Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011

Here is a new one that just got started two days ago. I like the contrast of the black forms with the other, more dimensional shapes. And that orange/red squeezy thing cracks me up! Painting is moving along much better, in general.

Friday, Jan. 28, 2011

Here is the painting that gave me so much trouble earlier in the week (it is the Prussian Blue piece mentioned one week ago). This is how it wanted to be; it fought me viciously until agreeing to this incarnation. And I'm very pleased with it now. Underwater lunar. The saber-like shape wanted to stay and dominate the image.

I really thought that THIS one was going to get tossed. Sometimes painting is a back-and-forth process - especially so when there isn't a preconception of what the finished image will look like. Perhaps that was the problem; neither of us knew where we were going. Which ultimately is the only way to travel.

Mon. Jan. 24, 2011

Here are nine 9" x 12" paintings. I call the series "Creating Life," since they are all biomorphic creations. Cellular, micro/macroscopic, evolving, creating themselves. There are four other pieces in this series.

I like them because they are a constant - as opposed to the larger works, which tend to go in dozens of different directions, in varying sizes. They help me to stay grounded. And there is something humble in working this small. It's difficult to get too cocky when a bunch of your work is 9" x 12."

Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011

Here is a more successful work, 30" x 48." It is not done yet but it seems to be well on its way. I'd been working on this one through December ('10) and it has changed a lot. It started out being a gigantic cell and now it is...this. Kind of a cosmic passageway - and a few cellular remnants can be seen.

My dad is going through some serious health issues and that has impacted this work (as well as that nasty little painting mentioned yesterday). Life or death? Stay or go? This is an optimistic painting, beckoning. And it is still in the process of becoming.

Friday, Jan. 21, 2011

It was -15 degrees here this morning. The full moon was blasting like a spotlight on the reflective snow, the house was cold and creaked from the subzero temps, the dog was restless...I did not sleep soundly. And painting at the studio has not been going so well this last week. I guess that is inevitable. I've been working on a 16" x 20" canvas and it has been rather frustrating, to say the least. There are probably about 6 or 7 layers on it now and, still, it is ugly and unresolved. It's not going anywhere. And neither am I.

I'm wondering if I should just abandon it or toss it. Or keep working it? I covered it with a coat of Prussian Blue just before leaving for the day. Ugly. It was so different throughout the week; it has gone through so many stages! One day, all day long, I just painted and unpainted a pink sphere on it. The surface is now rough, brush stroked, streaked.

Well, it's just going to sit there for a while. It is not my job to redeem it or save it or turn it around. In many ways, we are equal partners. We need to sit this one out right now - and then see what happens later. There is a real possibility that this painting could be a failure. Maybe it is trying to teach me something. Maybe it has no intention whatsoever of hanging on the studio wall...

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011

Back in the studio after a Floridian sanity hiatus. There are only 2 paintings I'm working on now; got to load up on canvases and supplies in the next week.
Here are a couple of images from older works. The cluster of 3 are all 9" x 12." I like to work on smaller pieces to get into fine details. The single piece is even smaller - maybe 8" x 10" (I'll have to check).

Next week I'll post more photos of the current works in progress. Stay warm, Minnesotans.