Provenance
(From time to time I'll enter a "provenance" about pieces that have sold covering how they came about.)
Study for "Down to the Sea" 12"x9" o/c sold © Brian KliewerThis oil study was painted on location,
plein-air style as I was looking down from atop the cliffs at the
Lighthouse in Owl's Head, Maine. I was out looking for subjects on what I consider to be a dreadful day for such things - one of the brightest, clearest days of the year. I normally try to do studio work on such days as very little generally appeals to me without cloud activity. Most everything was awash in sunshine and I had just about given up on the idea. Then I climbed the stairs at the Light
(lighthouses were not on my favored list of subjects back then) and looked out over the ocean. Nothing. Too pretty, too plain and just too clear! I had stashed my gear so that I could walk
around unburdened and was feeling it all was a waste of time. Then as I got near the edge of the cliff (now fenced off for safety purposes) I looked down and there was my subject.
As I was working on it, I felt the paradox that the scene actually presents. While it is a beautiful view, I was fully aware that it could very well have been the last view a person might ever have had. The unnerving precariousness of it all was also a feeling I wanted to capture in the painting, especially since that's what I was feeling myself. Once I sat down and got into the painting, all of that
lessened and I came away with what I feel is one of my
strongest on-location studies to date. When seen in person, I do get a real sense of being there to this day.
"Harbor Mist" 15"x30" o/c (no photo available)"Harbor Mist" has a real
unusual story behind it. It is also of a view in Owl's Head. I used to work as a janitor for a time before I began painting full-time. One night as I was going to begin work at a local bank, I found a note addressed to me asking if I could make a special trip to one of the Bank executive's homes to pick up some garbage to haul to the dump. The home was in Owl's Head. When I got there, the view struck me as something I would definitely want to paint. I
decided later that I would ask if I could come back to do some studies. I never got to see the owner and was never able to ask the question.
A little while later I was at the bank again and in the office of the
person in question- emptying the trash - or about to. I never went through
any one's trash and in this case I didn't have to. Sitting right on top was a picture of the exact same view that I wanted to paint! It was under-exposed and not very clear. I could quickly see why it had been tossed. But there was enough there for me. I took it home and made some adjustments to the composition and before I knew it, I had a very strong piece on my easel.
I didn't see anything wrong with using the photo since it had already been tossed. It was
"one man's trash is another man's treasure" for real. It sold shortly thereafter for $900.
An interesting further twist on this story... A few years later, after I had become a full-time painter and quit my job as janitor, I got word from one of my galleries that one of my larger paintings had sold. I learned later that it sold to the same bank executive whose trash had become my treasure a few years earlier! You never know.
"Belted Galloways Series - Mother and Young" 4"x6" o/c © Brian Kliewer
"Belted Galloways Series - Family Portrait" 5"x7" o/c © Brian Kliewer
