Paintings from Sunset Series by Spence Munsinger, Color Field + Blank White Canvas + Realism + Contemporary Abstract Art, original paintings for sale

"Every good painter paints what he is."
― Jackson Pollock

How I Painted “Veldt Sunset”

I’m trying to organize my Lightroom catalog – I think ultimately it gets divided. I’ve tried to diligently add key words and create collections, but ultimately too aften I guess and hunt and peck through images to find what I’m looking for.

I think divided into “Art and Related”, Photography, and Personal, something like that…

I have just over 31 thousand images. That’s after using a duplicate finding plugin and delting about 6500 images. I have found this photograph series, turning to capture the horizon and clouds, and then narrowing down to the sunset and trees that became this painting. I also found the process photos as each painting session was completed. Combined is a pretty complete process slideshow.

These weren’t taken with this kind of presentation in mind, and as I move forward, I’ll capture more time slices. The landscape photos were taken on a walk on the bluffs over Butterfly Beach, on a trail that runs through the Butterfly Preserve in Santa Barbara, California. The painting is both a sunset and a daily painting.

process-91
process-91

process-131
process-131

process-38
process-38

process-42
process-42

process-64
process-64

process-67
process-67

first_seven_daily-2
first_seven_daily-2

process_Veldt_Sunset-1
process_Veldt_Sunset-1

process_Veldt_Sunset-2
process_Veldt_Sunset-2

process_Veldt_Sunset-4
process_Veldt_Sunset-4

process_Veldt_Sunset-3
process_Veldt_Sunset-3

process_Veldt_Sunset-7
process_Veldt_Sunset-7

process_Veldt_Sunset-6
process_Veldt_Sunset-6

process_Veldt_Sunset-5
process_Veldt_Sunset-5

process_Veldt_Sunset-8
process_Veldt_Sunset-8

process_Veldt_Sunset-9
process_Veldt_Sunset-9

process_Veldt_Sunset-10
process_Veldt_Sunset-10

process_Veldt_Sunset-13
process_Veldt_Sunset-13

process_Veldt_Sunset-12
process_Veldt_Sunset-12

process_Veldt_Sunset-11
process_Veldt_Sunset-11

process_Veldt_Sunset-22
process_Veldt_Sunset-22

process_Veldt_Sunset-21
process_Veldt_Sunset-21

process_Veldt_Sunset-20
process_Veldt_Sunset-20

process_Veldt_Sunset-19
process_Veldt_Sunset-19

process_Veldt_Sunset-18
process_Veldt_Sunset-18

process_Veldt_Sunset-17
process_Veldt_Sunset-17

process_Veldt_Sunset-15
process_Veldt_Sunset-15

process_Veldt_Sunset-14
process_Veldt_Sunset-14

process_Veldt_Sunset-16
process_Veldt_Sunset-16

 

— spence

 

Painting is movement, rhythm…

I uploaded a background image to twitter today. I was struck by the movement and the flow of the eye across the suddenly abstract forms and shapes of the painting.

 

twitter background

spence munsinger twitter background

I know what the painting looks like from further back. All of my work lately loses definition and becomes much more abstract as you get closer. Each painting is an assemblage of gestural forms that at distance align and create an image, but up close they drop back to simplicity and color and movement and, well, gesture.

Here’s the painting on its own:

Sunset #23 | Off State Street

Sunset #23 | Off State Street

There’s line and form present, but up close it gets lost and dissolves into simpler forms.

—spence

New Work:: "Butterfly Beach"

Butterfly Beach, acrylic on canvas, ©2012 by Spence Munsinger

 

—spence

 

New Work:: "Off State Street"

Off State Street, acrylic on canvas, 30

 

—spence

 

New Work:: "Boards by the Path"

painting, Boards by the Path, acrylic on canvas, ©2012 by Spence Munsinger

 

—spence

 

two boards by the path – in-progress

This painting is at the stage where I am watching for things to add/change and not yet changing it – very close to done.

It is from a moment on Hendry’s Beach just down from the restaurant, walking down the path toward the sand to photograph a classic sunset in Santa Barbara, and spotting these two surfboards just catching the light and just off the path.

two boards by the path

—spence