Kizmet

How does it happen?...

The pear picture took me two days of work - maybe four hours. The Braeburn apple - twenty minutes. Where do these things come from? I have been slaving away all summer to nail that loose, effortless aesthetic of the apple painting. And lo and behold, there is no slaving involved in the execution. It is indeed effortless. Of course, I realize that all these images build upon one another and I wouldn't be here without that whole summer of painting. Blah dee blah dee blah...It's like being told to eat your vegetables because they're good for you. In this case, however, the reward is more gratifying.

I finally got some good images of my paintings not the deep dark murky pictures that I continually post. The image of the pear painting hasn't been photoshopped at all! I am forever fooled by the illuminated screen of my digital camera, thinking the picture is correctly exposed. Now I am on the path of overexposure.

Both pieces are 4" x 3" or 3" x 4", as it were.

Practice Scales

Here is the painting I began a while back. You haven't seen it before perse, but I have mentioned it. This is my first venture on a wood panel with oil paints. It is a poplar board and I built a cradle for it (a wooden backing to prevent the panel from warping). I then gessoed the surface to protect it from the oils and sized the gesso to prevent it from overabsorbing the paint. Then I got completely frustrated. The sizing didn't resist the oil paints the way a canvas can and my paint was drying upon application.

After building up the layers and beginning to use linseed oil in my paints, I am back to the normal absorbtion and drying rate of oil paints. And I am very pleased by the smooth surface the panel affords me. Painting tiny detail is much easier on a flat board than a knobbly canvas. So I am finding I am able to paint teeny tiny objects in this composition. I am also getting some nice passages - well one so far. It is the detail I provided. I think the paint application became very nice and wet - soupy. The paint has a sense of flow, accident, or life to it.

I don't have many thoughts on this piece as to what it is about. I suppose I am not really trying to do something like that with this work. It's perhaps just a simple exercise again in still life. So that I can have a place to rest while I am in the studio. This painting is practice - like scales would be to a musician.

The Annunciation

In the hopes of illiciting some opinions I am posting photos of The Annunciation, again. The colors have become more vibrant as the painting continues to be worked. I am wondering now if maybe I have collapsed the space because the hues in the background are too saturated or the surfaces aren't modelled enough on the rear cabinets, refrigerator, and stove. I added some red tulips to the foreground, a new and last minute addition that is still in progress. The purplish flowers are myrtle, but I am not happy with how they are turning out. I am working primarily with illustration in this painting - using images based on what they symbolize, constructing a scene in my head and executing it on the canvas rather than merely observing light and form. This is something that I never thought I could do; but I am happy with the results in this piece.

Untitled

Here is another photo of the New Painting after a little more work.

New painting 16" x 12"

Well, I unexpectedly had the day off work today. And maybe that's the best time to paint. I haven't had a chance to cook up a myriad of excuses to keep myself out of the studio. The following is the first stages of a painting that I am very excited about. It's something I have been thinking about painting (in a way) for a long time now. It may be a little hard to see because it is very lean - the paint is cut by a lot of turpentine; but I am just trying to rough everything in at the moment.

Two more quick paintings

I should really be a bit more disciplined about the photos I take of my work. These are both pretty dark. But then I seem to be shooting things ineptly to get them on the site and going back later to either reshoot or edit the image. So keep checking back. I sneak updated images into old posts without ever mentioning it. (Bet you didn't notice I did that.)

Theses two paintings are small and in the same vein as the last two - get something down, do it in one sitting, it doesn't matter what, just how. And well, I think I loosened up and approached that juicy looking paint which is seemingly alive in its application and effortless in rendering the subject. Keep in mind I did say approaching...It's a flicker right there in the image of the garlic. The clove in the foreground happened first and happened quickly, and while it happened I was working out a new way of articulating what I was seeing. I was becoming a little more facile with my oil paint. (Quick, widen the doors! Her head is enlarging!) I will try and keep this in perspective. But it is refreshing. One more rusty painting bolt shaken loose!

(And I'm rediscovering my brown paints right now too.)

Another 3" x 5" sketch

I sat down to another quick painting today rather than working on my long term pieces. This took about three hours and was pretty challenging because the oil paint remains so wet. (Maybe I really am an acrylic painter.) I still am looking to develop a relationship with light. I feel I am drawing rather than painting - deliniating the form and edges of an object instead of utilizing paint's unique ability to convey luminosity, shadow, and highlight. I sat down again after this piece and began another short small composition that seems to be closer to this idea of capturing light. We'll see.
The photo has been tinkered with in Photoshop simply because it was too dark, but again, I think the program makes the colors a little surreal.

"A painting a day" or, "there are some paintings I just have to fling like a frisbee into the trash"

I'm feeling a little stuck lately. I was plugging away at the Dinner still life when I decided to add the magpie. Then I felt inspired. I knew what I was going to paint next. I researched it, built my support, prepared it, and sat down to paint...

Nothing.

I changed my direction. Searched some new sources, sketched out an image and began applying paint. It didn't work. The oil dried instantly, as if I was working with acrylic paint. A little research led me to conclude that the support needed some more preparation...A sizing to prevent the gesso from over absorbing the oil paint I was applying.

But still the whole process didn't feel very inspiring.

So here I was again with a blank canvas. After a few feeble efforts, I began a second painting of the same Dinner still life from a different point of view. A little boring? Perhaps.

I sat down to work on that reincarnation of the Dinner scene again today, and just started wondering what I was doing.

"What am I doing?"

So I bumbled around on the internet for a while and found a pretty interesting blog. http://duanekeiser.blogspot.com/ This guy is making a painting a day. And while I am not interested in the idea so much, I am interested in the work. It's beautiful. And perhaps best viewed by visiting his blog and clicking on the Archives link in the righthand column. It takes you to thumbnails of all his paintings organized by month. I think his work tells me that it doesn't matter what you paint, but rather how.

So here is what I sat down and wrenched out of my brush today. Yes, it was painful. And yes, I think it belongs to that category of "bad paintings".

I guess it's true. "Everyone just has a certain number of bad paintings in them. Get them out, and move on." Good advice from an old friend of mine.

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.

Green Apples 8" x 10"

After a wonderful discussion about art this Sunday with my sister in-law, Diane, I have the feeling there is much to learn. (Maybe I'm just getting in touch with reality...) Today I started a new painting in the studio that I think has a different style to it - born of the aforementioned Sunday conversation. I'll post a photo of that tomorrow. But tonight I'll post an older painting - the first one I sat down to do this summer.

Work in progress

The studio smells faintly of strawberries right now. I am posting a picture that I am still working on (a first). I have taken some digital photos of the strawberries as I do not expect them to last, and am going to try to complete the painting from photograph - something I have been prejudiced against since art school. I think one of my professors said, "There isn't enough information in a photograph to paint from..." Perhaps he was right in some cases. I've seen artists render objects that don't convince me. Did the artist really see that? They haven't put down enough details to tell me what it looks like - usually because they are working from a photo that didn't contain the information in the first place. But I have also found that working strictly from observation is equally limiting. There are time and logistical constraints surrounding your subject matter. "Will it rot?...Will it look the same tomorrow?...If I can't recreate it in the studio, how do I paint it?" I get hung up on these things. Thanks to everyone who has visited this site and especially those who have responded with comments or emails. The support keeps me going.

Long pose and fourth sketch

Here are three more life drawing images that I couldn't load on the last post. (Did I mention that I am not particularly technologically proficient?!) One is a quick 15 minute pose with a detail image also posted. The second is the long pose I spoke about in the previous post. I didn't take time to crop these images either; i.e, nevermind the bar code and sales price on the sheet of paper with my long pose...tee, hee.

Life Drawing

My first life drawing session in six years! Wow. I'm glad I didn't think about it too long else I would have gotten too nervous to enjoy it. I was definitely rusty - it was hard to quickly get the poses onto paper, like I had forgotten how to look; and my shoulder got sore (even with all the whisking and lifting I do at work in the kitchen!). But it was so good - so, so good to get back to it; to let my hand glide along the newsprint with the charcoal nub between my fingers. It works like an extension of your body - like your nails could be made of charcoal and you are just drawing with your hands...

The session was in a woman's home in Cave Creek - an offshoot of the Arizona Artist's Guild group. And they were lovely, warm, and welcoming. What more could you want for a return to life drawing?!

Here are a few of my more successful sketches. The poses were 10 to 15 minutes in length. The final image is the drawing I completed during the long pose - not too successful I think; but great for the little practice I've had. I got really involved with rendering the face and may have done better paying attention to the organization of the entire piece. But then again, it's nice to be indulgent...(I love to draw faces). Let me know what you think.

Bowls and Limes 5" x 10"

This week it was limes in little glass bowls. I found some stunning artwork on the web http://www.twinhouse.com/artists.php4 . Check out Neil Hollingsworth and Karen Hollingsworth. The kind of heart achingly beautiful stuff you only wish you could paint. I think I was most struck by the austerity of their color pallete - very stark, neutral, almost white. So that is where this began. I snapped a photo of limes out on our kitchen counter. But somehow, and it's always been this way with me, when I sat down to paint the painting or more correctly the palette took over. In the end I stopped out of frustration, but as with any painting I work on, I have an affection for it, although it's most certainly going to need some time to grow on me.