Last week I was fortunate enough to have Chris Cran in to see my show and have a one on one with him a couple of days later at the gallery. I have always listened to Chris. He is a great painter and has a very good eye. It is hard to find someone that you can trust while looking at your work. With Chris I feel I have that. We walked around looking at the new series and I listened while we went from one painting to the next. This series is so new to me. I have felt each of the paintings but I have not seen them. Or not all of them. If that makes any sense? I remember when I was young and John Walker was in my studio and I had a painting which I thought was half done. John looked at it and said it is finished. I was floored. Finished? How could I stop working on this painting which was only half done. He then said to me, leave the painting for a week. Don't touch it. If after a week it does not look finished, paint on it.
I never touched that painting again. He later said to me that it was a felt situation and that I had not seen it yet. I learned a lot from that. What is great about working like this is that you are always looking. Always searching. Always finding.

Back with Chris, I was overwhelmed by his kindness and complements. One I will never forget was him describing a painting as f**king killer!
Painting is a quiet and lonely life. You spend so much of your time away from the public eye. So to put yourself out there and have someone like Chris praising my work like he did gives me the pat on the back that makes it easy to go back in to the studio.
Thank you Chris for a wonderful visit

A new little painting now up in Jennifer Kostuik Gallery Vancouver. 

Opening is done. A great turn out and wonderful support. Thank you to all who dropped in.

It is always interesting to talk to people and see what they bring to the paintings. With this being a brand new series never seen before I was very pleased with all the very positive responses. I look forward to talking more about the work and meeting with people over the next few weeks.

One of my latest paintings. In the gallery awaiting the opening!

Oil Enamel, Earth and Rust on multiple Birch Panels

2014

Shots of the show which opens Saturday November 22

I have been very busy getting ready for my solo show at Herringer Kiss. It opens Saturday and it is now up and looks fantastic. A huge thanks to Deborah, her staff and her husband Joseph for doing an amazing job getting the gallery ready and making my work look so good. 

Curtis Cutshaw's work getting lots of attention already! Deborah Herringer Kiss.
Thursday-Art Toronto

New small painting heading to Art Toronto with Herringer Kiss Gallery

I felt it in June by accident when I decided to cut down one of my paintings. I could see a whole new series before me. I saw something that was right. Something I had been looking for. All of the sudden I could see many paintings before me. A new way of building a painting. It was exciting but still the idea was quite abstracted. Now four months later and a month before my show it is all coming together.  I must work even harder now. I can see it all before me with a clarity that is almost never had.

New Painting heading to Art Toronto. 15''x17.5'' oil on birch

I have been painting a lot in preparation for my upcoming show. It has been weighing heavily on me. I take my work very seriously and always have. Now with a totally new body of work it is even more stressful. I am excited and hope that others will be able to "see" my art. To get and understand it.
Back to the studio...

You can knock me down but I WILL get back up. I always get back up. That is a true painter. How much are you willing to do without reward of any kind? Ask yourself that.

I have been working very hard for my upcoming show in November. Here is the latest painting. It is roughly 5'x6'. I have it laying on the ground. It is made up of several 8''x10'' birch panels.

Working very hard these past few days. Two small paintings finished. The large, large one is going to be one of the biggest paintings I have ever made. No image yet. It just keeps growing and growing.

New small painting, roughly 24''x24''  oil enamel on 32 pieces of birch

New solo show just confirmed for November 22, 2014 -January 3 2015 Herringer Kiss Gallery. Thank you Deborah for the opportunity. Excited to see the new series up for the first time.

 The one thing I have always done is look.
For hours or days on end without a single brush mark. I don't even have to be in front of my painting. It is always on my mind. I am always thinking about and worrying about my next move or my next painting. Not that I plan or that I am so careful with my next step but I do think and look as the painting slows down. At the beginning there is a getting to know the painting time, where I find my way through the painting by painting. Building up and ripping down. Then there is a time where you get down to the last ten brush marks that can be very slow. Seeing when it is done. I paint them until I get them right. What is right? Well right for me has always been a place where I feel that I can leave the painting. It is never about a certain look or style. Because sometimes the best place to leave a painting is where it is uncomfortably right. A place that is not familiar but a place that allows you to move on to the next one without looking back.  



                                       
New painting in progress June 2014

Whew... tough one today. Half way through my new painting and it is a hard one that is for sure. I am working a totally different way now. Cutting small pieces and putting them together. Seeing the image come and go. Back and forth. Trying to fight my way out of the painting. A lot of fun but what a mental workout.

Painting day today. I have been thinking about my paintings so much these past few days. Getting ready to attack. Mentally preparing for the next painting. It is funny how it is some days. It is like getting ready for a marathon. Seeing as much as you can before the race begins. Thinking what will happen and how you will react. Seeing the whole finished thing before you even begin. And then once you start to paint it all goes away. And every idea you had, every feeling you had does not matter. You are painting and the painting will tell you what to do.

I had a chance to take in the Harry and Roy Kiyooka show at the Herringer Kiss Gallery today and was blown away by it. It was a real pleasure to see such an in depth well put together show of these two talented artists work. One of the best shows I have seen in quite some time. Spanning from the 1950's to the 1960's it showed the dedication and discipline that these two brothers had. Some very nice surprises. Four portraits on canvas unframed were absolutely beautiful. It was a very strong show and hung really well as to see the different styles of work without one period overwhelming the other. I would highly recommend taking it in and seeing some of Canada's best. The longer I stayed the more I saw, which is always a good sign. And it made me want to paint. Harry's small painting Anticol Corrado, Italia Anniene River Valley c. 1961 was a personal favorite. Congratulations to Deborah for putting together such an ambitious show.

Having a wonderful birthday. Feeling so loved and cared for by my family.

Drawing in Maui

In less then a week my beautiful wife and I head to Maui for our two week honeymoon. We have everything in order and are eagerly awaiting the day we leave. One thing I have always done is draw when I am away. I actually draw every day but when I am away I don't always have everything at my fingertips so I have to plan. What paper to bring, what pens, pencils, pastels etc to take with me. Where this becomes a bit of an issue for me is in planning of what paper and pens to bring I have to think about what type of drawings I am going to be making. And with that I usually pack as much art materials as I do clothing. Because nothing is worse then being somewhere and thinking omg I wish I had brought my thick led pencil, knowing it is sitting in a bin at home far, far away. I am never and have never been the type of painter who plans his work out from beginning to end. I have tried that and after about ten minutes I change the work with a reaction or something that sounded good in my head does not work out on paper. I usually try for days and days to find my drawing mood before a trip. Buying new paper and pens. I then start drawing with the new media to only find out that it is not what I am wanting to do. So I feel the pressure. Not of travelling or of forgetting that piece of clothing or thinking about things that could go wrong with the accommodations or rental car. Instead I am sitting here worrying about the drawings I will make. I am sure most people never would experience such a thing. But then again I am not most people.


I took a break just now and opened up a new sketch book that I had started last week. Within thirty seconds I found my drawing. I now feel like a weight has been lifted. I can see... not what I will draw but how I will go about it. It always has to feel right. I can not just make. I never will just make. I am not that kind of painter. So now I can go and enjoy a wonderful two weeks with the most beautiful woman in the world and my sketch book by my side.

Detail of new painting

Detail of new painting

Detail of new painting 

New painting just finished. Love the top line and how the panels don't line up. Another new one for my Vancouver gallery Jennifer Kostuik!

New painting just finished. This one is for my Vancouver gallery Jennifer Kostuik. Excited to get the new work out to her!

New painting being delivered to Herringer Kiss Gallery

Detail of the heavily worked surface of one of my new paintings. 

It has been awhile since my last post. I have been working very hard finishing four paintings. This weekend my Dowsing Rod Prints are featured with the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery in Papier Montreal from April 24-27. Very excited to be included in this wonderful show in beautiful Montreal! Thank you Jennifer.

Last night my Dowsing Rod print State Version made it's television debut on the A&E show Bates Motel. I did not see the show but was contacted by a collector of my work who happened to be watching when my print was in a scene. They will be rebroadcasting the Season 2 opener on Wednesday night on A&E. Kinda cool.

New Painting. February 2014

Talk about hitting your stride. This new series is happening at a pace I have not felt before. Years and years of very hard work. Countless hours, days, months and years of dedication unmatched. Every day I get up and get right back at it. No matter what. Every single day. 

Begin again and again. My new work has so many shifts. It is constantly changing over and over. The way I am working now makes it so easy to move panels around and see a different painting or a hundred different paintings. It can also make things tricky. It is like having a puzzle without a box to look at. And still get it right!

Begin again. Studio is empty now so I can start with another painting. Never have they come so quickly. I guess after years and years of very hard work I am not going to question it. It feels damn good I'll tell you that.

New work up at the Herringer Kiss Gallery

New work up at the Herringer Kiss Gallery

New work is up in the Herringer Kiss Gallery and it looks beautiful. So happy to see all three of my new paintings on display. It feels so good to take my work in a new direction. My first paintings in four years. The flood gates have opened. Very excited!!!

I think this is going to be a great year. To have a new fresh series to work on. I can see so many paintings. I can hardly wait to get them out. I have three paintings finished and I am now starting to prep many more panels. I love this new way of working and the direction I have chosen. This is the closest I have ever gotten to what I truly have wanted in my work. After all these years I think I am finally getting my stride like never before. This new way of working is allowing me to work mid size and large without any difference. Never before has it come so quickly and seemed so right! A very good feeling indeed!

Second painting. Excited to get them to the gallery and have them up. So happy with this new series. Endless possibilities. Gluing the third one this weekend. It is much larger and again different from the first two. 

A new painting. My first in four years. A brand new series. Just mounted and ready for the gallery!