Farblondjet

An Interactive Memoir
Jerry Ross, the Painter

Selected works and Current Efforts


I want to discuss certain works that I feel have attained a certain satisfactory level and which certain aspects worthy of additional comment.

image.091    This is a view from the Florence, Italy Uffizi Art Gallery cafeteria. The distant view captures an image of the famed Santa Croce cathedral.



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   Giuseppe Garibaldi is one of my favorite subjects for portraiture. He was the "George Washington" of Italy in the sense that this general of the Risorgimento (unification) of Italy fought in all three of the campaigns for Italian independance. This work is oil on cardbord.

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   A "macchia" study showing a sketchy but bold division into simple areas or shapes. This is a painting of Tuscany near Montepulciano in the winter months.



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    While teaching the "concept of macchia" I have had to resort, in the past, to some rather bold examples. In this case rough sketching with strong contrasts gives the flavor and feeling if the macchia idea and ideal.


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   Gestural and calligraphic brushwork. Non finito style. Vey abbreviated. Lots of abstraction caused by leaving areas bank and unfinished.

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   This is a study of Oregon's atmospheric ambiguity: when it rains and everything takes on a misty persona, the Willamette Valley depicted here can also look coastal, and the valley begins to look like the sea. This is in the private collection of ellen singer, Eugene attorney.

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   One of my piazza paintings, in this case Rome, Italy. Very abbreviated and impromptu. This is in the collection of Virginia Landgreen, Eugene writer.

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   An excellent example of my "American verismo" style with the painting breaking down into 5 or so large shapes . The sky captures your attention with moving, dynamic, and pffy clouds. The land is split by diagonals and dabs suggesting reflected light off of objects, but these remain abstract. The colors are inventive, especially the violet of the near highway. This is a painting about the I-5 route from Eugene going north towards Portland, the Willamette Valley in all its beauty and weather.

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   A cemetery off of Willamette Street in Eugene where my mother, Jeanette, is buried. I set up my easel near to her grave and painted the cene looking north. Here the dark areas are painted with paint that has mutiple colors on the brush, something hard to describe, but there are reds and dark greens in a single stroke. Also oranges and greens and other pigments. A strong contrast is achieved while keeping the composition simple enough. The objects on the horizon are kept abstract and simplified.

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   The "Savanah" area next to our house on W. 52nd Ave near Willamette Street. When the un is shining the light illuminates the fall hill and defines the tree line and sacttered trees cascading downwards. This is a study of greens and especially of the variety of hues and values created by a simple jhill. The blue sky with white clouds gives an indication of the freshness of the atmosphere in this location, especially when the winds from the Pacific ocean create fresh air and a luminocity characteristic of the sea.

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   One if my self portraits. Here the "macchia" in black forms a dark pattern that contributes a simplified composition that could easily be transformed into a stencil for public street art if I wanted to plaster my image on urban walls. By simplifying the portrait in this manner, it approaches graphic art. the long hair telegraphs that the image is of an artist type, oblivious of the shrt hair requirements of conformity and the world of business.

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