“JEWEL REEF NUMBER THREE” Painting by William Eatmon, Artist, Engineer, Scientist

“JEWEL REEF NUMBER THREE”  is an original painting and the last of the “JEWEL REEF” series. These paintings were created to document my memories and impressions of the fantastically beautiful reefs I had the pleasure to snorkel in over many years of travel. “JEWEL REEF” paintings one and two were a bit more abstract, but conveyed the same wonderful feelings of being underwater surrounded by reef plants and all sorts of interesting creatures. Once you have been in a reef environment, you will never forget the surreal experience of beautiful colors, unusual forms, constant movement of plant life, continuous parade of creatures and the scintillating captured air bubbles above as waves come and go. When I was younger and did a little snorkeling, I spent five weeks in the West Indies and Caribbean traveling from island to island starting in Trinidad and ending in Porto Rico. The memories of the reefs with their unique plant and creature life are still very vivid in my memory. “JEWEL REEF” paintings one and two are in the dining room of  my friends & valued clients beach house and brings the essence of a reef, with all its beauty, into this very special place. “JEWEL REEF NUMBER THREE” painting, shown below, has a little more detail than paintings one and two. The greater use of pointillism in the captured air bubbles and plant life gives this painting greater PANACHE when viewed in person. As one walks around the painting, it starts to shimmer and scintillate giving the same feeling as being underwater in a real reef environment. This original acrylic painting incorporates many painting techniques such as brush work, paint pouring, sponging, pointillism and the use of a pallet knife. This painting is on a gallery-wrap canvas measuring 36 in. wide x 36 in. high x 1 1/2 in. deep with all four sides painted. This painting, like most of my original paintings, must be viewed in person to be appreciated. Photos cannot capture raised surfaces, texture and the interplay between painted areas of flats, sheen, semi-gloss, gloss, iridescent and metallic paints. To see more of my paintings, go to my website:  weatmon.artspan.com

Shown below is my painting titled “REEF” which takes the viewer to a tropical reef where there are seemingly an endless supply of colorful creatures to see and enjoy surrounded by lush, undulating vegetation. This original painting contains the images of fifty five (55) real tropical fish in their approximate size and colors. I personally have seen a number of these fish while snorkeling in the West Indies and Caribbean. These reef fish are relatively small, but when you come face to face with them they seem larger.

This original acrylic painting is on gallery-wrap canvas measuring 60 in. wide x 48 in. high x 1 1/2 in. deep with all four sides painted. This painting is provided with a list of all fifty five fish listing their common  name, scientific name and location on the painting. Many painting techniques were used to create this painting and are listed above. Special consideration was given to make the fish appear as they would in a reef setting (e.g. translucent when viewed from one direction and opaque when viewed from another direction). This feature can only be appreciated when viewing this painting in person.

There are a number of advantages to having this painting versus an aquarium of this size. This painting is much less expensive to purchase, no maintenance costs and after a few tropical drinks with 150 proof rum, the fish and vegetation start to move!

Go to my website for more of my paintings:  weatmon.artspan.com

ENJOY!

My Painting titled “CONUNDRUM”

This BLOG is dedicated to a painting of mine I particularly like because it stimulates me to think of a wide variety of subjects and objects. The painting is titled: “CONUNDRUM” and it is truly a puzzle to most viewers who will try to relate it to their own background memories which are different for all of us. Is this painting of a gas nebula in our Universe or is it an organic creature in inner-space? Is its size galactic, macro, micro, nano or? Just as your mind thinks it has a solution/match to this puzzle, it will try to find another solution/match making this painting very interesting. This painting has been requested by several International Exhibitions I have been invited to participate in. I like the painting so much that I keep it in my Art Gallery ( William’s Gallery ) in Carmel, California and it stimulates my creative process. “CONUNDRUM” contains many style-elements and techniques I have developed over many years for my modern, contemporary paintings such as the interplay between painted areas of flats, sheen, semi-gloss, gloss, metallic, pointillism, texture, raised surfaces, etc. As one views this painting under various lighting conditions, viewing angles and viewing distances, the painting will change due to different reflections and very fine detail that can only be seen as one gets closer to the painting. Areas of the painting which do not appear to have content/structure may expose considerable content/structure when viewed from another angle, lighting condition and/or viewing distance. “CONUNDRUM” is truly a unique, one-of-a-kind original painting. “CONUNDRUM” is an acrylic painting on gallery-wrap canvas measuring 48 in. high x 60 in. wide x 1 1/2 in. deep with all four sides painted. This painting could be hung horizontally or vertically. Like most of my modern, contemporary paintings, they must be seen in person to fully appreciate. To see more of my paintings, go to my website:  weatmon.artspan.com. Please leave a comment to this BLOG and come see me in Carmel, California if you can.

HOW LONG TO CREATE A PAINTING by William Eatmon, Artist, Engineer, Scientist

Many visitors to my Carmel, California Art Gallery (William’s Gallery) ask: “How long does it take to create one of your paintings?”. Simple question, an involved answer depending upon the painting in question. Let me start by comparing the creation of one my paintings to almost any engineering project (e.g. airplane, ship, rocket, satellite, etc.). It is assumed that you have the education, talent, creativity, skill-set and experience to complete such a project. The first item to be considered is establishing the desire and/or need for the object/artwork to be created. Considering artwork, you would establish the requirements for such a project and then select the subject, category (e.g. abstract, surrealism, figurative, seascape, landscape, etc.), size, base (e.g. canvas, linen, wood, fiberboard, etc.) and medium(s) (e.g. oils, acrylics, ink, encaustic, etc.). The basic sequence for an artwork or engineering project would be to: (1) set concept, (2) establish requirements, (3) prepare preliminary design, (4) review the preliminary design, (5) finalize design, (6) execute artwork/project. This is basically my process to create my contemporary artwork. The concept for my artwork may come from very recent events or could go back more than 50 years. I usually document my initial concepts on 3 x 5 in. cards and I have hundreds of these concept cards, several lifetimes worth of material for creation of artwork.

Lets take one of my  paintings titled: “GALAXIES EMERGING”. The initial concept for this painting originated in 1957 while I was in engineering college. The initial concept was revised over a 32 year period as the science of COSMOLOGY developed and I completed the painting in 1989. This painting represents the Universe at approximately 380,000 years after the “BIG BANG”. The universe had inflated, expanding and would not let electromagnetic energy, of which visible light is a very small part, escape. My painting depicts my version of the processes taking  place at that time (380,000 years) after the Universe start. The three blue areas in the painting represent the Universe opening-up where electromagnetic energy (photons/light) could escape. There is a lot of Artistic License in the three blue areas showing stars and galaxies since these stars and galaxies did not form until millions of years after the start of the our Universe.

In the case of this painting “GALAXIES EMERGING” it took 32 years to complete! To see some of my other paintings go to:  weatmon.artspan.com.

HOW I CREATE A PAINTING by William Eatmon, Artist, Engineer, Scientist

I only create original paintings because reproductions cannot capture texture, raised surfaces, contrast between flats, semi-gloss, gloss, and metallic. These features make a modern, contemporary painting come alive and looks different under various lighting conditions and viewing positions. Most of my paintings take years to develop a concept before executing the final painting or artwork.
I would like to take you through how a typical painting of mine is developed from concept to final painting. Being an engineer and scientist the path I take to develop a painting is usually much longer than the typical artist.
Lets start with my painting titled “ONLY A DREAM” which I painted in 2012. The concept for this painting started with my reading a book by Eric Kandel, a Nobel Price Winner, titled “The Emergence of a New Science of Mind”. In this very scientific book Eric talks the paintings by three Austrian modernist which painted in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Gustav Klimt is the best known of these painters and I am sure you have seen his wonderful work. Since Klimt is one of my favorite artist I decided to do a tribute painting to Klimt which I completed in 2013. When I completed this painting, I liked the very fine detailed pointillism work I did in the lower left side of this painting. I decided to do a painting of a woman with flowing hair in my detailed pointillism style. When I started preliminary sketches for this painting I was listening to the radio and Frank Sinatra was singing the song “LAURA” which was written in 1945 by David Raksin and Johnny Mercer, two wonderful songwriters. I wrote down Laura is the face in the misty night and she is only a dream. Now my concept was complete. I painted a gold doppelganger of one of my family members with flowing, artful hair in a misty night. This paint is spectacular when seen in person, photos do not do it justice.
So to summarize my creative journey for my painting “ONLY A DREAM”, started with reading a rather scientific book which led to a tribute painting which led to a painting based upon a song. More of my paintings have similar beginnings, one of my paintings took 32 years from initial concept to final painting. Subject for another blog.
To see more of my work go to: weatmon.artspan.com

TRIBUTE TO UMBERTO BOCCIONI by William Eatmon, Artist, Engineer, Scientist

I have seen many beautiful sculptures in my travels over many years, but the sculpture which I like the most is titled: “UNIQUE FORMS OF CONTINUITY IN SPACE” by Umberto Boccioni which he completed in 1913. This sculpture is in the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. I have seen this sculpture at MOMA several times (Last time in May, 2015) and enjoy it more and more with each viewing. The image of “UNIQUE FORMS OF CONTINUITY IN SPACE” reminds of many of the Aerospace and Ocean projects I had the privilege of working on during my career as an Engineer and Scientist. This sculpture is uniquely modern and will continue to be so far into the future as we travel routinely in space to others worlds. The image of this sculpture continued to run through my mind for many years and many of my sketches included elements of how I remembered the sculpture. Finally in 2013 I created a sketch which captured my feelings for this sculpture and my interest in Cosmic Objects. I did not look at photos of the actual sculpture at that time, I wanted to rely on my memories and perceptions of the original sculpture. I created my painting titled: “VICTORY IN SPACE” as a tribute to Umberto Boccioni. This painting contains elements of Boccioni’s Sculpture in raised/textured surfaces covered in gold with surrounding colorful Cosmic Objects. This original painting was created using many acrylic paints and mediums on gallery-wrap canvas with all sides painted. The painting The canvas size is 24 in. wide x 30 in. high x 1 1/2 in. deep. My contemporary paintings usually include raised/textured surfaces, many layers of acrylic paint and acrylic mediums, many painting techniques such as pointillism, paint pouring, and traditional brush work. To see this painting and many more go to my website: weatmon.artspan.com