The Imagination Fully Dilated Blog

I have been teaching acrylic painting for the last year at the Emerald Art Center. I taught two sessions of Controlled Accident painting. Controlled Accidents is my term for spontaneous image generating techniques that I use. They involve pushing the paint around on a painting surface with things other than brushes, such as rags, plastic, tin foil or balloons, in order to create impressions in the paint that suggest subject matter.

The most recent class I taught was Acrylic Painting—Illustration. I wanted to teach methods of creating atmosphere and a sense of space through the use of shadow color and light. Also I wanted to encourage the students to create illustrations that compelled audience participation by setting up relationships within the subject matter that were highly suggestive.

The painting included in this post was done by one of my students, Phyllis Null. She took my controlled accident class and the illustration class. The painting’s title is “warty bliggins and archy,” It is an illustration of “warty bliggins, the toad” by Don Marquis. In it she succeeded in using controlled accidents to help her “discover” textures and incidental landscape elements. She succeeded in creating a sense of atmosphere and of space by systematically reducing the value range of objects as they moved farther into the background. And she succeeded in setting up a relationship between the figures in the piece that invites the audience to wonder what is going on and perhaps imagine the conversation.

This is her success, but it makes me feel like I did my job!

Thanks for taking my classes Phyllis.

—Alan M. Clark
Eugene, Oregon

Last week I spend an afternoon with a hired gun, Vernon T. Williams, who recently moved with his family to Eugene. He’d seen my art exhibit at the Springfield City Hall and something about the experience prompted him to contact me and call me out. We met at my studio and discussed creative process, among other topics. While we did so, Vernon shot me, over and over. It didn’t hurt a bit. In fact I had so much fun we became friends. We’ve discussed a possible future collaboration in animation, but what form that will take is not firmed up yet. Below I’ve posted his write up for the shoot as it appears on his blog and some of his incredible photographs. Looking at those photos, it was as if I were seeing my studio for the first time.  What a nice place to work!  To see more of them, visit his blog: Hired Gun – A Photographer’s Journal

—Alan M. Clark
Eugene, Oregon

portrait of the day – alan m. clark

Monday, January 18, 2010

What a truly enjoyable day I spent with Alan. A quick morning shoot turned into lunch, which in turn became the better part of the afternoon.

I encountered Alan’s paintings in a hanging downtown and was immediately taken by the work. Each piece captures a moment in a fantastic story; some dark and mysterious, some with a sly sense of humor. There were several that captured my attention for many minutes as they begged me to complete the story in my mind. Alan put it so well; the best art asks you to bring a piece of yourself to the viewing. It leaves space for you to collaborate with the artist in creating a narrative that is different for you than for any other viewer. His work did that for me in spades. Some of my favorite pieces were to illustrate stories by Stephen King. His depictions from the Dark Tower series captured beautifully the Roland that had come to life in my head over the many years I’ve enjoyed those books.

You should check out Alan’s work, but know that an image on the internet can’t capture the vibrant, saturated colors and the intricate detail that I found so enthralling. They can, however, show you how the color and detail is there to serve a higher purpose; the mood and story that are so beautifully captured by his brush. Unfortunately one of my favorite pieces isn’t even there – a brilliant book cover commissioned to illustrate the King story, “Riding the Bullet.” It’s a striking vision of a ’69 Mustang fastback speeding down the rails of a derelict roller coaster and I was instantly drawn in. It has more layers than a Roxy Music album and reveals more each time you look at it. My son, Shane, was really taken by Alan’s paintings. One of his favorites was a particularly striking piece showing crows picking at a scarecrow.

Alan responded with enthusiasm to my request to photograph him and showed me such gracious hospitality when I showed up at his home studio. I made some photographs I’m proud of that day but, more than that, I got to have some great conversation with a gifted artist. Alan shared with me his time and his talent and I am truly grateful

Hired Gun – A Photographer’s Journal

—Vernon T. Williams