saturday

This doesn't really have anything to do with my art or my studio, other than it kept me from working on either of those today. The 'Grey Goose' finally got a bit of love today.

This week I got stopped on the six block drive to Concordia. A 'fix-it-ticket' and $40 tail light later I'm street legal again (well, more street legal than before . . .). I spent some time getting my brake lights working as well (the officer didn't notice that).

The Goose has been leaking gas since early fall. I tried just using the 2nd tank, but it leaked worse than the first. It really wasn't an issue until I decided to start parking in the garage, then the gas smell was a bit much. I picked up the new tank this morning and had it in and running by 2:00 this afternoon.

There is something quite satisfying about spending morning under a pickup getting greasy.

weeks worth of work

This week I focused on the floor when time allowed. I have made some progress.

Jan 26-28

Here are some random shots from what happened in the studio the past few days

I used to work with paper on the ground and liked some of the effects that would result from the pooling paint, etc. Multiple binder clamps on the back wood panels do a good job of bracing the configuration up while I work on it. Looking forward to seeing how it dried over night.   

Weekend of 1-22-11

I spent 4+ hours in the studio off and on this past Saturday. Sunday and Monday saw no studio time as I prepared Sunday for a Monday presentation at school. 

Dropped in some background color to help develop the shape of the iron. Begin to render some of the detail on the top of the black handle portion, specifically the circular metal concavity. Sorry about the poor photo quality, the light is great for painting in the studio, but not so good for attempting to take a naturally lit photo without a tripod. 

Slowly bringing value relationships along. Looking ahead to how the stripes on the shirt will interact with everything so the base value of the shirt has begun to develop. In my mind this is still very much of an underpainting and initial sketch, the goal is to really push this one along slowly over a long period of time. Maybe 2 or 3 hours a week for a few months. Just want the thing to develop and build naturally.

Okay so it's not the studio, but here is what 2 6'x6' paintings and a 4'x4' painting look like in the back of a 2002 Cavalier. Getting packed up for the presentation on campus. The presentation went okay, not great, you know when you've expressed yourself clearly and concisely, and I can't say I did a great job of that last night. But I spoke from the studio experience so hopefully some of the students got something out of it. 

Current sketchbook

With the start of the new year, I have started a new sketchbook. Here are some images of notes and sketches from my time in Boston. Most of the writing is notes on Critical Theory 1.

Boggs studio Saturday 1/22

Back from Boston and finally into the studio. This is a shot of the space this morning before the work really began. I laid more flooring and spray painted a bit. While I was gone, Megan's dad pulled nails and organized the flooring for me.

Random Combinations

Sometimes it is simply fun and exhilarating to arrange panels and discover "new" paintings or compositions from the panels already in the studio. It's as though I am surprised that a image seems to evolve out of these random assemblages. But that has been the trick, work in short bursts on a lot of stuff all the time, then survey and see what connections can be made, break those connections down, rearrange and repeat. Sometimes I really view these works as a testament to time and labor, but they are more than that. I am seeking what the more is.

To get away from the large figurative works recently begun, this 72"x72" has been arranged as a field in which I plan to execute a number of studies of the iron seen on the stand to the right. This will be a way for me to create a set of representational images that may operate as pattern, key visual or any number of visual/compositional elements in future works. I find it hard to paint an object or still life unless I have some connection to the object, the iron was owned by one of Allison's aunts who she loved, who passed away after a stroke. So one could conclude that the iron is both a portrait of Aunt Monette as well as Allison. BUT ultimately I am more interested in it as an object, an excuse to paint it and to put it into something to be judged visually, rather than conceptually. Another way of putting it is that I don't want to serve the iron by having to communicate all of the personally assigned meaning applied to it though painting it, I simply want it as an object to serve the painting's final visual success. My selection of it although needs to be on a highly personal level. It matters not if the viewer knows why or if I have a connection to any of these things or people, only that the resulting visual effect is strong. I don't want these images to be ambiguous, but I don't want them to be sentimental either. I simply need to create out of what I love and what is in my life, but saying or expressing is not important to me, what appears to be important is doing, discovering and making. Sorry for rambling.

Diamond Pattern Execution

Light green paint was added on top of the masking tape pattern along with some modeling

paste for body.

Beginning to remove the tape, it was kind of nice like this, but the rest of the tape needed to 

be removed.

This detail shot is bad, sorry. Anyway after this thing dried for a few days I dismantled the

panels and will either use them as a ground for a new work, add them to existing works,

create a new pattern on top of some.

Red Portrait

Initial umber sketch and first color applications. The red on the left panels is a bit of a color challenge for me as I begin to drop in the flesh tones. 

Man in Stripped Shirt Progression

General progression over the past week.

Beginning to think about how the color groupings will work, begin grouping greenish flesh tones around the eyes and under the brow, this will be pushed further as the image continues along. Value considerations are becoming more needed, forehead will need to have the value adjusted to make that plane stand out from the side of the head.

As it sits now.

Weekend of 1-15-11

Here's a few snaps of what went on in the studio over the weekend. There was not as much time spent in the studio as originally hoped, but the 6 hours spent down there felt productive. Today is a floating holiday for me so after lunch with family I hope to get back down there.

Still finding proportion relationships and beginning to block in more value - light and dark. The stripes on the shirt are something that is starting to be considered, they too are beginning get roughed in.

45 minute blocks of time seem to produce the best results for me. Roughly 45 minutes on one thing, then onto the next. In working that way I never get to married to any one thing I am doing and the willingness to correct and revise something is stronger then when I have sunk 6 straight hours into painting something only to realize the proportions are off. Constantly returning with fresh eyes and a willingness to begin again.

Anyway, I started taping up some lines on these disjointed panels, building a pattern that will get applied later.

Detail of tape and paint.

Finished pattern, now I will wrestle with what value and hues to apply to this. One of the things I like about the tape and paint style of pattern application is that it reminds me of glazing a ceramic vessel and putting it into the kiln with a degree of anticipation. You had an idea of what was going to come out of the kiln but you were always surprised at certain aspects and sometimes with the entire piece. The same kind of experience is present for me in this pattern process. Covering the panels with paint and then removing the tape, strand by strand holds that same level of revelation and is a nice contrast to the representational images.

Putting the painting of the man with stripped shirt aside for a bit, this new image of a man with glasses is to begin on the panels above. Unlike the the stripped shirt image this one will be built on an existing panel (right), and two new panels, (left). The stripped shirt image was begun on a perfectly white base while this will be worked on and into an existing panel. The idea of background or simply ground affirmation and background denial is something that I haven't really thought about but when I was deciding how to begin this one I wanted to start on something already marked up. The panel on the right has seen many things applied to it as it was first painted on in April of last year.

Studio 1-13-11

Studio after completing work on Thursday night. After cleaning up my brushes the chain on the light seen in the center top of the image broke and I had to fix it this afternoon before beginning working again. The power to the basement had to be turned off because the base of the light needed to be removed so that the chain could be re-strung. Anyway, before I got to painting in the studio this afternoon I thought I would post where I ended up on Thursday night.

Random combination of textured panels. I am thinking about what I may do on top of this.

Further progress on the man with the stipped shirt image.

Detail

Studio 1-12-11

Beginning a new painting, based on a photograph of my father-in-law. two 24"x48" panels, two 24"x24" panels

Started the rough-in with Burnt Umber, just looking for relationships, angles and large masses/forms at this point. Burnt Umber seems to work well for me as a base sketching material, I tend to shy away from dark values and this provides a good dark ground to build off of.

The portrait elements of this piece had been in another configuration before I started the rough-in mentioned above. The opportunity to quickly experiment with some of the yellow stripped panels from mid-December proved too much of a temptation so I spent some time rearranging things into this composition. Typically no real conclusions are arrived at with regards to the success of any combination until some time has passed and there is a chance to feel out what's working or what's not. Truthfully, sometimes it is simply fun and a pleasure to rearrange these things and to instantly see something new, the simple joy of looking and discovering. In this case the same problems of having the portraits floating on top remain, although I like having the panel cut into the top portrait's space. The colors seem to be a nice compliment so this may be something to pick up on and begin to add more paint to this arrangement.

We'll see, at this point I am more interested in spending some time getting the father-in-law piece going along with some others.

Spring Clamps - Temporary Fasters

This is the reverse side of one the the 72"x72" pieces and shows how the panels are temporarily fastened together as they are worked on, rearranged, etc

There has been a small investment in these spring clamps, as of now there are enough to secure 3 of the 72"x72" pieces together with a few left over for a smaller piece. While it takes some time to set everything up at crits, it is nice to be able to transport 4 large paintings in the back of an 2002 Cavalier. 

Dolak Studio, Sunday Jan 9th

Dolak Studio 01-09-11

My studio as it sat this afternoon. The 24 new panels were completed over the weekend having been primed and sanded; they are the white stacks of panels which you can see on the far left hand side of the image. With that task out of the way painting can resume.

As I return to the studio I am also considering what I want to do with this piece (currently a six panel 72"x72" configuration) which is not working well at all. I had worked on this one quite a bit in October this past fall and haven't looked at it since. Both of the portraits seem to occupy the same level of space, that is to say they both lurk near the top of the image, neither one pushing back to allow for a sense of movement. It may be an issue of further refinement/development on the large portrait as well as breaking these panels apart, reassembling them with other panels and allowing myself to respond the the new configuration that results.