Images

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.

Kitchen Floor 2

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

This drawing and the one below, I often consider as a diptych, or two drawings mounted together as a unit. They are really 2 individual pieces.  Thoughts?

Kitchen Floor 1

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

A kitchen floor landscape.

River

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

This was painted last Spring near Asheville, NC along the Swannanoa River.  The river is a narrow, fast flowing stream.  It was April and the trees in the mountains were just starting to leave.  The nights were brisk and the days were warm.  

private collection

Mountain Meadow, Spring

4.5 x 6.75 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                             Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This small sketch was done last spring near Asheville, NC.  The trees were just beginning to leaf out.  I am drawn to distant hillside meadows.  They all appear to be peaceful, quiet places.  I am sure it is more an ideal than a reality.

Private Collection

Dune at Goose Wing

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

This painting is of the dune behind Goose Wing Beach at the Atlantic Ocean at Little Compton, Rhode Island.  I painted this while standing in a warm October sun with the waves breaking behind me -- a rather nice serenade as I worked.  The structure is an old boat house.  

Untitled Figure

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

I like the solidity in this figure, especially the forward arm and thigh.  Much is said with very little.  There is a nice variety of line.

Back

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

Drawing is fun.  Drawing is a struggle.  I like the left leg and the line on the right side, together.  They are the most efficient parts of the drawing.

Private Collection

Untitled

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

Nicole

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

Rachel in a Wig

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

Field in Vauclus

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

Painted on the Yonce farm at Vaucluse, SC.  This painting was executed quickly primarily because it was a sky study and skies move. There is never a sky painted from life that is not a fabrication of the painters memory or imagination.

Private collection

6B Taylors Lane

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

The house next door to my wife's family house at Little Compton, RI., peaking over the hedge.

My painting rig.  I was using a very limited palette at the time.
 
 

Back Yard

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

It really doesn't matter where one paints.  I stepped out into my own back yard and did a study of the southeast corner of my house. There is something about a house, or other large object peaking over the top of a barrier, usually a hedge, that I have sympathy for. It was while painting this that I was attacked by a swarm of Yellow Jackets.  Yellow Jackets are small wasps that nest in the ground and are sensitive to vibration.  They have the ability to sting more than once.  When one stings, it emits a pheromone that triggers the swarm to attack.  It is best to run as far away and as fast as one can when hit.  By the time I was a safe distance away I was stung 8 times.  However, what I discovered later was most interesting and curious.  I could not retrieve my paints for an hour or so.  A swarm of hundreds of Yellow Jackets were attacking my painting rig.  After I safely collected my paints, near dusk. I noticed that my turpentine jar was full of the wasps.  I counted well over 200 of them, drowned.  I wonder if turpentine is similar to their pheromones, thereby triggering the attack and causing hundreds of them to drown themselves.  Or did it confuse them causing them to dive bomb into my brush-cleaning solution?

Sassafras Trees, 1972

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

No, I am not trotting out my old work.  The photograph of this painting was sent to me by my sister.  She noticed a similarity in my older landscapes with what I am doing now.  I have not seen this piece in years.  It is from the summer of 1972 -- I savour the memories of that summer.  This was painted in the back yard of my parents' house of a stand of sassafras trees.  I am amazed at the similarity of my marks then with now.  I don't believe that is an indication of a lack of growth.  Heaven knows I have worked in a wide range of techniques and media and have experienced many things through my work.  I do believe one's work exists in a cycle of recurrent themes.  This work attests to the possibility that marks and treatment of medium are as cyclical or as constant as a signature.  My palette here is a little less reckless as the still life below, but still very similar to more recent paintings, some 37 years later.

Still Life, circa 1972

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

My sister sent me this photograph of an early painting of mine.  We were discussing color and mark.  I have not seen this painting in a long time and find my palette of 1972 very similar to the palette of my more saturated works today.  My marks are equally similar.  When I painted this, I was using color for color's sake and rather reckless.  On the other hand, it has a freshness and honesty that I very much appreciate.

In Hopelands Garden

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

Painted in July while standing in the shade of a Magnolia tee.  I like the light in this one.  

Tea Cottage Path

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

Tell me what you think.  I think the color in this painting is on the saturated side but it still works.  On the other hand, I was painting this in Hitchcock Woods (in Aiken, SC.), a shady environment, and the sun coming down through the opening in the trees overhead really made the sandy soil of the riding trail and the leaves and pine straw on either side pop.  This summer I was playing with color.  It is evident here.  I had some new additions to my palette as well as flake white.  I was really wanting to change from my five-color palette and expand it.  I must admit that the heat and intense sun of the South Carolina summer forced me to head into the woods where I found respite from old sol.  However, I really hate painting in the woods.  The only thing of visual interest, to me, ends up being a path.  Don't get me wrong, paths have great archetypal significance, and they are very common and useful visual elements, but in this particular wood they all look alike -- you paint one you have painted them all. 

Rachel

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

Seated Figure

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

Nicole

15 x 22 inches, graphite and pastel on paper                                        Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This drawing was done on Reeves BFK paper, a very soft paper.  I like the less finished portions of this drawing the best, especially the model's left hand and forearm.  The lines present in those areas are direct and suggest the form nicely.  Less is more.

At Montmorenci

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

This painting was done on a very hot and hazy day in a field near Montmorenci, SC.  I have painted in and around this field many times.  There is nothing special about it.  It is a cotton field that was fallow this year.  One of the most challenging aspects to painting on location is finding something to paint.  Nothing is more frustrating than going out only to return  with a blank panel and failing light because I could not find a location that held enough interest for me.  When I do find a location that yields some productive scenes, I return there many times.  This location offers a number of views and access to neighboring fields.  It also has convenient parking (really) just off the road, in the field.  In SC the secondary roads are not known for their wide and flat berms, so parking is an issue.  If anyone wants to bust me for trespassing, they will soon know I am there by my car.  If I am left alone then I can concentrate on my painting and not the potential irritated farmer.  It was in this field that I was once approached by an armed farm worker.  I was also given "Carte Blanche" to roam at will by another.  When in doubt, I subscribe to the adage: It is easier to beg forgiveness than to obtain permission.

Autumn Trees

8 x 9.5 inches, oil paint on gelatin sized paper                                     Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved  

Autumn and winter in South Carolina is a great time to paint.  Temperatures are tolerable.  The air is clear.  The colors are very subtle and diverse. 

Untitled

24 x 18 inches, charcoal pencil and white pastel on paper                   Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Untitled

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

I love drawing.

Private Collection

Untitled

24 x 18 inches, charcoal pencil on paper                                                  Copyright 2009, John Brecht, all rights reserved

This head was drawn using charcoal pencils on grey bogus paper.  Bogus paper is an inexpensive paper that is on the pulpy side and has a nice tooth,  The grey shade is nice as well.  I first used it in high-school art class where there was an abundance of it (thanks Mrs. Bingham).  I bought some not long ago to try again.

Sunset Trees

10 x 8 inches, oil paint on paper                                                            Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This study was inspired by a sunset on Carolina Longleaf Pine trees.  The bark of these trees contain a lot of reds and oranges.  When the red light of  sunset illuminates them, they can really glow.  This was done on gesso-sized Somerset paper.

Mead Avenue I

8.75 x 6.875 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                        Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

On this day I packed up my paints on my custom made Art Lien bicycle and peddled about town (my dear friend, Art Lien makes bicycles and he generously gave one each to Anne and me).  I came across this scene on Mead Avenue in Aiken, SC.  In this part of town, the city streets remain unpaved so as to be horse friendly.  This painting really grew on me.  In fact, I slightly regretted selling it at my recent exhibition, but then the person that bought it liked it too.  I like the very loose application of paint and the portions of the charcoal underdrawing showing through.  The 2 parallel lines running up the right side is a telephone pole I omitted.  It adds an interesting and abstract component to the piece.

Wendell Mathews collection 

Sunset on Route 25

10 x 8 inches, oil paint on paper                                                                Copyright 2009, John Brecht, all rights reserved 

This in just one of a few studies I have done from a photograph.  I have a camera with me where ever I go.  Whether it is recording a scene for its photographic merits or just making a visual note, I find the camera a useful tool to carry with me at all times.  The advent of digital photography makes  this a much more convenient and immediate practice.  I was traveling up Route 25 in South Carolina one evening.  The light on the trees was interesting and I grabbed the camera in the seat next to me snapped this note.  This was painted on Somerset paper that was primed with gesso.  I also use acrylic medium or Knox gelatin to prime the paper, the latter being my favorite.

Pasture, Little Compton

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

This is a sketch that was executed while looking south across a pasture along Old Bull Lane at Little Compton, RI.

Mary Ashley Stephenson Collection

Empty Lot on Greenville Street

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

I often pass this space while walking the dog.  It is a very unremarkable lot.  However there is something I find attractive about it.  So much so, I set my painting rig up on the sidewalk and painted the back corner. Again, it is the distant space, the one hinted at on the other side of the trees that I find the most compelling.  It is far from being an open expanse but the same qualities of the the space beyond still exists.  If you look at many of my paintings, the distant horizon, the distant space is quietly celebrated.

Field Near Vaucluse

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

This is another quick study executed at the Yonce farm in Vaucluse, SC.  Having been raised on Lake Michigan, the horizon and distant vistas have a very deep and meaningful significance in my sensibilities.  There is nothing more conceptually stimulating than the unbroken horizon line between sky and earth.  It is the visual common denominator. While painting open vistas such as above, my mind wonders and then constructs imaginary spaces that are in and amongst and beyond the trees and distant tree lines.  I am painting, but at the same time formulating these imaginary groves and meadows.  I have the most fun when laying in the background.  It often amounts to nothing more than a brush stroke or 2 but it hints to that magical conceptual space of the beyond.

Sachuest Point

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

This was done on the same day as "On Taylors Lane."  It is of the mouth of the Sakonnet River and the Atlantic Ocean looking across to Sachuest Point at Newport, RI.  I was on the rocky beach at the foot of Tayors lane at Little Compton, RI.  I had a little bit of paint left on my palette to use.  I don't do these studies to mop up my palette because I am frugal.  It is usually because I don't want to stop painting and the limited amount of pigment on my palette gives me a challenge to see what I can create with limited supplies.  A heavy-wieght watercolor paper is good to paint on.  I have primed them with gelatin, which creates a wonderful surface and acrylic medium, which is probably better but not as velvety to paint on.

Douglas and Kristen Yock Collection

On Taylors Lane

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

This was painted on a grey, stormy October day at Little Compton, RI.  This is looking south toward the ocean as thick clouds rolled by.  This grey-day light is a different painting situation than one is normally used to.  It is flat and cool, lending no obvious contrasts to capitalize on, other than the line between earth and sky.

Tree Near a Carolina Bay

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

Carolina Bays are elliptical land-form depression that are scattered across the Southeast, concentrating in South Carolina and Georgia. They vary in size but have the same directional orientation.  They are unique wetlands with a broad bio diversity.  It is not known how they were formed but evidence points to an ancient meteorite shower.  One of these Carolina Bays exist in Aiken, SC. proper.  It is about the size of a football field.  There is a path that surrounds this bay that was created from years of pedestrian wear.  One day while sniffing out something to paint I ran across this scene.  Something about it appealed to me.  What's more there was a tree behind me to shade me from the summer sun.  I started using Flake White (lead white) around the time of this painting.  It is less chalky than Titanium White but does not have the tinting strength.  I like it though I am experimenting with a Flake/Titanium White mix.

Hillside Path

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

This painting was done in the spring at Asheville, NC.  It was my first time in that area and my first time painting in the mountains. The regional colors are different from the Mid-lands of South Carolina.  There was a spring-time green "tint" everywhere.  As an artist I put a premium on a well placed, efficient mark, especially in drawing.  What I like best about this piece are the blue marks slashed in at the top of the hill.  I like how these mere slashes of color suggest or define the trees and hill top.

Near Vaucluse

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

This was painted at the Yonce farm looking across a pasture at a tree line along Rebel Road.

Tree Study

9 x 11.5 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                              Copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved 

This is another example of a winter painting.  It is a very quick and loose sketch.  This piece is one that has grown on me. Sometimes I will put a painting away, doubting its merit, and return to it later to discover its inherent strengths.  That is why I always try to suspend my expectations when I paint -- a task easier said than done. 

Pasture Trees

10 x 11.5 inches, oil paint on panel                                                        copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

Painted on the Yonce farm near Vaucluse, SC.  It is close to where Rebel Road crosses I-20.  It is one of the few locations that I have standing permission to go anywhere on the property to paint.  Aside from the fire ant mounds and cow manure piles and keeping an eye out for the territorial bull, the only other distraction is having to talk with farmer Yonce who is known to drive across a field in his truck to come chew the fat.

Winter Tree

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

Winter is my favorite time to paint, at least in South Carolina.  The colors are much more varied and interesting with more reds and purples coming to the front.  The temperatures can be cold but as long as I keep my core warm I don't mind it at all. The only draw back is that the days are short and I lose my light relatively early.  Cold fresh air and a runny nose, life is good.  This was painted at the Yonce farm near Springfield Church Road and SC Route 191.

The Joaquin and Karin Godoy Collection

On Old Bull Lane

 

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

This was painted in mid October at Little Compton, Rhode Island.  It is at the mouth of the Sakonnet River and the Atlantic Ocean. When I began it was a windy day with dark-bottom clouds blowing through.  Not only was the light changing by the minute, the most challenging and aggravating aspect of location painting,  the wind velocity increased to the point that I could not keep my painting rig upright.  I returned the next day at about the same time to complete it.  The light was constant and the wind had diminished.  I was able to successfully build on the under-painting I completed the previous day.  Truth be told, the sky is from day 1 and the rest of the light is from day 2.  They work well together.

The Charles and Nancy Dunn Collection.

Vaucluse Pond

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

Vaucluse is a former mill town not far from my home.  This is of the pond that was created when they dammed the stream that went through town.  I painted this on a hot day in August.  By this time of year I am used to the heat. 

Near Plum Branch

 

7 x 11 inches, oil paint on wood panel                                                    copyright 2009, John A. Brecht, all rights reserved

This painting is one of my favorites. It is of a portion of Clarks Hill Lake near Plum Branch, SC.    It was completed at the end of a day of painting using what colors I had left on my palette.  I had a scrap panel with me and some pigments I didn't want to waste.  It happened quickly.