Great Big New Age Southwest Painting

Slowly, slowly...

I did get a small beginning on my ellipse piece as well, but it's not worth posting just yet. It's all very exciting!

Lino Mania

We went away this weekend to Monument Valley where I took this photo. Seeing the landscape for myself gave me a little insight into the painting I am working on right now.

Today, the first day back in town getting myself settled I opted to work on more linoleum cutting. The pattern of ellipses I cut today and intend to use as a background for a painting. The finches were cut the same day as the sparrows - also intended as background.

I printed the ellipses on a 2 foot square piece of wood that was languishing in my studio. The design didn't print very evenly as the wood is beginning to warp, but I think it is interesting nonetheless. Check back for more linoleum fascination.

Lino Sparrows

I am having a little more fun today.

These sparrows are a lino cut. The block is small with only two sparrows cut into it, so to get this look I printed the block three times on the sheet of paper.

Great Big Brand New Painting 30" x 40"

This painting is very much outside of my experience. The imagery, the surreal aspect, the restrained way in which I am working on it (background to foreground). I'm terrible at restraint when I am painting, but I think that limits me in a way. It will be far less frustrating at this size and complexity if I plan out my composition beforehand and then finish the painting in sections - like my first painting teacher tried to impress upon me. I think all my time working with acrylics in university developed a fast paced frenetic way of working that I love; but doesn't fit me right now. Hmmmm. This painting should be fun.

Almost Finished

I think this photo is a little out of focus, but I guess now you know how lazy I can be...
I added a bird to the painting, and I was struggling with the composition. Was it complete? Did I like the movement in it? Was it too "composed"? But I just stopped worrying. I'm going to live with it. I also developed the table the pepper is resting on. It is sitting on a white cloth, and I began articulating the folds. I am not sure I like this change a lot. There was something nice and clean about the previous flat white surface the pepper rested on. But again, I am going to go with it. I feel compelled to do so.

More red pepper painting

As usual, I am excited about how this piece is developing. I am thinking about adding another element on table with the red pepper, but haven't yet decided what.

Bell Pepper 12" x 12"

I think I have found where the wallpaper fits into my work. (And maybe a new avenue for the still lifes as well.) I like the combination of observational painting: the pepper, and painting something that has more to do with design and illustration: the wallpaper. It is allowing me to determine a color scheme within the piece and break away from painting straight local color. When we were at the Barnes in Philadelphia I was struck by the colors in Van Gogh's work. Among all other painters he seemed to deliberately pick the colors in his painting rather than simply reproduce what may exist naturally in his subject. Perhaps I only noticed this because he consistently produced color arrangements that struck a chord with me. But seeing the work reminded me of my own fascination with color and I think I'll spend a little time exploring it in this way.

Portfolio

I added a new link in the right hand column of my blog: Portfolio. I haven't been taking final photos of my paintings especially of the pieces which I work on over a longer period. But I need photos of finished works for my portfolio to submit to grad school. Also I was looking for a way to view my finished works in one place, rather than sort through different blog entries. So I will be assembling final photos of paintings under this link. You will have seen all of these images before - although perhaps not in their finished more refined state. So if redundancy doesn't bother you, or you have been losing sleep wondering if I lightened the shadow in the bottom left hand corner of my last piece, you can now put your mind at ease and click on the link.

More self portrait

Am I overworking things?

The Barnes Foundation

No, this is certainly not one of my paintings. It is Van Gogh's Postman and I saw it last Sunday when I visited the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.

Self Portrait

I am getting some good work done on this piece, and I am very excited about it. Today I worked a pattern into the portrait's background.

Self Portrait again

I have gotten a couple of more hours work in on this portrait, and am currently working into the face with glazes. I hope it will give me a subtly of color and help mask the texture of the underlying canvas. After photographing the image I notice something strange in the shape of the right eye. It probably has to do with the dark I layed in below and to the right of the eye. Also I haven't articulated the folds in the eyelids yet.

Square self portrait 10"

I am into square formats right now. I like their equal sides - they seem less like "windows" than normal canvases do. It was time to get back to simply showing up at the canvas. My foray into woodworking has been distracting me, and I have been working WAY TOO MUCH. (But let's not talk about that.) For this picture I am wearing my new oversized plastic beaded necklace.

Here is the landscape with the reworked sky I was talking about.

I have had a busy week or so at work, but I have still found time to paint. The landscape is going well especially after a beautiful and cloudy day on Saturday. I reworked the sky which I like much more now, and I daresay, the piece is almost Finished. Also there has been time to track down a table saw, buy a sander, and finish or start a few wooden supports for painting. I worked with the table saw for the first time today and am a little frustrated by the results. It took some time to work up the nerve to turn the thing on and make a cut. But despite my immediate success (I still have ten fingers), I am a little discouraged by things the "borrowed" saw is missing - namely a fence to guide the wood along. The temporary fence I have rigged up is not perfect. So for now, I am pausing. I have also been feverishly photographing birds the past week; below are two that I took today. Tyler found the hummingbird on Saturday and brought it home for me to use in my artwork.

Good find

I was searching Google images for some Edward Hopper pieces to help me wade through my current landscape, (Yes, today it feels daunting.) when I found this - beautiful evocative work by Karen Halt.

Lemon Tree

I have spent two more mornings working on this painting. Here it is so far.

The Lemon Tree 18" x 18"

Well, I did it. I got outside of the studio, thank you Memphis. It was so amazing to simply walk into my backyard and set up the easel for painting. I melted under the hot sun, and became fatigued quickly. But something else happened too.



I was flooded by images that I wanted to record. Until today I hadn't realized how stale I had become painting within the same four walls all year. The only subjects I was working with needed to fit on my sewing table. It was fine for a while, but I am passed the frantic need to keep going. Now that I have more confidence I need to expand my subjects and take on new challenges. I need to be excited by what I am painting. I need to take a few risks. Landscapes are rich because they continually change, clouds drift by and light shifts dramatically. There is a lot of information to record as well, and during the time it will take for me to get it all down there will inevitably be even more changes to the subject. But I am ready to be a bit more liberal in my interpretation. I am willing to observe and paint what I know is there whether or not it has already long since passed by or altered. Below is the newest painting after the first hour of work.

Sketchbook update

I uploaded five new drawings to my sketchbook. I have been spending time making quick pen and ink drawings in the book lately, just to keep working. I realize I am at an impasse with my painting, but I have some thoughts and tomorrow's task is to just push through it and work. The photos of my sketches aren't perfect, and neither are the sketches; but they are practice.

Finished onion drawing

Here is the finished onion drawing.

Les Ongions 10" x 10"

There's something about posting on here that gets me working. I put in a little more time with the artichokes and then began this piece. It's marker, India ink, and white acrylic on paper, and I think it's coming along nicely. The marks along the edge of the piece are masking tape that will be removed when the drawing is finished.

Finished artichokes 10" x 11"

I may do a few touch ups on this piece. The artichokes have long ago rotted away, so I am forced to be done with the drawing of them. In my mind the background of this piece was dark so I filled in a square area around the artichokes to get a sense of how it would look, and then decided that I may crop the image into the square format pictured above. The graphite on panel was an interesting experiment, but I am not sure it's the right medium for me. It is very irreversible like watercolor. Once something is layed down on the wood it is hard to remove it even with sandpaper. In the past I have drawn with India ink and acrylic paint which allows me to completely alter the work, and I feel much more comfortable working in that way. Perhaps I will try it again, but I am not sure.
I have made a few new sketches this week and will be adding them to my sketchbook link soon.

Artickokes 11" x 36"

I started this piece today. I am working with graphite on a birch panel. It is a very long thin format which is how I most commonly worked six years ago, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to get back to it. It's such a strange size I know; but I really feel comfortable composing on long "canvases". I love it. Below is a picture of the piece in it's entirety so you can get a sense of the composition.

* Also we had a new addition to the family

that I am very excited about. I just

bought her today at an excellent price

in the shop round the corner.

Asparagus 5" x 7"

I worked on this small piece last week and was able to put in two one hour sessions on it. I found myself racing against time because the asparagus changed so dramatically between the two sittings. I don't really consider this painting very successful. I think I was spending my time getting familiar with the subject and perhaps I can turn this "study" into something more at a later time. There are some exciting passages in the piece but the painting doesn't function well as a whole. So I recommend clicking on the image and looking at it close up. That's how I like this painting best.

Lemons 5" x 7"

Here is a photo of the lemon painting. This was taken after three one hour sessions working on the piece. The branch is beginning to die so the leaves are losing moisture and changing shape ever so slightly between each session. I have enjoyed the colors in the subject as well as working on something I love that I encounter each day - the lemon tree next door. The last oil painting of apples led me to working in this palette - highly saturated colors (fruit) on white plates. I love the contrast and the clean look. I purchased another sketchbook the other day, this one for pen and ink drawings. And I work in it when getting to the easel seems daunting. Check the blog for links to that book and my Moleskin soon.

Eggs 4" x 5"

I have been trying to paint everyday again, but just for a short time. Here is a small painting I started yesterday when I realized it was the wrong time of day to work on the apples. (The shadows in the still life were very different in the early morning.) I finsihed the eggs during my session today and began a painting of a branch from the lemon tree in our neighbor's backyard.

Tyler

I have wanted to paint Tyler for a while now. And this weekend we started small - a one hour sitting. We'll be back at it again next weekend. So I'll have updates of this piece to post.

My Moleskin

I broke down and bought one of those tragically expensive trendy little Moleskin sketch pads this week after visiting their website and finding some really nice examples of watercolor sketches. (Clever advertising idea...it worked.) It has solved a small problem of mine which is that my studio is located in my house. Thus, long days painting also mean long days in the house. Now I am able to be more mobile and I spent Tuesday painting pictures of lettuces at an organic farm. Watercolour is not really my forte and I am doing this for little more than play - diversionary art. But perhaps it will open me up and get me less focused on product and more on process. This morning I woke up and made a quick watercolour of the apples set up in my studio for my current oil painting. Here they are.

Here too is a link to the Moleskin website as well as Amanda Kavanagh's work. Click on the sketchbook icons in the left hand column of Amanda's website. It's really beautiful work.

More apples

Here it is again after a little more work. I'm still very excited.

Apples on a plate 9" x 12"

I'm very excited about this piece. This picture is after the first session only, and the paint appears fairly transparent. I'm working some more on it right now and have been able to deepen the colors and opacity.

Ewer again

Well, I reshot this painting and am deleting the previous entry. This photo more closely represents the colors in the painting. And I have finished this piece. I got a good build up of paint on the surface of the piece and am beginning to work differently. I am excited about laying colors down without blending them together...I can't really be more articulate than that right now. Take a close up look and you'll see what I mean.

Ewer 2

Here is the new still life after a little work. There's not much of a change, except that more of the canvas is filled in with the first layer of paint.

Here too are a couple pictures of where I work on all these paintings.

Ewer 18" x 14"

I took a break from the portrait for a little white on white still life. I'll probably keep working on both at the same time.

I think it's going really well today. I loosened up and reintroduced the "mark" into the surface of the face. I also stopped worrying about the background (and the composition). Who cares?..

Earlier today I walked to the library and checked out their only book on painter Lucian Freud where I read a good quote. "If I'm putting someone in a picture, I like to feel that they've fallen asleep there or they've elbowed their way in. That way, they are there not to make the picture easy on the eye or more pleasant, but they are occupying the space of the picture and I am recording them.' Composition, in other words, is never more important to a painting than the subject. 'In my case the sort of odd ease and calm of a composed picture could take some of the life out of it...One of the things in Stanley Spencer I'm so conscious of is his composition'('Shall we put this there?')...I felt that the way I put things looked awkward, in the way that life looks awkward."

Just an updated photo of my painting. It's proving challenging, and I'm a little frustrated; but I am going to keep going.

Beginning of a self portrait 20" x 16"

I like a painting when it is in this stage of emerging. Today I started a new self portrait over an old piece that I never finished. After recently adding a few links of artists I enjoy to the blog I remembered how much I admire juicy oil portraiture. It inspired me to get back to the figure myself (for the first time EVER in oils). I was so surprised by the result as I have never been able to achieve the same sort of subtly with acrylic paints. I think this is going to be a fun painting.

12" x 24" Patterned background

This painting was started before Christmas and was then put on hold. I have just spent the last few hours hashing it out - teeny tiny brushes, lots of yellow and purple paint. I am still considering sorting out some of the irregularities in the pattern, but at the moment my mind is spinning. The plan is to use this as a background for a few animals, perhaps birds or bugs. We shall see. I am obsessed by ornately patterned vintage wallpaper. This particular design comes from a photo taken in a bar I like downtown, Chez Nouz. Yes, the wallpaper is that obnoxious gold, and the actual design is enhanced with flocking!

Pigeon 5" x 7"

Blogger updated to a new format?...These things boggle the mind, but I noticed the last two paintings I posted have fantastic "detail viewing potential". Just click on the image on the screen to get a better look at the pieces.

Abstract 4' x 5'

This blog is looking a little stagnant, yes? I have been working albeit only a little. Christmas was very busy, but I found time to finish a piece my parents want hung in their living room. Here is a photo of it. It was painted to their specifictions - abstract and using certain colors - so it isn't really in the same vein as my other work. Enjoy.

Pinecone

I am still finishing this piece. There is a green pinecone on the upper corner of the dish; but I like the way the pattern has turned out. It's been refreshing to work with such a different pallette.

Egg

Admittedly the subject matter was ripped straight from Duane Keiser's Painting a Day Blog; but the idea intrigued me. It is such a seemingly ordinary image that is really beautiful; and very technically challenging. In the end, I am simply moving on to the next painting.

Well, I painted over the previous egg painting. It bugged me. I didn't think it had turned out very well. The above image isn't a finished piece yet, but I think I am constructing a much more believable and concrete bowl. I didn't crack the egg in the still life this time because I was trying to make things a little easier on myself. We'll tackle the raw egg another time...

Another 4" x 3"

I am just trying to get going again after my recent two or three week absence from painting.

There is another small painting that I can't load onto Blogger right now. I have been trying all day to get this picture posted.

Looking at my last few paintings I think my approach was effected by an article I read. Check it out, it's entitled "On Finding the Right Mark"