Sunset City Scenes, work in progress

When I was growing up I used to pull dabs of paint across the surface. I didn't realize I was doing a poor imitation of a style that Gerhard Richter had mastered.

For the past decade, I've also been inspired by sunrises and sunsets and the silhouettes of urban and nature scenes with these dramatic backdrops.

I've been creating a series of smaller watercolor mono prints in my Essex Studio:

In my Northside Studio I took an evening to experiment with merging these ideas on some panel paintings. I hope to finish these up in 2020, I still need to paint the foreground silhouettes of 2 Cincinnati scenes:

The geometric and the gestural

From April 2018 to November of 2019 I was working on this painting in my Northside studio. It was a reaction to the rigid geometric paintings I've been creating with flat fields of color.

What if I follow the geometric forms with more gestural strokes?

Also on this piece, I cut the top of the composition to follow the skyline... Not sure if this would ultimately compliment the looser style?

Another critique I received was this composition might be too complicated for this gestural style.

Master studies: Combining the gestural with the geometric

On my iPad I've been exploring using Adobe Draw (exports to Illustrator vector) to create these bold and vibrant pieces. From Van Gogh and Matisse, can I use shorter "brush strokes" to indicate form. And I just discovered the work of Walter Ophey from the Bauhaus and could I adapt the idea of hand-painted geometric lines.

Color palette: I was inspired by the Speedball fluorescent yellow, green, blue, pink and orange.

If these work to be printed, could this series be a series of small 8x10 prints on 1 sheet of paper then cut down?

2020: A year of Experimentation

My intention for the upcoming year is to analyze the artwork Billiter Studio has been creating, to see if my artwork styles can "scale" to national and international subject matter and if there are other styles I would like to create or explore.

I want to work within myself to explore things I currently create to make sure I am content with every nuance but also to explore new styles I might with to work in.

I want to gain peer and audience feedback about my current work and the new work if these styles will continue. I might use audience testing, from current audience as well as poll people unfamiliar with my work. I also plan to share with respected peers — it is so long since I have had a critique!

Also, going forward, I want to create more work that benefits the greater good. Currently I use some artwork to raise money for the preservation of certain landmarks. If I create nature prints, I hope to be able to give back to the environment.

Business-wise, I am lucky to have enough inventory to last several years. I am currently working with DIY to create enough prints, especially smaller format, to last this year. I plan to keep this work online, in my current retailers, and to continue to attend my summer shows.

I should try to fit in Summerfair and Hyde Park if I can — it might be difficult to apply since I will be teaching at UC and working on commissions but I will try.

Gallery shows, I hope to share some work at Paper Wings in OTR. Other possible spaces in Cincinnati would be 1305 Gallery, the Mariemont Women's Art Barn (loft) and possibly to reconnect with Pique, frameshop, Villa Mocha and Skeleton Root. It would also be interesting to show at The Summit Hotel in Madisonville someday.

Once some new work is created, it would be lovely to approach galleries elsewhere.

I would love to gift myself a "residency" here and there. To exist in another city or culture and create work reacting to it. Perhaps, if I visit my sister in Germany for long periods I can create work inspired by my visits and possibly show the work there.

I know blogs can be outdated, but I think using this platform to share this work will give me a little permission to be experimental since it is outside my usually platforms for sharing work that is for sale.