2021 creek oil 7 after my 3:15 additions
5:58 PM: i had to go into town briefly at about 2:45. i figured that would be the end of my painting day. think again, philip. when i returned, 1/2 hour later, i saw what needed to happen with this painting, and got back to work. i only had about 45 minutes before leaving for the house and our stupa trail walk, so i had to work fast. often that;s a good thing. no thinking, just doing. mix the colors you need speedily, find the right brushes, and go for it! the additions i made were critical, and the painting may now be resolved.
the critical changes are: the face, hair & hands of the girl on the right; the hair of the girl on the left; the grey areas around the figure on the left; the reflections in the glass floor beneath the girl on the right; and finally, more definition in the flesh tones of arms of the figure on the left.
combines this gives one the impression that i did more work on the lower right portion of the composition. i didn’t. but the areas i did focus on allow that lower right passage, which previously gave the impression of something blurry and unfinished, to jump into focus, and make complete sense.
we’ll see in the morning if i still feel the painting is resolved. if so, it will go to the house once it’s dry, and undergo the acid teat.
our stupa walk, buy the way, was magnificent, as always. i shot a pic of the creek, which chenges daily as the ice melts. i’ll post it shortly and you’ll find it at the bottom of this page.
1:50 PM: i was about to post todays blog when i did something foolish and lost the entire post.
i’m going to try and recreate it, but i’m so pissed, i don’t know if i can.
2021 creek oil 7 48 x 24” at 2:30 PM
this morning i continued work on 2021 creek oil 7. fist thing i did was to flip it upside down. then i scraped what i’d done yesterday, leaving some of that to show through in spots. then i printed out one of the photos i re-discovered yesterday on an old hard drive. they were shot in 2008 at the then brand new acropolis museum in athens. i spoke in yesterdays post about the architecture of this museum, with it’s glass floors revealing the ancient ruins below.
two girls; friends i imagine, stand on that glass floor, one with her hands on hips. their bodies are reflected by the glass floor. i am not painting the interior of a museum here. i am pursuing the “véritable éspace plastique,” as matisse said. a true plastic space; a space authentically my own.
when i find myeslf in this kind of environment, i feel at home and, at the same time, transported to a realm beyond conventional time/space.
my hope is that the viewer will have a similar experience; feeling at once as though they were in their own familiar living room and are simultaneously transported to a place unknown.
i’m definitely on a new tack. taking all that i’ve done, all that i’ve learned to a new place. i made the paintings in my ano kato series, which i love from a different space.