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.

SHOWTIME!

oh dear, i do love this business!

Does it always have to be this way?

Do I have to be in the studio at the eleventh hour, making a mess, ruining perfectly good tubes of paint and cheap Chinese brushes? I always want to begin again, but end up just adding on. Maybe we just have one good tale to tell in our lives. I am still waiting for the moment the last piece comes together. Like a miracle, you make a mark that you didn't know was in you and it's just right. Let's hope there's one more mark...

Sean Scully says "It seems to me that there are highs and lows, and that there have been periods that are, I would say, less creative, where you're simply holding a position, and there are other periods where you feel you have breathed enough air to be able to exhale again, to be expansive again."

I'm filling my lungs....

Lindsay Lohan escapes rehab - Again!

OK, so the Ke$ha thing didn't work too well, maybe this title will work.

But really, I just want to post a picture of the painting I'm donating to the Cascade Aids Project Art For Life auction. It's out to jury, and I sure hope it makes it into the show, because it's always a fun time, and such a good cause.

All of us OPST artists should be donating this year, and hopefully we all get in, so we can be grouped together and get a wall sign!

Say a little prayer for our demos, so to speak.

Ke$ha

Just thought I'd see if I can draw in some random readers with the title. If you're a Ke$ha fan, welcome! I hope you enjoy what you find here.

Anyway, I'm bummed that I feel like I know what I'm doing with only one of the five paintings I'm working on now, and I have like a week and a half to whip things into shape.

Also, I wouldn't describe any of these paintings as more than 'begun' ...

Calm B4

Oh dear, I haven't really worked on any art in about a week, and a scant two weeks remains before the show. I used to consider the month prior to a show to be a forbidden zone as far as working on pieces was concerned. Publicity was reserved for the last month.

Now, if I can finish a piece before the reception, I'm lucky.

Why am I sitting here blogging while 'watching a movie' at midnight on a Sunday?