Monday, January 25, 2010

Tierra de Quixote part 1


Introducing part 1 of an oil triptych I recently completed, and which I'm very excited about. Tierra de Quixote in Spanish is "Land of Quixote." The colors remind me of La Mancha.

Each canvas is 20" x 20". For those of you who were following when I discussed how I paint in layers, this was three or four layers.

Triptych is sold.



Little sun worshipers. (Note third cat in pic, black Cleo, top left, getting her tail played with.) They lie on the dog beds (intimidating the dogs, who are afraid to bother them), and then later they stink.

Rumi is in quite an obnoxious phase. At least I hope it's a phase, and not a permanent thing... He gets up on top of any surface (table, counter, etc.), and systematically and deliberately knocks every item off onto the floor, one at a time, with a pause of about two seconds between each item. I've of course had cats do this before, but not to this extent. He is seriously out of control.



More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

12 comments:

Casey Klahn said...

Excellent texture and the color is heart rending yellow. Beautiful, Jala.

I look forward to the others.

Jala Pfaff said...

Casey - First one to comment on this, you are! I always value your comments, you Colorist, you. :)

SiLa said...

Hi Jala ... love your daily artworks :)

Brian McGurgan said...

This is gorgeous, Jala - I like the subtle color and the texture. Looking forward to seeing the other two - this will make for a beautiful, strong submission. I'd wish you luck but none is needed with this work.

My wife asked to see your cats so we took a look at your blog together the other night. She finds photos of them snuggling together unbearably cute...

Casey Klahn said...

I always go ga ga over yellow well rendered. There was a watercolorist out of the SW who did adobe houses in all yellow motifs at Bellevue, once.

Diane Townsend was focused on her yellows when I met her, and she really has made the best ones. Yellow is hard to make, and hard to work with, too.

Way to grab the bull by the horns!

Jala Pfaff said...

SiLa - Thank you! I really like your cowboy abstract too.

Hi Brian M - Thank you! I hope I get accepted to Open Studios, but from what I hear from other artists here, acceptance seems quite random...
So funny and fun to picture you and your wife snuggled up together...to view snuggled-up cat photos. :)

Hi Casey - Thanks for your additional comment. I love yellow but agree it can be very challenging. I don't know WHY that is, but artists all seem to agree. White is also very hard - perhaps it's due, then, to the very high value?
When you said D.T. "made the best ones," do you mean pastel sticks, or paintings?

suzanneberry said...

Beautiful job as usual. I absolutely love this. Can't wait to see them all together. Best of luck. You are a shoo-in.

Anonymous said...

Love the handling of values of yellow which is almost contradictory since making yellow darker changes it to something else. But you've skillfully kept it's character.
This is a beauty Jala.

Abstraction seems to suit your expression.

So have you punished Rumi by breaking him? His Royal Perpindicularness is clearly exhausted from swatting. These shots are killer.
PS- My cats also sleep on the giant round dog beds and have now relegated the dogs to OUR bed.
Pecking order as seen by felines.

Anonymous said...

Love the handling of values of yellow which is almost contradictory since making yellow darker changes it to something else. But you've skillfully kept it's character.
This is a beauty Jala.

Abstraction seems to suit your expression.

So have you punished Rumi by breaking him? His Royal Perpindicularness is clearly exhausted from swatting. These shots are killer.
PS- My cats also sleep on the giant round dog beds and have now relegated the dogs to OUR bed.
Pecking order as seen by felines.

Vicki Shuck said...

Jala, your sense of design and color is really something. These paintings are so exciting!

loriann signori said...

This is gorgeous Jala. Your choice of limiting the color to a small selection of golden hues, yet layered with that wonderful scratching, makes a statement of grandeur and peace.Very Rothko in a way, don't you think? Beautiful.

Patrice said...

Yellow is not a color to trifle with - so I'm content to have you work it. (I'm afraid of yellow!)

These are wonderful - and the pics of the kittehs are magical.