painting what feels right

"Ponder"

2012-01-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

20x24x0.75, oil on canvas

I did this a few months ago. It was one of the early ones where I used a technique from my class with Melinda Cootsona: You start with abstraction and play with it until you find a figure. I find the playing really important, since it's when you apply paint intuitively, and it doesn't matter how it looks, so you're more free. You also get to experiment with marks, so you improve your painting vocabulary. Melinda likes to create more layers in her paintings before she finds the figure. I can see where that would add richness. I should do that. I guess I need more patience.

Here, I started with a painting that hadn't worked for me, then painted on that, so it had two layers under the figure. The earlier painting had had a chair with slats in it, and the paint had formed ridges. I kept those and liked how they overlapped the figure. (I later used this overlapping in another painting, posted earlier this month.) I'm also really enjoying the oil crayons. I like the scribbly texture.

I took a picture of the painting during development. You can see the random marks and drippies and scribbles. As I recall, I turned it in different directions while playing with it. And you can also see that I kept the large round shape in the upper left corner.

Painting upside down

2012-01-30T13:50:00.000-08:00

11x14x1.5", oil on canvas

In my last post I mentioned that I'd painted a head by turning the reference photo and the canvas upside down. (Thanks, Melinda.) This was the picture that came out of that. It's a pretty cool exercise. You're less attached to how realistic it is -- these aren't portraits -- so it lets you start painting looser and not get buried in details. I decided to place him in the corner of the canvas because I'd chosen a kind of grizzled picture, and I thought he looked more expressive this way. Sort of like he's hiding or something.

"Restrained"

2012-01-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

36x36x0.75", oil on stretched canvas

OK, this one surprised me. I had a background with lots of texture and color, then started working on a face and got frustrated. So, using a trick from a recent class with Melinda Cootsona, I decided to turn the reference photo and painting upside down. When you work with an image upside down, you're less invested in how accurate the shapes are. Rather, you're more in touch with the composition. Also, I had seen some paintings where light blue was used as a way to articulate contours on a dark background, so I used that. Eventually, when I turned it right-side up, I liked it much more, and I clarified a few things and balanced the values better.

That blue really is kind of neon, isn't it?

"Geometric"

2012-01-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

30x24x1.5", oil on stretched canvas

In an earlier painting (that I haven't posted yet), I had a figure with lines crossing it. Wherever that happened, colors changed on the figure. I used that approach here. It's relatee to some earlier work I did, where I painted still lifes in non-representational colors. The theory is that, if you keep the value the same, you can still figure out what the subject is. I can't say that I stuck with actual values here, but I hope that makes the work more interesting. You can still see the figure, but it merges in the background more.

"Pensive"

2011-12-23T12:51:00.000-08:00

30x24x1.5", oil on stretched canvas

As time goes by, I'm migrating towards two styles of paintings: abstract, and abstract figurative. I'm still collecting found objects that might one day make their way into a piece, and I'm also working on learning to depict the figure.

This one has a mood that I like. It came from a photo taken during a photography session in a class I took. But the painting itself came out really neon. One comment was, "I looks really modern."

Hmm. As I look at it, I see a few things I might want to tweak. That's hard to do after you put it on the blog. Then again, until I sell it, I guess it's mine to modify.

"Empathy"

2011-12-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

24x20x1.5", oil on stretched canvas

This might sound strange, but I'm not entirely sure what to make of this painting. It surprises me.

The way I developed it was that I worked on an abstract painting first. After awhile, I saw the beginnings of a figure, and decided to go where that led. And that was here. The body position isn't a normal one, but it's what came out. But I do love the red in the middle. So, I'm not sure it makes sense, but there's something kind of compelling to me about it.

"Caldera"

2011-11-28T11:19:00.001-08:00

20x20x1.5", oil on canvas

I've been studying with Melinda Cootsona the last month or two. She's a marvelous teacher who does abstracts and figurative abstracts, both of which I'm interested in. Her classes are small -- maximum of four people -- and held in her studio. Because of the small size, she's able to really see how we work, and help with the process. For example, the other day I got snarled in poking at a specific part of a painting, and it didn't improve? She could see that I needed to change something, and suggested that I use a bigger brush. Boom! I was past it.

The painting on this page came from a process that she works with: You start by building an abstract painting, adding layers and depth and richness. Then, if you can find the suggestion of a figure in it, you can make your painting into a figurative abstract. On the other hand, you might find that you like the abstract that you did. This was one of the latter.

"As If"

2011-11-26T22:07:00.001-08:00

12x12x2", acrylic and mixed media on board

I've mentioned the awesome Stella Zhang, whom I've taken textured abstract classes with. I think this was one of my first works with her. I came into the class with all the subtlety of a Hawaiian shirt, and she toned me down. Now, some people in her classes would like to use more color, but I do get the point: If you have too much color, you obscure the texture.

I decided to include the figure below so you can see that I put the texture material around the outsides, too.

"Yin Yang"

2011-11-22T09:10:00.001-08:00

12x12x1.5", acrylic, pigment powder, and rubber gloves on canvas

One of the fun things about the textured abstract class I took was that anything could become part of a work of art. In this case, I had some rubber gloves such as artists use to protect their hands when painting, and I played with arranging them on a canvas. This arrangement reminded me of the Yin Yang symbol, and also a circle, which I've used in paintings before. I went over the top with white pigment powder in a solution of white glue and water.

"Network"

2011-11-12T11:03:00.001-08:00

36x36x0.75" acrylic, pigment powder, and mixed media

This one has cool texture. It's kind of a part of history, for me. A couple of years ago I had been doing my small oil still lifes, mostly about 6x8", for a year or two, and wanted to go bigger. So I took a workshop with Robert Burridge. (I wrote about this before, so sorry for the repeat.) In the instructions sent out, Burridge said that if students really wanted to challenge themselves, they should bring ten canvases that were about 36x36". TEN! So I did. I didn't touch them for the first day and a half, but then I dove in and, by the middle of the fifth day had filled nine of them. This was one. So I'm fond of it. FYI, the texture is made by tissue from the hotel room. Heehee!

However! I wasn't sure I liked how it came out. So I took it to one of my textured abstract classes with Stella Zhang, who does amazing work. I simplified it, using paint and adding pigment powder mixed with white glue. Powder has the benefit that it sinks into the texture, where paint covers the entire surface. Eventually the wonderful texture emerged, and it only needed a focal point, which came from the black drip in the middle. It's pretty cool looking. If you feel like it, try clicking it to see the texture and subtle colors.

"Three Sixteenths"

2011-11-10T13:09:00.001-08:00

8x8" couched masonite board, acrylic paint, screws, leather cord

I haven't posted much in a while, but it seems like it's time to share a few things I've done. I have a fondness for abstraction, texture, and found art. So, while most of this isn't found art, the leather did come from a belt I unraveled.

One of the things I found interesting about this is that the same rules of composition apply here: value, focal point, line, temperature, etc., etc. I was also pleased that the dripped lines of paint are about the same width as the leather cord.

It's a fun piece, and made it to my wall.

"Pipe"

2011-09-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

OK, this one is a little unusual. I had put down a layer of crinkled paper, then painted it green and red, then went over that in black, then sanded it down so the colors appears as spider lines. I've reproduced it pretty big so you can see that.

But then I popped a hole in the canvas. Not a large one, but an interesting one. And it was pretty close to the center. I talked to my teacher and we looked through the random materials I brought, and chose the pipe and the chain. I put the pipe through the canvas and adhered it on the back with some very strong glue, so it's stuck pretty tight. The chain is screwed to the wooden frame in back, so it's pretty secure, too.

So, this is what it looks like up close. You can see that I framed it.

Here it is from a distance, hanging on a wall in my house. I like it that the chain is long enough to puddle on the floor. The dimensions are 17.75" x 21.5" including the frame, but not including the chain. It leans out from the wall a bit, which lets the chain hang free.

"Ambiguous"

2011-06-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

26x17" (diptych of 12x16 panels, with frames), oil and marble dust on canvas panels

For this piece, I decided to use canvases that weren't working and see what I could do with them. It's a fun exercise. You have to separate yourself from the actual content, but still use what you can. So, the earlier painting shows through here in the browns and purples on the left and bottom. But the ghost piece that I like the best is the orange circle on the right. It adds mystery and subtlety.

The other thing that I like -- since I love organic shapes and gestures -- is an area on the far left. I deposited some marble paint and marble dust, with the intention of moving it where I wanted to. Then I went "Eep!", caught myself, and stopped, leaving the paint as I deposited it.

I think this one is going on a wall at home. It's a strange thing, but mostly I don't do that. Do you put up art that you do?

"Penance"

2011-06-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

30x40x1.5", oil and burlap on gallery-wrapped canvas

My prior post showed the first version of this painting, which I did with cardboard used for texture. I explained why I swapped in burlap (synopsis: oil and paper don't mix). This is the outcome. What do I think? There's been both loss and gain: It lost was something gestural, something in the moment, something primitive. But it gained a simpler, more compelling, composition. If you want to see the texture up close, you can click it.

And it feels right to have fixed it. In that prior post I debated whether we owe our buyers a painting that could last for generations. Not sure. So, I can't say my decision is right, but it sure feels right. And that's what painting is about for me: Doing what feels right, not what I think is right.

I'm interested in why people make art. Sometimes it's because you have to. Or it's about interpreting what we see. Or creating interesting textures. Or making a political statement. Or because it keeps you sane. Or... For me, I want to put something on canvas that's real, that's from the gut. And it seems to take a mix of head and heart to do that.

I'd love to hear why you paint.

Oil and cardboard

2011-05-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

24X30x1.5", oil and cardboard on gallery-wrapped canvas

One of the classes I'm taking is about textured abstracts. I love the class, and am having a great time. This week the teacher suggested that, before I start the painting, I make a textured foundation using cardboard. I was hesitant, since I'm painting in oils (well, with marble powder), and I've heard that you shouldn't mix them. But I figured I could learn something.

What came out? This! And I really like it!

Later, at home, I researched the combo. I found web sites that said you should always gesso paper first, but they didn't give resources. I found a few artists who do use paper in their base layer under oil. And finally I checked my Artists' Handbook by Ralph Mayer. Ralph says that no oil paintings on unprimed paper have survived the centuries. Since Ralph's book is a standard, I'll buy the data. So, no, it's not a good process for the long haul.

Here's my quandary. Now what do I do? Ralph says it has thirty or thirty-five years. I'll probably never be all that famous so it probably won't get saved by a conservator. But I gotta do one of the following: sell it as is, keep it as is, or remove the cardboard. I can't sell it in good conscience, and I'm not convinced I want it around forever, so...

Sigh. Do we owe our buyers a work that will last thirty years or a hundred years?

Anyway, if I'm going to peel off the cardboard, I should do it while the paint is still workable. I'm thinking I'll replace it with burlap (not identical, but also textured and earthy) and then play with that. If I'm lucky, the added experimenting will add richness.

What to do about the class? I should either take texture material that works with oil, or switch back to acrylics. Hey, I've been using marble powder, and I'm told it works with acrylics, so maybe they'll be workable more like oil. We'll see.

"Finish Line"

2011-05-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

20 x 24 x 1.5", oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

Another in the series of oil abstracts that I did during one week. Besides paint, I used oil crayons and whatever tool I could find: palette knives, ceramics molding tools. I do find it interesting that there's a trend in recent decades toward abstracts with a band of dark and a band of light. My suspicion is that the composition is so simple that it then lets other elements emerge, like texture or gesture.

"Moon in the Fog"

2011-05-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

18x36x1.5, acrylic and mixed media on gallery-wrapped canvas

There's a method I use for doing this kind of painting. It gives me a surface that is textured across the total area. I used it, earlier, to create Dragon Skin.

So, the method is that I take my tub of stucco patch, and I blop some on the canvas and spread it around with a big palette knife and a water spritzer until I have a good distribution, some areas thinner than others, and maybe some scratchy areas. I might add some colors while I'm doing this, or some pebbles, or other textural elements.

Once that's dry, I have a good rough surface for adding paint. I do a lot of dripping out of brushes or eyedroppers or little cups, which is why you get the spots. Some brushwork to fill in areas, although I don't really like brush marks on these. And, more recently, I learned about using pigments; when you apply them (add water and white glue), they settle into the crevices of the painting. And I use the spritzer a lot.

With this painting, I decided to try green, although it went dark, like olive green. Also, in my mind it was oriented horizontally; i.e., rotated CCW once. But since it needs to hang in a narrow area, I tried reorienting it, and it looked equally good, but in a different way.

So here's what I've been pondering recently. I returned to painting because I love it. Pure and simple. But I would like to sell. So recently I've been wondering, if creating is the main thing, then just what it is about selling that's so important? Here are some reasons I can think of:

To make a living. (And good on ya if you can!)
To see if others think your work is good. To get public approval.
To become famous.
To pay for art supplies.
To reduce the number of paintings you have stashed around the house.
Because someone wants to buy something.

Me, I'd probably subscribe to most of this list, although I certainly don't need to be famous or make a living. But I would like to know that the world likes my work, and I would like to reduce the number of paintings around the place.

Are there other reasons I missed?

"River"

2011-05-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

20x20x1.5", oil, gauze, and sand on gallery-wrapped canvas

I pulled together a handful of ingredients for this painting. A friend gave me some gauze, which I used earlier in Reticulate. I also mixed some paint with cold wax and marble powder for some thickness and used it to embed the gauze and the some sand. Sand is tough. It comes off and sticks to your brushes and oil crayons, and falls on the floor. If I try it again, I'll use it later in the process.

This one was a bit of a battle. It sat on my easel for days and days and I played with it off and on. I finally had the time to dive in and I worked it. But, yeah, some paintings paint themselves, and some paintings are fighters.

Switching gears here, I'm playing with the idea of how one develops as an artist. Do you direct your own learning or just do what appeals to you? I'm guess I try to do both. First, I must do what I want in order for it to have passion. But I can also tell when I lack a certain skill and need to direct my learning that way. Classes help.

And I've found that taking classes is opening me up in ways I hadn't anticipated. I guess if I'd anticipated them, I wouldn't have needed to take the classes.

Come see "And So..." in Palo Alto

2011-05-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

My painting And So... was accepted into the Pacific Art League's May show, called Red. The show runs from May 6 to May 26. The Pacific Art League is in downtown Palo Alto, at 668 Ramona Street, on the corner of Ramona and Forrest. (For non-local folk, this is Northern California, about forty-five minutes south of San Francisco.)

And So... is my biggest painting, at three by five feet, that was not a piece of a theatrical set design. (Those topped out at six by fifteen feet, or more if you assembled them.)

"Fire in the Mist"

2011-05-06T00:19:00.000-07:00

20x20x1.5", oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

In my paintings, I like to use things I find. This is why I do the assemblages. While working this painting, I used oil crayons. Now, when they sit for awhile, they form a skin of dried paint, and you have to peel it off. So, of course, I took a few pieces of red and embedded them in the paint. It adds an interesting bit of texture. But I have a little tub in my studio with bits of peeled oil crayon. It's funny being an artist.

"Flutter"

2011-05-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

20 x 20 x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas

A couple of weeks ago, I suddenly generated a handful of oil abstracts. I think I've done this before -- suddenly burst forth with a slew of paintings -- although not necessarily oil abstracts. On this one, I spent most of the time working with the left border at the bottom (rotated CCW one notch), and it wasn't resolving. So I rotated it, and in this orientation it looked like a bird, and I was able to make the final changes. So, nope, prior planning, not so much.

"Eimurya"

2011-05-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

12x36x1.5" acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

I decided to find a photo of something specific and see how it would look if done impressionistically using my textured techniques. So I looked online (what did we do before the internet?), and found a picture of a mesa in the sunset. I put down a layer of stucco patch, and pressed and lifted my palette knife to get the vertical ridges you can make out. Then I added the paint. I used more metallic colors than I normally do. And this was the result.

I don't actually recall where the name came from. For painting titles, I'll often find a word that the painting reminds me of, then look at the word's cognates and see if one looks interesting. Or a version of one.

O'Farrell workshop, day 3: 11x14

2011-04-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 11x14"

On the third and final day of the workshop, we had two tables set up in the middle of the room, and both models were on them. It's a different proposition to paint two figures. They relate to each other, and it adds a level of complexity.

However, the big thing for me was deciding to eschew realistic colors altogether. As you might predict, it made me focus much more on values. If the colors aren't right, the values have to be. Or much more so. Not sure I nailed it but I still rather like this. I also tried to pick up another effect, which was light coming around the edge. If the model is lit from the side away from you, you might see a bit of light around his or her edges. It's an interesting effect.

Ursula O'Farrell workshop, day 2: 16x20"

2011-04-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on stretched canvas, 16x20x1.5"

This was a longer pose, done with a lot of palette knife; you can see on the lower right where I dragged paint down with it. The yellow and red background are the base coat (stormy!), and you can see by the shadows on the shoulders and the lower back that this was lit upwards.

Several people have seen defiance in this; sort of a feeling of standing up to something. It wasn't intentional, but might have been a natural part of the pose.

Now, when I painted this, I used colors approximating skin tones, and it came out too realistic, like an impressionistic portrait rather than an abstract work. So I changed the skin color to the blues and lavenders you see, with yellow for the brightest spots. I've been hearing for years that no matter what color the elements of a painting are, if you get the values right, you can still tell what the painting depicts. This might support that.

Ursula O'Farrell workshop, day 2: 12x16"

2011-04-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on stretched canvas, 12x16x1.5"

The second day of the workshop, my side of the room had a wonderful elongated model with very curly red hair. The hair kept making its way into my paintings, and after the success of using scribbling to indicate the hair, I kept doing it. The red you see in this image is the base coating. As I mentioned, it's not flat base coating, but rough colors dragged through water, and possibly another color flung on top. It adds a lot of energy!

Also, I should mention that most of the serious paintings I'm showing followed gestural warm-ups, which were done in graphite (or whatever your felt like) in a sketchbook.

Ursula O'Farrell workshop, day 1: Paper

2011-04-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

14x17", acrylic on paper

Ursula applies remarkable intelligence to her work process. She seems to have examined what slows us down, and figured out what needs to be done about it. I mention that in this context because she believes that it's good to have some stretched paper ready for doing studies. This piece is on a sheet of 14x17" paper that I'd base coated, and it was ready -- along with my paints -- when I wanted to get going.

Yes, it takes prep time. But, seriously, don't we all have down time that we've set aside for art, but we're not ready to paint? So we have a bit of bandwidth to devote to tasks. Well, maybe not always, but we do need to do that sometimes.

With this piece, again, I was painting loosely, using a palette knife, and using pencils, and getting honest, reactive effects I didn't know I could get. As in my last post, the surface was base coated. Also, as in my last piece, I used the background color to carve out the contours of the shape. I found that to be astonishingly effective.

I'm trying to bring this looseness home. It's difficult.

Ursula O'Farrell workshop, day 1

2011-04-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 12x16x1.5"

On Sunday I finished a three-day workshop with the marvelous Ursula O'Farrell. She paints loosely, and creates emotion and mystery in her paintings. These are qualities I aspire to, so when her workshop came up I immediately signed up for it. There were some twenty people in the class, and we were lucky enough to have a model for each half of the room.

On the first day, she explained how she works her palettes. She creates four values of paint: white, half light, half dark, and black. She then mixes a given color into these four values. So, for instance, if you mix in orange, you end up with 1.) a warm pale, 2.) a peach color, 3.) a warm dark, and 4.) a warm near-black. If you mix the same values with blue, you have the same sequence, but cool. She also basecoats her canvases with a rough, splashy layer.

Ursula also believes in using whatever tools or supplies will add interest or excitement to a painting. One is watercolor pencils. First she'll use dark ones, and to get the full pigment she might spray the canvas with water, or use soft gel (if she's painting in acrylics). But she might also use other colors.

So, in this piece, you can see the basecoat in the red at the bottom, the yellows throughout, and the white in a couple of places. You can also see palette I described (oranges and blues), and the watercolor pencil in the hair. I'm not sure this has mystery, or a lot of emotion, but it's interesting and has a lot of energy. I don't normally paint this way -- it's not accurate! -- so this was amazing.

"Rise"

2011-04-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

oil on canvas, 20x24x1.5"

What can I say? I just really like this one. It has a mood, and some complexity. In the last couple of weeks, a number of oil abstracts have come out of me. And I think it's that balance thing: I've been playing with the surface textured in acrylic, and after awhile I just wanted to put brush to canvas. So there are a few more coming, but this is my favorite.

"Input Circuit" redux

2011-04-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

Off to a painting workshop today with Urusula O'Farrell. She paints wonderfully passionately and honestly, and does figurative abstracts, which I want to learn more about.

Meanwhile, this piece is a reworked version of an earlier painting. I took it to my textured abstract class and talked to the teacher, and she encouraged me to tone down the colors to emphasize the texture. I also added the two elements that go past the edges of the board (the gray on the left and bottom are background). I don't know what they are. I found them while I was hiking and loved their age and texture.

"Gourd on Purple"

2011-04-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

The last of the gourd paintings. I think this gourd is still around, but all the colors have faded. It hasn't gone bad, though, and might be interesting to paint again. The challenge that this painting posed was that the colors were so different that I forgot to check for values, and, sure enough, they'd averaged out and gone muddy.

It's interesting to look at paintings that you think don't succeed and see if you can figure out why. Common reasons for me are values (as in this painting), drawing problems (where something doesn't look right), and having too many things of the same size without something else to add interest. Maybe that last thing is composition, but that word covers a lot. Of course, those are just a few of the key elements of visual imagery.

"Apple Bananas"

2011-03-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

This was another painting done when we were in Hawaii in January (the papaya paintings were the earlier ones). In all cases I seem to have used an orange and purple background and yellow fruit. Bananas are fun because they're kind of faceted. So I had to figure out the variants on the native color. Then the variant with the reflected orange. Fun stuff.

"Bottoms Up"

2011-03-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

I thought I'd do a painting with more subdued colors. I've noticed that I really like hot colors, which is fine for the small works. After all, when it's only 6x6" or 8x8", it might need more punch. But I was finding that I didn't know how to do something more low key. Hence some practice. I'm also exploring fuzzy edges.

"Jostling"

2011-03-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

8x8x0.5", oil on canvas board (with hanger slot)

This one felt good to paint. That's important to me. I've discovered that painting isn't just about what I produce, but how I feel as I'm producing it. I can find fault with some of the details, but it has a looseness that I like.

"Proboscis"

2011-03-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

Another in my recent gourd series. Hey, I like shadows. And they make cool negative space.

"Thai Round Eggplant"

2011-03-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

I found these at my local grocery store. They were only about three inches across, and I was utterly charmed by them. They also look a lot like some small round tomatoes I painted long ago. There's another thing I noticed with this painting, which is that it's dark on a light background. Lots of my paintings are the other way around, but that gives this one some kind of buzz.

"They're Papayas"

2011-02-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

In my last post I mentioned painting two papayas. This is that painting. I liked the texture in the skin. At first I fought the fluorescent green, then I decided I really liked the effect, especially near the purple and red. This is one of the benefits of these little paintings: You can go nuts with the color. If you want.

"Papaya Value Study"

2011-02-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

8x6", oil on canvas board

So, I had two papayas. And I'd already done a painting of them (I'll post it later), then decided to do another, but vary something. One way I do that is to change the colors but not the values. This is because of the truism in representational painting that says that it doesn't matter what color something is, as long as the value is correct.

However, I have notices a couple of things:

Thing 1: It helps to have a good amount of the actual color of the object. So, in this case the orange color kind of grounds it.
Thing 2: In the pale areas, you often end up with pastel colors. Yep. If you lighten red, it turns pink. Pale versions of blue, green, purple, all look pastel.
Thing 3: Painting this way might be a sneaky method to hide a bad composition scheme. Now, if the painting is still interesting and attractive, it might not matter.
Thing 4: Use the B&W setting on your digital camera, and keep low standards for exactness of values.

Oh yes. My other possible name for this piece was Psychedelic Papayas. Heehee.

"Cohere"

2011-02-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

36x24x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on stretched canvas

This one is darker and more dramatic than most of my work. It was built on a painting that I couldn't bring home (finish successfully), so there's some depth to it. The big black shape is fabric (T-shirt) that I glued to the canvas and around the edge. I put a second, smaller piece in the upper right. And those drip shapes along the middle are kind of interesting. In a previous incarnation of this painting, I had played with water-soluble oil pastels. They ended up repelling water in the next layer. I might have to play with this.

"Reticulate"

2011-02-13T00:53:00.000-08:00

10x30x1.5", mixed media on stretched canvas

A friend sent me some gauze, and I decided to use it in a painting. I took it to my textured abstract class, along with a canvas that I had basecoated black. The teacher Stella Zhang, kept me from going haywire with colors. This is my tendency. I like Hawaiian shirts, and, as my husband likes to say, my favorite color is loud.

So I put white glue on the canvas and draped the gauze, and Stella made me stop there. Well, we did a little bit of black dry brushing around the edge. Back at home I tried things: tore up little bits of colored paper and stuck them in the gauze, and it really didn't want much. So I stopped.

I think it would have lost a lot of texture if I had gone in with too much color. Good eye, Stella.

"Backlit"

2011-01-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

The gourds are slowly fading, but this one still looks fine. I'm enjoying having dark objects on bright backgrounds. It seems to give it an interesting fire. This was one of those paintings where I just hung onto the brush, while it painted itself.

"Introverted"

2011-01-21T08:25:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

Another in my gourd series. This one ended up being kind of a lesson in brush strokes. They certainly angle towards the gourd, but they might also make it look like it's radiating energy.

"Up Periscope"

2011-01-17T14:21:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas boardv

This was fun to paint. It went pretty quicky and came out loose. It was fun to mix the highlit and shadowed versions of the gourd color.

If you watch this blog, you probably know that I love shadows. I even remember deciding that, at least for the painter, the shadow should be considered an object. For the viewer, not so much. We'll still automatically try to arrange the 3D objects in similar groups. So I tend to use an odd number of 3D objects and consider the shadow a different kind of object I have to paint. (Of course, the odd number I've been using recently is "one.")

"Snakey"

2011-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

As I said in my prior post, bumpy gourds are hard to paint. I took the approach of painting the background color, then adding the color of the actual bumps. But I liked the way that the neck on this one curved around, and I was able to find an angle where the shadow looked cool.

We're currently in Honolulu, where I've so far painted a bunch of bananas and a couple of papayas.

"Pop"

2011-01-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

6x6", oil on canvas board

It's been awhile since I've posted. I think I'm learning the delights of prioritizing. I find that when I get busy, I do try to keep painting, but, yes, the blogging does go by the wayside for awhile. The good thing is that I've been doing stuff.

I enjoy gourds, although the really bumpy ones are hard to paint. This one just came out so round that I named it Pop. I have a few more gourd and persimmon paintings lined up.

"No Latitude" (25 of 25)

2010-11-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

This is the final small painting I did for the show a few months ago. Now, I've continued painting, so I'll be posting more in the next weeks.

Now, I seem to alternate between big textured abstracts and small still lifes. I don't know why. I just know that to do this authentically, I need to pursue it from my gut, and my gut says I want to do those kinds of work.

On the abstracts front, I've been taking a class, and it's become the highlight of my week. The teacher, Stella Zhang, is immensely skilled and supportive. She also introduced me to using pigments. It's also interesting to hear her talk about pushing past her current status to the next level. So, for instance, I find I still want to do work on canvases, although I might add found things. But she pushes into three dimensions and installations.

On the still life front, I took a workshop taught by Michael Linstrom, who paints interpretively. When I do still lifes, I tend to paint tightly, and I find I don't just want a good product from my efforts, I want a good experience. Tight doesn't feel good. Loose and interpretive does. Michael takes the view that the painting does not need to accurately reflect the world, and he paints loosely to get there. There's a nice intro here. I'll be taking another workshop next month.

So, more to come.

"Convects" (24 of 25)

2010-11-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

Almost through posting these. Then I'm going to have to take pictures of and post the things I've been working on since then. In some cases, I've been redoing some of these.

However, strangely, at the moment I'm back to doing the small still lifes. Why? Well, I took a workshop where I got a hint about how to paint loosely and I want to try that more. Either that or I have a short attention spa.... Squirrel!

"Tirade" (23 of 25)

2010-11-14T23:47:00.000-08:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

As explained earlier, I did twenty-five of these for the show. A few sold! But there are some that have gone back under the brush! As it were. I don't necessarily use a brush. I'll be posting those in due course.

"Slash" (22 of 25)

2010-11-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

Amazing to think that two months (and change) have flown by since I posted). But I've found that there's a pacing in these things. I started out all gung ho, but ended up giving short shrift to the other parts of my life. So I burnt out on the kind of art I was doing, since I was forcing myself. Then I played with styles, then Life Happened. And a couple of months go by.

However, I've started taking classes and a workshop or two, and I'll be posting things that come out of that. I have to say that my abstract class is the high point of my week. Even though I have to lug a box of supplies and some large canvases around, I still get excited about what I'm seeing and learning. I'll start posting things from those endeavors. Meanwhile, astonishingly, I still have a few more of my 20/20 abstracts to post.

"Nalu" (21 of 25)

2010-08-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

This one felt tropical and beachy and watery and sandy, and kind of reminded me of Hawaii, where I grew up. The word "Nalu" means "wave" in Hawaiian, so it seems appropriate.

"Dual Reality" (20 of 25)

2010-08-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

OK, it was awhile ago, but I think this one appealed to me because it's a combination of colors I don't use all that often: browns and greens together. Red I do use. :)

"Bunting" (19 of 25)

2010-08-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

Side view. Can you see how thick it is?

This one started with a concept, sort of like the one two days ago. Both used that Plaster of Paris gauze before the texture medium went on. Still not sure...

"Trax" (17 of 25)

2010-08-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

It's interesting to case back and remember what was going on when I painted this. I know that doing the twenty-five paintings for the show took a lot of time and effort. And that sometimes I just needed to come up with a title that seemed apropos. For this one, it was the grid pattern that looked like tire tracks that gave it the title.

"The Scroll" (18 of 25)

2010-08-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

Angled view

I can't believe it's been almost three months since I posted. It's the standard excuses: Life happened. It's good stuff: some contract work, traveling, a bit of house remodeling. But it's time to come back.

I went into this piece with an idea in mind. The outcome is kind of different from the ones where I just go into reactive mode and see what happens. And, of course, months later, I see it as almost figurative. This is one of the fun things that happens with abstract art: People want to see recognizable things in it, so their eyes find them. In this case, I see someone standing under a tree, and I can see his shadow.

"Dragon Skin"

2010-05-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

12x36x1.5, mixed media and acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

The title for this piece came from Guy Magallanes, an extraordinary watercolorist I have the privilege to know. When I showed it to him, he looked at the texture and the iridescence and said it looked like dragon skin. That was a few days ago, but the description stuck with me, so I thought I'd use it.

"Trickle" (16 of 25)

2010-05-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#16 of 25 for the 20/20 show) For this one, I was wondering what would happen if I tilted the board after starting two pools of paint. It's actually a bit dangerous, since it has the potential of looking lame. But I liked it. This also has an unusual (to me) (currently) purple and brown palette.

"No, Sir!" (15 of 25)

2010-05-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#15 of 25 for the 20/20 show) This was more yellow and brown than most of my paintings are. I tend toward the cool colors. It might be unfortunate that I do that, since they say that people like warm color better. The title just had to do with the defiant feeling in the work. I think I also liked the way that a drip running upwards just feels out of whack. I've seen it in other paintings and it's a bit disorienting. That's why I like it.

"Succulent" (14 of 25)

2010-04-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#14 of 25 for the 20/20 show) The name for this one came out of the colors, which are primarily a really rich burgundy and green. The diagonal patch in the lower right corner is fabric; specifically part of a T-shirt. And there are the eggshells. I made very sure they were firmly planted in patching material, so they're on there pretty tight. This might be the most media I've ever combined in one painting.

"The Great Wave" (13 of 25)

2010-04-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#13 of 25 for the 20/20 show) For the paintings I did in this series, I put down the texture material and then added color. I'm doing experiments now where I add color to the texture material and apply it, then go in and paint some more. It's a little more organic, actually.

For this one, the curling shape demanded a bright focal point. That curling shape just needed to embrace something.

"Toward the Light" (12 of 25)

2010-04-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#12 of 25 for the 20/20 show) So the interesting thing about this one is that it has brown eggshells in it. (For some reason, I love brown eggs.) Anyway, I'd washed some shells and had them sitting in a bowl, for months I think, and decided I'd try using them. Also, I like the patterns made by eggshells when you flatten them. So I placed these in the texture material and pushed down on them with a small board (OK, a 4x4" piece of gessoed masonite), and got a cool pattern.

For what it's worth, I think most art manufacturers put anti-mold, and possibly anti-bacterial, ingredients in their products. Why else wouldn't they go bad sooner?

"Wrench"

2010-04-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

18x25x0.75", oil on canvas

I think I've started a new series. I blame the book Expressive Drawing, by Steven Aimone. At his workshops, he has an exercise where the students alternate between these activities:

Automatic drawing: With large pieces of paper stuck to a wall, the students take a drawing tool like charcoal, conte crayon, or brushes, and they do automatic drawing. It looks a lot like scribbling in the samples in the book.
Painting over: At some point, Aimone calls out "Obliterate!" or "Veil!" The students stand back and take a look at their painting, then take a brush and white paint and start going over parts of it, leaving what they find intriguing or satisfying.

Repeat. As Aimone says, "...keep this processing of things going until nothing else occurs to you to do—or until you really love what you see."

I decided to do this in oil paint. I got out a canvas and my oil sticks, set up some brushes and paint thinner and color shapers. And I started scribbling. I went on pure impulse for color, scribble patterns, pace, and all that. When I felt like it, I switched to the paint and thinner. I went back and forth arbitrarily and capriciously until it felt done. Until I had no more to say. Behold the outcome.

So, what did I learn?

It's fun and really instinctive. Felt right.
And yet, you do end up following guidelines for composition: focal point, contrast, color identity (more on color identity below).
Oil sticks can make cool marks. Scribbly, like crayons.
So can color shapers. I need to get the narrow one.

And I like this painting. Mind you, I don't think it's "pretty." But there's something organic and energetic about it. Authentic. Loose.

I've been doing more paintings in this format, with mixed results. There was one where I tried to be impressionistic, tried to convey the feeling of a sunset. But it looks too contrived. I keep trying to go into a painting with an intent to convey something, and it doesn't seem to work. There's some sort of connection I'm looking to find, and can't seem to make it work. Maybe I should just surrender to the process.

Anyway, I'll be posting more of these.

OK. So, earlier I mentioned "color identity." It's that theory in art where a piece needs to tell you what it is. In regards to color, it means you need to identify a dominant color. If you don't establish one, people will find the painting lacking, and might be confused. And not in an interesting way.

And my thanks to Rebecca Crowell for things I learned in her workshop last year. Certainly I had never used color shapers and oil crayons before, but I also found myself making marks in other ways that we used in the workshop.

"Input Circuit" (11 of 25)

2010-04-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

This one has been reworked. See this page.

(#11 of 25 for the 20/20 show) I like the palette on this one.This is not a combination of colors I normally use. And I'm working on using more neutrals, so the brown was out of my normal patter. This is also quite gestural. I put down the texture material in big strokes (well, for an 8x8 painting) and then followed what it did.

I've been playing with oil sticks recently. (Yep, I'm back to oils.) It's fun. It's another way to get an interesting texture, since they leave a scribbly mark, sort of like crayons. I also just ordered some open acrylics, so we'll see where that goes. So much stuff to play with!

"Mother Lode" (10 of 25)

2010-04-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#10 of 25 for the 20/20 show) The show opened this last Wednesday, April 7, and runs until May 29. And a kind person stopped by the show, bought a piece, looked me up and left a comment. People can be so cool. Thanks!

So, back to this painting. I think it was the first one where I really layed on the texture material heavily, especially in the lower right quadrant. Here, let me show you from an angle:

Does that help? You can see how thick the board is, and get a feel for the chunkiness of the gold.

I was able to do this because these are board rather than canvas. I'd mostly been painting on canvases, and they flex, which means the material could crack and fall off (I have not yet had this happen). But this is 3/8" composite, so it will support thicker material. In fact, since then I've been playing with the notion of adding found objects to the paintings. I love found art. We'll see.

"Eyewitness" (9 of 25)

2010-04-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#9 of 25 for the 20/20 show) So, the white stuff is Liquitex string gel. I certainly don't have the hang of it. In fact, I didn't like the way it went down, so I mushed it around. I kind of liked the organic quality of the mush, so I left it. Isn't it funny, how I like organic art, and manipulate things until they look organic? I wrestle with this.

And the show opened today. Woohoo! I am in a quandary about seeing the show. It's 2 1/2 or 3 hours away, and I've driven there twice and will have to go a third time to pick up unsold paintings after the show ends. I'd like to see the show live, but, man, that's a lot of effort!

"Seek the Depths" (8 of 25)

2010-04-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#8 of 25 for the 20/20 show) Oops. Sorry. I was renaming things, and this one got out without any commentary from me. And we know how important that is!

This one reminds me of Edmund Dulac's illustration for The Little Mermaid. You can see it on this page, on the right, if you scroll down a bit. I almost wanted to add a pearl in a trunk, or some sort of buried treasure. And if you want to see the texture, try clicking it, and you should see a bigger version of it.

And, finally, since I didn't put any comment on this, initially, I'd like to mention that all my recent entries have a surprise on them if you hover your cursor over the image. Try it!

"Rift" (7 of 25)

2010-03-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#7 of 25 for the 20/20 show) Wow. I just looked at this and realized I should have called in Yin Yang. Although it also has a look of a pool of lava. As I recall, I got the texture that you see on the right in the middle by spreading a thin layer of gesso, then laying some plastic wrap on it and peeling it off. Lots of transparent paint in the pools, and opaque paint on the ridges between them.

"Moonfall" (6 of 25)

2010-03-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#6 of 25 for the 20/20 show) This one had more washes and quieter colors than others. And it continued the technique of putting down patching paste and pushing mesh into it. And using metallic gold, which never photographs well.

So I'm doing some experimenting. As you might know, I like to play with effects using hardware store supplies. They work, they're cheap, and they can be long lasting if you choose material used on house exteriors. But official painting supplies can be nice, too. They're way more expensive, but can give you a different effect. So it depends on what you want. For instance, if I want to cover a lot of area with texture, I don't want to worry about cost, and Golden pumice gels are expensive! But I might find a specific application where Golden products works better.

Here's an example. I'm testing cocktail umbrellas. Seriously, I want to see how to attach them to a board. (Maybe I should post pictures of this.) So I tried five substances. Four of them hold quite well.

One interesting comparison was patching paste vs. Golden's hard molding paste. And I like the molding paste better. Why? Because it dries transparent. I also tried matte gel and like that, too, since it dries transparent. The patching paste and heavy gesso (I get Utrecht in big buckets, so it's cheap) work well, but dry white. That could be useful if you want to paint over the cocktail umbrellas, though. Maybe next I'll try clear gesso.

So, yep, it depends on what you want.

I still haven't experimented enough with tinting the material before I use it. Maybe that's next.

"Center of Buoyancy" (5 of 25)

2010-03-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#5 of 25 for the 20/20 show) When I do one of these abstracts and put down the texture material, it becomes another element in the painting, of course. But how much of an element it becomes differs depending on the painting. It can be a smaller element and add depth and interest, or it can drive the whole composition. This was one of the latter. I had two arch shapes, not parallel, and they were assertive enough that I couldn't just use them to make drippies or highlights. Hence the bold gold in the middle. Also, this might have been the painting where I fell in love with the crepuscular blue. ("Crepuscular" refers to that glowing blue light in the air just at dusk.)

Funny to think that all the artists' paintings are due at the gallery today. I imagine that the gallery is a madhouse. And I find my memory of the painting period is like a like a series of arcs with different forces behind them. There was the trajectory where I played with plaster gauze, where I added a lot of effects with brushwork (tingeing with gold, bleeding colors around edges), where I added egg shells (those went into two paintings).

One arc was referred to in the blog of Rebecca Crowell, who came out here for a workshop last year. She wrote of how, sometimes, you just love this beautiful little portion of a painting, but it's detracting from the whole. You paint around it for awhile, try to incorporate it, try to bend the rest of the composition to make it work, but you can't. In the end, you paint over it. She said the phrase for that is "Sometimes you have to kill the little darlings." It's a kind of uncomfortable phrase, but so accurate. It repeats a lot for my abstracts.

"Alien Seascape" (4 of 25)

2010-03-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#4 of 25) One of the fun things about small works is that they can have a lot of punch and get away with it. If you did a big painting with rough textures, and wild purples, oranges, and golds, it would probably be too much. And speaking o too much, I had hesitated to use metallic paint, since it seems to put you in danger of looking like decoration rather than art. But I like it. It does good things.

Another thing I'm enjoying is figuring out the little tweaks. Like this one: An eyedropper full of paint (watered down) lets me add drops to my paintings. That's nice. A way to add an effect. But the effect is different depending on whether I drop the paint on a smooth surface, rough surface, or wet surface. And whether the paint is watered down a little or a lot. Thicker paint dropped into or dragged through a thin wash creates a different effect than if the two paints have the same viscosity.

OK, that's the lesson for today.

"Unruly" (3 of 25)

2010-03-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#3 of 25) The next painting for the 20/20 Show. I think this one surprised me. I was looking for more subdued colors, but the painting came out really dynamic, like D-Day on the beach or some such. I wasn't trying to do that.

One thing that was fun (and that you'll see again) is that I put down the patching compound and then pushed the grid into it. The compound, of course, oozed up through the grid. It's a cool effect in itself, but then I can paint the high parts one color and bleed another into the cracks.

"Swept" (2 of 25)

2010-03-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

(#2 of 25) I got the paintings delivered to the 20th Street Art Gallery in Sacramento. As I hoped, the drive was quicker on a Saturday: Only 2 1/2 hours each way. They had asked us to choose a painting to frame (at cost), and the guy at the gallery said "Wow!" when we first looked at a candidate. I love those little off-the-cuff remarks. Maybe I love them better than the planned statements, since they're usually emotional. I even think this one was honest. And I think we chose good framing colors to go with the piece.

This piece was one of several that look like they're under water. I think it's the paint color: It's Pthalo turquoise, and your eyes just want to drink it.

And now the paintings are delivered and I no longer have an external driver. It's sort of like when I do shows. Afterwards I almost have post-partum depression. So I'm tidying up my studio and getting ready for the next step. And also handling things that didn't get handled during the Last Big Push.

Must. Get. Going...

"Phosphorescence" (1 of 25)

2010-03-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on board

#1 of 25. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was accepted into a show at the 20th Street Art Gallery in Sacramento. That's about a three-hour drive from me, here in Northern California. The concept of the show is to display twenty works at the 20th Street gallery, so it's called their 20/20 show. It opens April 7 and closes May 29. So they asked the artists to create 25 works of art and sold us boards at cost. They've put together blog pages for the artists. Here is mine, with the initial eight paintings they asked us for. Cool.

So I've been working on the rest of 25. (They're actually due next Friday, but I'm trying to avoid rush hour by driving there on a weekend.) And that brings up another piece of the Life of an Artist: As with any pursuit, parts are about dotting the T's and crossing the I's. :) In developing these paintings, I've been tracking which ones were done (or almost done, but I wanted to play with some more). I also tracked the other steps: a couple of layers of varnish, glossy or matte or a mix; initialing them on the front, and on the back putting a title (those can be hard to come up with), my name and signature, the painting number and the year; taking pictures of them and cleaning up the pictures in Photoshop; packaging them for the drive to the gallery; doing the drive; blogging. Later, with luck, some sales, then I drive up to fetch the ones that didn't sell, and maybe post pictures of them on my web site, maybe sell some, so I'd package and ship them. Then taxes. Of course, this is why artists have assistants.

And speaking of tasks, I need to look over my artist's statement, since I need to update that, too.

"Heirlooms"

2010-03-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

20x20x1.5", oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

So, I'm really lucky: I have three painting spaces. Upstairs in my study I have a box on a platform I can raise and lower and light any way I want, so I do my small still lifes. In the basement I have a huge table and tall easel and it's OK to be messy, so I do my abstracts. And I have space at Gallery 2611. I've been casting about for the right kind of work to do there, and I think it's the right environment for doing the more thoughtful work that develops slowly.

This was one example. I had done a small 8x8 version of this, and liked it, and I still had the source image. So I started it at the gallery. One fun thing is that, when I enter, I come in a doorway where I see what's on my easel from some twenty feet. It's always a surprise, and can be quite illuminating. I'm making big changes to my current painting based on that element of surprise.

And speaking of source images (I did, you know), I guess I'm still a doofus with the camera. I can't seem to take pictures of things I set up with perfect lighting. I have a lot more luck taking pictures of things in natural light, as in this example. When I set things up, the colors are burnt out and overexposed, and the shapes have gone fisheye.

I'm also still working on the 25 paintings due on March 26. It's coming up quickly! More later.

"Sidling"

2010-02-27T23:45:00.000-08:00

6x6x0.75", oil on stretched canvas

Oops. Haven't posted in awhile. I got busy with the paintings for the 20/20 show in Sacramento, and I also took on some contract work from my old profession. Touch economy; a little extra doesn't hurt.

Also, this painting didn't take off for me. I think I'd forgotten one of the basic rules for painters: Make no two things the same. The size of the items here is about the same. Mind you, they're lovely items (or, in the case of the persimmon, delicious!). But there's no energy from size contrast. I'm also thinking that the palette needs a little more color contrast. Maybe I should have made the background blue. Hmm. Kick up the value contrast by lightening up some places, perhaps. I'll think on it.

I'm also thinking of starting a series on how I do my textured abstracts. I keep playing around and figuring out more stuff, more materials to you, more details about techniques. That could be fun.

"Nosey Lemon"

2010-01-30T12:43:00.000-08:00

6x6x0.75", oil on stretched canvas

Another of the five-paintings-in-five-days-almost series. I guess if I used a similar subject a few days in a row, it might go faster. Now, a few weeks ago I did some mandarin oranges in a bowl. I wasn't aiming for realism with that one. With this one I was, at least somewhat more (I rarely do photorealism). So, you know how, for most paintings, there's something about them that's memorable to you? In this case it was the lemon texture. I hadn't used that tapping technique to get the bumpiness, and I like it.

I also enjoyed doing the shadow. There's something fun about painting a color and its shadow next to each other over pattern, like this fabric. Having done it, I'm impressed when artists can carry it off. Both colors have to darken the same way (warm or cool, usually), and the patterns need to line up so they flow. It's easy to get jumpy.

With this painting I tried doing the tonal underpainting, which is the picture below. I think that work if 1.) you let it dry first, so it doesn't infect the color you put over it, or 2.) you don't paint with a lot of strokes. I tend to futz too much (a constant battle), and that stirred up the color below. I had to go pretty impasto to keep the colors clear. I would rather have gone with fewer strokes, but that's an ongoing challenge for me. But maybe it was useful to really have to see the value shapes. Hmm. Maybe I should do that more.

Oh yes. The fun thing about stripes is that you have to get the linear perspective right, even on a small painting, close up. Lots of holding the brush handle and matching angles.

"The Shadow Nose"

2010-01-29T11:27:00.000-08:00

6x6x0.75", oil on stretched canvas

This was the first painting I did in my series of five still lifes in five days (or so). I've had some good luck with onions in the past, although I don't know why. Maybe it's the textures and the stem.

One thing I was trying to do in this series was to go more neutral in the backgrounds and also to do good solid darks. I tend to brighten up my colors, and then the painting can either lack depth, or you don't really highlight the main item. Of course, after I finished this, I noticed that I had put a focal point -- the tan part of the stem -- almost dead center in the image, which does not make for good composition. In this case I might have skirted the problem through smoke and mirrors: the onion is way off-center, and the shadow of the stem forms another focal point that's more compelling. I also noticed that the brush marks radiate away from the shadow, which is very dynamic (I should remember that as another way to direct the eye). I think that extra dynamism like that can work in small paintings, since they need to have more punch in order to be seen. But in larger paintings it's worth looking at resting places for the eye.

The title was for the crack-up value. (Hey, try hovering your cursor over the picture.) (Applies to most of my paintings.)

"Cozy"

2010-01-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

6x6x0.75", oil on stretched canvas

This is the second in the series of five 6x6" paintings I did around New Years. (It helps to be at home, sick...) I think this is my favorite. While the scale isn't right -- the bowl is bigger relative to the eggs -- it has a cozy feeling to it. I also liked the lost edge below the spout on the bowl. By the way, I got this bowl and other gorgeous ceramics at La Honda Pottery. Bay Area folk are encouraged to look them up. They're up in the gorgeous mountains, like we are.

Here's a view of the same canvas from an angle. I had used the quinacridone gold as a base coat, and decided that I liked it on the edges. When I work on wrapped canvases I often extend the painting to the sides. This one I left as is.

In other news, I've now put two layers of gesso on the boards for the show I'm in at the 20th Street Art Gallery in Sacramento. For the second layer, I played with the gesso on a few to build texture, since I'm submitting textured abstracts. I'll be using stucco patch, as usual, but I wanted to try this, too. I used heavy-bodied Utrecht gesso, and it holds a peak. Sort of like meringue.

"Chirp!"

2010-01-26T23:18:00.000-08:00

Chirp!, 6x6x0.75", oil on stretched canvas

On New Years Eve I mentioned working on five 6x6" still lifes in five days. I decided to try this because some artists seem to be able to finish something every day, and I can't. I did manage to do 4.5 of them in five days. This was the final one, and it was really hard, so it took a few days (especially since we went out of town). It was the reflections. They're quite befuddling. At one point I had to stop and sketch the face so I could figure out what the reflections did. But it looks reasonably cute. Darker than my usual work.

In other news, my twenty-five panels for the 20th Street Art Gallery have arrived! They're 8x8x0.75" and ungessoed. So tomorrow morning I'll start gessoing them all. I have until March 26 to finish them all and deliver them, dried, to the gallery.

"Ganglia"

2010-01-25T10:07:00.001-08:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on panel

In my last post I talked about applying to a show. I mentioned that I created two small paintings and chose the one I liked more. This is the other one. (I don't hate it. But on that day I liked the other better.) I did them at the same time, which is easier to do that if you don't have, say, a person posing. I think I was looking for a similar composition: brightness in or near the middle, surrounded by dark, more neutral colors. But, of course, creating a painting (or anything else?) is a dialogue, and this one came out warmer. I found myself thinking the green should be more neutral, more earth colored, then decided to stick with the bright poison color.

I guess that's all for today. Well, the art gallery shipped my twenty-five panels late last week, and I'm eager to get to them, eager to learn what it's like to work for a show, under a schedule. Probably a good discipline.

"Contraband"

2010-01-20T17:38:00.001-08:00

8x8", acrylic and mixed media on panel SOLD

About three hours away from here, in Sacramento, CA, is a charming art gallery called the 20th Street Art Gallery. I took a Carol Marine workshop there a couple of years ago, am on their mailing list, and know someone who participated in a show there. That show was one of a series of shows in which artists create a family of small works. I applied to the upcoming show last week and -- woohoo! -- have been accepted! [Doing the happy dance, here.] This show will again feature small works, 8x8". They give you the panels and a time frame. And that time frame is from when the panels arrive until March 26. So I will create 25 small paintings in two months. And deliver them.

In applying to the show, I debated between submitting a still life or an abstract. I had been thinking of submitting a still life, since I seem to do small still lifes and large abstracts. I chose to submit an abstract. What convinced me was this strong motivator: They wanted the sample to be on an 8x8" panel, and I do not have such in a still life, and was running out of time. Now, I have some 8x8" stretched canvas still lifes, and many 6x8" panel still lifes, but no 8x8" panels. But, luckily, I found two blank 8x8" panels, created two paintings in short order (shorter than I want to admit), and submitted the one I liked better. Then I spent six hours on my butt in a car, driving to deliver the application material.

Now, all of that doesn't matter, really. I mean, it's not about convenience or feasibility, for heaven's sake. It's about art that has meaning for you. But I'm tickled by the vagary and whimsy of it all.

And even though I'm currently on a still-life streak, I'm happy to do the abstracts. They come from a more instinctive place in me, and, frankly, I'm more confident that I can create twenty-five that I like in the time frame. The still lifes are much harder. I think they come out of my head, and require more discipline. Maybe that's the yin-yang: gut and brain, instinct and thoughtfulness.

"On the Vine" redux

2009-12-31T18:55:00.000-08:00

On the Vine, 6x8", oil on canvas board

Gotta get one more in before the month and year change. :)

This is another redone painting. At the bottom of this post you can see it as it originally looked when I posted it in May of 2008. It was fine. But there was nothing that really grabbed me about it. So I redid it. First, it looked like this:

But it didn't seem right. It was too swirly, because of the shape of the tomatoes. Now, in my color experiments, I seem to keep the original color of the objects in the well-lit portions, and add the creative colors in the shadows. And that seemed a bit bogus, so this one sat on my shelf. Then, a few days ago at the grocery store, I saw another set of yellow tomatoes on the vine. I bought them and used them as a basis to clean this one up. I'm now happier with it. Interestingly, I kind of like the shadows on the table top. I enjoy the effect of cutting in, and I did that with successively lighter colored paint. If I vary the paint color in any area rather than keeping it smooth and matte, it makes it look richer.

FYI, here's the original painting:

I'm working on doing a 6x6 a day for five days. I'd love to be able to do the daily thing, but it seems like I can't. But five days seems doable. They'll be appearing in the next week or so.

Texture paintings

2009-12-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

Texture 1, 9x12",
mixed media on gessoed masonite

Texture 2, 9x12",

mixed media on gessoed masonite

Texture 3, 9x12",
mixed media on gessoed masonite

Texture 4, 9x12",

mixed media on gessoed masonite

I've been meaning to post these for awhile now. They came out of my first abstract period. (I say "first" because I can feel that I'll return to it again, probably in a slightly modified form.) I was experimenting, so I laid out a few panels at once and did slightly different things on them. One thing I was working on was using earth tones. I tend to like saturated color -- hey, I wear Hawaiian shirts a lot -- and I actually get tired of them sometimes. Does that make sense? It's as though I'm tired of the normal colors and I wish they'd invent new ones. Well, of course, they exist; they're just not in tubes.

As I look at these, I'm noticing that even my dark neutrals are pretty saturated. I must go find some acrylic sketches I did with weird greyish greens and yellows, and brownish reds. At least, when I feel pulled to doing abstracts again.

"Purple Shadows"

2009-12-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

12x9", oil on stretched canvas

I had meant to do another painting in my recent series of paintings with unusual colors in the right value. But I liked the direction this one was taking, so I went with it. I threw some purple in the shadows because I like green and purple together. I should also mention something funny: Leading the viewer's eye is so important that I spent some time aiming the apple stems when I was creating the set-up.

Initially, this one didn't have the striped cloth; it had a blue-green rectangle where the cloth now is. But as I started to conclude things, it didn't feel complete. So I found a striped dish cloth and had a lot of fun working out what its colors would be in shadow. Next time I might add more wrinkles to the cloth, for interest.

So, you know how some paintings paint themselves and you're just along for the ride? And other paintings are fighters? (I sure wish I knew what caused that.) This painting was not a fighter -- although I struggled a bit with the dark underpainting -- but the JPG sure was. I use Photoshop and have done a lot of color tweaking, and don't know why this one was hard. But I haven't taken the time to learn about gamuts and color profiles. Maybe I should do that sometime.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this. Here's what it looked like after the block-in. (It's not a really good photo, but it was quick 'n' dirty.) There's so often something I like about this phase. Maybe it's the looseness; maybe it's the abstraction, like the mix of rough painting around the sketchy orange lines.

Also, I was recently blog surfing artists, and ran into this excellent post by Jeff Mahorney called What I've Learned (after 120 paintings). The entire thing is well worth reading, but this is the part that struck me:

If there is one important thing I learned about painting this is it: Learn to tolerate the negative thoughts and feelings. ... Building up a tolerance and acceptance of those negative thoughts and emotions along the way is the greatest and most useful thing I've learned. Often when I am painting and about 45 minutes into it, my head might says "You're terrible, you should give this whole thing up" and I then feel the frustration or despair that comes along with that thought. But by now I'm used to it and I say,"Ah there you are. Come have a seat. You are welcome here, but we ARE going to finish this painting".

There's something so beautifully Zen about allowing the thoughts, but moving forward anyway. You should never believe everything you think.

"Bowl of Mandarins"

2009-12-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

9x12, oil on stretched canvas

I keep learning from this process. So, I'm looking for a wide range of values in all the colors. To get pale values, I have to add a lot of white. That seems to make the colors look chalky. I walked past this in the semi-dark and noticed that the pale colors jumped out. I think I'll try Zinc white (also known as mixing white) and see if that makes a difference. Titanium might be too stark.

Another solution might be to make a monochrome underpainting first, then go on with colors. I'd really have to learn about transparency!

As far as the painting itself, it seems like another riot of color. I think I mostly kept the orange color for the bright parts of the fruit, since dark orange is brown, and it's more neutral than I want. Also, it's a little cartoon-like, although that's a matter of taste.

Hmm. Neutrals. Neutrals. So far I've found that they sap the energy. I'll have to play with that.

"Scattered Apricots," redux

2009-12-03T18:31:00.001-08:00

6x8", oil on canvas board, sold

This is another re-done painting. It's really satisfying to take something that just didn't work for you and turn it into something a lot more interesting. FYI, here's the painting as it originally appeared:

Yes, the new one is more interesting to me.

One of my challenges on this one was to learn about how red works. It really does add heat. If you have shadows in a dark neutral, adding red can make them look like a light is glowing from the inside. It's a powerful color.

At the moment, I'm finding that I first do the painting in colors resembling reality. Then I start to muck with the colors. I think ideally I'd just do the painting in creative colors right from the outset.

I'm also still trying to figure out what a palette is in this case. In the original, it was pretty much blue and orange. But once I added greens and purples and reds and pinks to the orange, the palette widened. It's fun, but the paintings are in danger of looking too much like each other. I'd have a broader skill set, and more tools, if I learned how to lean the palette in different directions. I might be doing it intuitively; check out the cherries two posts ago.

Anyway, this is still way fun. :)

"Cots in a Bowl," redux

2009-11-30T23:43:00.001-08:00

8x6", oil on canvas board, sold

Amongst the small still life paintings I did in 2007 and 2008, a number of them just didn't tickle my fancy. So, with my recent interest in experimenting with colors but remaining true in value, I decided to try repainting them. It seemed like a good way to learn about the Fauve colors, while working on an existing composition, with existing colors and values. (Are these Fauve colors? I don't know.) This was a painting of apricots from May of 2008.

Each one I've done (and there are a couple that I'm not ready to blog yet) teaches me something about how to do this, and how color works. For instance, in this one, even though I'm using non-standard colors, I need to pay attention to how they interact. Note that the further wall of the bowl is mostly green. I tried painting it with a mix of colors including blue and purple, and it just wanted to blend into the background. It had to be a color that separated itself from the purple. By the same token, if I made it too red or orange, then it wanted to interact with the fruit. In fact, for awhile the fruit was too pastel and sweet, and it looked weirdly transparent against the light colors of the bowl. Yeah, this one was a bit of a fighter.

"Still Life with Cherries"

2009-10-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

10x8", oil on canvas board

OK, yeah, this is getting closer to a more interesting painting done in non-realistic colors. Note that, as I mentioned in my last post, the items themselves need to have some of the local color of the item. I think. Would these still look like cherries if they were all blue? And the guidelines for painting still apply, of course. Things like having the focal point away from the middle, having some rest areas as a break from the dynamic areas.

I went looking for a book on how to use nonrepresentational color, and I couldn't really find one. I'm looking into the Fauvists, especially Matisse and Vlaminck. The closest current book I could find was Brilliant Color by Julie Gilbert Pollard. She does, indeed, use intense colors. Where I might differ philosophically from her is in having a dominant and focal color. The colors in this painting are blue-green, white, and alizarin crimson. It's rather cold, with a little warmth in the plate.

I've been feeling recently like I need to have more of a concept when I create a painting. Last night I was looking at some of my still lifes from a year ago, and I discovered that, whether I knew it or not, I did, indeed, have a concept. Leaned against books on the bookshelf to my right I can see paintings where I explored seeing shapes through colored glass, how a glass vase looks with a highlight hitting the inside of it, how different the colors of tomatoes can be, and how to do a traditional still life but add sunglasses. This is kind of liberating. I'll have to go look at my abstracts.

So, at the moment I don't know how to classify myself as a painter. I also don't know if I need to. What the heck.

"Odd Orange Out"

2009-10-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

8x10", oil on canvas panel

A college art teacher once said to me, "Connie, when are you going to stop experimenting?" My amazed response was, "Never!" Now, I know what he meant: At some point it's good to choose a specialty and pursue it, specialize in it, become expert at it. But I just don't seem to be able to do that. At least, not yet. The subtitle of this blog is "Painting What Feels Right." In an earlier post I think I spoke of the amazing selfishness of art: You can't paint from someone else's vision or perspective. Well, you can try to channel them, but hey. So the only thing you can do is to stick with what's authentic. And you get to define that.

So, I recently saw some Fauvist style paintings and became fascinated with wacky color. I also remembered a truism I've heard: "If you get the value right, you can paint it any color you want." Wow. Color doesn't matter, value does? OK, we know this, right? What if you push it?

So I did. First I did the apple study, below. Then I did the oranges, above. (I like that painting better, so it's at the top.) It reminded me of the still lifes I was doing a year or two ago, but with strange colors.

"Apple Study," 8x10" oil on canvas panel

What did I find? Well, I'm still figuring it out, but I think I discovered a few things:

Color matters a little. Like, in the painting of oranges, it did need some orange color. As it is, it could very well be pink grapefruit.
A digital camera is really, really handy. Yes, I have a piece of red acetate, but that darkens everything. The digital camera isn't perfect but it does give good value data.
I'm able to loosen up a lot if I paint this way. It's way fun.

I'm noticing a lack of neutrals in these and many Fauvist paintings. I'm wondering where that will go.

OK, back to the topic at hand: Should I specialize? Maybe some day. I feel like I'm collecting a wide variety of tools and means of expression, and that maybe at some point I'll find a concept that I stick with for a long time. At the moment, though, all I can do is what is right for me. And these are fun.

"Churn"

2009-10-04T23:00:00.001-07:00

9x12x1.5, oil and cold wax on couched hardwood

My mojo is back. Or at least within reach. You know what I mean? You can feel it out there, and you just might have a hold on it. I'm not quite sure yet, since I'm coming back after some excitement (OK, tenth wedding anniversary trip to Paris) (and some other stuff), but things are starting to gel again. I'm playing with the cold wax techniques from the workshop (see my summer posts) as well as my prior methods. Soon I'll start to meld them.

Meanwhile, this is another painting from that workshop. I love purple and green (OK, greenish-yellow) together and this also has some delicious texture. After I got it to a point I liked, I burnished it. That removed lost some of the intensity from the color, so I went back in and boosted that. Still learning, still playing.

I'm also having some serious fun playing with intense textures, and I'll post some of those soon. Nice to be back.

(I'm probably not supposed to use words like "mojo," am I? I mean, I'm a middle-aged white-bread type. But it felt right.)

"Amber"

2009-08-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

8x10x0.75," oil and cold wax on couched board

As mentioned in an earlier posting, I invited Rebecca Crowell to California to teach a workshop. Her paintings are wonderfully textured abstracts with the look of age and depth to them. That seminar was at the end of July, but between vacations and surprise trips, I haven't made time to work much more with her techniques.

But the other day I revisited some of the work I did during the workshop and decided that I liked this one as it is. Yes, it can be hard to know when something is done, of course, but this didn't ask for any more work. So here it is. I did buff it a bit to bring out the texture.

Hmm. Actually, I did make one final change. I had been looking at it with the red part at the top. Just how my mind's eye saw it. Then, just for grins, I turned it over. The red part, being darker, anchored it better. The amber part then looked more richly texture. It was interesting, and, as I think I've said before, realistic painters can't do this. Here's how it looked the other way, in case you're curious. I welcome opinions.

SBAWCA show

2009-08-30T00:48:00.000-07:00

I recently joined the SBAWCA, which is a part of the Women's Caucus for Art, a national organization celebrating women in the arts. The SBAWCA is the branch in my local area. Today the group opened its 20th anniversary show, and two of my pieces were in it. They looked gorgeous! When you first walked in the door, the first thing you saw was a wall of paintings, among which was Abyss (here's my original blog post):

Once you stepped into the room and looked around, you saw that And So... (see my last post) had a wall all to itself. It looked wonderful, and glowed proudly:

And, yes, I totally got the book for the show, which contains the paintings and my statement about each one. The show runs until September 19. The location is Art Object Gallery, at 592 North Fifth Street, San Jose. It's Japan Town, so it's a fun area to visit.

This is the first national arts organization I've joined. I admit I still don't know how they work, but I saw work from a lot of talented women artists, and I'm looking forward to learning and networking.

"And So..."

2009-08-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

36 x 60 x 1.5", acrylic and mixed media on stretched canvas

This piece and another of mine, Abyss, will be in the SBAWCA show starting this Saturday, August 29, in San Jose, CA. Information is here. SBAWCA is a local branch of the WCA, or Women's Caucus for Art, a group I joined recently.

What to say about this? Well, I got interested in circles, and learned about the Enso. This is an image strongly associated with Zen. Its simplicity is profound, and monks who do brushwork will use it as a practice: create a perfect circle with one brushstroke. More at wikipedia. I couldn't name this "Enso," since it's not one brushstroke, and the monks have an entire discipline that I have too much respect for to use the name. So the name is evocative to those who know, but still has a flavor or sense of movement. Also, it turns out that the circle fascinates a lot of people, who attach metaphorical meanings to it, or analyze it mathematically, or associate it with shapes in nature. I'd like to do more. I have one in the works that is resisting completion. You know how that goes.

When I look at this, I'm reminded that they say "the simpler, the better." While I'm cautious of rules (someone will come along and break them and succeed), I can agree that there's something profound about simplicity

This is also the largest piece that I've done that isn't a theater flat. I have another canvas this size, and I got it so it would sit and mock me. OK, not mock, really. But it would encourage me to work larger.

Rebecca Crowell workshop

2009-07-27T11:52:00.001-07:00

Wow, you blink and weeks and weeks go by. It's been busy recently, with a few summer trips, some non-art activities, and a workshop, so I haven't posted. But this post is about that workshop.

A few months ago I encountered the work of Rebecca Crowell, an artist who works in cold wax and has developed ways to build depth and richness through layers. Her work can remind you of old walls or ancient frescoes; it just has that deep, grounded feeling. So I emailed her, asking if she was planning a workshop on the west coast. She replied and said she didn't have one in the works, but was available. Being pretty much inexperienced at setting up workshops, of course I decided to set this one up. It was a lot of work, but it was wonderful! We had a total of eight students, all talented and passionate. And my gallery, Gallery 2611, proved to be a wonderful, bright space to work. Here's the set-up:

As a teacher, Rebecca is a thoughtful and perceptive, balancing demonstrations and presentations with time to play with what we learned, and communicating with each student based on her personal concerns. I loved how the room felt when everyone was buried in her own work, and a focused hush descended. We also, interestingly, had scads of passers by come in, curious about what we were doing.

The workshop was three days, and the cold wax was dry enough to work over those days so everyone came out with finished or near-finished work. Here are two of mine that I think need a few more layers. But you can see that they form a good under layer for something rich and deep. The original jpg is pretty big, so if you click it you can see a lot of detail.

What's next? I can intuit that there are ways to combine Rebecca's approach with my texturing techniques. I have ideas swirling around in my head, and I now get to have the fun of playing with them.

"Spirsa"

2009-05-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

24 x 18 x 0.75", acrylic and mixed media on stretched canvas

In my last post, I mentioned that I came out of teaching my workshop with two paintings that I liked, which was a bonus. This is the second one. When the earlier painting looked finished at Step 2 (I usually paint in three steps; see the last post), I needed another Step 2 painting that I could use in a demo and develop to Step 3. So I went home and created a tremendous mess. This one has some dry wall tape, in addition to the regular texture material (stucco patch, flexible patching compound). Then I took it to the second day of the workshop.

When it came time to discuss developing a painting, we used this as material for sharing ideas. So we kind of painted this as a committee. My purpose was to demonstrate simplifying a painting (in other words, you shoulda seen this before I simplified it). The students sat where they could see my easel, and we discussed different features of the painting and directions we could go in developing it. For instance, just right of center and a little up is a wonderful wrinkly section that we agreed looked like a dragon's head. I could have punched up the detail in it and made it a focal point. But it fought with the orange circle at the center of the spiral, left of center, so I attenuated it.

The whole experience was wonderfully fun: throwing ideas around, demonstrating what you can do with texture when you're putting a second layer of paint on it, figuring out what delicious little bits to sacrifice to the whole. I got to see how much the students really did know. I think I'll keep this exercise it as a feature of future workshops. I was initially kind of terrified of having to take a painting to completion. After all, I can't guarantee that any given painting will come out well. But if we all do it together then the learning happens whether or not the final result is ideal.

"Phosus"

2009-05-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

18 x 14 x 1.5", acrylic and mixed media on stretched canvas

I was fortunate enough at my workshop last weekend to create not one, but two paintings I'm pretty happy with. This is one of them, and it came about kind of by surprise. You see, I often paint in three steps: Step 1.) Apply the texture material. Step 2.) Add the foundation paint layer (this is usually a tremendous mess, lots of free form color applied any way I feel like). Step 3.) Take the tremendous mess and simplify it. I have to say, Step 3 can be difficult; Step 2 can result in wonderful passages where colors run into each other or trickle around the texture or whatever. But it's usually too busy. So in Step 3 I have to paint over parts of it, which can be heart breaking.

This one was a surprise because, at the end of Step 2, I didn't think it needed a lot of work. I figured it should need work, but I wasn't sure what to do to it. Eventually I did go in with some gold and pick out some highlights. And I had to go home that night and create another Step 2 painting for a demo the next day.

I have to say, though, that Step 1 and Step 2 are enormously liberating. You kind of put your logical mind on hold—well, after choosing your palette—and you enter the moment and just go on impulse. I should do something about that...

First workshop: How it went

2009-05-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

I finished teaching my first workshop today. This was the title:

Painting Fabulous Textured Abstracts

(or why the hardware store is your best friend)

(Later it occurred to me that I shouldn't have used the word "fabulous." No man would take a workshop with that in the title.)

Two people signed up for the workshop. On the one hand, I'm bummed not to have had a full group. On the other hand, it was nice to have a small, intimate group, especially for my first workshop.

Both days were hot. Saturday, Day 1, the German restaurant next door was having a beer garden in the back parking lot, so there was a lot of oom-pah music plus partying people. It was also a local open studio tour. So, on the whole, pretty busy. In fact, a bit overwhelming. And I hummed polka music for hours. Sunday, Day 2, was even hotter, and we agreed to start a half hour earlier. It was much quieter, and I played some Hawaiian slack key music on my iPod (no oom-pah!). Mostly we all developed the projects we started on Day 1. I did a demo that actually came out well! This was one of my fears: I can't always guarantee that I'll be able to create something good. Both days, people kind of ran out of gas an hour or more before the nominal end time. I can understand this; I've felt kind of overloaded at all-day classes. And the heat was really hard.

I learned a lot. There's one explanation I know I need to improve. Like, it's really hard to estimate how long things will take. Also, even when I give students the composition and the technique for applying paint, they can come out with really different paintings. And we did a few group discussions: One of us would want to talk about a painting, and we'd set it up on an easel and gather round. I loved those. They weren't critiques, per se, since it wasn't about what was wrong, but rather about what they wanted. I don't want to give students a solution, but, rather, give options or remind them of the color or composition guidelines.

And nice students! Willing to share experience and knowledge and enthusiasm. One of the students said she'd been looking for a class like this for years, and wants me to tell her if I ever give another workshop. That's really encouraging.

I'm content. I asked the students if they had enough information to take home and work with on their own, and they said yes, they did. This was good to hear, since at the end of Day 1 I could tell that not everyone was feeling successful. That was a bit hard. I really want them to feel empowered by the class. But Joyce Faulknor, one of the other artists at my gallery and also a teacher, said something that helped: All you can do is give them all you got. Then, even if it doesn't work for everyone, you know you did all you could.

"Archulos"

2009-05-13T23:34:00.000-07:00

SOLD 30 x 40 x 1.5", acrylic and mixed media on stretched canvas

[UPDATE: I redid the picture of this painting. The earlier one dropped out a lot of texture, and the color was difficult, since I used metallic paint. If you want to see the texture, click the image. I also uploaded a larger JPG.]

It's been a busy time recently. I'm teaching my workshop this weekend, and also coordinating one with another artist for July. Specifically, I've invited Rececca Crowell to come to Northern California. Her wonderful paintings have amazing depth and texture, and I think I could learn a lot that might transfer to what I'm doing. Do check out her blog and web site. And let me know if you're interested in the workshop.

Meanwhile, although I'm probably in reasonable shape for my own workshop this weekend, I do need to finish up a few things. Got the syllabus in pretty good shape, the hand-outs either planned or done, detailed notes on supplementary information. Just need to finalize. So this post might be a bit short.

So, about this painting, remember my admiration for texture and depth? I keep finding new ways to use hardware store material to create that. In this piece, it had occurred to me that the textures I'm creating might look wonderful with metallic paint. So I used a flexible patching compound and dragged through it to create interesting bumps. And I added my beloved stucco patch. After a few interesting starts with bright colors, and a visit to Photoshop to play with composition, I developed it as you see it: lots of layers of paint, and lots of darker colors rubbed into the metallic color and catching the contours of the patching compound. I like how it looks old.

I'm also developing (or redeveloping) an interest in primitive symbols. This one seems sort of like Stonehenge. I have one in the works that has a circle. I'm looking into Hawaiian petroglyphs and ancient wall paintings, as well as patterns of water and totem symbols. They strike some sort of chord in me, and I'm listening.

"Flurry" and "Trickle"

2009-04-30T23:47:00.001-07:00

I've noticed that I've only blogged once this month. Why? Two reasons. Well, OK, three: ramping up for my new workshop; having a few paintings that just don't feel finished even though I don't know what to do with them; and having some Life Events happen (nothing serious). Now, about point 2, having paintings that don't feel finished, I think I need to just hunker down and finish them. But sometimes it's more fun to start something new. That is, until the old things start to pile up.

However, at the same time, I seem to have started a series. Now, I believe in serieses (is that a word?). I believe that by painting something a few times, but only changing one thing -- or maybe two things -- you learn a lot. The trouble is, when I've done them I've felt kind of bored. But strangely, in this case, I've had a specific goal, and it's been more interesting. Not that it's terribly exciting, mind you. It's a very simple composition I've seen a number of artists do, which is to have a dark band at the top, then fill the rest with texture. Here's my first one:

"Flurry," 18x14x1.5", mixed media and acrylic on canvas

I kind of like it. It's both festive and pensive at the same time.

Here's the other one. What's different is two things: the color and the texture. The color is more triadic, and for the texture I decided to play with the surface for the drippies (or "Pollocks" as a friend suggested). In the first piece, above, I put the texture down with some diagonal troughs. You can see that some of the lines streak from upper right to lower left. I like it. It's a little like something in a storm.

But in the piece below, I tried a kind of X composition with the texture: It flowed toward the center, and then out towards the sides. I'm not sure it works as well. It's kind of splayed. Interesting in its own way, though.

"Trickle," 18x14x1.5", mixed media and acrylic on canvas

I have the next one queued up, but I'm thinking I should wait until I've finished a few semifinished ones first. And make sure I'm prepared for my workshop. It should be scads of fun! There are still openings, if you're interested. Hmm?

I'm teaching a workshop!

2009-04-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

There's been quite a bit of interest in the techniques I'm using for creating my abstracts, so I'm teaching a workshop. I'm kind of new to teaching, so I could use any help you can offer for getting the word out. Here's my blurb (do you like the title?):

Painting Fabulous Textured Abstracts
(or why the hardware store is your best friend)

Do you love richness and texture in your paintings? Do you want to experiment with multimedia in a way you've never done before? This fun, lively workshop teaches you to use materials from both the art store and the hardware store to create amazing abstracts. No prior experience needed! Just bring your adventurous spirit! Expect to go home with a minimum of two (and maybe more) abstract paintings.

When: May 16 to 17, 2009, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Where: Gallery 2611, 2611 Broadway, Redwood City, 94063
Price: $130
Need more information? Click here.

To sign up, email connie@ckleinjans.com
or call Gallery 2611 at (650) 364-2611

The Fire Eater

2009-04-07T17:00:00.001-07:00

30 x 40 x 1.5", acrylic and mixed media on stretched canvas

It's been a busy time, getting myself settled in at Gallery 2611. I have some studio space there, yay!, but I needed to set that up. That meant a trip to Ikea, and two -- two! -- repeat trips to get missing parts. I also treated myself to a gorgeous new easel, and bought more paints, brushes, and texturing supplies. So I haven't made much time to paint.

However, I did this piece last month or so. I almost named it The Fighter, but the current title feels right (and almost sounds the same). But the reason I almost named it The Fighter is because it was one of those paintings that just had a mind of its own, and wasn't going to cooperate with any plans or concepts I had. I cajoled it, changed compositions, let it sit, revisited it, and, finally, here it is. I think maybe the struggle shows a bit, and I like that.

For those of you interested in art process, here's how I got to the final image:

Step 1: I wanted to play with my drippies (I really need a better name for those...), but on the diagonal instead of up and down. I played with a few compositions in Photoshop, along with a few palettes, and came up with this as my concept:

Background goes from dark to light, and the stripes are in a middle value, so they kind of merge with the background in the middle. I also looked at it the other way around:

That's a funny thing about abstracts: They are not glued to an orientation. I mean, seriously. Those of you who do landscapes or figure painting, do you ever rotate your work to see if it would look better oriented that way? Isn't that a bizarre concept? Well, kind of. Ultimately a work flies or falls based on the composition and we do often look at art from a different perspective to see what we can learn.

Step 2: I had a couple of nails on the wall, and I hung the painting so the drippies would go at an angle. I put another canvas underneath just to see what would happen with the drops that fell off this one. Here's the first version.

Frankly, meh! Not so good. The Photoshop version made promises I was unable to keep. (And if I'm wrong and you like it, tell me!) I think I thrashed for awhile at this point, and eventually decided I had to have a new concept.

Step 3: Now, one of my theories in making textured art is that no underpainting is wasted; it is merely source material and adds richness to whatever you put on it. Personally, I like success by definition. So, after "meh," a small explosion occurred and this emerged:

Kind of ghostly, kind of interesting, but, aughh! it still wasn't there. (Again, feel free to totally disagree with me. I'd like to think everything I touch is brilliant.) (Yeah, right. Maybe if I was Picasso.) You can see where the drip lines cross near the middle, though.

Step 4? Sadly, I didn't document the transition from the penultimate to the ultimate painting. But, like an earlier painting, I'm surprised at the iterations and how different they were. (And now, glad to have this record of it.)

End note: And interesting resource. I found a wonderful blog whose author talks straight to artists. It's Edward Winkleman's blog. He works out of Chelsea, New York, and gives wonderful, honest information, much of it useful to emerging artists. Here's a link to his excellent page on finding a gallery.

My new gallery: Gallery 2611

2009-04-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

(Me, in scruffy clothes, posing between Scissure, on my right, and Red, on my left.)

Well, I'm in a gallery. And, yes, I'm pretty excited about it. It's Gallery 2611, in Redwood City, CA, and I'm sort of a partner. So I have some additional studio space, and I've found a group of fun artists to hang out with. Hey, they're a kick in the shorts! If "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" comes on the iPod, dancing just might ensue.

Now, I live high on a hill with a taciturn man, and I've got my Jack Russell Terrorist for company. But I've been missing the people contact I used to get at work. I've also come to realize that I want to interact with other artists. Gallery 2611 seems to fit the bill. Also, two of the artists are experienced teachers, and they think people might be interested in my texture techniques, so they're encouraging me to teach a workshop. I'm aiming at mid-May.

Thanks, Joyce, Guy, Gary, Jackye, and Dianne, for letting me join you. Here are Joyce and Guy's websites:

http://www.joycefaulknor.com/ - Watercolorist, workshop teacher, author of Stunning Crystal and Glass, and has work appearing in Splash 10.
http://www.guymagallanes.com/ - Also a watercolorist and teacher, and also appears in Splash 10.