paintpatch

Texture has become very important in my work, and the challenges caused by the dimensional composition keeps me on my toes. Nothing I do contains one layer. Texture adds another language to the quality of underpainting, creating a monologue between the artist and the growing, living canvas. Temptations lure the eye to following the subtle ridges and scratches, only to find they lead into another area where such manipulations take completely different paths.

studies

There really aren't many studies made of finished works anymore. The ones which have lately impressed me most have been those by sculptors, quite often I've enjoyed the drawings more than the finished product. This one, by artist Lynn Baker, harks back to the classic sketches, when tone and color were noted along with composition. There's another unmistable lure in this kind of work. It is an intimate glimpse into the workings of the artist's mind, closer, perhaps than would be possible in any finished venue.

artstuff

Lousy photo. Great painting.

Well, ya gotta play sometimes. Once in a while I like to experiment with underpainting. This time it was cadmium red light, a color loaded with pigment. It can be killed, but why would anyone want to. This is teensy. A mere 10" x 12" on canvas. I keep these little canvases around for relaxation. No heavy stretchers to turn as I work, no huge spaces that refuse to resolve. Everything is manageable, therefore relaxing. Something about this reminds me of Whistler's "At the Piano". Could be the curve of the beach which sort of echos Whistler's upturned chair rail behind the subjects. Clever ploy, that.

Long trip to Louisville, so I listened to a cd set called "The Judgement of Paris". It starts cataloging the personality and direction of the artist most emulated and admired in Paris in the Third Empire, Messonier. The man seemed to be mired in detail, carrying his quest for the same to unreasoning lengths. (Which included posing himself as Napoleon, both clothed and unclothed). Manet was his contemporary and a more unlikely pair of artists could not be imagined. Manet rather enjoyed pulling the collective legs of the ruling art community, most ostensibly via "Le Dejeuner sur le Herb" . Thus adding fuel to a tiny blaze of dissention which became the conflagration of Impressionism.

There was a four year lapse in my painting, when some very difficult personal matters took over. This occurred in the middle. I didn't completely stop painting, but I slowed down, more interested in exploring than actually turning out work. During that four years I made some decisions about painting that I feel could only be good. I never would accept commissions. My colors, composition, and all creative aspects are mine. Therefore, I will not paint anything or allow anything to leave my studio from now on that is not completely personally satisfying to me. Pretty conceited, huh? But what else do I have but my art? Nothing else in the world is completely mine.

new work

This is my most recent painting. I'm never really happy with computer images of my work. So much can't be captured, and the color isn't as aggressive on screen as it really is. But I have found that if I don't document via the digital camera, I tend to let it go for so long, that the painting is either sold, painted over, or traded off and I have no record of its existence. I had hung it outside my studio to get used to it. The elevator is right opposite my wall. And decided I liked it upside down. It works well in at least three directions, (my personal criteria), but best, I believe, like this.

a little Dove talk

Looking at Arthur Dove watercolors on line at the Boston Museum of Art. Been a while since I really took the time to take in the wonderful command Dove has of this medium. Maybe I wouldn't have given up watercolor if I'd know these were out there. Just couldn't face one more shiny apple.

Today I picked up a published book of poems which included two of mine. Stuff looks so good in print. Probably a lot better than it really is. And I went to see an artists' book exhibit in which I was included. This is always so exciting. It's the perfect marrage of high originality and book (however far out) forms. One person is always an incredible standout. Alice Balterman does things with objects, words, images that are never repeated anywhere. She has an imagination far beyond the ordinary and knows how to communicate her so-personal visions. Amazing!

the wedding coat

This painting was recently sold to a law firm. It's based loosely on antique Palestinian cloth designs. The finest garment a man might own would have been a wedding coat, handsewn by the women of his bachelor household, i.e., mothers, sisters, aunts, etc. I like red. For the past few years everything has been red. The overcast designs in the wedding coats were very abstract and colorful, and as long as they weren't followed too faithfully in my work, I found them a great basis for the painting. In fact, nothing in my work is ever followed too faithfully.

As Elaine DeKooning said when explaining that her husband 's work often began with cut-outs of Marilyn Monroe's lips, "You have to start somewhere".

franwatson

franwatson
I spent an evening trying to figure out how to work this dumb thing. Like everything else on the net, it relies a great deal on temperment.

So I did finish a painting. I've been in a serious block for the past few months. Partly because there was so much else going on in my life, and partly... well, who knows what fuels blocks. Most of my work has been dark lately. (but so has my life been) This new one, untitled, unsigned, and I don't even know which way I want to hang it, is lighter. I've been intrigued by works that have white laid over colored backgrounds, utilizing the brushstrokes as an element. Since white acrylic easily allows underpainting to remain, even if indecipherable, there is a mystery involved in areas thus treated.

Once again, it was simply a matter of painting until something happened. I wish there was an easier way to accomplish the same thing, but I'm always a bit put off by work that obviously occurred too easily. It could be my dislike for formula painting. A method I've found most seriously abused by J.M.W. Turner among others.

newbie

This is not what I do. Spring got to me. I should be heading to the studio right now, but I decided to start a blog. Yesterday, a painting which has been going nowhere, started going somewhere. These things seem to have lives of their own. After starting a painting, (acrylic), the hard part is waiting for it to mature. Paint, paint, paint and suddenly something happens. My work is mostly abstract and large. This sweet little image is my fun stuff. I'll write when I leave today. I have high hopes the Homeboys won't be on the corner plying their trade today, but that's futile. What I really hope is that there will be no little children offering wide-eyed hero worship to these thugs.