Thursday, March 31st

 As March departs, the weather here in NE Indiana leaves much to be desired- there is always this existential threat of Winter reappearing. The body and soul yearn for Spring but must abide...on to paint.

Two new pieces-each different but united in theory and execution.

Titled, "American Gothic II"- with a nod to the original. This is on "found wood" from the basement. The wood is gessoed and then acrylic impasto sealed with acrylic medium.

18"x24"- study with Matisse acrylics over pale pink gesso. Titled "Woodstock" and I can't really explain why but that's the title that came to me when I spent time with the finished work. What unites the two pieces is the essential role that color plays in both works. Very different yet not really. Each color depends on the other for the unified vision. One in blocks, the other via movement. In the end the same theory; that color speaks.

Wed. March 23, 2022

 I believe that the "thing" that terrifies me more than anything is creating "sofa art." What I'm frightened of hearing is , "Oh, that's so pretty!" I adore beauty. I venerate it. I consume it and bow down to it. The I Ching has a a hexagram- Number 22- Grace- Confucius "felt very uncomfortable when once, on consulting the oracle, he obtained the hexagram of GRACE." It shows "tranquil beauty..." There is most certainly a place in art for beauty but I too, grow uncomfortable in it's pursuit, artistically.

It ain't all shits n giggles...sometimes it's like fucking pulling teeth- the fucking paint won't "do" what you want it to do (Like that's even a possibility!! This is on 24"x36" primed canvas. The undercoat is Matisse colored gesso with blocks of various acrylics that were gesso-ed over with a custom color. I then removed it and did gestures with crayons and rubbed everything out and went over most of it with Speedball ink on brayers and more markings.

Sometimes, (who we kidding, most of the times!) Art is messy and chaotic and it ain't pretty but it should, at the best of times, reflect the conflict- the push and pull (Thanks Hans). This is noisy. This is raw. But it is real and pure and it most def ain't fucking Sofa Art. Blessings.

Tuesday March 22, 2022

 Into the second day of Spring Break and am looking forward to spending time in my newly cleaned and organized studio. Not sure if other artists face the same chaos to order cycle but there is something liberating about the process. Still messing with "studies." The most recent with Derivan brand Australian Gum acrylics and gesso. Their colored gesso is wonderful and a fab undercoat. See below. 18"x24"

The image below is finished and has the Matisse acrylics on top. Titled "Australian Gum." 18"x24"

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

 A couple of new pieces to share with "Show n Tell." Both canvases are 18"x24" so it makes them studies for me. Ideas, techniques and other "discoveries"  that are usually applied to larger pieces. I used different mediums but what does link the two is the use of acrylic modeling paste for the impasto effect.

This is the original image which is with Matisse acrylics over the modeling paste. I liked the effect- the colors, not so much. I posted it on Instagram and asked whether I should gesso over it and start again. One highly regarded viewer suggested "just some of it." I never liked the green and dark blue bits. Another viewer suggested saving the pastels on the right. What is below is, I think, the finished piece.

 I went over the offending areas with tinted gesso and other bits of sleight of hand. Named the piece, "The Committee."

There is a bit of a classical element to this. Begins with the acrylic paste and then the tri-colours are casein based with oil paint on top. In person this work has a luminescent quality. Titled, "Autumn Trio."

Wed. March 9, 2022

 Today is my granddaughter, Paige's 13th birthday- I remember her birth as clear as if it was yesterday...tempus fugit and all that. Almost all of the inks and dyes that I've been messing with are, for the most part, handmixed and customized using powdered pigments, printing inks and other discoveries... I feel like I've gotten a good handle on how it plays with raw canvas but was curious as to how it works with paper. In the piece below, I used Arches heavy watercolor paper. The mediums are gesso mixed with Matisse Australian  Ghost Gum acrylic for the background and then the aforementioned customized dyes with oil crayon for the outlines. 

                                                        "Quartet #9"

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

 On a roll! Staying with the same materials but larger. 48"x60" unprimed/un-stretched canvas. Acrylic ink and alcohol. Gesso and charcoal. "Five Easy Pieces."

Monday, March, 7, 2022

 Raw canvas- unprimed and unstretched 36"x36". Dyes, inks and acrylic paint and gesso. Also used a black Lister marking pencil. Alcohol and turps used to bleed and blur.

Titled, "Gillian Ayres' Ghost" in honor of one of Great Britain's finest post war painters.

Sunday March 6, 2022

 Yesterday, Lulu in tow with our friends Alex Leavell and Jonathan Sweeney, hung my new show at The Arena Theater in Fort Wayne. The weather reflected our mood- sunny and warm. I am absolutely blown away to see my pieces in a "proper" setting and am grateful for the opportunity. The show will be up for three weeks as part of the theater program. Deep gratitude to all whom made this possible. It's what we painters truly live for. 

Alex and Jonathan lining up a very sweet wall that includes "Plastictopia 1 & 2 and part of the "American Primitives" series.

The "Log Cabin" series

Lovely set...

Close ups....

Three of the "found wood" "American Primitive" series

In a  "quiet way," I am very proud but humbled to see an almost years worth of work presented in a setting that captures my vision. 

Wed. March 2, 2022

 March has come in like the proverbial lamb here in Indiana but I know better than to succumb to the false promise of Spring. But my color sense is leaning "green." Continuing to use unprimed/unstretched canvas and various created dyes and inks. This is 36"x36" with aniline dye, acrylic ink and oil-sticks..

"Green Study #1"

Tuesday March 1st, 2022

New work born of antibiotic haze. 36"x36" (approx) unprimed/unstretched 15 oz.canvas. Dye stained background with acrylic ink stripes.  "Red Study #1"