Tonnar works like the late Georgia O'Keefe. Like her, he is fascinated with organic and geometric shapes, and creates compositions with triangles, curved lines, and shaded areas that seem to move within their own space. Sometimes he will limit himself to two colors. (See below) Both of these examples were done in his studio. Double click on photos to enlarge image
The next photo shows more of how he works. He will take a 18 by 24 inch color drawing taped to cardboard and work from it, enlarging it free-hand into a larger image on a heavier paper called Strathmore, which is held on the to a larger board with metal clamps. The larger image might be 36 by 48 inches.
He does not copy exactly, but he uses his intuition and treats each piece an its own creation. If you look at his studio work and his outdoor work it is clear he is working on a series. Elements re-appear in a different order than before.
Taking their own vehicles, both artists look at a hill property with a shaded view of east Carrollton. An owner shows up to mow the property, the artists move on, but have permission to return another day. Both have permission to work in the Fred and Gayle Sillin yard in the Walnut Hills Division, just east of the City of Carrolllton.
Click on triangle to view Tonnar working outdoors on Sillin property. Thirty-nine seconds.
(above) Untitled (view from sillin yard) by Joe Tonnar ( May 31, 2010 )
Notice Tonnar uses pencil/graphite and charcoal to create a gentle melody with whispers of gray and accents of black. There is movement. Wind blown forms lead your eye up and over and side-to-side within their space. He is a visual engineer. The white areas in between are important. He uses balance and counter-balance in his design. He succeeds at translating the greenery around him into a sonata.
Compare this work to recent studies done in his studio (below).
See how the white areas help the hills and valleys to breathe. Elements are not merely crammed together. His form-making is more developed. There is deliberate and sensitive mark-making. Faint shading cradles floral gestures. Hard edge darker lines punctuate the meadow with bird song. There is a rhyme and a reason and a sensibility that flows from the hand of this conductor. Persistent exercise in the studio has taught Tonnar to trust the songs in his heart. The series has generated a confidence that leads him forward every time he draws. He is not afraid to be in the wild of nature. It is not a charade or a trick. He is like a chef who is familiar with his ingredients, happy to be cooking, or in this case, drawing every chance he gets. This work is amazing.
Marxhausen likes to work from a limited palette. He looks at nature and makes a composition of light and dark patterns. He decides to use the same mixed green of the tree trunk leaves along the back fence line. The bright yellow sunlit grass color is swished in the lower right corner in the foreground grass and also where sun strikes foliage along the fence line. He mixes a variety of greens using Titanium White, Cadmium Red Light, Brilliant Blue/Phthalo Green + Phthalo Blue, Hansa Yellow Light, Raw Umber, and Chromium Oxide Green. Red and blue and white make the light purple used in the right tree trunk. He uses the same purple for the sky where it touches the tree tops above the fence line. By dabbing the same color in one area and in other areas around the image, the image becomes balanced or integrated. That is to say, the colors work together better. Your eye doesn't run to one area and get stuck there with an out-of-place splotch. He paints on eighth-inch masonite panels. The surface of the panels are roughed up before hand with a course sandpaper, then covered with a layer of paint, and let dry. He has his panels prepared and ready to go for outings such as these. This piece is called "View From Sillin Yard (5.31.10) acrylic paint on a 10 by 7 inch masonite panel. (Marxhausen said it was sold unframed to a Kansas City collector for $140.)
The two pack up their supplies and drive to the City Park. Tonnar did a two-color + white scene (below). Marxhausen did trees on a hillside and clouds in the sky (below that).
Two hours later, after lunch, they head east on Tenth Street, down a gravel road into the country side, looking for a place to set up. They end up outside a pipeline station.
Double Click on triangle to watch 4 minute drive to next site.
KM: "We just got done painting at the park, and now we are going to go out to a new location. Try to do some sketching. Try to do some painting...It's a beautiful day. We put in a couple hours this morning over on the west side of town. Then we put a couple more hours over by the Walnut Hill Division. And we grabbed a bite to eat down by the city park. Now we are out. Now we are out east of town, east of Carrollton...This looks pretty good. This looks really good. We get vegetation and clouds and thistles. I call this area "Sinclair Basin," because there is a Sinclair gas facility nearby."
Click on triangle for 2 minute set up video
(Undoing telescoping legs to easel, walking over to Tonnar setup.) KM: "You are going to do that (opening between the trees on the far bank of the creek) right through there? I think that is brand-new. I think they cut a hold through there. Now you can see further." (walking over to cab, hefting out back pack of paint supplies, walking back to easel)
Click on triangle to view Tonnar drawing 36 seconds.
(checking in on Tonnar's drawing) KM: "After I get going maybe you can come over and shoot a little video of me working." JT: "Alright". KM: "Then, we can get that posted." (pan from Tonnar sketch pad over to the far bank and then back to his work.)
Click on triangle to view Marxhausen at work 2 minute video.
(walking over to Marxhausen's easel) JT: "Do your art!! You are working away, man!!" (close up on brush painting panel) JT: "What made you decide on this scene here, Karl? That thing pick up sound?" KM: "I'm speechless. I don't know what to say." JT: "I will go back to my area." (walking back to his area, panning camera from drawing to the far bank and back to the drawing.)
Click on triangle to view Marxhausen work.
(moving closer to Marxhausen's finished work) KM: "There is the scene right over there." JT: "Yeah, I see it."
Along Sinclair Basin, 8 by 16 inches, on wood panel. Marxhausen focuses on a willow trunk and diagonal branch on the far bank. The green of silouette tree leaves on the right edge is used again for dark areas on the far bank. The yellow brown water in the creek is important to him. The light blue diagonal at the bottom is the end of a log. The grassy edge along the bottom is elevated from the creek. Marxhausen works quickly to lay in the sky but uses the same red and blue and white/ light purple, that he did in the Sillin Yard, where the sky touches the willow and the dark tree leaves on the right side of image. He leaves out smaller branch details, because, he says, he wants to fit the winding creek onto the wide panel he has. He draws with paint. These paintings are exercises to get him ready for painting in the summer. Something to get the "juices flowing."
An untitled bright two-color + white scene (view at sinclair basin) by Joe Tonnar (above).
At 65 and 55 years old, Joe Tonnar and Karl Marxhausen, are two Carrollton artists that enjoy expressing themselves through art.
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