About this Auction

I recently became interested in the works of a number of artists who paint a painting every day, and post it on the internet. Duane Kaiser is generally credited with starting this movement, and I have been aware for some time of his efforts. I was very much impressed by his work when I first saw it, and I still am. Over time, I became aware of others. I found the idea quite interesting, but not terribly inviting.

Then, with the advent of digital photography, I began taking my own photography seriously, separate from my paintings. In an effort to better understand who I was as a photographer, I started posting a photograph every day. I didn’t know how long that would last, but, before I knew it, I had been posting for over a year, and had developed a very desirable habit.

Meanwhile, my painting had slowed to a crawl. I had painted my self into a corner with my horse paintings, and began remembering my watercolors of fifteen or twenty years ago, and how much I enjoyed the freedom to paint any subject that happened to grab my attention. Now, I’ve always painted more than just horses. There have been still-lifes, landscapes, people, all sorts of other things. But for some years, horses have dominated my output. Essentially, my work has consisted for several years of major pieces, commissioned or not, of horses, with occasional bursts of smaller horses, or even smaller paintings of other things. And, of course, my Kachina paintings in both oil and watercolor, which have served as my main pressure-relief valve.

Then, one day, while searching the web for the works of some painters I had previously found interesting, I was reminded of a number of artists who were very active in the field of daily paintings. The works of artists such as Duane Keiser (who started the whole thing), Michael Wray, Karin Jurik, Qiang Huang, Edward B. Gordon, Carol Marine and others thrilled me with their freshness, diversity of both style and subject matter, and the fact that, for the most part, they were turning out such good work on a daily or near daily basis.

I decided to try my hand, and see if I could make such a commitment and stick with it. Well, I’ve been at it for a over a month and I’m having the time of my life. I haven’t felt this enthusiastic since my early days of painting at Greasewood, on the Navajo Reservation, more than forty years ago.  And, like the Photo a Day, I’m quickly finding myself habituated. But, best of all, I’m letting all those Genies out of their bottles. Paintings I’ve wanted to do for years, but just couldn’t seem to get around to doing, or couldn’t justify the commitment to, I can now attack with feelings of freedom and exuberance. And they’re all finished in a day. So I can move on to the next idea. The continuity of daily painting also serves another purpose. Each painting progresses technically from the previous, without the often times long, and disruptive spaces of time between paintings that has been a nuisance haunting me for most of my career.

Well, I’m committed now, and having a ball. But what to do with all these paintings? Then I noticed that Edward B. Gordon’s paintings were being offered by way of a silent auction. I looked deeper into how it works, and realized that this was something I wanted to do, as well. So here it is. I hope you will enjoy the work I’ll be producing, and that you’ll sign up for my daily feeds, and maybe even bid on your favorites.

I welcome your comments, ideas, and suggestions. And please tell a friend.

John Farnsworth
www.johnfarnsworth.com