First in a series of linocuts.

I have had these linoleum blocks sitting in my studio for a year now. I've always liked the graphic quality of block prints, and was excited to make some myself. But somehow I couldn't find the impetus to put an image on the lino and cut. But here it is...

The image is 3" x 4" printed on a normal size piece of tan cardstock. The print was just a test so the contact isn't good, and it isn't the finished product. I have to get over to the art store and peruse their paper selections. I am thinking I would like to try and print the image on a thin paper, maybe rice paper, something that is light. And I am going to pick up another block - or two. There may be some more lino cuts on the way.

Magpie comes to Dinner

I was able to get some good work done over the last three days. I have made it to the hardware store (overcoming a mental block) to purchase some poplar wood. The paintings I am making now are fairly realistic - this last one especially. And I think that working on wood will provide a smoother surface for painting detail. A few days ago, I picked up my miter saw from my parent's home and I have used it to build the first support. The new format is small - only 12" x 8"; but I have some good ideas for it. Looks like I will be working primarily from photograph for this second painting. It solves a logistics problem for me. My studio is small and I am currently not able to set up another still life before finishing the previous painting. I am looking forward to getting two pieces going at once. Also I think this bird that has crept into the Dinner painting portends a body of work, which I will try out on the new wooden support. I'm very excited about all of it - the new direction and even the current state of the Dinner painting.

Dinner again

Here is the Dinner painting after some more work. This is definitely becoming a labour of love. The photo is darker in tone than the original post. This is a camera problem that I am having, but I am reluctant to correct it in Photoshop because I think the program alters the colors of the painting too much. This photo better represents the hue of the painting but perhaps sacrifices some of the highlights and lighter tones. I also published some details so you can get a better look at the painting.

Dinner 16" x 20"

It's always a little hard to get the colors right in these photos that I am posting to the web. But I feel that this is a good approximation - certainly (good enough) for a blog post. I wanted to spend a little more time on a painting than I have been, so I chose something more complex. And now, I am facing a few questions. I don't know what I would like to place in the background of the piece. Currently, I have the still life set up in front of a blank white wall. (The same ubiquitous "white wall" in all of my paintings.) The picture frame that is in the painting now is just something I have quickly sketched in as a possible solution. I know I could create more depth by simply introducing an edge of something that could be hung on the wall behind the table, but I am looking for a solution that isn't so easy. I think there is an opportunity to create more space in the painting and probably to create more interest. I was discussing the issue with my husband and at that time I felt what I chose to put in the background might point to what I'd really like to paint. I've experienced that before. The still lifes are something I am setting up to get the physical operation of painting beginning and to give it some purpose. And through this repeated exercise I am hoping to uncover some compulsion - something I can't resist putting into the picture, a pallette I can't resist using, a composition...I am trying to search out what I really want to paint. If in the end the still lifes are the "End", that's okay too. But I have a sense that I need this time and repeated motion of painting to unearth my ideas. Any input or observations are encouraged. Other people's ideas are always good fodder. I went to my second life drawing session on Thursday, so I'll post some photos of that soon.

Candlestick

So I think I am going to go to Grad school. This would of course still be a long way off (a year and a half I am thinking); but the question, "What am I going to do 'Now?" may have an answer...My current job has dissolved (corporate problems); and I am having to forcibly make a move and a choice. What will I do now? And I don't want to give up painting. I like it. I like the part of myself that it has reintroduced me to. And that's okay I think.

I can remember being in undergraduate meeting students who were pursuing their own graduate degrees at the age of thirty. And I had the thought then that I would do it that way as well. I felt like I needed to experience a little more of what was in the world before I could know with any certainty what type of art I should make, or what I could tell a class full of students what to make themselves. Six years since finishing the work on my bachelor's I think it might be time to get back into the art world in the way that academia would allow me to do.

Do I want to over-analyze my art? To think that hard and long about creating? To try to explain how my creative impulses relate to specific artistic movements contemporary and historical? No. That's what I hated about art school. But maybe now I have more of a sense of self that could allow me to accept and reject the things I need in my learning. Maybe now I won't be so detrimentally impressionable...

Maintainence

I have started reposting some of the pictures of my paintings. The ones I had were too dark and didn't correctly represent the colors in the pieces. (I've had some complaints from my fan club...) I have been working more lately and have not been in the studio since last week. So I'll post a picture of a drawing I started a couple weeks ago. It is more like what I was making 6 years ago than the produce paintings are. The fourth image is of the drawing as a whole - it's 24" x 36". The other few images are details. I am working with India ink and white acrylic paint. The bar of images on the lefthand side of the drawing are transfers from color copies.

Tomato Salad 10" x 8"

Diane got me thinking about the seasonality of produce, and well, what's summer without tomatoes? I got really excited about painting them - even fixed tomato salad for dinner last night. I am wondering why I am obsessively painting food. Maybe that's where my focus has been for the last few years. Maybe I have developed an appreciation of it's beauty over that time. Maybe I like to cook because I think food is beautiful - poetic. If you read enough cooking magazines, cookbooks, and food writing it is hard not to become entranced. Some people call it "food porn". (That could be a whole new avenue for the paintings...)

Whatever the reason, it does allow you some control over your pallete. Are you interested in red?...Paint a tomato. Green?...an apple. I think too that the colors of produce are bold and pure. There's nothing quite like the orange of an orange. If you want to really indulge in saturated colors, paint fresh produce.

I tried to be a little more conscious in my handling of the oil paints with this piece - strictly work fat over lean. I'm sure that before I was haphazardly slopping the stuff on the canvas. I think I got a different product this time. But I'm not so sure it was purely the method that produced a fresh style as much as the process of approaching a painting differently. Focusing on how I was laying the paint on gave my consciousness a little nudge, put it in a different relationship with the painting, and gave me a new result.

I feel compelled to include my recipe for tomato salad as well. Be sure to taste and adjust seasonings as this is an approximation of what I did last night. Improvise too - try basil instead of sage, or add cucumbers to the mix.

6 Roma tomatoes, large dice
1/4 red onion, paper thin sliced (half or quarter moon-shapes)
1/4 pound Feta, large dice
1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted, chopped
2-3 fl oz. olive oil
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
3 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1/8 tsp. Fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
3 fresh sage leaves, chiffonade

Combined ingredients and let marinate for at least one hour.