rumors of my death

the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

although this painting might be the death of me. i started it a week ago and it was a gray gloomy mess. then yesterday morning it became this:

showed it to kurt at lunch, and he provided some good insight into compositional issues and so then it became this. while kurt's remarks were spot on, my efforts were disappointing. blech.

then this morning it morphed into this. still not there, but maybe better? this painting has been painted over at least 15 times in the last week. i've never struggled so hard to resolve a painting. Guston says "frustration is everything", so at least i'm successful in that regard.

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do blogs still matter?

dreams

if I could paint as well in my waking life as I do in dreams, well, I don't know, I would probably have paintings in Moma or something.

perseverance, courage, and replaced fenders

in the last two weeks i have painted five of the best paintings i have probably ever painted.

there were days i painted poorly as well, but i was aware, more than ever before, that my temperament was just not right (i was also aware of its "rightness" on the good days, and painted hurriedly to capitalize on the fleeting feeling). on the day when my temperament was right i felt a sense of control over the process - that i knew ahead of time which mark was needed and how it would look before i laid it down. i had no fear of "losing" the painting and had a renewed confidence that if i did, i could revive it.

those days were like clear skies while the others were fog.

looking today at yesterday's work (sheffield 35) i remember being generally happy with the painting but being displeased with a few areas. for a moment i hesitated, unsure how to improve them and fearful of destroying the entire, otherwise successful, image, should i attempt to fix them and fail. the moment passed quickly, the confidence returned, and i addressed the areas, sometimes making them worse than before, but, persevering, ultimately improving them to harmony with the rest of the painting.

that is the kind of courage that i would have lacked before - leaving the painting instead at "good enough". however, the longer those inadequate areas are left unaddressed the harder it is to fix them. it is nearly impossible for me to add only a few marks to a dray painting days or weeks after i last touched it. those marks appear too obvious, or conspicuous, to me, and seem false - like a replaced car fender in a mis-matched color.

painting is just so much fun

on friday i was able to dedicate several hours to painting, which i have not been able to do for a while. it makes such a difference to have a chunk of time. painting for an hour, while nice, just doesn't allow enough time to iron out the wrinkles. on friday, i worked on two bigger paintings (30 x 40) and just kept working them over; destroying them and bringing them back, until i had something i was happy with.

it takes (me) a lot of time, and really that time needs to be continuous, in order to start a painting, let it go, and then bring it back around.

on friday i also returned to working from a scene after a period of working from memory or imagination. i think i'm probably a better painter when i work from a scene. i think that there is something about limiting the choices that gives me more freedom to focus on the paint.

Is it just me?

No matter what I try I can't post comments to this blog, the very one I myself created. If you are reading this, try to post a comment, so I can determine if there is something wrong with my browser settings, or if there is something wrong with the way I've got this thing set up.

I used to be able to post comments here, but not lately, and I want to be able to say things like:

"Congratulations on your jury selection, Dave! It's nice to get that kind of validation from jurors, even if we all know you entered this competition in hopes of getting a deep-fried Twinkie at the fair ..."


KD

I frequently submit work to juried exhibitions solely on the basis of the jurors. By submitting my work I am guaranteed to have my art seen, studied, and debated by a respected handful of art-world professionals, and that to me is worth the price of admission. Even if they hate it.

I submitted two pieces to the Oregon State Fair because the powerhouse jury consisted of Tom Cramer, Jack Portland, and Rod Pulliam.

They ended up choosing one of my pieces to exhibit in the fair. Icing on the cake! But the icing is the really good stuff, not just a bunch of Crisco and sugar. Check out what they said about the pieces they chose:

“The works that we chose for this exhibit have the following characteristics in common:

They show sincerity and a sense of focus. The work exhibits a strong connection between the artist and his subject matter. How the artist portrays the subject matter lets you know how he feels.

They exhibit an instant hit of content followed by a residual slow stream of information. The artwork reveals more over time.

They reflect a regional “Oregonian” sensibility. They are influenced by and connect to the place and people around us

They are resolved and to the point. Good editing choices make for tight focused work.

They are intentionally participatory, requiring the viewer to bring something to the interaction. On balance, if technique or subject matter is overworked, then substance/content suffers.”

Holy crap! Are you kidding me? These five points articulate precisely why I paint. If I could have written a decent artist statement to this point, it would have looked exactly like that. I am thrilled and energized to know that my work was recognized as having achieved these objectives, by these jurors.

We work in our little studios or basements or garages or wherever, mostly alone with our ideas and dreams, and we often wonder if what we do is hitting the mark. We look for validation through exhibitions, press, remarks from fellow artists, sales, wherever we can find it. Today, I got mine. Thank you, jurors.

Come Sale Away

Busy calculating cubic feet of storage space. Won't someone buy my paintings?

They're taking up space.

Which brings me to this: Many, if not all, artists will at one point describe their works as their 'children.' Which of course means that those who want to make a living off their art are at best shameless liars or at worst the most venal bastards of the art world for begging to sell their children to the highest bidder.

A3

Still working on distinguishing between being satisfied with a painting and being done with it.

Hi blogger pals,

There has been radio silence while I was spending way to many hours at work and eeking (sp?)out a show this month. But I miss you all and am ready to think about art without feeling overwhelmed. I am embarking on a drawing project. No painting for a few months, feeling like I want to try to push myself. I keep making the same choices when I paint and wonder what will change if I try to draw the world for awhile. I'll keep you posted. Plus, I am enjoying the drawing app on my I-phone. Beers soon?

stuck in the middle

Killin' time and fillin' space/

After that 10-day stint in the basement I took about 5 days off, though I can't say for sure if, during that time, I didn't come down and check out the work once or twice. It was mostly a conscious split. I couldn't take that much interaction. (If I'd remembered the two+ other streams of work I've got on the burners I might have kept going.) Any road, it was good to move back for a bit, and now I've been working again the last three nights.

So here's some pictures.