Harry Stooshinoff

YouTube video by Harry Stooshinoff, Daily Paintings and Drawings An Encaustic Painting Lesson 101

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyMr...

I make these encaustic paintings outside in the summer. This is the first one from this year. I also made a video showing and explaining the process which documents the making of this piece. I'll post the link to that video next.

“The light touch is often the strongest gesture of all.” -Helen Frankenthaler

On location today. How to do almost nothing - For lazy bastards everywhere. Written and directed by Harry Stooshinoff

“Matisse remained remarkably lucid, even lyrical, to the end. When asked shortly before he died whether there was anything he wanted, he replied: ‘A bicycle and a patch of blue sky’. -Michael Peppiatt

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” -Rainer Maria Rilke

On location today. These small acrylics are done with a slightly different setup, an even more portable setup than I'm used to. So clean up and transport are even easier. That likely means I'll be going out even more often to do these small acrylics.

“Darby, love, when you go for a walk remember to tell things you love them out loud: trees, clouds, fire hydrants. Tell all the things you love them.” -Darby Hudson’s mom

Published on April 1....always free to read. harrystooshinoff.substack.com

Whenever you feel your energy for painting waning, even a bit, alter the method or procedure slightly….it’ll freshen you. The painter makes the rules. That is as much the job as the laying on of materials to make the painting.

Oftentimes a little change, to material, substrate, size, or approach jolts you just enough to achieve surprise again. There are lots of things that will encourage surprise. But the whole enterprise is really about courting surprise at every turn.

Now that spring has come and most of the snow is gone, it’s easier to make these drawings on site because the field entrances are clear for parking. It’s nice to be tucked away safely when I make these. The ‘feel’ of the parking spot is actually the first thing I pay attention to.

At a certain point in your development as a painter, things in general become easier, mostly because you learn to get out of your own way.

These spots are very close by, and I paint them many times, but they always lead to new things.

You really don’t know what you’re going to get…it can be a total surprise. And that’s why it’s important to keep working.

Sometimes the best question is not how much can I do....but how little can I do?

I wish to make everything…..effortless.

Let your paintings simply run parallel to your life…they are there, and you are there. Avoid over-complicating.

Yep…that’s pretty much how I do it. All my things on substack are free to read. harrystooshinoff.substack.com

It’s not necessary or helpful to worry or fuss about your art. And it’s uncertain how much control we really have. You have control over how often and in what condition you show up for work, and that is all the control you need.

I will sometimes be surprised by passages in my painting, where I was my playful little self, like a 5 year old with a toy truck in the weeds.

In deep winter freezing cold and consecutive snow storms cause us to dream of warmer days, but in a summer heatwave a day like this would seem so welcome. It’s best to just fully notice each day.

I’ll often think of a painting not as a work of art, but just as a series of gestures, or actions. First this, then that. One thing calls for another and it’s interesting to see how they connect together. Thinking this way removes any performance anxiety from the activity.

Thank you, Cher!

Thank you!

In the darkest days, there is always hope. Never give up.

“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.”
― Gustave Flaubert

yes...maybe. I'm a little old and cranky now, but you never know :)

A landscape motif that moves me will always have a certain geometry, a set of shapes, lines, angles, that click together in a specific way.

Walter loved to fish at every chance he got, whenever he was not working. He'd hook up his boat and trailer to his work truck and off he'd go. He seemed a bit lonely and wanting of fishing companions so when I worked for him, he'd invite me along to the lake where we'd catch pickerel and pike.