Chat Forbes
Studio Art Gallery
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This work was inspired by a hardbound book published for a Matisse show at the New York Museum of Modern Art devoted to his “Cut-Outs” created near the end of his career in Nice France. This work was a four-year project and turned into a labor of love of this amazing artist.
Conversations was painted from a photograph I took in September 2018. I loved the orange/red/blue ambiance, the attitudes of the four conversations and the graffiti/stickers on the wall and pole. There was nothing on the tables - pure conversation!
I loved the poster wall in this Spanish tapas restaurant in San Diego. It was painted from a photograph I took in January 2018 and was bathed in a red haze from the lighting. The posters were incredible and the woman sat on the stage as I shot the photo - perfect!
I photographed the Castillo de Alcalà Real from below up a couple streets leading up to the castle. I combined the two to get the aspect and subjects I wanted. I’ve always loved the fortresses and churches on the hills of Spain.
I watched the 2022 Champions League final in a bar in Madrid as Real Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0. I photographed this rush of people heading for Real Madrid’s celebratory Cibeles Fountain. There were so many excited fans I could not get close to the fountain.
I painted this scene from a photograph I took in October 2018 driving from Madrid to San Sebastián/Donostia stopping to have lunch in this beautiful hillside town. I always liked the juxtaposition of Velásquez’s “The Farmers’ Lunch” and the two men eating lunch in the recessed space and the crazy perspective in this Spanish cafe.
When I saw the photograph of this sandstone cliff that I took in December 2013 I could not believe the shapes, lines, patterns and subtle colors. An example of what looks like a simple plain wall of dirt does not do justice to the wonders of the Earth.
My wife Linda and I took a lot of photographs of this church stopping on the roadside while driving from Santa Fe to Albuquerque in October 2022. I combined about four photographs to get the aspect of the final work. We were the only two there to enjoy this church and amazing landscape.
I painted this studio model at UC Santa Cruz over a period of about 10 sessions. It is a painting that has really grown on me over the years. I really like the shapes and folds and colors of the objects surrounding the model and the way the model and her clothing reflect this environment.
I shot many photographs on this beautiful day in Antibes in September 2018. Love the people in this painting under the gaze of the Pablo Picasso banner - the stones, the walkway, the sculpture, the glimpse of the Mediterranean, the tile roof.
In The Basque was painted from a drawing I did while living in Biarritz in 1977 on the coast of the French Basque Country. I love the ocean, the mountains and green fields & trees of the Basques. I spent three months there and wanted to create the movement of traveling through plus the joy of living there.
This was painted for the album by Low Roar “House in the Woods”. It was commissioned by Ryan Karazija after I told him I loved painting to Low Roar music. It was painted from a photograph taken of a house in my town on the Oregon Coast using the house and trees. Ryan: “I like the idea of the house and the chair on the front, representing a soul … a figure. It's as if innocence meets older you, and you return to innocence. The realization that this whole time you were just trying to get back home”.
This was painted for the back cover of the Low Roar album “House in the Woods”. Using the “House in the Woods” cover, removed the house and added a foreground tree. Before The Story refers to the wild land before building the house. Ryan liked the winter scene: “the emptiness … like a road that was once traveled, leading to nowhere”. I utilized the sun and moon throughout the three paintings.
Painted for the inside cover spread of the Low Roar album “House in the Woods”. From initial album art concept ideas Ryan: “I’m imagining an old porch … or old house in the woods. Preparing to leave the earth. Looking back at your past”. Painting was primed in a Pthalo Blue (sky) and Yellow Ochre (ground) undercoating and ready to paint … “I like it plain like this (like the original ink/paper sketch). Feels heavy and soft. Reminds me of Shel (Silverstein) … I’m waiting to be colored”. I love that there are still hints of the under colors after many coats of Flake White!
We had a wonderful deck at our house in the Santa Cruz Mountains off Bear Creek Road. Beautiful views, beautiful sunsets, great evenings over some nice wine and listening to music. This was painted from a photograph taken on one of those evenings. It was interesting painting a night scene.
On a trip to Barcelona, we bought this Spanish flamenco dancer for my daughter Sarah. She had it on a bookshelf in her house in San Diego with a book collection and bookends. I thought the combination was great and photographed it. I especially liked how the book showed through the bookend with the word “Flow” - seemed to fit.
I did a few of these self-portraits in a surrealist mode in the 1970’s. I particularly like how this one turned out. This one is kind of tragic woth the tending of the plants only to have the crops stolen by crows. One of the first of my paintings to incorporate a prominent sun which I still feature today.
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