Dick's Blog

About: Dick Graves

Website

http://www.richardgraveswatercolors.com

Details

Richard Graves is a watercolor artist residing in St. Paul, Minnesota. His paintings cover a wide variation of scenes and topics, including urban, maritime, rural, abstract, landscape and oceanside settings. While he paints scenes from all over the country and world, many of his paintings depict scenes from the St Paul/Minneapolis (Twin Cities) area of Minnesota, as well as rural areas throughout the state.

Posts by Dick Graves:

• October 1, 2009 The Great Graves goes to Albuquerque (nice alliteration?)

• August 10, 2009 Monday, August 10th: Again, a Monday morning after an art fair. The past weekend was the annual Loring Park Art Festival. Saturday brought us periodic rain and extreme (by some/most standards)heat, but all in all, it was a great day to show and sell art. Sunday’s weather was almost perfect. It seemed the crowds were down this year, but I had a wonderful weekend, meeting many new folks, and adding new friends along the way. Each time I do an art fair, I think about what people are looking for, what they’re buying, what I should be painting, what I want to paint, and then go home, just as confused as always. Just as there is no one thing that people are looking for, there isn’t only one thing, or one way of painting that I enjoy. Certainly, I’ve discovered that I like to do the brightly colored “vacation” spots. They show the excitement I’ve felt at being in new places and some of the carefreeness of being on vacation and exploring. But, I also have days of introspection, or contempletiveness, and those times evoke a different type of painting. Additionally, much of my work has to do with experimentation, and so, painting in different “styles” is simply part of that process. It is part of the answer to the ongoing question, “I wonder what will happen if I use this color with that color, or if I try this… ” . That describes my very technical, orderly painting method. I may forever be the artist that people are referring to when they say,”you mean he painted that and that?? I can’t believe that same person did both of those pieces.” I’d love to hear your input on the matter. In the meantime, enjoy the week, and keep in touch.

• July 27, 2009 Monday Morning…the morning after. That’s what I call Monday morning. The morning after an artfair. I spent the past Fri. through Sunday in Owatonna, with a town full of great people, and fun artists. A lot of my close friend artists were there, and we had a great time together.Now I take a week off before the Loring Park art fair, duringwhich time we’ll go to the cabin and visit friends and family. Next weekend is Chris and Nancy’s wedding in Northfield (my “nephew”, Chris Wiger). We’re looking forward to relative time. I’m also hoping to get some painting done. I’m going to get a new Carib. Street scene done with a joint in it that will be named Blitz! As many of you know, I always try to have a “joint” painting on hand, and so far, have done, Bongo, Buzz, Zap, Swizzle, and Zonk. I’ve got thoughts on some others, but if anyone is ready to commission one of the paintings, you can name the joint. Among the fun things that happened on the weekend, were meeting some fun folks. First, I met Joan, who, along with her husband Jim, had been in college at UMM, the same time Mary and I spent time there…back, just about the time pencils and paper were being invented. Joan is a wonderul watercolorist from Owatonna. Then, I met someone who knew me when I was a very young child in Northern Minnesota. John, and his wife Judy were so fun to talk with. He was able to share some stories about my parents and the town we lived in when I was a “baby”, all of which I’ve never heard before. I’m making a list of questions to ask him. It was such a memory trip, and to top it off both are just super fun people to talk with. I can hardly wait for the next time together. By the way, I’m still trying to figure this blogging thing out, but while I’m muddling through it, I really invite people, even those I’ve never met who just happen to come onto my website, to write a comment, or question, and I’ll try to answer, or at least “listen”. Are there particular things you’d like to see me paint? Questions about technique or style or materials. I really would like this blog to be interactive, plus, of course, I’d like to have it the best selling site on the web. No reason it can’t be both fun and lucrative. More later.

• July 9, 2009