The Landscape of Painting

So Zoe says to me “What you lookin’ at?”

Stephen Springer Davis — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:15:19 +0000

My cat, Zoe, died at age ten a few years ago . She was resolutely inscrutable, happy to spend her days and nights under our bed, with the occasional break to get her hair brushed. She chose the people who’d she would let enter her world very carefully, and very few were lucky enough. It’s not that she’d attack anyone she didn’t like, but rather that she’d ignore everyone she didn’t know. If we had guests over, while our other cats would come right out to say hi, Zoe might wait till just as the guests were leaving to come out and say goodbye.

Zoe | Stephen Springer Davis | 2012

That’s just the way she rolled, and I wanted to memorialize her in a painting.

Back to Acadia National Park

Stephen Springer Davis — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:10:51 +0000

For the first time in a of couple years I had the opportunity to do some painting at Acadia National Park in August. Here’s a painting from what were several really beautiful days there. In the past the weather has been cool and foggy, so it was great to visit when the sun was actually blazing.

Nice Day in Acadia | Stephen Springer Davis | 2011

The South of France is as Beautiful as You’ve Been Told (cont.)

Stephen Springer Davis — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:08:08 +0000

The dominant colors of summer in the South of France are purple-ish and orange-ish, courtesy of lavender and poppies. I can’t think of fields of plants in America that could compete for powerful color. I feel privileged to have been there.

Added to the extreme color of poppies and lavenders is the fact that everything in France is beautiful. The French seem not to suffer with the American impulse to replace amazing ancient—okay, in America, somewhat old— buildings with some modern crap designed by contractors, not architects. The French are happy to put beautiful modern furniture inside a building which actually is ancient. Or to put a modern, architect-designed structure next to buildings in a medieval town. But there seems no wholesale destruction of the really old in the name of modernity.

And through it all the farmers continue to grow poppies and lavender, for which I am very grateful.

The South of France Is as Beautiful as You’ve Been Told

Stephen Springer Davis — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:25:26 +0000

We had the good fortune this summer to go to the south of France. English friends who moved to the small town of Ales seven years ago invited us to stay in their guest house. Not having to pay for hotels for most of our stay in France was a big help, of course, but that fact enabled us to be more than tourists. We got to see how people like us live in a foreign country. Plus, our friends were very generous with their time, and were happy to be our tour guides.

Where they live is on the edge of Provence, which makes their lives much less hassled. Ever since the publication of A Year in Provence, Provence has been over-run with visitors. Although our trips took us through Provence, enjoying the incomparable beauty of the landscape, for the most part we were only occasionally in the swell of tourists. I’m happy to say that because we speak French pretty well, we were never taken for Americans. One time we were asked if we were Polish or Swedish.

Work vs. Art

Stephen Springer Davis — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:40:08 +0000

Hello to the few and the brave who actually visit this site. As is probably true for most people, working to make money is a necessity. And within the working world it’s a rare artist who enjoys making a living by making art. I’m in that boat.

Thankfully, I’ve had a great 6 or 8 months of work designing sets for a TV show and creating 3D models and an animated fly-through of a school in Japan which my brother the architect is designing. This work, as well as new projects looming will keep me busy for the foreseeable future, so painting is way on the back burner. The good thing is that when I have real world work to do, it’s creative and pays pretty well, which is better than what most people could say about their jobs.

Swans in London | Stephen Springer Davis | 2010

It may be a while before I have a chance to do any artwork, but when I do, I’ll post examples here. Meanwhile, the painting above was done from sketches and photos I took last summer when we were in London. The lake is downtown, not far from the the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was near the end of the day, with low light over my shoulder and black clouds ahead, setting off these three swans glowing in the waning sun.

Cheers for now.

To the Beach

Stephen Springer Davis — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:44:01 +0000

In July we went to the beach in Seaside Park, New Jersey. This town, which is ironically a dry town, is right next door to Seaside Heights, which is the home to the notorious TV show Jersey Shore. We have liked Seaside Park for years, because although it’s pretty and quiet, the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, with its frozen custard, cheese fries and deep-fried Oreos, is only a five minute walk.

This boardwalk is quite the scene. Teenagers proudly wear “I’m a Guido. Love me.” and “I’m a Guidette” t-shirts. There’s an arcade game where you can shoot paint balls at a heavily padded guy wearing an over-sized so-called Guido head while he wiggles from side to side. But the weirdest was a “game” where you could shoot BB’s at life-sized manikins, about 8 of them rotating on lazy susans, holding plates. If you break a plate you win a prize. But what was truly scary were who the manikins were: Saddam Hussein, Michael Jackson, Louis Armstrong, and, wait for it…President Obama. Is this legal? Did I mention that Seaside Heights, at least on the boardwalk, is a terrifying place?

To the Beach Stephen Springer Davis 2010

But I digress. Not far south of Seaside Park is Island Beach State Park, which is a whole other world. This park is serenity. Seldom do you see people, because no one owns land in this section of the island. You park, pay a fee and head to a pristine duney beach. It’s lovely. This is a painting of an entrance to the beach through the dunes. It’s the Jersey shore, but not Jersey Shore, for sure.

A Sunny Foggy Day in Maine

Stephen Springer Davis — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:15:13 +0000

Fog Rolling In | Stephen Springer Davis | 2010

It was one of those August days in Maine when it actually was hot, as opposed to Colorado-like. Very refreshing to be overlooking the ocean on such a day, when it was in the upper eighties. I’m guessing that the water was about fifty. The result was that despite the sun fog started to accumulate over the ocean. As I painted, my right arm was warm and the left chilly.

Looking Down on Camden, Maine

Stephen Springer Davis — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:39:23 +0000

Looking Down on Camden | Stephen Springer Davis | 2010

Camden has to be one of the prettiest towns in Maine. It’s right on the water and has a beautiful harbor surrounded by lovely, nicely kept homes. Nice parks, an enviable library that probably has multiple copies of The Preppy Handbook. Some might say the town leans to the hoity-toity, and I’d be inclined to agree. Let’s just say that I did this painting of the town from the distance that for me was the most comfortable.

Beachcombers in Belfast, Maine

Stephen Springer Davis — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:05:30 +0000

Beachcombers in Belfast, Maine | Stephen Springer Davis | 2010

I like to find a beach scene where there’s a lot of beach and plants in the foreground, and the ocean fairly far away. This spot accommodated me because the tide went way out. When the tide was in here, people who wanted to wander by the ocean had no choice but to wander by the ocean, because there was really no beach, just rocks.

Danni Dawson

Stephen Springer Davis — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:22:58 +0000

I still have had a bunch of bill-paying projects that have kept me from do any paintings, so I thought I’d highlight another painter. Back when I was a struggling musician, as opposed to struggling artist, my musical partner and I befriended a Washington, DC master’s degree in painting candidate, Danni Dawson. She happened to be a dedicated fan of music, and sought out musicians to be her models. I vaguely remember that she met and painted Kris Kristofferson on his first tour. And a Canadian singer, Tony Kosinec, among many others. When she asked us to model for her, we were happy to oblige, and here is that painting. I’m the pensive one on the right.

Portrait of Owenroe | Danni Dawson | 1971

Not surprisingly, Danni has gone on to great things, as you can see at her website. You should take a look at her beautiful portraits, as well as her luminous still lifes. I haven’t seen Danni since the early 70′s, I hope she won’t mind that I’ve captured one of her paintings here:

Lucia Henderson | Danni Dawson