the conditions have been nearly perfect.  I finally finished a summer painting from life, and I started another this morning.  So here they are:  beginning and end.   I really like the beginning and with this painting I am hoping to keep it looser and bolder.  With the end,  you can see my typical finished Sibley Park painting.   Eventually I'll be somewhere in between these paintings.

Bukowski Painting- One Fine Day!

Fresh Start

Today was one of those days.  I started a new painting around 10:30 am and when I quit at 12:00 I had this painting.  Of course it isn't done, but it is a great start.  The flowers are finally in.  

It was one of those days the brush worked like you think it will and the paint went on easy.  I didn't quite cover the canvas, but what fun!  If everyday could go so easy and natural....

Bukowski Painting- Finally, it's summer!

The summer is finally here.  Erik made his pilgrimage to Sibley Park for his annual painting trip.  It was hot and the flowers are still a little behind, but it is like going into another century.  After ipods, imacs, high speed internet, and the virtual world, it is really refreshing to stand in the hot sun and listen to birds and fountains.  You see real light, feel real heat, real bugs and smell real oil paint.  The effort it takes to perceive the world sometimes feels like a lost art or at least a unique experience.  Everything is from secondary source.

Bukowski Painting- New Face at Sibley

Finally, summer is here and I managed to get to Sibley Park to see the new face of the gardens.  Each year it seems to progress with more complicated groupings and old favorites departed.

This is my 4th summer standing in the garden.

The weather has been reasonable, the bugs tolerable and all is well in Mankato.  My hope is to do some smaller paintings from life in hopes of enlarging the subjects at the studio.  It's all paint on canvas.

Bukowski Painting- or not painting?

Sibley Mural -Summer 2008

Bukowski design

When Ruth called and said she wanted a mural on the side of the Dutler Bowling Alley Building, the wheels started turning. Maybe I could design the mural and lend one of my signature images without really painting it. Two of my best painters had recently graduated from Bethany and were available to work on the project. So Malia and Laura are painting up a storm on an exterior wall for a new outdoor facility in Mankato, Minnesota.

Bukowski Painting- Another Brushstoke Bouquet

William Bukowski

oil on linen

18" X 24"

Brushstroke Bouquet

This is a smaller work that has some of the key ingredients of my current imagery.  It has the natural light of summer, it has full blooming gardens and it has a nice vocabulary of brushstrokes.  I have be patient for the real garden to bloom but the weather in Mankato has been horrible and I think the full summer bloom may be a little late this year.

Bukowski Painting- Threesome

Bukowski Painting

3 vertical paintings of Sibley

 4' X 2'  oil on linen

Much of the spring was spent working these 3 paintings into a consistent experience of light and color.  I like the vertical format and putting all three together creates an interesting effect.  I am looking forward getting outside again.  The garden is still a compelling image for me and don't feel that I have exhausted it yet.

Bukowski Painting- In Progress.....

William Bukowski

Large Russian Sage

in progress   oil on linen

2008

In this painting I am trying to capture a fleeting moment at Sibley Park.  The light of 8:30 in the morning as it moves over a flower hedge with a large Russian Sage in the foreground.  This painting is 6' tall and about 3' wide.  This same effect has occupied my last 3 out of 5 paintings.  It is extremely complex but the challenge is the excitement.  I suppose the danger is the repetition of so many greens.  The foreground needs alot of work but it is coming along.

Bukowski Painting- Studio Wall

This is a view of a studio I have at Bethany Lutheran College.  I am waiting for spring to erupt and in the meantime, I am pushing the scale of the garden paintings.  The larger work is currently in progress.  It used to be a horizontal painting, but it wasn't going anywhere.  I flipped it upright and brought in the motif of the Russian Sage in the foreground that is in many of my recent paintings.  I like the sweeping space in the foreground and the pure paint.   The stack to the right are some of last summer's efforts.  The scale allows more play with color and build up with paint.