Tuesday, February 21, 2023

 It's been a while since I last posted but who's keeping time let alone track- only me. Most recent work that moves across different substrates and mediums. Let's jump right!.

24"x36" canvas that has a horrible work underneath it that was mostly black India ink which was then covered with gesso giving it that great raw gray background with basic and thick acrylics on top. 

"Block Party."

No photo could ever do justice to this work but it's what I got. 53"x60" Arches 300 lb watercolor paper that also has a dreadful work underneath. I attempted to do big gestural work and it failed. So, out comes the gesso. Some of the previous work bled through giving it some architectural lines which I then  expanded on with dripping India ink of various colors and then went small with gold acrylic and oil crayons. I think this is my best piece.

"Is It Noisy In Here, Or Is It Just Me? (What's The Cat Doing In The Painting?)"

Easel work on 22"x30" Arches watercolor paper with charcoal and pastels. 

"In Germany, After The War."

24"x36" canvas with multiple layers (veils) of diluted black India ink and gold acrylic and undiluted black India ink on top and oil crayons. "Couleurs Primaries."

And as Nina Simone once said at one of her last concerts, "Go home, it's all I got!"

Thursday, January 5, 2023

 First plog of 2023. Here's hoping it is a healthy, productive and rewarding year for us all. 

Lulu and I had gone to NYC to see our respective children and our new grandson, Sweet Baby James, who filled us to capacity with joy and promise. Inmeasurable quantities of both. We also had a fabulous time with Josh/Shannon and our beloved granddaughter, Paige. Nick and Frankie took us out for a couple of memorable meals, as well.

The weather sucked and the toursists are back in droves in midtown so getting around was brutal as was the weather. We had planned on seeing the Edward Hopper show at The Whitney but it was an impossible task. We did manage to spend some etheral time at MOMA which filled our cups to overflowing. I got to spend some quality time with a pair of Jackson Pollack's large works which brought me to my knees and to tears. 

I've always loved Jax work but I think I finally got to fully experience his total gift. I was able to immerse myself in the work. Felt is. Saw it fully and was left in total awe. I'm reminded of how Helen Frankenthaler felt after seeing his work. I think I had the same experience.

It was good to be back home with our cats and the comfort of our studio which there is no place like for both me and Lu.

Suffice to say, a burst of energy translating into some good work that I would like to share.

It's fitting that this should be the first piece that I did in the New Year (1/2/23). The size is 42"x58" and the material is muslin and comes off of Lulu's LeClerc Nilus loom. She needed to replace the two aprons and I just loved the look and feel of the fabric. I used fabric paint and acrylic ink as media. Titled, "Crosstown Traffic." (Thanks, Jimi!)

This is on fabulous Arches watercolor paper, 23"x32. India ink, oil crayons, graphite and oil stick. Titled, "FLW Red Brick #1"

This is on 18"x24" Canson XL watercolor paper (delicious) with thinned Mattise gesso undercoat with grey oil crayon base. Speedball Superblack India ink and oil crayon. Titled, "FLW Red Brick #2."

This is the 2nd of the series that have two events linked. The FLW is Frank Lloyd Wright and a story was told to me about how FLW would always include a red brick in his drawings and was asked to remove them. He would then make sure that there was always a red brick in his completed projects. My wee homage to FLW. The other event is that I was entranced by a stunning drawing I saw in our dear friend's home in Williamsburg by Claes Oldenburg. I appreciated his work but had never seen one of his drawings and was totally knocked out.  "FLW Red Brick #3."

This is the 3rd and final of the 18x24 FLW series. Same materials used and the process is the same. Thank you for looking, and I hope you got to see.

Tuesday, December 20th, 2022

 Wishing all the very best this Holiday Season. May you be visited by joy and peace and may the New Year bring us all tranquility.

Two new(ish) images to share. The first is "seasonal" with "Marley's Ghost." 12"x18" Canson XL watercolor paper. The under image is a print transfer of some doodling that my friend, Dale White, did in my studio messing around with oil sticks. I then filled the rest in with oil pastels and graphite with a coat of linseed and bees wax that was scrapped off.

The next image is of a work that I did earlier in the year and was purchased by a friend who had it matted and framed. This really is how I envisioned the work, completed. "Lilacs" from the series, "Lost Textiles- Found Remnants."

Sunday, Dec. 11th

 Been a minute but things have been humming along. The last piece "Possession in Great Measure" continues to evolve and I'm waiting for it to cure so I can varnish it.

Piece below is a study that I'm hoping I can transfer to a much larger format. This is 16"x20" and in acrylics. Titled, "Dr. Roberts." Long story so the title will have to suffice. Thanks for looking and hopefully seeing.

November 16th 2022

 So, to continuing the pissing into the wind and the ether and asking the koan of one hand clapping and if there's no one to hear a tree falling yadda yadda... I continue..Painting (not pictures!) is an insanely isolated process- you-paint-canvas-notion-objective-intent...por moi, it's become simple...what's the question ,what's the response. Painting, for me is a s Socratic process- query- response...objective achieved or not. Samuel Beckett said it best: "Fail Better!" which I will explore by responding. Todays offering is a 48"x 60" canvas paint over of a failure. The undercoat is yellow oil enamel with oil sticks and charcoals. Titled "Possession in Great Measure." Which is hexagram nunber 14 in the sacred Confucian text,  I Ching. There are 14 object des art. Mediums are oil sticks and charcoal and like Robert Frost, I refuse to...explain..

Tuesday, Oct.18th, 2022

 When it rains it pours but in our case here in Indiana, time to scrape the windshields in the morning- as Ned Stark was fond of saying, "Winter is Coming..." Two images and some verbiage to share my work process (what a fucked up overused word but my  internal thesaurus is on strike).

This is what I call a first draft (once a writer...)- it's on a 48"x60" canvas that has 3 or 4 paintings under neath it. My instinct was to use acrylic gesso and realized that was a non-starter as they were orignally oil and so there is a white oil primer (3 coats) and this is the first iteration:

I identify as a Color Field painter for many reasons but have been moving toward representational forms that are "morphic" in feel and the shapes are iconic, for me, and found in my expereince of nature. I also seek balance with these forms and weight. As a stand alone piece, I find this to have too much white space and the overall feel is decorative. I accept that some may find this construct, pleasing. I reject "pleasing." It contributes nothing to the "conversation." Nice is not something I want nor need to hear. Continuing on the theme explored on an earlier piece ("Lucky Eleven") of presenting colors and forms in motions and balance (or inbalance as is the case with that piece). After completing this stage, I knew I wanted to challenge myself and the viewer see color as an expressive and kinetic process, as it is in nature. I offer this in evidence:

The essence remains but the "process'(fuck) reveals the hand and intent and my reveal of "punkness." In a banal sense, it's the rejection of beauty as an ideal and my belief that that construct is false and not my Art. I hope to create discomfort and misalignment in the hope that a new viewpoint may emerge. Abstract Art is representational. The artist knows it and hopes that in sharing it, s/he can challenge the viewer in ascertaining it. For me, those shapes/forms and colors are in complete harmony( see first image) but my experience is that harmony is messy, dirty and not what we think it looks like. Thank you.

Tues. Oct. 18, 2022

 As Sandy Denny sang so poignantly, "Who knows where the time goes...." been a while but then that's the nature of this plog...easy come easy go. Lot's to unpack with some new work...let's go to the monitor, Sally...

17"x19" rayon bookbinding paper with oil sticks and oil pastels. "Looking for Clues."

9"x12" watercolor paper & oil pastels. "Bowl of Fruit."

12"x18" Canson watercolor paper and Sennelier oil pastel sticks. "Jacobs Harp."

48"x48" unprimed canvas with thinned oil paint. "Eyes Of The Universe."

18"x24" Canson watercolor paper with Sennelier oil sticks and graphite. "The Ram."

60"x65" raw linen hand primed /acrylics. "Pink Moon."

18"x24" Canson watercolor paper with Dynaflo fabric paint/graphite/India ink/oil pastels. 

"A Banana, A Grape and A Bluebird in  Repose."