the artist's life

vernon street studios spring 2012 open studios

Posted on April 20, 2012 by lkm

image courtesy of http://vernonstreet.com/open.html

Please join us for Vernon Street Studios’ Spring 2012 Open Studios weekend, part of the Somerville Open Studios event!

Located at 6 & 20 Vernon Street in Somerville, MA, the event will take place on Saturday, May 5th and Sunday, May 6th, 2012 from 12-6pm each day.

George is located in studio #46 at 6 Vernon Street, and will be one of around 100 Vernon Street artists opening their work spaces to the public. Come check out his recent and current work (preview below), talk about art, and watch the creative process in action!

"Standing Wave", 2011

"Fire Dancers I" (in progress), 2012

‘Like’ George Middleton Art & Illustration and RSVP to the event on Facebook to stay in the loop!

For more information about the event:
http://vernonstreet.com/artists/middleton.html
http://vernonstreet.com/open.html
http://www.somervilleopenstudios.org/

See you there!

the preliminary sketch, revisited

Posted on February 17, 2012 by lkm

Cool new tool alert: Hooking an iPad up to a projector as a quick way to get images from computer screen to canvas. Looks like this method will work well to do an initial underpainting, and a creative inspiration as the colors on the canvas start interacting with the projected colors… Creates some interesting composite images- check ‘em out below.

Posted in Painting, Tech Geek | Leave a comment

a little abstract painting

Posted on February 3, 2012 by lkm

I created this tiny 2″ square piece out of a dried-paint film saved as a possible collage element nearly 15 years ago. The paint scrap is mounted on Foam-Cor and trimmed down, resulting in a layered composition suggestive of both earth and sunset-sky strata.

Completely abstract in texture and form, I wonder what it might look like blown up as a large painting… Stay tuned!

Posted in Painting | Tagged abstract, acrylic, painting | Leave a comment

refurb of an ancient mahlstick

Posted on January 27, 2012 by lkm

“30 years ago I made my first “mahlstick”. It was fashioned from a not-too-straight piece of doweling which I carefully stained and urethaned. The tip was fashioned from some foam rubber. The foam had since disintegrated, and I wasn’t using the stick much in the last 10 years – my work style didn’t require as much of the kind of detail the mahlstick is good for. In my recent painting, I decided I needed a working mahlstick so I re-furbed the tip – this time using layers of soft cloth, carefully attached with painter’s masking tape and finished with Gorilla tape – so that I can remove and replace it easily when the cloth gets dirty”

- George Middleton, Winter 2011

Curious about what a mahlstick is used for? Find out more here.

Posted in Painting | Tagged mahlstick, painting tools | Leave a comment

current series: bubble paintings

Posted on January 20, 2012 by gm

“Soap bubbles have always fascinated me. I wanted to work with the idea that we are all discrete contained “bubbles” of energy within the larger “out there.” But that only a thin film separates us from dissolving into the greater whole… How does our energy affect the “out there?” How does the energy around us, outside of us – affect us?”

- George Middleton, Winter 2011

“The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea.”

- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Posted in Painting | Tagged acrylic, bubble, current series, gouache, ocean, painting, watercolor | Leave a comment

vernon street studios fall 2011 open studios

Posted on January 13, 2012 by lkm

image credited to http://www.vernonstreet.com

On Saturday, November 5th and Sunday, November 6th, the Vernon Street Studios in Somerville, MA welcomed the public to view the work of over sixty artists, including George Middleton, at both 6 & 20 Vernon Street.

The two-day event was a great success and included lots of visiting with fellow Vernon Street artists, as well as George painting in his own studio and engaging visitors in conversations about his work.

For more about the event, check out http://www.vernonstreet.com/open.html. And if you weren’t able to make it this time, look out for information about the city-wide Somerville Open Studios event this spring!