Joe Paquet Paintings 2018
California 2018 Collection
Morning, Sabrina Basin 18" x 24" $8,900
Evening, SouthLake 18" x 24" $8,900
Wind, Soil, Sun 18" x 24" $8,900
Grand Design, Spooners Cove 28" x 24" $9,600
Laguna 2018 Collection
Canyon Harmony 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Sun Glint 9" x 12" $3,500 - SOLD •
Good Book, Three Arch Bay 9" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Golden Hour, Main Beach 20" x 24" - SOLD •
White Light, Heisler Park 18" x 24" $8,900 - SOLD •
Cape Cod 2018 Collection
Castaway 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Crisp Morning, Chatham 8" x 12" $3,400
Edward Hopper Studio 8" x 12" $3,400
Catalina 2018 Collection
Morning Light on Cat Head 28" x 24" $9,600 - SOLD •
Avalon, Backstage 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Noonday Fog Two Harbors 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Garibaldi Fractal 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Orange Light 8" x 12" $3,400
Off Season, Two Harbors 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Quiet Anchor 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Eucalyptus In White Light 8" x 12" $3,400
Barracks, Morning Light 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Early Light, Two Harbors 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Morning Paper 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Hypnotic Evening 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Ballast Point, Low Tide 8" x 12" $3,400
Looking North 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
First Rays 8" x 12" $3,400
August 2018
Of God and Thunder 18" x 24" $8,900
Outside / Studio: Finishing a Painting
For me painting outdoors has its own dictates: Embracing a singular sensory experience with appreciation and a joyous, humble, open spirit. Feeling the day and being aware of how different it is from any other. Connecting in a way outside of my conscious self, which allows the world to speak for itself.
When this happens the canvas is not simply a picture but a record of a higher experience.
This connection to spirit has little to do finish or completion.
It is why I don't push to finish a painting in the field.
When back in the studio I have to be wary of my conscious, ego- self; the one, which thinks, he "knows" things.
It takes me a couple of days before I can get myself to even touch the canvases - to go from a spirit place to a mind space - they are that different.
I desperately don't want to screw up the unself-conscious magic.
Abdicating total control is key.
So, I let the canvas tell me what it needs and if I am patient it will become clear what needs to be done without marring the power of the original impulse.
I try and stay away from photography because it brings me back to a world of too much information and I want the painting to feel like a painting.
Visual poetry necessitates clarity of voice and economy of means.
When Distillation, Edit and Selection are the Children of Spirit - Real Magic can happen.
Summer Evening, Nykelviken 8" x 12" $3,400
Liftbridge, Last Rays 8" x 12" $3,400
Summer in Sweden 8" x 12" $3,400
Morning Sun, Duluth 8" x 12" $3,400
Rust 36" x 48" $30,000 - SOLD •
Expanding Our Idea of Beauty
We all have our ideas of what beauty is.
I have for a long time now been fascinated with uncommon beauty and it is usually hidden in plain sight.
The current cult of being "busy" has made it increasingly difficult for us to see anything but the most blatant and obvious types of beauty. There was a time when door hinges had decorative stamping on them.
Yes, people noticed door hinges.
We spend more time doing and less time simply being.
Awakening to uncommon beauty requires an uncommon level of quiet and sensory expansion.
Increasing our reception demands expanding the elasticity of our awareness.
The best way to notice these more nuanced forms of beauty is to unplug and get outside yourself.
So,
Get outside.
Yourself.
Spring on Summit Avenue Collection
Spring, Maiden Lane 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
University Club with Carriage House 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Spires and Spring Green 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Scent of Wet Blossoms 8" x 12" $3,500 - SOLD •
Church in Spring 8" x 12" $3,400 - SOLD •
Morning Impression, Duluth 28" x 40" $26,000 - SOLD •
Harmony, Subjective Truth, Finish & Whistler This large field painting finished in the studio was a both a study in restraint and a nod to James McNeil Whistler. He believed a painting should be like a single breath blown onto a pane of glass.
The cold, damp morning I painted this I had one shot to find that singular, delicate harmony. The canvas needed to be covered and I was at the absolute edge of my abilities. Although I was able to get the overall harmony I still had to complete it in the studio -- a potentially dangerous time for the painting.
When outside, the speed of work promotes an unselfconscious trust and connection to my subject and symbolic, felt, mark making. At it’s best a natural, organic, subjective truth is the result. Inside the studio, if I am not vigilant I can become too self-conscious, second guess myself and give undo attention to information that doesn’t serve my original impulse.
My mentor John Osborne once watched me paint a load of detail into a cast shadow and waited until I was done to say, ” Well, that didn’t help on damned bit ¬- didn’t hurt it, but didn’t help it either!” It was a great lesson.
So, here’s to knowing when to leave a painting alone.
Poetry is rarely improved by more words.
Hardscrabble 24" x 30" $13,000 - SOLD •
When painting outdoors I become a voyeur by default -- a curious watcher fascinated at once by how different we all are and yet how everything is connected.
From a safe distance (for the most part) I view the lives and work of strangers, getting glimpses of their daily struggle for existence. It's a strange thing to record the lives of others, while being largely unnoticed.
In quiet rural places and depressed cities, folks often do multiple, seasonal jobs -- living by their grit and wits to put food on their table.
This level of harsh practicality breeds its own form of creativity -- and a far reality from how many of us live. I am ever in awe of that brand of invention & survivability.
When I witness these things I am reminded of both how soft and fortunate I am.
So here's to the everyday heros; those who get up every morning, despite disadvantages and overwhelming hardships and find meaning and purpose in a new day.