removing the bandages

a painting that had been dogging me for three years finally gets a makeover. after a small nip and tuck to the upper third of the painting, i think it is improved.

No bloggy-bloggy?

The friend in the below post asked why I haven't been blogging. Since he reads this blog, I know I'll be satisfying at least one person by posting tonight.

I won't answer his question, but will mention I was thinking of posting something the other night, something horrible. I'm trying to set a new habit, so I've been down in the studio every night of the past ten. I think if I get to thirty I can consider it a habit?

At any rate during this time I managed to push a painting far over the edge, and in the interest of transparency thought I'd trash it here on the blog.

I may not be able to save it, and hopefully if it ends up in a show you won't be able to tell that I was prepared to slander one of my 'children' in public.

If I ever feel that way again - wait, I still feel that way about this piece, despite the changes I made tonight - but if I ever feel that way again, I may confide in strict confidence to one buddy, but I'll never dog a piece in public.

one mark

done, or not done? that is the question...

how do i know?

is it enough to just make one mark on a canvas?

it's usually more difficult to not make a mark than to make one. it requires more thought and determination, therefore the unmarked canvas should be thought of as more masterly than the marked, no?

wow

i have just been invited by Randall Tipton to show along with him at this year's Sitka Invitational. the invited artists (Randall) were in turn allowed to invite another artist to show along with them, and to also collaborate on a piece together. if you don't know Randall's work, check it out here: http://www.RandallDavidTipton.com. he's one of the best painters in the area. really amazing stuff. i'm beside myself! i'll post more as the collaboration begins. the show is in November.

flinging paint

learning a new language

i made a bunch of marks today. i had more consecutive painting time today than i have had in several weeks.

worked on several canvases simultaneously - all paintings that had been started before which needed work. no white canvases. was fairly brave (by that i mean uncharacteristically willing to destroy a painting in the pursuit of exploration). trying new things in the studio. new ways of simplifying images of nature. new materials. new scale. new process.

.

my motivation remains the same, but nearly everything else is new, and frankly, it's not going real well. i feel like i'm learning to paint all over again. i probably worked on seven or eight canvases today, ranging from 9" x 11" to 24" x 30", and i maybe like one of them. i'll see how i feel about it in the morning. thankfully i'm meeting with a group of artists tomorrow for a monthly critique of each other's work, because i could use some help with this stuff.

i know where i want to go, and i can picture the results in my head, but i just can't seem to make my hands cooperate. i guess it's a new language and i should be more patient, but i want to be fluent now!

i wonder if this is what raising children is like. some days this can be so much fun, and other times it can frustrate the hell out of me. uncooperative little brats, these paintings are.

pink stripes

it was a morning of putting pink stripes on things.

standing on the shoulders of giants

i have had a productive few days. several new paintings are either in the works or completed. i bought a stack of small, pre-stretched canvases from my pals at utrecht the other day so i could set up a sort-of assembly line in the studio. i just line up these small (9x12) canvases and work on them consecutively as needed. it allows me the emotional detachment necessary to not fall in love with them too soon. when i paint large it's such a commitment that i get to a point of apoplexy - i have invested so much time and material into the thing that i don't want to "ruin it". these small canvases seem more disposable.

so i have to confess that the engine behind my recent motivation is a little book that steff gave me which contains fifteen reproductions of Howard Hodgkin paintings. in the ten or so years that i have been painting, there have been a few occasions where i see work by someone that completely alters the way i think about painting. my evolution is owed to seeing the work of Matisse, Beckmann, Guston, Soutine, and Basquiat. with Hodgkin it was even more profound. when i saw his work for the first time i felt like it said to me "it's ok". it's ok to paint in this way that i had only thought about, written about, and sometimes dreamt about, but had failed to actually perform. it was liberating.

i realize that right now i'm sort of dealing with a schoolgirl crush on Hodgkin and my paintings are attempts at respectful aping, but once i work through this i will find a new place where the simplicity, reduction, and abstraction that i have long been striving for are incorporated into my conscious process. until then i am just enjoying making these marks!

a painting or a photograph

Last weekend I was cranky and feeling like I had made a series of wrong decisions in my life, or maybe just paid attention to the wrong things, or not done the right things. Like, if I had painted more I would be better, I mean really good. If I read more I would be smarter. If I stuck with yoga my back wouldn't hurt in the morning. Stuff

like that.

Dell said, we better get in the car and go somewhere. So we went to Sauvie Island. And it was drizzling lightly and everything was quiet and beautiful and full of possibilities. So I took some pictures. To make a painting? Or just to be a beautiful record of the lovely world, while I am here to see it.

Maybe I could still be a really good painter, there is so much to say. Although, there is nothing I can say better than the Oregon light on the bare trees in February.

palettes

another example of a used palette that is probably better than my last ten paintings...

The Day After

Are you all feeling as restless as I am today? Full and empty at the same time?

The sky tonight was a blue I have never seen before.

I want to drift in a bowl of blue, in that color blue.

We are jamming.

OK, the big show is hanging at Gallery 114 (1100 NW Glisan - kinda underneath the awesome new guitar shop) and we are all extremely proud. It's looking good - for a bunch of over-40 artists with lives (if I may be so bold and blunt) - the point is, we do what we like, not what we think you'll to like, and we think it shows.

Or something.

I should quit while I'm ahead.

Here's a small selection of new work from me. See it there, Thursday February 3rd from 6 - 9PM. We'll be there.