Category Archives: Landscape Painting

Grid Work: Little Corona II

Little Corona II • Joe Forkan 2013 Oil on Linen 40″ x 40″

This is the second painting I completed based on an observational painting of Little Corona in Southern California. The second painting was an attempt to revisit my initial idea for this series, while changing some of the rules I had established for myself. I started this using the same initial grid and basic color shapes of the first, but intentionally varied the second layer, and broke the grid as the painting progressed. I was curious to see where those early changes would lead the rest of the painting. Each renegotiation of color took the structure of the painting further from the first one, even as I moved to reach a similar overall color dynamic.

Little Corona I • Joe Forkan 2012 Oil on Linen 40″ x 40″

Grid Work: Spurgeon Tower, Rooftops

Leave a reply

Spurgeon Tower Rooftops • Joe Forkan 2013 Oil on Linen 48″ x 28″

Another addition to the Grid Work series. I’m still building these using completed observational paintings as a starting point. This one is another studio view (see below). Eliminating expressive drawing as a component of the paintings has really ratcheted up my attention to subtle color relationships. Trying to build complexity with intentionally simple marks has really clarified to me how much size of mark and relationships of color build our sense of space and form.

Old & New-Rooftops, Bush Street • Joe Forkan 2011 Oil on Panel 17.5″ x 11″

The image below is an early stage of the final painting, starting with solid masses over colored grids.

Rooftops, Spurgeon Tower (process) 2012 Oil on Linen 28” x 48”

Grid Work: Spurgeon Tower 7:00 AM

2 Replies

Spurgeon Tower 7:00 AM • Joe Forkan 2013 Oil on Canvas 36″ x 40″

Spurgeon Tower 7:00 AM (detail) • Joe Forkan 2013 Oil on Canvas 36″ x 40″

Spurgeon Tower 7:00 AM • Joe Forkan 2010 Oil on Panel 11″ x 12″

Grid Work: Spurgeon Tower 4:00 PM

1 Reply

Spurgeon Tower • Joe Forkan 2013 Oil on Canvas 48″ x 66″

Here’s a new painting from the grid work series I’ve been working on. This was the first one I started a couple of months ago, trying to move space a bit differently. It’s got me pushing a lot more paint around as well. This is based on a painting of the view from my studio in Santa Ana that I completed in 2010 (see below).