Website Redesign and Update
A long overdue redesign of my art website is now complete. A suite of new navigation options let you can customize what you want to see. Some newer work has also been added, and more is on the way. Any links you had to the old website (other than the front page) will need to be updated. Please stop by DavidJaySpyker.com to enjoy the art.
24th West Michigan Regional Competition in Lowell, MI
The new painting, “Twilight in the Wood”, is on display at the Lowell Area Arts Council as part of the 24th West Michigan Regional Competition. This year’s juror was artist Armin Mersmann who is known for his masterfully rendered, highly detailed large-scale drawings. He chose an excellent selection of representational works for the exhibition.
Twilight in the Wood, 2010, painting by David Jay Spyker,acrylics on canvas, 14"x18"
Twilight in the Wood, painting by David Jay Spykeron display at Lowell Area Arts Council, MI
The show runs through April 10, 2010, and is worth the trip to go see it.
Three Paintings at Carnegie Center for the Arts
"Vessels", 2008, by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 30" x 42"
It’s that time of year again, and each year I express my fondness for the Carnegie Center for the Arts and the annual regional art competition held there.
This year I am pleased to show three paintings at the competition, and I do hope you will visit the exhibition.
The opening reception is always well attended by the artists and by a very supportive regional community of art lovers.
"The Journey", 2009, by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 24" x 36"
Both of my larger paintings, “Vessels” and “The Journey”, should be fairly easy to spot right away.
You can read more about “Vessels” in a previous article.
“The Journey” was also exhibited last Autumn at the Art Center of Battle Creek’s 28th Michigan Artist’s Competition.
~~
~~
My third piece on display will be the small painting “Water Study”, which was done in 2008.
"Water Study", 2008, by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 5" x 7"
The 2010 Regional Art Competition runs from January 17 through February 20; the opening reception and awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, January 17 from 2-4 pm. You’ll find the museum in Three Rivers, Michigan. Please visit their website for directions and additonal information.
A Waterfall Study, Acrylics On Paper
I have been using Golden Paints’ Open Acrylics line of paints now for a while, and because of the extended working, or “open” time of the product, I thought I would try them on paper in a watercolor style. The finished piece is a nice little interpretation of Niagara Falls.
"Niagara", 2009, by David Jay Spyker - 5.5 x 8.5 inches - Acrylic Wash, Minor Drybrushing, and Paint on 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor Paper
The bulk of the painting was done on slightly damp to wet paper, but included some minor drybrushing, and some basic acrylic paint layering (particularly with whites and cobalt-tinted whites to achieve a misty look, and to bring back some highlights).
To thin the paints I used a mixture of distilled water, and Golden’s Open Liquid Acrylic Medium. The watercolor paper absorbed the paints very well, but I could tell toward the end that the pores in the paper were starting to get full of acrylics. Also, once fully dry, the paints will not become resoluble, so there is no going back in to blend colors later.
While not traditional watercolors, I think the acrylics performed very well in this application, and I may work on more acrylic washes on paper.
A Poem For The Longest Night
The Turning
This first Winter night,
The dance eternal,
In elegant circuit
Our Mother turns
Away from the dark…
Face to the light.
~ David Jay Spyker
Again and Again
Again and Again
I am the Lake.
I am the River.
I am the Rain.
I am
Again,
And again…
And again.
~ David Jay Spyker
28th Michigan Artists Competiton at the Art Center of Battle Creek
My recent painting, “The Journey” will be displayed at this year’s Michigan Artists Competition at the Art Center of Battle Creek.
"The Journey", 2009, by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 24 x 36 in.
Should you wish to attend, the group exhibition opens with a reception on October 4 from 2-4 p.m., and remains open to the public through October 24.
For directions and contact information, please visit the Art Center’s website here: www.artcenterofbattlecreek.org
August’s Arrival
August’s Arrival (Lughnasadh)
Crash,
Splash,
Gasp.
I taste the Lake midair
(a taste of crystalline, aquamarine)
As we wend onward
(feet bared to velvet sand that shifts away)
Between pebbled concrete, slippery rock, and tilted, rusted steel
(our fingers touch, tangle now and again)
Holding back Nature’s persistent,
Indifferent
Hand…
…But only for so long.
Crash,
Splash.
~ David Jay Spyker
Today It Is Summer Still
Today It Is Summer Still
It is just a taste,
Just a tingle upon the tongue,
But still something I can lick from the air.
It is something like a fleeting shadow,
Like something seen from the corner of the eye
At the edge of the woods under Harvest Moon
- palpable,
Yet, intangible all the same.
It is borne upon the wind
With birdsong that speaks
Of water in the sky
- a cry -
And hope for a too-long-thirsty land.
twah-LURP, TWAH-lurrr
twah-LURP, TWAH-lurrr
Roiling…
Moist and cool…
The Sun struggles
To bake the Earth today,
But clouds surrender
And burn beneath his fervor.
Birdsong’s hope would have to wait.
Today it is Summer still,
Though tomorrow lies spilled out ahead,
A question left open-ended.
I feel already
The answer that is soon to become.
Still,
Today I leave that to the Future,
Because today it is Summer still.
~ David Jay Spyker, August 1st, 2009
Today was one of those days when you know that Summer is turning a corner, but is not quite there yet. It’s a little melancholy, and you want to hang on to the season while it lasts.
“Vessels”
I started work on “Vessels” in 2006 not long after completing the painting “Flow”. After a few months I pulled it from the easel to store face-against-the-wall (sometimes you just need to do this with a particular painting), and it wound up staying there for all of 2007, and some of 2008 while I dealt with the worst part of a long term, cornea-scarring injury to my right eye. When I finally put this piece back on the easel I worked at it on and off until it was finally finished in December of 2008. Sometimes a painting just comes together almost as if it’s fulfilling a mystical destiny, and occasionally it’s like pulling the teeth from a running wolf.
"Vessels", 2008, Acrylics on Canvas, 30" x 42", by David Jay Spyker
I have been entranced with waterfall images lately – by “lately” I mean the last few years – and the idea of this space surrounded by an impossibly long and meandering wall of plummeting, rushing water was something I couldn’t get out of my mind. The myriad boats swirling and bobbing about in the swelling waters of this basin symbolize us – humanity as individuals, and as a whole. Each of us is in our own boat (we are the boats), and we all drift about together in the same dangerous and beautiful flow of life.