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.

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.

Lowell Area Arts Council

Armin Mersmann

"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.

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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.

"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.

This first Winter night,
The dance eternal,
In elegant circuit
Our Mother turns
Away from the dark…
Face to the light.

~ David Jay Spyker

I am the Lake.
I am the River.
I am the Rain.

I am
Again,
And again…
And again.

~  David Jay Spyker

"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

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

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", 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.