New “Field of Gold” Series

I started another series this week (last week of Feb 09) called “Field of Gold.” I started with four small (5”x 7”) on paper. They were fun and fast, I can usually do two or three a night. But they all need framed, which slows me down. I have a bunch of frames around the house, so I’ll gather them up and use them.

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The small paintings are basic landscapes with a field of grass/wheat done in gold metallic paint and a brooding sky above in browns, gold, and beige. I introduced an image of a solitary fence in the foreground. But, the paintings are still abstract.

Last night I painted two larger stretched canvases in the series. Both were 16”x 28” x 1.5” The fence is more detailed and the paintings are getting a little too realistic. Already I have the urge to drop them and go back to the “Vestige” series, like the black and white one featured on my web site, MartinTimko.com.

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I do like this series though. I like using the gold metallic paint. When the paintings are hung, they take on different reflections as you walk around the room. Brush strokes come and go. There is a simmering quality to the paintings. They are very difficult to photograph - they are much more interesting in person.

They remind me of the once strip-mined pastures back home in Eastern Ohio. I used to hike into the hills and come across old forgotten fields. Every so often in the tall grass would be dark wood posts with strips of black barbed-wire. There were often abandoned trucks, drums, or bits of steel, all rusted black.

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I was told the hills were strip-mined long ago and instead of being reclaimed (like they are today) the fields were smoothed over and used for pastures.

Martin Timko
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