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" x 18"

Twilight in the Wood, 2010, painting by David Jay Spyker,acrylics on canvas, 14"x18"

Twilight in the Wood, painting by David Jay Spyker on display at Lowell Area Arts Council, MI

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

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.

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My third piece on display will be the small painting “Water Study”, which was done in 2008.

"Water Study", 2008, Painting by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 7" x 5"

"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, Painting by David Jay Spyker - 5.5 x 8.5 inches - Acrylic Wash, Minor Drybrushing, and Paint on 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor Paper

"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.

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, Painting in Acrylics on Canvas, 30" x 42", by David Jay Spyker

"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.

The First Strawberry of the Season

When I was young, my grandparents on my father’s side of the family would always have a vegetable garden; if you were from that generation, and had the space, it’s just something you did. Perhaps it came from living through the Great Depression and World War II rationing, or maybe it was due to a general sense of self-sufficiency, but making things last, using only what you needed, and producing what you could for yourself were the norm. Waste not, want not.

For many years, my mother also farmed a big vegetable garden. When you’re a kid, you don’t appreciate all the hard, forced labor working in mom’s garden; to a kid, it’s like some sort of prison work camp, and you don’t even like to eat the fruits of your labor! Then when you grow up, and have some land of your own, you plant your own gardens and learn to love the taste of those fresh vegetables and herbs.

I was probably only six or seven years old at the time, maybe younger, but I remember, back in Rochester, New York, the wood stake and wire supports for climbing beans and peas, and grandpa showing me how the fresh, little tendrils would coil around anything as they journeyed higher each day, eager to touch the sun. He showed me how to pick them, and how to split open the pea pods to reveal the row of small, green globes inside. Today I can almost see myself from an outside perspective, curious and interested in what my grandfather was showing me, but I still didn’t want anything to do with eating those peas.

Grandma and grandpa moved to Michigan after we did – to be closer to us, and near to other relatives who lived in the Grand Rapids area. In my teen years, one early summer, grandpa and I went out back to the old, detached  garage  – I don’t even remember why anymore – and he went to check the garden. When he came back, he looked pleased, and he was carrying a single strawberry. He said it was the first of the season, and that he was going to bring it inside for grandma – it would make her happy. He set it down, and we went about our original business for a while before we turned to go back inside. Grandpa was getting forgetful with his age, and I reminded him about the strawberry.

Being a typical teenager at the time, I thought it was a little funny he almost left that single, red berry in the garage. I knew it was something nice he wanted to do for grandma, but it just seemed so small and insignificant at the time. It was just one tiny strawberry, right? It wasn’t until years later that I really understood.

It’s funny how such a little thing has stuck with me for so long, but sometimes love is all about the little things: a smile shared after a hard day, holding the door even after decades together, planting the flowers she likes, or bringing in the first strawberry of the season.

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