Fog Induced

View a larger image.


Excerpt from this posting:

"...Streetlights behind trees cast their limbs across thick fog like projected holograms and remind me of warm summer nights walking around a Woods Hole (add boat and fog horns for effect) transformed into an overblended monochromatic underpainting..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Baby Laps

Excerpt from this posting:

"...until her counter-clockwise circles cross my path again and it’s the same thing all over again..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

Final Rigging

View the larger painting.

An excerpt from a chapter by the artist in Still-Life in Oils, edited by Theodora Philcox:

Excerpt from this posting:

"...The movement ends with a quiet crescendo of the wave, not noticed at first, in part of a painting by Winslow Homer called 'Weatherbeaten' on the wall behind. Light bounces against the shiny surface of the bow as it slides through the 'water' and the silhouette of the raincoat on the chair continues the movement of the trailing wake that follows behind..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

John Singer Sargent's Palette

Excerpt from this posting:

"...The perfect palette is an improvement on the arm..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

Complexity of Quiet

View a larger image.

Excerpt from this posting:

"...art satisfies a need. For most art collectors -- with their complicated and busy lives -- there seems to be an appeal in..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Turkey Day

View a larger image. 9" x 6" - oil/panel

Excerpt from this posting:

"This is the tree where we had a secret marriage ceremony and it's the same spot where she asked the justice of the peace if the word "obey" was still in the vows. A short time later I remembered that I had done this painting...."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Camera Obscura: Light in a Dark Room

View a larger image.
"Girl in a Red Hat" by Vermeer

Excerpt from this posting:

"...A friend who is an engineer that sends laser light to the moon visited the studio the other day and we got to talking about the camera obscura (a projected image box that Vermeer had access to.) Now, every few days he calls me into his office so can see the improvements on a rig he set up in his window..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Keen Sense of the Obvious

View a larger image.

Excerpt from this posting:

"...It is a simple formula: the more one looks and studies art the more one sees..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Rose Colored Glasses

View a larger image. 5" x 7" oil/panel.

Excerpt from this posting:

"...I lost my glow back in the studio when I looked at my colorless panel. The pink light of the setting sun no longer tinting my drab colors..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Cape Cod Idyll

"Saturday there was a Eurasian Widgeon feeding happily with the other balkdpates and gadwalls in Mill Pond, Marston Mills."

-from Cape Cod Birds

Center of the Universe

View a larger image.


Excerpt from this posting:

"...But what struck me that night was the run of light, beginning with the single spot on the horizon and it's hundreds of reflections pointing in a line straight towards me..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Eye Contact

This is the plein air sketch used for a larger painting.

Excerpt from this posting:

"...when that presence behind me starts speaking I respond but continue painting without meeting its eye. It is an unusual sensation meeting someone for the first time, this way in the dark. But my eyes are busy..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Heat in the Firehouse

Excerpt from this posting:

"...Photographs can capture one or the other but because of limitations in value range aren't able to portray what the eye can see. Pigments have similar limitations but the artist must use optical tricks to simulate the illusion..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Talented Eye

View web page.

Excerpt from this posting:

"...It's always the most enthusiastic collectors, too, and the ones who are most affected by a painting. Absolutely first-rate human beings..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Pallid and Pretty

Excerpt from this posting:

"...I now have doubts about the use of arsenic for bathing and have always had them about the use for beauty. Regretfully, I let by a few apple seeds as a child and that may be the source of a slight tinge..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Painting with Two Colors

View a larger image.

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

Still Life Elements

View a larger image.

From an interview with Doug in Still-Life in Oils by Theodora Philcox:


Excerpt from this posting:

"...I started with a very saturated pthalo green underpainting because I wanted the underlying feeling of that pure but mysterious sea colour to predominate..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Morning Light

Excerpt from this posting:

"...I return to the laptop and the glowing blue light in the room -- the modern day hearth -- and wait for the next "Daddy?"..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Standing in Front of a Painting

View the whole painting and an excerpt from a book about the technique used in creating this work.

Excerpt from this posting:

"...artwork done with the eye doesn't get a fair viewing. We're missing the transparent layers, the brushwork and impastos, the warm and cool nuances staining the canvas or obliterating it, the carefully worked passages contrasting the broad washes. In short: we're missing a sensitivity to medium..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

Hey, That's My View

View a larger image.

Excerpt from this posting:

"...It was a photographer. He said, "I hope you don't mind." and stood right in front of me and shot my view!..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

Extra Fresh

Sketch of the sculptor Alfie Glover

Excerpt from this posting:

"...Someone, an older woman, will come into my studio and say, "You wouldn't want to paint me, would you?" I'm conflicted because there are two ways I can go with this..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Oh Sienna

If J. Peterman sold paint pigments:

Excerpt from this posting:

"...The ancients called it Italian earth. The blessed dirt from Siena’s hills, full of iron and a spot of manganese, is roasted red and hand mulled with drops each of Tuscan sweat and oil of flax. Unintentionally beautiful, it’s the painter’s mortar..."

This journal entry is now available as part of a compilation in ebook form:

Specifications:
Epub and PDF formats
102 Entries
26,700+ Words
95 Full-Color Illustrations (Oil paintings by the author.)
2006 - 2010

More information here.

-Doug Rugh

Phtalo Blue and Impuissance

If J. Peterman started selling paint pigments:

I've watched as you grabbed at strange blues from the bottom of your paint box. I've seen you stab at ultramarine and cobalt on the palette, too. Couldn't find it there either because, let's face it, we all have a need for more. At the risk of being brash, then, let me offer you an insight: start from a position of confidence and leave humility for the acceptance speech.

That's right, you aren't worthy--but nab it anyway. Pure unadulterated blue. (Granted, as crisp as chemistry will allow.) Azure with a glance of turquoise, saturated and potent. Translucent, it is ether with a tint that is altitudinous. You've seen weak succumb to it, hear now of the mighty who neutralize it. This could be your blue. A shade in search of a master. Don't shrink from its power. Harness it!

Watch and learn from phtalo and give up the blues. The dingy ones, that is.

Phtalo Blue. One shade and you're ready: $165
-Doug Rugh