"Before Morning Coffee"

24x30x1.5", mixed media on canvas

So this one has something that hasn't appeared in a painting of mine before: Sewing things to the canvas. I found some strips of wood and sewed them to the surface using thick thread. I then put gel medium over the wood and thread on the front, and also coated the thread on the back so it would stay put. This painting also has some of that mattress ticking that I love.

I think the title came out of a casual conversation: "This looks energetic, like it happened before morning coffee!" But that worked as a title, partly because it's a fairly energetic painting, but also because a lot of the brown is coffee colored, and I've seen coffee used as a stain on paintings. 

"Costumes"

30x48x1.5", mixed media on canvas

I  mentioned in yesterday's post that I was going to be on a community cable show. It was wonderful! The hostess was Pauline, and she was quite a firecracker. There were four guests: Our teacher, another student, and the woman who manages the Radius gallery where we have our current show. We had an hour, and Pauline asked us all questions. Now I want to get a copy of the show.

OK, the piece shown here was a leap. Here's what I did: I put down texture material and added pieces of an old pair of shorts that I had. I slathered some fluorescent orange paint hither and yon. I added some soft tree bark I had, then later pulled it off. Finally, I had found some small white figures, which are probably for architectural layouts, but I liked them and added them to the painting, adhering them with silicone glue . 

Somewhere in there, I added the other colors. I felt I needed to tone down the fluorescent orange, so I painted a mix of yellow ochre and other colors over it. I rolled on the blue-gray with my small paint roller.

Here's a close-up of one of the white figurines and a piece of the shorts. I liked the section with the zipper and button. 

I think I'm learning to live with discomfort. I really wasn't sure this painting was right while I was doing it, but now I like it.

"Unfounded"

20x24x1.5", mixed media on canvas

Thanks to my painting teacher (thanks Sefla!), this afternoon I drive to Santa Cruz to be interviewed for a TV show, along with Sefla and another student. Granted, it's a local cable show, but hey. I'll take this painting and possibly two others along. I'll post them here in the next couple of days. W00t!

I'm taking this picture because it shows what kind of mishmash I put on the canvas. This has the normal stucco patch plus paint, but it also has bits of wood, a spiky acorn cap, a square of vinyl (I think) that wraps around the edge of the canvas (it's on the left), and a bicycle reflector, which is lower right. For the bicycle reflector, I pushed the pointy bits (the things that hold it to a bike) through the canvas, then put silicon glue on the back. The canvas has lots of gesso and paint, so it doesn't tear, and the glue should hold things together. That reflector ain't goin' nowhere!

"Volcano"

30x24x1.5", mixed media on canvas

One of the interesting things about creating a dialogue with a painting is that you don't know what will happen. I started working on this, and the half face is what came about. I don't know if I would have done a painting where half the face was out of the picture -- especially the eyes! -- if I hadn't been guided that way. And I certainly didn't have that in mind when I was putting down the texture or adding the random color marks. Whoda thunk?

"Akimbo"

36x36x1.5", mixed media on canvas

This was another one where I threw down the texture material, then created a tremendous mess, then decided what to paint. She was suggested by lines and edges in the painting, which is why it's kind of a dialogue. And I named her Akimbo because she's kind of all corners and knees and wrists.

"Remnants"

24x30x1.5", mixed media on canvas

This was one of those paintings where you need someone else to say "STOP! NOW!" I was in painting class and had followed my process of making a gorgeous mess gluing down bits of this and that, scribbling, pulling things off, making drippies. Doing whatever seemed like fun with the supplies of the moment. Then I went over the picture with my roller using an off-white, letting pieces of what was there show through. I wanted the richness that comes from layers and layers adding up.

I was about to keep working on it, then my teacher (Sefla Joseph) said "STOP!" And she was right. It has mystery, is interesting to look at, and looks simple until you get close. Thanks, Sefla.

An interesting feature of this painting is that the dark area in the upper right comes from paint on the BACK of the canvas. I had pulled something off the front, and it took some of the gesso with it, leaving raw canvas. I'd done this before, but this time I wanted to USE the effect. So I added a dark color.

"Around the Bend"

24x36x1.5", mixed media on canvas

I have this quandary in my paintings. My process is this: First I just have fun and scatter texture material (stucco patch or flexible gel or cloth or other stuff) hither and yon without thinking about where it goes. Well, not thinking much. I might try to put more texture here and less there, to add some variety and resting spaces for the eyes. After that I might let it dry, then I might scribble all over it with pens. Might not, though. Don't know. So, by adding stuff. or even using an old painting I never cottoned to, I build up a rich underpainting. In the second part of the process, I get focused on the painting and let it tell me what it needs. There might be wonderful passages that I want to keep or must let go of. I might remove some texture bits or add more. And it's always good to ask what you can do without; it makes for better paintings.

I like that I get to balance my child (first step) and adult (second step) selves in the painting. It's good.

So the quandary is that the painting foundation might be a complete lack of planning or thinking. Which seems a bit strange. The trouble is, when I make a plan, I create these self-conscious works that I don't like. So I'll stick with my process. I just feel surprised when I see that it's based on no planning or thinking.

And that shows up in this painting because the shapes are more squared off than is usual for me. So I must have made some straight lines in the texture underneath. It almost looks like an abstract city scape, really. But what I love most about it is that the central rectangle bends to the left. Buildings shouldn't do that.

"Slippery Ice"

18x36x1.5", mixed media on canvas

This one contains pieces of an old bedsheet that wore out and tore, so it was no longer useful in normal life. So I glued it down. Then there were too many ridges, so I took my razor-blade-in-a-safety-handle (kids! never use razor blades without safety handles!) and cut away some of the sheet. I liked the rough edges, so I then put medium on the whole piece to protect it. 

There's another unusual thing about this piece, which is that it uses a metallic paint. I don't tend to use those, since they can get precious, but it wanted it here.

"Peeled Away"

24x30x1.5", mixed media on canvas

This is a another in my series of paintings that have fewer colors, and thus emphasize texture more. This one used to be a painting where I'd glued down old rags made out of T-shirts, then added other texture material such as patching compound and sand. Then I painted a figure over it. But the painting never spoke to me, so I peeled off (hence the title) the rags, used that as an undercoat, then added the fabric and mucked around until I was happy with it. 

By the way, peeling off is a great way to add interesting texture; it can result in surfaces that you couldn't create on your own. Mostly it's best to do it once the glue material (I use either white glue or gel) has hardened to the touch but has not cured. Often you'll pull off some of the original gesso, and sometimes you need to be careful or you'll tear the canvas. Not that that's necessarily bad, mind you...

"The Confused World"

30x40x1.5", mixed media on canvas

This painting, and the one in the immediate prior post, were accepted into the Santa Cruz Art League's juried multimedia show! It's called All Mixed Up. I am so honored! It feels like my paintings are going in a good direction, and I hope that this is proof.

For this one, I used an older painting of mine that was no longer working for me, although I love that bits of it show up here and there. Basecoats are crucial. I also added industrial foam (the stuff that electricians put behind outlets) to add texture. And I had been utterly drinking in the amazing work of Hannelore Baron, so I added fabric. By the way, Baron was amazing; you should look her up. Her work could make you cry.

"And the Walls Tumbled Down"

36x36x1.5", mixed media on canvas

I've gotten more and more into paintings that use fewer colors and that have a lot of texture. Fewer colors lets you focus on the texture, and actually seems to evoke emotions! I'm discovering that I love what happens when I add an element, then try to pull it off the canvas. It leaves the most beautiful detritus! And, to a certain extent, I'm returning to what I was doing a few years ago.

Now, the material in this painting is interesting. You might be able to tell that there's cardboard, and maybe Plaster of Paris + gauze off a roll. But there's also eggshell (those larger chips) and an old towel I found while hiking, that I applied and pulled off. There's also flexible patching material from the hardware store.

But, to me, the important thing is how this looks aged and crumbly, with a lot of richness. Yeah, I like it.

"Flight"

30x48x1.5", mixed media on canvas

As I've mentioned before, I have a painting process, which is to make a tremendous* mess on the canvas then resolve it. The mess is usually made up of texture materials from the hardware store (patching compound, stucco patch), maybe some paper or sand, and paint thrown hither and yon. This picture was surprisingly difficult, not to paint, but to figure out an approach. When I resolve the tremendous mess, I often look at the painting at different rotations. With this one, I kept turning and turning and turning it. I did some work in resolving the darks and lights. I added more paint texture. I saw various shapes, but I kept returning to a small face I saw, so I finally painted it. Suddenly, the face brought the whole work into focus.

* I like the word "tremendous" here. I used to say I'd make a "terrible mess," but, you know, it's really not terrible. So I looked for a colorful word that would express my effect on the canvas. And I thought of "tremendous." I like it. Today, at least. Could use some other word tomorrow, I suppose.

"The Heart Cannot Lie"

36x36x1.5 acrylic on canvas

I haven't posted since March, but I felt like posting this one. While I was painting it, I was trying to find a figure to work with, but it insisted on being abstract. I'm falling back in love with adding texture to my paintings. Of course, that can change tomorrow.

"Not Yet II"

30x48x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

NFS. This one is a bit of an enigma. I built the texture and threw paint hither and yon, then saw shapes and started to paint, and this emerged. In feeling for the title, I saw a sense of waiting, of holding on, but the posture makes it look to me like someone in the starting blocks for a running race. Which fits the title very well. So I left it.

"Skyward"

30x30x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

This was another painting that started differently. I was painting along, fighting with it (as I've said, some paintings are fighters), then got frustrated because it just looked wrong. So I started turning it, looking at it this way and that, until I saw an image I liked. I started to bring that out, and this is what happened. And it's kind of unusual. You don't usually see the eyes out of the frame like this. But that's one thing I like about it. I also like the crackly textures in the face. And the drippies (but then, I always like drippies).

"Two More Hours"

20x20x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Since I love texture, I'm always trying new things. For this one, I stapled some strips of cheesecloth across the painting. Then I started to paint and didn't like them -- they wanted to take over -- so I cut them apart then used a medium to immobilize them. Then I scribbled with water pens and painted, leaving pieces of fabric at the edge.

In my striving to be loose, I find that I sometimes start a painting, then, not feeling right, I turn it. And turn it. And turn it again until I can see a composition I like, or I can see how my image will fit on the canvas. I did the latter thing here. I also had some cobalt blue and teal on my palette, and they added an element I like. Almost like graffiti.

"The Unendurable Intensity"

24x24x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

I'm a lot about texture, and this one has a lot of texture material, both gravelly as well as cardboard. Now, I have abstracts that focus on the texture as part of the composition. But in the figurative work, while the texture is present, the focus is on the person. And I like that you can't see her eyes.

"Inhale, Exhale"

18x36", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

I started experimenting with turquoise and found that it's a powerful color! I kept having to return to the area where I painted it and try to cover it up. Eventually it calmed down to the point where it's just present. Meanwhile, this emotional painting emerged. 

Also, after taking the picture and cleaning it up, I suddenly see new things in it. Do I change them? Leave them? I think I'll live with it and see what happens.

"The Game"

(Not available.)

30x40", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

One weekend a couple of years ago, when a few of us were touring wine country, I surreptitiously took pictures of people. This came out of one such picture. I think my two favorite things about it are the way that the focal point is way off center, and the eyes behind the sunglasses, which I invented and which came out surprisingly well!

"Not Yet"

30x30x1.5", acrylic and mixed media, SOLD

This one has soul. There's some stillness to it, and discomfort. And some mystery.

I seem to want to make three kinds of paintings: small still lifes that are also skill builders, abstracts, and abstract figurative, as with this one. A few people had trouble figuring out what it was at first, but that doesn't bother me. It just feels right.