In this new yea…

In this new year I plan to focus my attention in painting and take it into many new directions both personally and more publicly. This is just the half thought, here are the two things I’ve been considering as I push to wrap up several pieces.

I’m calling my use of lines in the last few years directional painting. To move the eye across the canvas I’ll use big old fat lines that cut across the canvas. This is different from using hatch marks to define a plane or break up an area that is transitioning between two forms. Big old fat lines might work in certain ways but overall keep things flat and too forced. Going over work I did around 2002 I noticed how color built forms and space, moving up to the surface or further back while taking the eye on its journey. Its an old idea that I’ve heard before and now wish to resume as opposed to relying on those directional lines. I like to employ drawing in a painting but overall its relationships between color that I think gives the deeper experience.

I once heard someone quoting a painter (Picasso?) say something to the effect that we are just painting the same painting over and over again. There’s been a lot of truth in that for me. Part of me feels like every one of my paintings is chasing the same ideal and that I either use my horizontal composition or my vertical composition to reach for that ideal. The only thing I can imagine breaking that repetitiveness is making challenges that will force me into new areas. Changing canvas dimensions and palett are two avenues I’ve explored and will continue to use. I know that when I’m pushed either by emotions or circumstance my color range expands. Also letting go of ideals and instead really looking for new relationships in the paintings allows me to create new forms in new spaces.

The paintings in progress feel to me like a shift in how I work. Of course none of this might be noticeable to anyone but myself and by tomorrow it might all collapse but for now it makes a nice painting studio build out of cards.

Working and reworking

I realized I’ve posted this painting and multiple stages. Considering the time and materials going into this piece due to its size, I’m not likely to let this one collect dust on the side until I have exhausted my options. As long as I feel the painting is open and not worked into a corner I’ll keep adding and subtracting, hopefully bringing out something new to add to my bag of tricks. It could go in different directions depending on if I keep the forms that are emerging or dissolve into more gestural and broader movements. I tend get over busy and dense and I’m looking at other paintings and craving openness and room to breath.

recent update

Always stopping and starting. I think the pressure of realizing its almost the end of the year is motivating me to make up for lost time. I’m working on finishing up these four paintings and pleased where they are heading.

Works in progress

Been working on several things since I started back up in August. Here is an update on some of the my recent work.

Color Fun with Photoshop

Moving forward with new work

Since my last post was all about building stretcher bars, I figured I had to follow that up with a post about new paintings that are stretched on blogged stretcher bars. Since getting back into the studio I’ve resumed three older paintings as well as started two new ones. Here are some progress shots.

I’ve also been doing some ink drawings which might seem different from some of my typical abstract work. It doesn’t matter to me so much when things look figurative or abstract, its all the same in my mind. But regardless if there is a recognizable shape or not, I want to more clearly define my visual ideas. So with that in mind and the odd thought of creating designs that could work on t-shirts, I started doing drawings influences by all the various birds living in my area and in my head.

Building a streched canvas from scratch

One project that I’ve wanted to knock off for quite some time is to build my own stretcher bars. I’ve always enjoyed the process of stretching and priming my own canvases. It seemed to me that going one step further and building stretcher bars rather than using prefabricated bars would only increase my satisfaction. Well I’m happy to report that after testing this theory I in fact do feel more satisfied with my new painting surface. Taking this DIY approach has also proved to be more economical as I built a 36 x 42 size canvas for far less than it would have cost to buy those prefab bars of equal size. Of course with this blog in mind I have documented the process as shown below.
Step 1: using 2″x2″ pieces of wood measure to desired length and cut ends at 45 degree angles.

Bars cut to designed length with 45 degree angles at the ends

Step 2: Glue ends and use 90 degree clamps to hold in place. Once glue dries with clamps still in place use 2″ nails and hammer together corners.

Step 3: Measure and cut pieces of quarter inch round molding for each side.

Step 4: Glue and nail down molding along edge. This will elevate the canvas off the frame.

Step 5: Finished frame is ready for stretching canvas!

This process was very simple and after some practice I expect to take less than 30 minutes.

Painting on a Photograph

My two interests in art have always been photography and painting. Its been suggested more than once I find a way to combine these two mediums. Like everything else in my life, I’ve always kept these two worlds separated. But recently my thoughts have gone back to days of experimenting with 4×5 polaroids I shot in college. Its always good to have an outlet for experimentation I find. In painting its working with ink in black and white while in photography its polaroids. So taking one old polaroid from 1998, scanned and printed on heavy paper, I tried going back into it with black ink and white gouache. Its only one attempt but I have an interest to do several more and see where it takes me.

evolution

This painting below I started in 2009 when still living in NYC. It has gone through a few variations as all my work does. A writer friend of mine once commented how painting differs from writing in that you can never hit the delete button. While that may be true, I imagine writers feel just as overwhelmed as painters by the in-numerous choices and directions each piece can go. Looking back I am overall happy where I ended up but I may revisit some things in the future but on a fresh canvas.

Still not finished. Need to get rid of that goofy looking fish thing on the bottom.

Now its finished and hanging in its new home!

New B&W Work

I’ve been slowly but steadily working on drawings and paintings, just not posting so who would know?! Here are a few snap shots of recent works. If I say I’m going to take good pictures of my work then it never happens so I just took a few quick ones. Because the lighting was poor and these are b&w pieces I decided to just convert the images to b&w.