Images

At Stella's

12 x 9 inches, oil paint on panel                                          Copyright 2012, John A. Brecht, All Rights Reservd

I was taken with the light and simplicity at this location.

Magic Garden Prelim

10 x 8 inches, charcoal and turpentine                              Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This is the under-drawing of the painting below.  By itself, I enjoy the drawing.

Magic Garden

10 x 8 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                           Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Less than a mile from where we stay in Rhode Island every year, there is a curious piece of property that has a maze of crisscrossing paths, seemingly leading nowhere.  Just through a small break in the bramble of ragosa rose that line the shore opens up into this network of trails.  Every year I return to discretely explore.  This year I did this painting of what I like to call the magic garden.

Red Clay Road

10 x 8 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                            Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Backlight

8 x 8 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                                        Copyright, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Painted at Little Compton, Rhode Island facing west in afternoon light.

Forsythia

8 x 8 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                              Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

A forsythia bush at Little Compton, RI.  A singular, very large plant that played with the light all day.

West on Old Bull Lane

8 x 8 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                                Copyright 2011 John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Facing west along Old Bull Lane at Little Compton, RI.  In the distance is the mouth of the Sakonnet River at the Atlantic Ocean.  The recent hurricane had defoliated many trees along the coast.  

Study for At Wally's

5.5 x 8.5 inches, graphite on paper                                    Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Little Compton, RI

At Wally's

8 X 10 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                          Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Little Compton, RI

Montmorenci Field b

9 x 7 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                              Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Field at West Road and Montmorenci Road near Aiken, SC.

Montmorenci Field

7 X 9 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                             Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Winter Field

8 x 8 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                               copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This painting was done on January 30, 2011 in a newly-harvested cotton field.  In South Carolina there are scrub trees often found on the edge of fields (I wish I knew the name of the tree).  When all else is in various winter shades, these evergreen trees stand out with their green leathery leaves in low, golden winter light.

Morning on Florence Street

10 x 8 inches, oil paint on primed Somerset paper          Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Vaucluse Pond

9 x 7 inches.  Oil paint on canvas panel                               Copyright 2011, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Gesture: Figure, Leg

24 x 18 inches, graphite on paper                                       Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

 

Gesture: Figure

24 x 18 inches, compressed charcoal on paper                Copyright, 2010, John A. Brecht, al rights reserved

I very much enjoy the quality and variety of mark in this drawing.  

Gesture: Back and Arm

24x18 inches, graphite on paper                                        Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

While not always anatomically correct, the gesture is what it's about -- also the mark.

Gesture: Dawn

24x18 inches, graphite on paper                                        Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

 

Gesture: Leaning Forward

24 x 18 inches, graphite on paper                                       Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

From the point of the graphite stick to it's side, this drawing utilizes a nice variety of marks. Here, the model was going through a battery of thirty-second poses.  She leaned forward with her left arm over her head.  Even though you don't see the arm, the gesture suggests it.  The other marks, I believe, are from the previous pose that I drew on top of.  Sometimes I don't bother changing the page.  In rapidly changing drawing situations, I occasionally feel it takes too much time to finish my thought on one pose, rip the paper off the pad and set for the next pose when I am essentially racing with the model.  I really like newsprint paper to draw on.  It has a tooth that takes graphite and especially conte nicely and is a pleasant off-white.  Unfortunately, it is unstable and deteriorates quickly as seen here by the yellowing around the edges. 

Gesture: Back

24x18 inches, graphite on paper                                          Copyright 2010, john A. Brecht, all rights reserved

The gesture drawing is a quick study completed in a very short period of time.  This drawing was executed in under 30 seconds.  Often, artists use such rapid-fire drawings as a way to warm up at the beginning of a session.  The technique is also helpful in situations where one needs to capture the essence of a scene in a short period of time or where there is movement or a constantly changing scene.  Gesture drawings lack the detail that is in more finished drawings.  Drawing in this manner also cultivates hand-eye co-ordination, which is important when working from life.  Those are the nuts-and-bolts explanations.  The beauty of these drawings is the energy they posses, the purity and diversity of mark, and the ability to convey a great deal of information very efficiently.  It is the life and energy in the mark that I find most beautiful and magical.  To me that is what drawing is about.

Variation on Chafee Lane

12 x 8 inches, pastel on paper              Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This is a pastel study of my painting, "On Chafee Lane."  I did three versions.  With each variation the key elements became more evident.  The drawing guided me.

Reclining Figure with Hand

 24 X 18 inches, graphite on paper                                                        Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

I enjoy this drawing.  The placement on the page is fun.  But what I like the most is her hand.  The abbreviated marks define it nicely.  For me, it is the magic corner of the piece.

At the Yonce Farm

9.75 x 8.25 inches, pastel on paper                                                       Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, All rights reserved 

This drawing was done using monochromatic pastel on grey Bogus Paper.  It was done from a painting. The three trees are a compelling group, drawing me back to this location repeatedly.  They are emphasized here in a distilled fashion, largely from being drawn from a painting.

On Chafee Lane

10 x 8 inches, oil on canvas panel                                                         Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

I painted this in May while standing near my driveway, looking west, down my street.  I have always enjoyed this vantage and have studied it frequently.  I completed this in one day.  However, I was not totally satisfied and after stewing on it for a few days, I was able to articulate just what it needed.  It didn't take much to complete.  Returning to a location on a different day can reveal new things.  Deliberating on a piece can have its rewards.

From Silverbluff

8 X 10 inches, oil on paper                                                                    Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

I completed this paint on this day.  Much of it was executed using a palette knife and Dorland's Wax Medium -- both being fairly new to me.  I painted on Somerset paper that was primed with acrylic medium.  

On the Curve

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas panel                                                           Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

Just when you think you can't paint anymore, you are reminded that all is not lost.  Early this Spring I was trying to work through some challenges that presented themselves in my work.  These challenges were troublesome and disheartening.  It was a rainy afternoon.  I was sitting under the open rear door of my station wagon to keep dry.  This scene is on a curve of a road I walk the dog on.  It is very nondescript but I find it interesting.  I would often stop and take a moment to look, not knowing what it was that attracted me.  On this day I thought I would respond to what held my interest.  I came away with a fun and successful study.  Personal creative dynamics are interesting to ponder.  What drives growth?  Perhaps it is successfully suspending one's expectations, allowing for truly honest mark making.  Or maybe the spirits that be guide one's heart and hand.  I prefer the latter explanation. 

Grey Day on Farm

6 x 8 inches, oil on canvas panel                                                          Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This is another small canvas.  It was painted in March of 2010 on a grey blustery day.  Spring was in its initial stages of emerging.  Trees that grow along pasture fence lines are very interesting.  I have noticed that I gravitate to them in my paintings.  Is it that they are cut periodically by the farmer only to grow back deformed?  Or are they not cut by virtue of being along a fence row only to be nibbled on by cows?  On this day an angry bull didn't like me being nearby.  I tried ignoring him while he snorted and huffed at me as I walked by.  A flimsy little fence supported by these little fence posts was the only thing between him and me -- rather unsettling.  He eventually moved on with his herd and I returned to paint this tree.

Field on Toolbeck Road

6 x 8 inches, oil on canvas panel                                                           Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

This is a recent painting from April, 2010.  It is small, 6 inches by 8 inches.  It is about the smallest size I am comfortable painting on.  I originally planned to knock out some quick studies using the smaller panels.  Oddly, I spent about the same amount of time on this smaller panel as I did on the size I typically work in.  However, what it did was to effectively increase the size of my brushes, forcing me to simplify.  I am beginning to use a palette knife more frequently, which is a lot of fun. 

House Near Corner

8 x 8 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                                                   Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht All rights reserved

This was painted from my front porch of a house that is about a half block away.  I enjoy the contrast of shapes -- hard edge versus amorphous, which is kind of a compositional no-brainer.

Near Hammond's Ferry

12 x 9 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                                    Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This was painted in January, 2010.  It was a warm day, not unusual for January in South Carolina.  This time of year it is all about the sky -- candy blue through the lacework of bare trees.  This was looking up a path not far from the Savannah River.  It had rained the night before.  I made a pile leaves to carpet where I was standing in order to stay out of the mud.  

Hitchcock Woods

9 x 12 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                                   Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, All rights reserved

This is another summer-time painting of Hitchcock Woods at Aiken, SC.  This depicts one of many trails that run throughout the woods.  I paint there more frequently in the summer to avoid the intense sun and heat of the season.  I have resisted posting this painting because I have a love-hate relationship with it.  There are aspects to it that I really like.  The light works.  The pinky, purplish Carolina Longleaf Pine trees read well.  The quality of the marks is appealing.  What I don't like is the saturated color, though I was experimenting with that at the time,  and the very tame composition.  But then that is what I think.  Others may feel differently and that is O.K.  That is, after all, the magic of art.

 

Back of Hand

 24 x 18 inches, graphite on paper                                                       Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

A study of the back of a hand as the model rested his head on his fist.

Nicole's Back

 24 x 18 inches, graphite on paper                                                        Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

I have always liked this drawing.  I am sharing it for the first time, here.  I enjoy the spacial aspects of it and its abstract qualities.  I particularly like the suggested arm in the foreground.  

On Cathedral Aisle

9 x 12 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                                   copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This painting was executed last June on what I recall to be the hottest day of the summer.  I was on Cathedral Aisle in Hitchcock Woods at Aiken, SC.  It was late morning and it seemed that I had the entire woods to myself.  No horses or hikers were traversing this long straight trail through the woods.  I found a spot in the shade and painted.

 
 

Knee Study

24 x 18 inches, graphite on paper                                                           copyright 2009,John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

A study of the knees and foreshortening. 

Anna

24 x 18 inches, charcoal on paper                                                         copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

A quick ten-minute sketch.  The model, Anna, has some very pronounced features, a long body with a long neck and a very angular, long nose.  She is regal in stature.  This drawing is a fun, quick study.  It is good to throw caution to the wind at times.  Occasionally it is good for what ails you.

Nicole, Head

24 x 18 inches, graphite on paper                                                           copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

It is interesting to know someone visually.

Landscape at 72mph

6 x 24 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                               copyright 2010, John A, Brecht, all rights reserved

This is another landscape based on rolling by at 72 miles per hour.  While my body is restricted to my car and the road ahead of me, my mind is beyond yonder hill.

Crosswalk Secondary

6 x 24 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                                copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

Variation on Crosswalk.

Crosswalk Primaries

6 x 24 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                              copyright 2010, John A. brecht, all rights reserved 

Crosswalk

6 x 24 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                              Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This is inspired by a pedestrian crosswalk near where I park my car at work.  Still very much a landscape.

81 at 72a

6 x 24 inches, graphite and ol-paint stick on paper                               Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

This is inspired by views from a speeding car traveling over a constantly changing landscape.

81 at 72b

6 x 24 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                             Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

The common visual elements at 72 miles per hour, as seen from one's side window are horizontal.

Eight West Eighth

5.5 x 21 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                           Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, All rights reserved

This is a view from four stories above 8 West Eighth Street, in New York City, looking directly down.  It is abstract in nature and is inspired by a panoramic photograph taken with my cellular telephone.  I find it interesting how the 3 dimensional perspective becomes distorted because the 3 separate angles this image is comprised of (up the street, straight down and down the street) are combined on one flat plane.  The media used, soft pencil and oil stick, is fun to work with.

Trees on Washington Square

5.5 x 7 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                              Copyright 2010, John A. Brecht, all right reserved 

This drawing was done the same day as "Judson Memorial Church," below.  It is an abstraction of trees.  I was standing near the corner of Washington Square North and MacDougal Street, at the entrance to Washington Square, facing south (at the virtual center of the Beat universe some fifty-plus years earlier, Ferlinghetti and Ginsburg hung out a block away at 8th and MacDougal, Bob Dylan stayed at what was then the Hotel Earle on Waverly Place in 1961,  just over my shoulder.  Funny thing is I didn't know that when I was there).  These trees were lined up along MacDougal Street.  It was a nice September day in New York City.

Judson Memorial Church

5.5 x 7 inches, graphite and oil-paint stick on paper                                                     Copyright 2010, all rights reserved 

This drawing is of Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South in New York City.  My vantage was just inside Washington Square at Thompson Street.   I was looking over trees and power lines at the tower and the facade of the church across the street. 

"Power lines," those words evoke a pleasing concept. 

Private Collection

Field in Little Compton

9 x 12 inches, oil paint on canvas panel                                                Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

The light works in this painting. 

Tropical Depression No. 7

10 x 12 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                                 Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

I painted this when Tropical Depression #7 was blowing through.  I love wind.

Winter Sky

7 x 9 inches, oil paint on paper                                                               copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

On this outing the sky presented itself as a nice study.  It was a heavy winter afternoon sky with a hint of clearing in the distance.  I always work quickly when painting the sky from life.  It is in a state of constant change.  I try to capture my first impression, before the sky changes too much.  There is no time for noodling and obsessing over detail, something I avoid at all costs anyway.  I enjoy the abstract quality of this piece.  This was painted on gelatin-sized water color paper.

Corner

7 x 12 inches, charcoal and pastel on paper                                               copyright 2009, John Brecht, all rights reserved 

My friend, Art Lien, says these are very different from my other work.  He is right.  They aren't as unrestricted, but they do posses a strong abstract component that I very much appreciate.