Long Time No Post

Things got busy with transporting work for a show as well as a crit on campus last week. With that being the case time in the studio was a little less than normal, below are shots of the images that were worked with over the past week+.

 Oil paint was used to begin to tighten in some detail on portions of the green lamp piece. I think the contrast of some more in focus detail may be a needed balance to some of panels that are mark making focused.

Spent a majority of time working with this piece. The last photo here really shows how the image got away from me, but the opportunity to salvage it should make the image more interesting than where it was going earlier in the week.  

There was a good deal of paint left over on a palette and rather than saving it, the paint was dumped onto these panels along with some of the water from the cleaning bucket. Panels and palette were stacked on top of each other to dry, hopefully they will stick together and when pulled apart something interesting will happen.

Slowly

Used a nail punch to score lines into the surface of the panels which were then used as guides for a cube pattern.

Random combination just to see what the new pattern looks like next to image.

Initial fabrication is now done on the 15 2x4's and 18 2x2's. 

Now it's time to set the nails, putty the holes, sand, prime and sand again. Hopefully two more weeks and these will be done. 

Work: 5-31

Last night was spent exploring further configuration possibilities with the new triangle panels along with some sanding. The non-traditional format really helps these paintings feel like objects, surfaces to collect marks, document images and to stand as a testament to time. My father likened these paintings to plants in a garden, once started they need tending, pruning, nourishment and the inexplicable degree of grace from God to become something. I like that. No timeline should dictate their completion only that they consistently be tended to and allowed to grow with integrity and God's grace. Than at some point when they are ready, they will be done.

Bad photo, I apologize. Looking at a variety of different types of panel and "wedge" sizes here. If you note the sliver of tan/blue wood that separates the top square panel from the rectangular one to the right of it. That is a result of having to fill in extra horizontal space created by pairing the two vertical panels in the lower left corner together. I'll need to craft an additional wedge to fill in the remaining half inch gap on the far top left side. I like these drastically smaller elements which could provide hits of color and contrast. Quilting with paint and wood. Currently 73"x72".

Work: 5/13-5/5

Further oil explorations with the bananas:

Other progress in acrylic:

Work: 5/10

Removed a corner panel from one of the larger 72"x72 arrangements and worked on it individually before clamping it back into position and working it back into the composition.

The acrylic plexi-glass transfer painting experiment that was executed using a portrait a few weeks ago (here) has a lot of potential, most likely for a completely different body of work than what I am working on now. However, the idea of transferring paint from the palette directly onto the panel surfaces has crept into some of the mark making on the panels. The images below were an experiment on applying paint to one panel then transferring it to the next and then repeating the process using the second panel as the application panel.

While the transfer experiment dried time was spent looking a different combination possibilities :

Preferably it would be great if some of the solutions could be single or two panel combinations that were smaller than most of the current arrangements. Below is a two panel 24"x48" possibility. You can see some of the palette transfer marks on the left side of the piece.

Possible Configurations

Taking a look at a variety of 72"x72" arrangements:

This one has been clamped and leaned against the back wall for a few weeks; last night some highlights started to be worked into the standing figure on the far left.

Two Days of Work

The two images above show the current state of the double portrait on the lamp piece.

This pic shows where it was prior to last night.

a little work

With the Easter holiday thrown in the mix only a little work, a very small amount of work got done this weekend.

Still trying to let go on the lamp piece.

Broke the lamp piece apart, not to rearrange it but to paint a small double portrait on the bottom. This is just the initial first pass.

This one was leaning against the wall and the left eye looked crossed so I moved the pupil to the left. It doesn't feel crossed any more, but then it appeared that the upper lid is/was too light. With a few more strokes of darker tone the eye should set back correctly, it's not right now. . .

Hopefuly more time can be spent in the studio this week.

Work: April 13–18

Viewing these dots as little paintings within a larger painting.

Attempting to commit myself to solving a composition without rearranging the panels . . . we'll see how long that lasts. Lately there seems to be some desire to "get it right" when I am in the studio. Perhaps doing something to these images that I think is not beautiful, something that I don't like will provide me with more of a visual problem to solve, thus making them more dynamic. The image above is evidence of this new effort.

The pink panel is a new attempt at this arrangement. The facial values need to be lightened, but what else should I do? Disregard and disrespect any notion of preserving this image, abandon my sense of keeping it precious? I know that will make these images better, but finding the guts to do it has been a long long process. 

One sobering thought that occurred when looking at the Sower article - has my work even moved forward since that 2002 show? It would be logical to think that in some way, yes, it has evolved, but the correlations are very strong to those works on paper from "Drawing Out". Good or bad, not sure, but what I do know is that there is something missing from these new works, some reservation that holds them back from being what it is that I want them to be.