Bukowski Painting- 3 Piece Painting

William Bukowski
3 Piece Garden

oil on linen (in progress) 2009

This is a 3 part painting that I am preparing for a show at the APW Gallery. It is a foot in the door type show in Queens.
I answered an email invitation. The artists are allowed 5 pieces in the show. So I have 2 more to go. I think this threesome works pretty well. Charis is going to help me out since there is a pretty good chance I won't get to see the show. The gallery plan is to pack it floor to ceiling. Look for 5 little sections of Sibley Park.

Bukowski Painting- Larger Sibley

William Bukowski
oil on linen 2006
Large -Sibley Path

The is one of the larger garden paintings besides the Pathstone Living Commission. I expect that to change in the near future. I had been busy this fall with the altarpiece for Reformation Lutheran in Portland. The large scale gives you more possibilities with the brushstrokes and paint. At times I am tempted to add figures or a narrative. I will start with big.....

Bukowski Painting- Reviewing the past...

William Bukowski
Artist's Tabletop 2001
36" X 48"
oil on linen

This is a painting that summarized what I had been working on for many years. It is my tabletop motif with as much clutter and symbolic objects as I could fit on a table. It was part of a series of red still lifes that were based on the colors of Roman frescos. It was really challenging to concentrate on so many objects and make them fit in a readable space. I put the still lifes on hold while I worked on the garden series and haven't looked back yet.

Bukowski Painting- The follow up....

William Bukowski
Strawberries 2004
oil on linen

This is the follow up to-things that make you want to paint. I have always felt that this kind of still life will always inspire me to pick up a brush. It is influenced by a Manet still life from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is all about the energy of the brush as it recreates the surface of a berry.

Bukowski Painting- Makes you paint....

William Bukowski
oil on linen

Melons 2004

There are certain things that bring out the painter in me. In my youth, I was influenced by Manet and some of the great brushstroke painters. I have always liked working from life and simple still lifes by Chardin, Manet, Morandi, and some of the Dutch artists urge you to paint, they beg you to paint and finally they make you paint. In real life, a bowl of strawberries can make you paint any day, and of course how about a few slices of melon?

This painting was in my show at Bethany Lutheran College, called "50 at 50" in 2004.

Bukowski Painting- First of the Series

William Bukowski
oil on linen 30" X 40"

Backyard Garden 2004

Every day when I drove past this yard I thought it would make an interesting painting. It was on my way to work so I drove past it several times a day. Finally I stopped the car and asked the people who lived there if I could stand in the road and paint their backyard. So I painted this from life and was surprised how many times the lady who did the gardening moved potted plants to regulate the amount of sun. After doing this backyard garden I went looking for more gardens to paint and came across the Sibley Park garden and have been there ever since.

Bukowski Painting- Past (Still)Lives

William Bukowski
Still LIfe with Captain America
48" X 36"
oil on linen 2002

This is a look at the kind of painting that I enjoyed producing for years. The still life is made up of personal references and things that I wanted to paint. The background included a photo/poster of Monet's garden at Giverny, a panel of wood from my child hood bedroom that was painted by cousin Pete and a postcard of PIero's Risen Christ. The Captain America figure painted on the panel, was one of my favorite characters from Marvel Comics when I was a kid, drawn by my favorite artist of the time- Jack Kirby.

I have always tried to develop a vocabulary of paint to describe objects and create textures and space. One day in 2004, I stopped painting still lifes, no real reason, the garden became the subject and I haven't stopped yet.

Bukowski Painting- Souvenir

WIlliam Bukowski
Mont Sainte Victoire 1987
oil on canvas approx. 12" X 16"

I was looking back to a little souvenir from one of my sabbaticals. This is a painting I did on the roof of a elementary school in Aix en Provence. It was 1987 and I was traveling with my cousin Pete. As we are both big Cezanne fans, a stop in Aix was a must. We were also traveling with canvas and paint. The woman who gave us permission to paint on their rooftop had one condition, that it didn't take more than a month. A month! we had one day.....There were some German art students already on the rooftop but they were painting out of a John Rewald art book on Cezanne. The actual Cezanne mountain was right there in front of them. It was a challenging afternoon.

Bukowski Painting- Ylvisaker Invitational

William Bukowski
Birdbath (detail)
watercolor on paper-30" X 22"

I have been doing some watercolor lately preparing for a show at Bethany Lutheran College. We are
bringing about 25 artists together for a drawing show called the Ylvisaker Invitational.
I decided to add watercolor to a pencil drawing.
The motif is the same I have been painting for the past four years, the fountain at Sibley Park. I added the bird from a study
for the large Pathstone commission. I eventually didn't put the bird in the big work, but here it is....

Looking back- to the cottage.

Path to the Lake
oil on canvas
1996

For many years, my theme was the Goetzke cottage in northern Wisconsin. The cottage was a symbol of a family gathering place, a safe place and a place of leisure. In this classic, Amy is on the path to the lake and Jenna is upset in the water in the inner tube because she is not center stage. The kids were relatively willing models and for a while they kept track of who had posed for the most paintings. I still own this painting and I think it holds a lot of memories for my family.

I could have sold it but I reached a point where I didn't have too many left, and it was worth more than money.

Bukowski Painting- Happy New Year!

A new year begins and it is time to get busy.
This is actually two paintings pinched together. I am using a little bit broader brush keeping it simple. It measures 40" X 60" with both canvases together. It gives me a little more scale with easier portability.

The new year reminds me of how much we have to be thankful for, and what is ahead. I expect to paint up a storm, work larger, looser and keep developing the image of the garden. Years pass and it is important to keep growing as an artist.