Figurative Paintings by Pete Sack News

Moving and Paul Balmer

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:07:00 CDT

I decided to start painting cityscapes as a break from my figurative work. Having never really done a city scape, I googled the term to check out some styles that I would like to copy/learn from. I came across Paul Balmer whose work strikes a good balance of abstraction and realism. At first glance his work seems simplistic, but upon second review, there's a level of detail that is both beautiful and complex. And this has given me a good launching point to start my own cityscape endeavors.

I am in the process of moving away from the neighborhood I've called home for the past 3 years. A 5 minute walk from my place offers the best view of Raleigh, and thus a perfect way for me to pay tribute the the area that has treated me so well during my time there is to devote the next month to painting scenes from the Boylan St. Bridge.

Jack Kerouac, Chalk and Clearing the Mind

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:14:49 CDT

Stream of Consciousness

Today is Jack Kerouac's birthday, so decided to draw him on my chalkboard wall over the weekend. Since my show opened last week, these drawings have become a favorite of mine to do as I get back the energy to start a new painting series. Not that I would ever compare what I do with that of Mr. Kerouac, this chalk drawing process is akin to his spontaneous prose. There is no editing, no second guessing...and getting lost in the process of doing, not in thought. (full disclosure, ironically enough, this piece of Jack was the first one that started from a picture, so there was thought involved as well as an end result) There something refreshingly juvenile about this process that I hope can translate somehow into my painting. But if not, that is okay as well. Anyways, happy birthday Jack, thank you for writing some wonderful books (and awful poetry) that helped shape me in my formative years.

Show Openings and Throwing Up

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:52:29 CST

"Henry Fonda was still throwing up before each stage performance, even when he was seventy-five. In other words, fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day."

- Steven Pressfield

Show Openings

My show opens this Friday and as per tradition, I will be required to attend the opening. This is my least favorite part of being an artist. Since Monday my stomach has started to churn, a little more intensely as the week progresses. I get that this is ridiculous. I get that an opening means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but nonetheless this is how my body has chosen to react. I'm a painter who performs in isolation. So the pieces that I create are formed from the purist point of view that I can possibly make them (meaning the only point of criticism is my own and if a piece can't get past my judgment, it has no business seeing the light of day). So now the work is in a public forum and in a way, defenseless. It is me up on the walls and in a way my worth as a human hinges on whether or not you like the work. Granted, when I go tot shows this really never even crosses my mind, unless work is REALLY awful. But alas this is how I process openings.

So I will get a drink or two at the Foundation across the street a half hour before show time to calm the nerves, sweat it out for 3 hours and then reflect on how stupid I was for even getting anxious in the first place once the clock hits 9:01.

Good times, but shit, this is what I love to do so I have to take the great with the not so great. Besides, if an actor of Henry Fonda's caliber was still nervous after he had nothing left to prove, then I'm somehow on the right track.

Chalk art and keeping things fresh

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:11:40 CST

The Chalkboard Wall

This is the piece I did for St. Valentines Day

I'm done with all the new work for my March show and the last thing I want to do is paint. So I decided to try my hand at chalkboard art. I painted one wall in my apartment with chalk board paint from Lowes and some chalk. I have never done any real chalk art, but once I started I fell in love. I can't explain it other than the experience is the most meditative, mind clearing thing I have ever done. I start with an idea and I can't stop until the piece is down. I figure the idea that whatever I do isn't permanent helps with this calming effect, since it doesn't have to be perfect and will be erased in a week or so. Plus on rainy weekend day I can still do art and not have to go to my studio, so double win.

One time, during a potential reconciliation discussion with an ex-girlfriend, she brought up penguin love. Essentially a penguin finds his/her mate and then they are together for the rest of their lives. I'm not a big penguin fan, but I do like the idea. Though we didn't get back together (mistake on my part), I drew these two birds to remember that moment, as I assume not just penguins experience this (in my amateur ornithologist opinion) within the bird kingdom.

So while I re-charge my painting battery, I will continue to explore all that chalk has to offer me and my wall. I'm not sure how the two are to be used together, or if they even can be, but I am sure there is something to be learned form this experience that I can use later on down the road. At the very least it will keep me fresh in mind and left hand when the time to start painting is upon me.

Edward Hopper and Pearl Jam - Together Again

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:04:31 CST

Revisiting Past Favorites - Edward Hopper

The other day my friend Chris downloaded a Edward Hopper catalogue, which included his paintings, sketches and prints (185 images in all) and gave it to me. He was an artist that had a profound effect on me 14 years ago (to the point that I had planned a road trip based on 40 paintings of his that I wanted to see in person) but in the time since I haven't given much thought to. His ability to tell stories of loneliness and solitude through complex compositions connected with me at that time. But as I got older, my art and my art tastes changed as I sought out new influences to inspire/learn from. I may have gone down a different path artistically that Mr. Hopper in terms of subject matter and style, it doesn't lessen the fact that I am still attracted to his work and probably always will be.

Pearl Jam 20

This Christmas I received the documentary Pearl Jam 20 a band that had a profound effect on me in my late teens. But much like Edward Hopper, had fallen off my radar in the years since. Having grown up in Seattle in the late 80's and early 90's, hearing their musc always brings me back to that time, but I rarely went out of my way to listen to them (if it wasn't for radio, I probably would never hear them). And much the radar of societal coolness/awareness in the late 90's and 2000's, they fell off mine and I never had the desire to go search them out.

But much like recalling a past love, choosing only to remember the good time (the seminal songs that shaped me) and forget the bad times (or the questionable albums/songs they would produce through out their career)I found myself watching this movie and falling back in love. It reinforced my feelings for this band, their music and what they stand for. And even though I still don't listen to their music on the regular, it in no way diminishes what effect they had on me as a person growing up. And for that I will be forever grateful.