Doodling...Noodling

Here is the tintype I am messing around with - rather inexpertly I may add. But the work is more like doodling and I like the free reign it gives my mind to wander and experiment. In fact, that's what I think my current dabblings have largely been about - play. And play in the context of art is always a good way to introduce fresh ideas and approaches.

Nest prints

Here is part of my "nest" ruminations. I purchased a Bible and what seems to be a Chinese Hymnal several months ago at a Goodwill in Phoenix. The paper is very thin, translucent almost and the text is delicate enough to read as an overall value in the background. I took the books to Kinko's and had the spines cut off - I felt really bad doing that to the Bible...But I did it anyway. And yesterday I started cutting this nest into a small linoblock I had laying around in the studio. It was all very impulsive. I stopped cutting and printed a proof, but I was so surprised by how well it looked I didn't bother revising the cut block at all instead I began printing my edition of 25. Yea! I love them. Please forgive the magnet included in the image of the print. They were still hanging up to dry when I photographed them.

BTW if anyone knows someone who can read Chinese characters I am very interested in learning what is written on the pages on which I printed. Thanks!

Life Drawing in Brookline

The two drawings above are from my latest life drawing session. The top one is the longer pose - about 35 minutes; and the bottom about 10. I am excited about the sense of volume in the bottom pose. I think it's acheived mainly through the curved lines that sweep through the figure, something a previous drawing teacher had tried to dissuade me from articulating. But the models I have the opportunity to draw as of late are substantial people, and I am losing the underlying bone structure because I cannot see beyond the changes in shape that their flesh create. It's all very exciting - and perhaps a weird thing to say, but having done alot of life drawing you typically see one body type; a super trim athletic female. Perhaps this is the only person willing to disrobe in a room full of strangers. It gets pretty boring to draw similar body types. The two sessions I have had in Brookline have been pleasant surprises as the models look like normal women with weight and mass to their bodies. It's great - they are very Rubenesque.

These two poses are from the first session. Again the longer pose is pictured first, the shorter second. I hope to continue attending and improving my observational skills!

Antonio lopez garcia

I finally made it to the Museum of Fine Arts last night. Phew. It was free from 4 until close which was the biggest carrot. The admission price is normally $17 Wuh? So expensive. The collection was gorgeous and I will have to spend many more Wednesday nights with the work soaking it all in. But the highlight of the evening was the special exhibition of Spanish artist, Antonio Lopez Garcia. (Yes, you can get into the special exhibit for free as well! What a coup!)

I would encourage you to Google the artist to view other images of his work and get a better sense of his style and subject matter. Most of his paintings were near photographic in their observation. The subjects were not always rendered with the definite edges and finite shapes that film could provide. Instead there was the sense that he was painting - as one got close to the canvas and realized the information provided was merely an impression, an imperfect blot of paint, a ragged edge indicative of brush work. But the work was exhaustive. Lopez Garcia is not working from photograph! He is spending years sometimes visiting sites and painstakingly making accommodations for changes in light and objects. I was overwhelmed. His courage to take seemingly endless cityscapes and work them out building by building; tone by tone. Truly inspiring.

Nest number 1

I have been thinking a lot about nests as metaphor. It all grew out of my interest in painting birds and with our move to the northeast where I am watching spring begin her slow march for the first time in fifteen years. Seasons?...Wuh?... I am nesting and so are my new avian friends.

What does it take to build a home? And what are the components? I feel strongly that collecting is part of this. The wrens and robins collect moss, grass, trash whatever is in their surrounding environment and the areas where they commonly return to find food. The composition of their nests is defined by their habits, surroundings, and physical features. Do their feet have the ability to knit and weave? Are their beaks suited to the task? Some birds do not build nests at all - instead purloining the work of their industrious counterparts or perhaps hollowing out the trunk of a tree. What am I working to grasp and collect to create a sense of belonging?...

So here is my nest. I made it without the use of needles in what I believe is more akin to crocheting. I am considering dipping them in wax and adhering drawings to them. We'll see.

Finger knitted nests

I have a really hard time formatting posts in blogger. I suppose I am asking it to do more than it is able, but the tintype post looks presentable so rather than endangering that I will post my other few photos and ideas here.

Above is a photo of a hanging nest that I began finger knitting. I am not sure I should even use this term...am I using it correctly? Let's just say that I made this with yarn in a knitting like fashion without needles. I am thinking a lot about nests lately, and this is a solution for visually expressing the Nest. We shall see.

Below is a step in the development of the stitching idea. Sewing objects on canvas is very slow going. I want to produce my pieces more quickly than sewing will allow me to do. So I thought about stiching on images of birds drawn and cut out of other pieces of canvas. We'll also see about this as well.

Tintypes and nests

Here are photos of two of the tintypes I bought in Gloucester this weekend. The actual tintypes are quite crisp. Unfortunately my photos are rather soft in focus. The halo in the photo on the left is oil paint that was added by me ala an artist I saw at the Lisa Sette gallery a few years ago. It's not my original idea but it is so intriguing I feel compelled to go through the action of making one of these photo paintings to see what it instigates.

Wonderful weekend.

I didn't paint today, but I was reminded of how fiercely I want to continue making art, and how much I have to say. I visited the DeCordova museum outside Concord, MA. this weekend. Tyler was fishing on Walden Pond, seriously, and I trotted out to Thoreau's cottage and pondered the wonderful words of the transcendentalist before hightailing it indoors at the museum up the street. I was quite immediately greeted by the installation pictured at the right. Now I was very, very, naughty to take photographs of this. It is typically frowned upon because of a few reasons not least of which is the fact that a flash can damage the often light sensitive surfaces of artworks overtime, but there is also that whole sticky issue of copyright and intellectual property.

Bah...

I loved this - positively swooned over it. And felt that I absolutely had to capture it for further scrutiny back home in the studio. As I talked about the piece to Tyler I realized I was interested in how the botanical subjects were turned into flat symbols and then grouped according to a mood or subject to create these crazy motifs - sort of Victorian, sort of fanciful, grotesque. Yes, this piece was grotesque in the way that the grotesque becomes the sublime...I loved it.

On another note, I was lucky enough to find four tintypes as I sorted through bins of antique photos in a shop in Gloucester MA this weekend. The owner was a collector of other people's snapshots as were some of his close friends. And I was immediately fascinated by that as well. What a wonderful and strange obsession - very voyeuristic in a way. Love it!

I got some work done!

I had all week to spend some substantial time in the studio. And I took some of my frustration with my new cardinal piece and channeled it into good work on the mockingbird painting. I had invested so much time in this piece already I found it was a good motivator to keep going. I need this to come to fruition, right? It can be hard to judge the progress of this painting as all the work is so painstaking. But if you go to the bottom of the page and search the blogs by subject (mockingbirds) I think you will see I got some remaining gesso covered and a few birds more realistically rendered.

Stitching

I have been liberated by my recent spate of grad school rejections. I feel a little differently about painting right now. I am was so careful the past few months because I knew I needed each and every painting to be a success so that it could be added to the portfolio I hoped would get me into an MFA program. Well, now that I'm not going - by the way, I'm not going. I know I haven't mentioned that yet; but I didn't get in anywhere. I sort of feel relieved as far as art making is concerned. I feel expanded. There is more of a chance now to experiment and take risks because if it doesn't work out, "hey, that's okay".

Hence the idea of sewing drawing. Strangely enough while I was perusing my friend, Mithi's blog, I found she had hit upon the same idea. Even beter was that she had posed the question of "how to" and her readers had given her a litany of enthusiastic replies. And the ideas worked! Thank you Mithi. I know very little about sewing machines, and when I sat down to attempt this initially, before reading Mithi's blog, I was trying to freehand sew with a normal set up. Well the fabric pulled and the thread rebelled. And it was a mess. But here I've replaced the plate underneath the foot in order to raise the cloth off the feeder (feed dogs...that's what they're called, really) and I have changed the foot as well. The result: a very even stitch despite the fact that I was running the machine backwards and forwards, turning it left and right. It looks like a nice continuous line. Now that I know I can do it, I began research into subject matter for some new work.

I don't know about the cardinal painting right now. I suspect it will be abandoned. Then there is the Mockingbird piece that I was working on when we left Phoenix. That is in suspension. And there's also a large piece I researched and bought the supplies for that I never began. I don't know what will happen with those loose ends yet. We'll see.

Don't worry...

I am here. And I am even making art - amongst looking for a new job, and registering cars, and figuring out the T. I am here. I am making a painting. You've seen it, and I am sorry to condemn anything but I have a sneaking suspicion it belongs to that school of bad paintings. That's okay though. I think I have a job, which means that this week before I start work will be dedicated to working in the studio - and eradicating the bad painting. I shouldn't say too much. I have had some serendipitous art experiences lately. Last Friday I attended a drop-in life drawing session in Brookline where I got some time with a model and exercised those observation skills. Phew. I can tell I'm out of practice. Perhaps I'll get around to posting some of those images.

More work

It's a little awkward right now...But we'll see.

My Grandmother's sewing machine

Ok Mithi...or any other reader I may have who knows little about sewing.l I want to use the machine to stitch shapes into my canvas before I stretch and paint it. I think I need both a darning foot and a darning plate. Does anyone know if I've got it right in the photo above?

Ohio

A very young painting I began this only a few days ago after my first visit to our local Pearl Paint store. As we traveled across the country I was struck by the presence of birds in wintery climes. This image reminds me of the cardinals that had remained behind in Ohio's Amish counties.

Painting hiatus

I anticipate a little break in painting and thus in posting as we pack up shop and move to the East Coast. Maybe I can get some good snaps of our journey to share with you.

More more mockingbirds

I am taking very small steps with this piece as I am only able to work on it for a short while each morning. But this is the first week I have been able to show up and paint since I finished the piece of Memphis. I have either been too busy with applications or too busy with work. So "yea for painting!"...

Mockingbirds

I have begun articulating the pyracantha bush. This work is very slow going, and I have been spending a lot of time waiting tables. So there haven't been many uninterrupted afternoons of painting.

More work

It only took a few shifts at work to remember how much I like painting. I feel inspired by this piece again. I have put the pomegranates aside and after I got a good opaque layer of paint built up, I am ready to articulate the details. I had thought to put a crane in this piece, but it doesn't fit. It would cover up too much of the painting that already exists. Instead I think the crane will find a home in a future painting that I am planning.
There is still a lot of work to do. I am hoping that I could use some of my current pieces during a grad school interview, thus expanding my portfolio even further than the January 15th slide deadline allowed. Additionally there are so many ideas knocking around in my head right now, and I am anxious to produce it all. There is however only one speed in painting so I must be diligent.

Mas granadas

I have been refining the pomegranate painting. I suppose it may be a little hard to tell what I have changed since I haven't actually "covered" anymore of the canvas perse. But I built up a good layer of paint and continued to make increasingly specific observations of the tablecloth and fruits.

Grad school

I got the last of my applications in the mail today...


YEA!

Pomegranates 12" x 12"

I am still working on the baby/skunk cabbage thingy, but here is a smaller still life that I began yesterday. I am recovering from the push to finish the portfolio and the race to finish my last very large painting. This seems a little easier to tackle right now. I am considering it as part of a larger piece - three or perhaps nine same sized canvases with more pomegranates. We will see. Happy New Year to everyone!

Skunk cabbage and baby heads

I know...

I don't know...
I couldn't help it.

We spent Christmas in Silver City and I saw these amazing rattles at a local art gallery. (Click on Helen Wilson.)

This painting definitely has a direction of its own.

Sorry, the photo is most certainly not in sharp focus; but here is some of the work I have completed in the last two sessions.

Finished photo of Memphis posted under the Portfolio link.

AND In the Garden was accepted for a show next summer at the Central Gallery in Phoenix Public Library. YEA!

Mockingbirds 36" x 54"

I have started painting again - amongst the mess of all the grad school applications. This piece is on the same venetian red background that I used with the painting of Memphis. I like the effect upon the color that working on a darker ground has. This is a closeup of the composition. I'll show you the rest after I put in more time.

Slides for the Portfolio

Not a new image today, but enough of an artistic happening to post it on my blog. My slides didn't turn out. I spent two days this weekend orchestrating amazing feats of camera artistry and lighting technique (or rather my photographer friend, Scott, did the orchestration) only to find through a cruel twist of technological fate that the whole thing was for naught. So tomorrow the only thing to do is to do it all over again.

Nearing the end

I can't believe it! Blogger let me upload my photo! Wow. As you can see, I have spent hours painting stalks on this canvas. This painting is reaching a wrapping up point, and none too soon I might add. It's time to start shooting slides for gradschool!

The Patron Saint of Mothers

Here is the painting of Memphis after the photos were stitched together by a computer program. The bottom left hand corner in the foreground may appear strange. Through an oversight in my photographs the corner was empty after the autostitch was performed. So I tried my best to photoshop some virtual paint into the area. This is a fairly close representation of what it actually looks like. I haven't really taken any liberties. I have already put a lot more work into this piece - steadily painting stalks of sunflowers until my eyes cross. I'll post an updated photo in a few days. Meanwhile the list of colleges for application has been finalized - Rhode Island School of Design, Mass Art, Temple University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Washington, and Arizona State University. Now begins the arduous process of checking boxes and collecting the neccessary forms.

Post number 100: So much work!

I am going to have to fiddle around with a program Tyler found that will knit photos together. It is impossible to take a single photo of this piece at the moment, and I would bet that the piecemail presentation of this painting looks a little weird.

It is going very well. I have been painting my fingers to the bone as I am hoping to finish this piece and the painting of Tyler this month. That leaves the diptych of the apple and grackle from way long ago and the actual compilation of applications for next month. Phew. Why did they ever schedule this deadline over the holidays?!

A better photo

This painting is so large that is impossible to snap a photo of the entire composition in my piddly little studio. But most of the work I am doing is on the right hand side of the canvas at the moment so here is a good photo of that. (It's actually a little out of focus...sorry.)

Datura

I asked Tyler for a little bit of his biologist's mind and we discussed what I could add to the composition of my painting. I am afraid I will quickly tire of painting sunflowers so the "field" I had envisioned may have to be abridged. He suggested plants like thistle and teasle, and was fairly insistent that I have caterpillars wheedling their way through the picture (Yuck)...Today as I gathered some of those source photos for his good ideas I had a few of my own - datura, and a beautiful sphinx moth.

Mucho Memphis

I spent six hours painting today, phew! It's going really well. I was telling my friend, Nina, today that I think this painting is coming easily because I have sat on the idea for a while before beginning the actual work. I have already made quite a few compositional decisions, now it's just a matter of getting it down on the canvas. It doesn't hurt that I am racing to finish for my portfolio deadline.

Small addition

Wow, Blogger actually loaded this photo! That's a first in a few weeks. I snuck in an hour of painting today after a work shift and was able to lay in the sunflower. Sorry about the moll stick in the frame, but I didn't realize how distracting it would be when I quickly took the snap.

Memphis

I began a new painting today, and it's all very exciting. The painting is HUGE, and I started with a venetian red gesso ground. But I can't get blogger to load any of the photos of the piece, boo! Good thing Picasa Web Albums works. Just click on the link titled "portfolio" on the right hand side of this blog. Then you can click on the new photos for a close up peak.

Newly finished pieces

I have been wrapping a few things up as well as pushing to compile a portfolio for a series of college interviews I have on Saturday. Here are photos of a finished Eve, a reprinted linocut (white on cream so I apologize if it is hard to see), and a little more work I have put into the old painting of the squash. (Check the portfolio link to the right for pictures of the squash painting. I can't get Blogger to load it to this post for some reason.)

She said, "Let there be background"...

and there was.

Slowly plugging away...

I worked on this piece a little more today. Really I was just putting in some details on the prickly pear cactus and some highlights on the open fig. I also tried to work out the feet. I stared and stared at my feet in the mirror, and I think I've ended up with statuesque Rodin sized clonkers on the ends of my legs. But...I may leave them out of proportion. I'm not really going for photorealism here anyway. I have been puzzling over the composition of this piece as well. It seems empty compared to its twin - the painting of Tyler, and I am toying with the idea of laying a ground and horizon line; but pretty annoyed that I am thinking of doing this now. It will mean some backtracking... hmmm.

Birdseed 10" x 11"

Here is a print I have been working on during my Thursday night classes at the Shemer Center. It is a linoleum cut. I am working with two blocks - one for each color; and handprinting the image on rice paper. I have really been enjoying working with the medium. I like the graphic quality the rice paper gives to the lino cut, and I am very impressed that I can get such an even print without using a press. This is not a final version of the image. I am still hoping to move the red "seeds" up closer to the image of the birds, but first I must cut away more of the lino block.

More work accomplished

Not the past week but rather the one before I was able to spend a good amount of time working on this painting. I am really excited by where it is going. After a long week at work I feel derailed. And the whole diptych seems a little daunting - really ambitious. What the heck am I thinking?...But I'll muster the wherewithal to continue plugging along soon I am sure. I like the composition. I will be enlarging the roadrunner, keeping the tribble-cactus, painting out the back leg of the chair that descends to the ground under Tyler's right hand (because everyone thinks it's a cigar), and working more on Tyler's face. The photograph I am working from actually doesn't provide enough detail around Tyler's ear and neck. Maybe I'll have to photograph him again. Today I stretched the large canvas for the painting I am beginning of Memphis and Reagan. I really don't have anywhere in the house to store it...

Here is a picture of the progress I have made on the painting of Tyler. It is not the entire composition - the left and right sides are cropped out. I am getting some more opaque layers of paint down on the canvas. And I have covered the entire area with color. I am working out the composition in the foreground still. Earlier I added a small barrel cactus; but because it more closely resembles a green tribble in the bottom right hand corner, I will be changing it.

Ch Ch Ch Changes...

I am working on everything right now trying to tie up loose ends before beginnings more projects. The self portrait is really coming together. I worked into the cacti on the right hand side of the canvas and back into my shirt. It won't be long now for this one I think.

I have worked on the second panel of this piece as well, but the photo turned out blurry. I'll post it at a later date. I envision this piece as part of a larger wooden frame that maybe has hinged doors; but I think for the sake of the portfolio I will end for the time being by cradling the plywood. The advanced carpentry will have to happen at a later date.

Above is a quick snap of another linocut I am beginning for the portfolio - a grackle. I haven't worked out the composition entirely (even though I have begun cutting). Below is another linocut I will include. I have been working tirelessly to get a good print from this block, but my efforts with the press have yielded nothing. My next attempt will be done by hand with a barren on rice paper. I am currently thinking I will make this a two color piece by printing a second image in the large expanse of space in the top left corner.

Almost Done...

Probably my favourite title for a blog post. I am looking to get this painting wrapped up - get it off my plate. I am currently in the middle of a lot of work in the studio right now, and it would calm my nerves to put some more paintings in the "completely finished" category. I am excited by the changes that happened today. I like the expansion and collapsing of space that the outline and the realistic painting create. And I finally painted over the blank spots in the top lefthand corner of the painting - previously meant for birds...forget it. They won't be going into the picture. Lots of things are being resolved, however, I am still struggling with a title. Any suggestions?

Infant of Prague 16" x 20"

I have started another painting - like I need another painting to work on, right? This is the first in a series I have been thinking about. I am very nonplussed by it at the moment. The composition is static, the painting is very blonde, and it has none of the majesty I imagined for it. Still it is a nice break from working so large as with the current figure paintings. Additionally, this piece is solely from observation - my favourite way of painting.