Grouchy

November 20, 2008

Not painting = not happy.

Had a limited amount of time to work today, and all I could get to was the back wall of the subway station in Time Piece. It needed to have more of a sense of unity, and I glazed and smudged it with what we used to call Subway Green. Some of the coral shows through, which is good. It still needs a little yellow highlighting here and there, but it's closer to the way I wanted it to be.

Another Day

November 18, 2008

Worked on three paintings today, and I might get a chance to work on a fourth tonight. Paradise has turned a corner— I'd thought for a while that it was not going to work, and things got especially confusing after I noticed that the clouds were too blue and changed them to a grey that didn't look convincing, either. I managed to find a happy medium and give the clouds a bit more form and structure, and now it looks pretty much the way I envisioned it.

The scene is of an old house out in Berryville that I think has since been demolished. I made an effort to get the photo...the rich September colors worked together like a symphony orchestra. Sunlight and shadow from the clouds played over the fields. Everything about the scene made me want to stay there forever. I just hope I can pull it off. The scene at right is a close-up of the house, which is where most of today's work was concentrated.  It still needs more detail, particularly on the windows and the front porch, but you get the idea.

I did return to one of the oldies, Fashion Statement. Worked on one of the mannequins, but she doesn't look sufficiently haughty.

A Full Day's Work

November 11, 2008 6:30pm

I had a chance to spend the whole day working, and it felt really good. One thing I've realized: No Painting = Not Happy. Unfortunately, the next two days are going to be broken up with other responsibilities.

Started a new Postcard this morning. I know I should be finishing a few things that have been hanging around the studio for a while, but on the trip back from New England I took some photos of the coast and was itching to do at least one painting. The one I started today features lots of fall rusts and browns against a peachy-pale blue sky and water setting. There are bluish trees way off on the horizon, so it plays to my favorite complementary color combination (orange/blue) in a big way.

I worked on Timepiece most of this afternoon, only stopping a little while ago. The natural light's fading fast, so I took a photo of it for the Works in Progress page around 3:30. It's hard to accurately assess the color late in the day, but I pushed on anyhow; tomorrow, in the strong light, I'll probably recoil in horror at some of the choices. But it felt so good...so good to be able to take my time to decide where to blend, where to paint a hard line, where to soften an edge to make a transition believable. I love the challenge of trying to represent something so that it's both realistic and a little magical at the same time. The central figure in Timepiece needs to have an "Is it there or is it an illusion?" type of quality about it, and that means slightly smoky edges and a sense of transparency in places.

Family Matters

November 2, 2008

There have been several scenarios lately involving family members, and painting time has been accordingly reduced. I've done just a bit of work here and there whenever I can catch a bit of time. This will probably continue over the next week, but painting can wait a bit. I did manage to finish the first set of five Postcards. They're going in to the gallery tomorrow, but you can check them out on the Landscapes page.

Where I Am This Morning

October 14, 2008

Visited the eye doctor yesterday for a long overdue eye exam; was happy to hear that my eyes are "very healthy." (Sigh of relief)

Started in early on Time Piece, will continue to work on it through the day. Am adjusting the colors on the side walls on the right side of the painting. Some are a delicious blend of mossy green and pink tomato; other places have posters or bulletin boards that are a simple grey. I want to get the bars on the turnstile in, too---they're very dramatic and add a contrast to the walls.

Completed another Postcard yesterday! I will have enough for the Small Works show at the gallery next month.

In Love

October 13, 2008

The Van Dyke Brown, Deep---fabulous! It mixes with Perm Blue to create a rich darkest dark, it works on its own straight out of the tube, and it doesn't have a reddish cast. I also used it to neutralize and darken a couple of colors I mixed for the tile wall in the background. Perfect! I'm in love!

Realism

October 12, 2008

Went to see the show by Dennis Crayon yesterday at Gallery West. If you're a fan of realism, you should go; the work's beautiful. Also had a chance to take photos of Old Town and add to my collection of reference shots for the tiny little street scenes I'm doing.

Afterward, went to Pearl Paint for supplies. Picked up some Van Dyke Brown, Deep, from the Sennelier line and am hopeful it'll provide the dark, rich brown I need for shadowy areas. The Raw Umber and Burnt Umber hues I've used forever tend to be too warm, and I always end up mixing them with one or another blue. Maybe this'll be better. At $9.13 a tube---which is about what I usually spend for the big tube of white---I hope so!

They did have the 17" and 40" stretchers in stock, too, the ones I need for the train platform painting. Woo-hoo!

More brilliant sun today, and pleasant temperatures.

Up and Running

October 11, 2008

Woke up and had enough coffee to clear my head; then went straight to work. Feel very creative today, maybe it's the sunshine. Put in three hours of work on Time Piece, and had some thoughts about how my painting technique relates to the process of discovery. More on this later when I get a chance to write. Planning the rest of the day to include a stop at one of the area art supply stores for those 18s and 40s.

New Ideas

October 9, 2008

I know I shouldn't start new work until I finish the old; the problem is that oil paint takes a while to dry, and I get so excited about some ideas that I just can't wait to see them realized.

There are two new paintings in the works: one is based on a scene in a restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The reference photo shows a warm interior with gorgeous light washing over a large urn, cast shadows from a frondy plant, people conversing, and a single standing figure looking about pensively. The second is a grab shot I took from a train a few months ago. It shows a crowded train platform with turnstiles in the foreground. The people are in all sorts of poses, and it features a young girl, about ten years old, right in the center. She appears to be looking across the tracks and platforms straight into the viewer's eyes.

So, today, I began applying the first layer of gesso on the linen stretched for the restaurant painting. The linen is finely woven, and without the kind of irregular slubs in the weave that I find so often in canvas. I'm optimistic about it, and it won't be as complicated as, say, Flowers of the Valley or Conversation. Have to track down stretchers for the second painting, which will be around 17" x 40".

Didn't get as far on Time Piece today as I would have liked, but made some progress on the left side, which had been looking unfinished. The painting looks dark, but there'll be some light areas in the middle, and outside the station there will be some soft, dusky, bluish evening light.

Slip 'n' Slide

October 9, 2008

It's always a thrill to start a new painting on a piece of hardboard panel. It's like being on the kind of wild amusement park ride where you have no control over the situation. Unlike gessoed canvas, panels have a slippery, uniform surface that makes for an initial paint application that's like a smeary finger painting. It always scares the bejeebers out of me when I start one of these, and I freak out thinking I've lost whatever competence I might have had. Then after avoiding the piece for a few days, I get back to it and find the second layer goes on with real control. The paint has something to hold on to. It just gets better with every application.

The beauty of panels is that amount of control that you get as you build up the paint. There's no comparison with canvas. You can get precise detail. If you want to create an impressionistic, brushy look, you can do that too.

Early to Work

October 8, 2008

Woke up early from a disturbing dream, and started painting before I even washed or got dressed. I'd found a very old (but viable) tube of Cadmium Red Medium in my paint supplies yesterday, and it made me happy---it's just what I needed for the red area outside the subway station in Time Piece. Mixed it with a little Permanent Blue and it creates just the atmosphere that'll make this painting. It suggests a time of day when the light is failing, and evening's coming on. Can't wait to play those red panels off against the soft bluish dusk light falling on the sidewalk.

Talked with D. last night, and he thought it would be less distracting if the old man's coat was all the same color. I had considered a dark fur type of collar, but wasn't sure if it was too much information. I'm trying the all-of-the-same approach today, will see.

Got my paintings back yesterday from the show they'd been in since July, and it was like greeting old friends. They're stacked around the house right now, waiting for me to figure out what will go where.

Content

October 5, 2008

It's peculiar---even with all the instability going on in the financial sector, I feel incredibly optimistic about my life, and especially painting...Woke up this morning and automatically set up for working on Conversation, which I'd burned out on a week or two ago. The session went awfully well. It's hard to describe the pleasure I get from knowing that the stroke of paint I'm putting on the canvas is going to describe the way a form, like the edge of a sofa, turns in space---creates three dimensionality---I feel like my teachers taught us well, and years of practice are coming to fruition.

After a few hours of painting I met R. in Reston, had a very pleasant hour in the sun outside Starbucks, sipping coffee and chatting about art and politics. Could Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin be described as anything less than dead on? I can't tell them apart!

Losing the Light

September 30, 2008

Went out to run some errands and spend a pleasant hour or so with two good people, both artists; when I got back I couldn't wait to work on Time Piece. We are losing a few minutes of light every day, though, so I must keep this in mind when I make plans. Once the sun dips to a certain point in the sky, it's harder for me to judge color and value. Maybe I should rig up some sort of elaborate light system.

Monday

September 29, 2008

After an evening spent in good company, I got a decent night's sleep and was raring to go on Time Piece this morning. Have blocked in the features of the elderly man's face, and done a bit on the woman coming through the turnstie behind him. Am excited about the prospects of this moody, existential painting.

Impatience

September 28, 2008

I'm so impatient with the Postcards--- because they're only 9" x 12", I keep thinking they should be finished quickly. But then I look at one or another of them and realize there's a place where I need to make an edge darker to separate it from another area, or the ripples in the water should have less of a curve to them, or a transition isn't visible enough; stuff like that. Then I realize the painting's not going to be finished after the next sitting.

Time Piece is making me happy, though. As with Conversation, it has some flat areas that will be magical when I add a little more gradation to them. I love the mysterious quality of the image. There's the stretch limo, the hooded figure---male or female? ---the elderly man coming out the exit, and there will be blurred figures in motion here and there. Usually I can't paint on weekends; there's too much going on, other people are around, or I get distracted if I have to go out somewhere in the afternoon or evening. But yesterday and today I've been able to settle down and focus. The little Old Town Alexandria series is coming along nicely, too. There are three of them now.

Doing the Happy Dance

September 26, 2008

I got a lot of work done today (see the Works in Progress page) and am feeling really good about it. Two of the Postcards are close to being completed, and a third is getting there. I got back to Time Piece, and made some progress on that. And the tiny Old Town paintings, while presenting a bit of a challenge (the surface soaks up paint like a sponge) are moving forward very nicely as well. I may take more of an Impressionist approach with those. Anyway, I feel like I put in a good day's work.

Small Works

September 25, 2008

Not much time to write, but the 5 x 7 inch gessoed boards I ordered just a couple of days ago arrived today, and they are sweet! Decided to do a bunch of street scenes of Old Town Alexandria and started two of them this afternoon. Will upload to the Works in Progress page tomorrow or the next day; meanwhile, see right---

Recharging the Batteries

September 23, 2008

Didn't realize how much I needed a break from painting. I was getting positively antagonistic towards Conversation, and it has the potential to be a really good piece. It just needs a loving hand, careful strokes, attention to detail, but that's all over a 40 by 50 inch span... Anyway, I couldn't even think about painting until this afternoon, and then I worked on Jay on Read and three of the Postcards in quick succession. It feels good to get back to landscapes.

But---back to the title of this entry---over the weekend I went out to the country. This time of year the Virginia countryside is just spectacular...everything's gold and green and smoky blue. The air is fresh and clear, and the light softens the landscape. You remember to breathe. The destination was Piedmont Vineyard, and it was a delightful experience. The wine was tasty, the company couldn't be beat, and the surroundings were gorgeous. The image at right is the view from the patio, just outside the tasting room. I took a bunch of photos---there is a lily pond, too. Creative batteries are now in good working order.

Getting Real

September 21, 2008

Sometimes you just have to face reality, and for me that means coming to terms with the fact that Conversation isn't going to be finished in time to make the much-anticipated reception at the Levine School of Music. I worked on some of the background detail and the table on the left side last week, but finally had to call it quits and throw down my brush. It's too hard to sustain interest in one painting day after day after day. I feel like I've got a choice between doing a lousy, quick job and doing it right. This painting needs subtle details and some atmosphere, and that ain't gonna happen by Monday.

I really need to get back to some work with soft blues and greens... Jay on Read or the Postcards series.

Crabby

September 12 , 2008

Making progress on Conversation v-e-r-y slowly. It's hard to paint straight lines, plus I realized the perspective is way off on some of the bevels or frames in the angled mirrors. I paint for a little while, then have to step away from it. I really want to nail this painting, but feel constrained by the need to finish it quickly.

The seated male figure does look better and better. I had to adjust the skin color again, but it was the right thing to do.

Met with R. yesterday for coffee and conversation (no pun intended) and had a great time discussing art and trying to stay away from politics, which have the two of us completely flummoxed at this point. She is doing a painting of Obama. Can't wait to see!

Shaping Up

September 8 , 2008

Amazingly, we did not lose power in the storm--- in fact, it was rather enjoyable to take a day off and get a few things done around the house in a leisurely manner.

So---today, back to Conversation. Worked on the ceiling, which is an interesting shade of violet in the reference image, and which does a lot to counterbalance the rust/hunter green direction that the palette leans toward. Fixed a few mistakes here and there, and overall, it's shaping up. Managed (for the most part) to keep from smearing paint by remembering to work from left to right.

Approaching Storm

September 5 , 2008

This time of year we are almost always under a storm watch or warning, and today is no exception. I've spent the entire day cleaning, charging batteries and cell phones, washing stuff, filling containers with drinking water, vacuuming, doing everything that I won't be able to do when the power goes out. And it tends to go out here in a mere thunderstorm, let alone a tropical storm like Hanna. There's a light rain right now, so I guess the heavy weather is on its way. So, not a lot got done again today in terms of painting... I did sketch in some more of the guy in the chair. Check the WIP page to see where his feet are going.

A Little More Conversation, A Little Less Action, Please

September 4 , 2008

Have been pulled out of the studio the last two days for errands, other work duties, and socializing; back to work now. I had the usual problem of paint smearing on Conversation yesterday, anyway. Gave up on the idea of doing much work until the paint dries. Today I worked up the background behind the female figure where the bartender or waiter is. Also added some highlights around the framed photos reflected on the left side, but the paint application I did was dreadful, so I'll have to re-do that area. It should have a subtle grace to it. Instead it looks clunky and heavy-handed. Still---in the evening, when I catch a glimpse of the painting hanging on the wall, it has a serene look about it.

A huge bunch of small frames that I got on sale arrived at the door yesterday. I'll use some for the Postcards series, and will have to figure out what to do with the rest. Maybe that veggie series?

Ouch

September 2 , 2008

Started working on Conversation at 10am; it's now almost 4pm, and my feet are killing me from standing on them all day--- the painting's too large for the easel, so I have it mounted on a wall. Taking a break to write this as I plan to get back to it in a little while. Pushed myself through some large, tedious parts today: the big chair on the right, some of the black foreground chairs, the reflections on the right and left side mirrors. Also did more work on the male figure's head, but I'm still not happy with the skin color on the forehead. Will this be done by the 15th?

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