vermeer study, 2016, oil on linen inspired by vermeer’s painting: Woman in Yellow Writing, in the National Gallery
12:24 PM: in 2016 i was especially moved by vermeer, whose painting, Woman in Yellow Writing, i had seen up close on a trip to the National Gallery of Art. i was inspired to make this 32x32” study, in oil on linen, which now hangs in my studio.
my old friend gary schwartz, in his 2017 book titled vermeer in detail, says this about the painting:
If the subject carries a heavy emotional weight, the viewer will see that in the representation. If, however, as in a Vermeer like Woman in Yelllow Writing, no obvious emotion is attached to the motif and the facial expression is neutral, the viewer is left to fill in the content on his own.
DETAIL
ALAMOSA PADDLER
last year i made this gouache/collage, inspired by photos i had taken a few years back from a bridge over the river, just outside of alamosa, colorado, about an hour from crestone. there was a guy in shorts, paddling a small skiff; something i’d never seen before. looking down on him, he seemed in that moment, to be an iconic figure and i knew, as i shot the photos, that he would feature in a painting.
once the small painting was complete, i put it next to other works on paper and gazed at it every so often, feeling it was a bit too heavy and needed lightening up. a few days ago, the spirit moved me to do exactly that, which i accomplished by collaging some pieces of paper with ink drawings which i cut into curvilinear shapes.
alamosa paddler, 14 1/2×11” gouache & collage on paper