I'm going to guess that there are not just lots of paintings in which survey monuments figure. This is my addition to that slender genre.
It's a corner on the north line of Adams, Beaty & Moulton Block A, a fifty square mile block of surveys located apparently entirely on paper in 1875 in what is now Brewster County, Texas.
That pile of limestone rocks was built in 1913 by R.S. Dod, a fairly well known West Texas surveyor who was attempting (with varied success) to run out the lines of the block as described in the patents that had been issued by the State of Texas. My guess is that Mr. Dod probably did not suspect that his efforts would end up rendered in acrylic paint as they appear here.
...do you set up an easel or paint from photo or in hand Kent...I mean...how do you bring it to canvas?... so very cool..
Interesting that you use the same, clear/simple lettering on your name as you do with your survey sketches, and not a cursive style with some flair as a lot of artists do. It hammers home the point that you've often made, which is that simplicity is elegant and practical.
You're quite right in that I've never seen a painting of that subject matter. Nice approach.
> ...do you set up an easel or paint from photo or in hand Kent...I mean...how do you bring it to canvas?... so very cool..
Daryl, thanks. I cheat and paint from photos, most of which are taken just in the ordinary course of surveying work. Painting in plein air is an admirable skill. Some painters work from their vehicles, which simplifies the logistics if you can drive to the place you want to paint.
Right now, I don't have much time, so I'm working at night, using small canvases - that one is 11 x 14 - and give myself about three or four hours to finish the thing. Small canvas, large brushes, and fast-drying acrylic paints make that possible. Small canvases can also be painted flat on the table, which I do.
The other cheat that I use is to get a color laser copy from two versions of the photo, one with all the detail and the other with the photo quite blurred so that the values and colors are the main information, not the finicky details. If you have the detail of the photo degraded to the scale that the brush can duplicate, it makes for quicker work and focus on color and values instead of the draftsmanship in rendering the scene.
As for paints (you didn't ask, but you have such a huge collection of photos that I'd think this would be a natural thing for you to try), it doesn't necessarily take a huge number of different ones. That one above was painted by mixing the colors from:
titanium white
mars black
napthol crimson
cadmium yellow medium
burnt sienna, and
ultramarine blue.
Painting in acrylics, you can use a polymer medium to mix the colors with for semi-transparent effects.
> You're quite right in that I've never seen a painting of that subject matter. Nice approach.
Thanks, Glenn. As a working name for this genre, I call them "Landsurveyorscapes" (although "land surveyor escapes" would be more like it).
Wow Kent. I knew you painted from your FB posts, this is very nice. Well done.
Most appealing and admirable. Thanks for posting.
Stephen
Very well done. Does this indicate a career change?
Dale Yawn,
Savannah, Ga.
Dale,
I think it's more an augmentation to Kent's career, if I had to guess.
I can now say that I found an original rock mound, albeit one in a painting....but whose being picky?
> I can now say that I found an original rock mound, albeit one in a painting....but who's being picky?
LOL!
> Very well done. Does this indicate a career change?
No, surveying pays much better than painting. Over the years, I've given prints of drawings and things like this to clients and friends instead of throwaway Christmas cards. Many of them still remember some particular one that they got years ago and even have it hanging on the wall.
Our old buddy TDD liked to accuse people of taking stones and chiselling their own marks on them and planting them in the ground prior to taking pictures.
Now ole Kent just paints them where he wants them to be.;-) (oops almost forgot the smiley-winky face.)
Nice work.
Well, it would be nice if you did one big enough with enough detail so we could see the blazes on the witness yuccas.
Nice job. I couldn't paint a picture of a polar bear in a blizzard.
I'm impressed, Kent. Very nice work. I'm always glad to see or read about people that have more talents than just what they do for a living. Many of us do, but don't use them much.
That is good. I actually thought I was looking at a Remington as I was scrolling down the picture.
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>
> Right now, I don't have much time, so I'm working at night, using small canvases - that one is 11 x 14 - and give myself about three or four hours to finish the thing. Small canvas, large brushes, and fast-drying acrylic paints make that possible. Small canvases can also be painted flat on the table, which I do.
>
I like the format hat you used instead of a landscape perspective.
11'x14' sure is a true Texas size depiction suitiable for impressionistic views as a texas Monet. You could have gone with a nice piece of 4'x8' masonite. Have you tried masonite?
Oh my mistake.... that was 11" x 14" 🙂
Nice work!.
Ricardo Johnson has a post on the forum page here for his art but there is no link.
I have some of Ricky's art hanging in our home. I will try to posrt some images some day soon.
> I'm going to guess that there are not just lots of paintings in which survey monuments figure. This is my addition to that slender genre.
>
>
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> It's a corner on the north line of Adams, Beaty & Moulton Block A, a fifty square mile block of surveys located apparently entirely on paper in 1875 in what is now Brewster County, Texas.
>
> That pile of limestone rocks was built in 1913 by R.S. Dod, a fairly well known West Texas surveyor who was attempting (with varied success) to run out the lines of the block as described in the patents that had been issued by the State of Texas. My guess is that Mr. Dod probably did not suspect that his efforts would end up rendered in acrylic paint as they appear here.
Created as seen through the eyes of a true surveyor, respect on the painting!
> Have you tried masonite?
Daniel Coston works with acrylic on panel
This one is over my office desk:
Hanging
This one is over my fireplace:
A Corner in Curved Space
They feel like LandSurveyorScapes to me...
DDSM