1pm: stage 2 of 5/28/18 studio creek-scape in oil, 20x20"
11:58 AM: a windy, partly cloudy day in crestone/baca. this morning, after yesterdays plein air struggle, i thought to myself:
"well, as long as i'm a good painter, WTF, why not just paint a creek-scape here in my studio based on one of the many hundreds of photographs i've taken of our creek? why not?"
so that's what i'm doing right now, on a 20x20" canvas, and here's phase 1:
5/27/18 plein air oil 20x20" oil on canvas
2:59 PM: so here's what i did today. it was an experiment to see if i could get the same level of sensitivity & painterliness with this less expensive cotton canvas as i can with the very expensive portrait linen. i can't. but there's a different, possibly equally compelling quality. makes me understand better some of courbet's landscapes. i worked in a way that's unfamiliar to me in my plein air paintings. generally in making plein air paintings i'm in a very meditative space, in touch with my chinese 10th century calligraphic mark making self. today was more active. vital shifts and sudden changes of pace occurred as i worked, painting out some passages, trying solutions until the very last minute, in a way that usually happens only in a studio painting.
i'm still taking prescription codeine for the post op pain, so that may have made my anger more extreme, but almost as soon as i sat down to paint, after squeezing my colors, a couple with a dog appeared, on a sunday walk to the stupa. the dog made a bee line for me, jumped all over me and nearly knocked over the easel, with my palette & the fresh canvas. i patiently explained that painting for me is a meditation, and could they please put a leash on their dog. twenty minutes later they reappeared & the dog once again jumped all over me, totally interrupting my work. i kind of exploded and yelled "get this dog off me!!" not the best environment for painting. it's much more private, especially on a sunday, up at north crestone creek, which is where i'll be going from now on
as for the painting. aside form the fact that it was somewhat of a struggle working on an unresponsive canvas, my attempt to transmit more of a sense of space & depth was only successful in a limited way. i have to sit with it for 24 hours & chill in order to make a full evaluation. but what i do see is that i can accomplish my goal, which you can read about below in my 10:13 AM post. the only real impediment, once i eliminate the dog & hiker interruptions & start going to the more remote north crestone creek location, are the bugs, which have begun appearing in the form of flies. mosquitoes usually don't start up till mid-june, and likely won't be too bad this year since, due to the drought, there's very little standing water for them to breed.
that said, i actually way prefer the 20x20" canvas to the 16x16" i've been using for my plein air oils for years. it feels more like an actual painting, less like an oil sketch.
10:13 AM: this morning i awoke with continued swelling & pain from the 2 molar extractions i underwent this past thursday, but feeling enough energy to contemplate going out to the creek with one of my newly stretched 20x20" canvases. i say going out on a limb in part because it's a cute pun and in part because i've never before gone to such lengths to meet the vision of a gallery owner/director.
of course all that i do when painting is ultimately for me; towards the unfolding of my vision as an artist. but this time it's a little different. i'm intent on becoming a member of a denver gallery that i like a lot and am willing to go the extra mile to be in alignment with the rather specific vision of the owner/director and begin producing a particular kind of landscape she knows will fill a gap in what her stable of artists can offer.
i see it as a rather interesting challenge.
when i showed her abstracted landscapes such as the ones you see here in my studio, they were almost what she had in mind, but not quite; a bit too abstracted, not allowing the viewer to place him/herself spatially. not enough foreground/middle ground/background.
normally, when i sally forth into the creek-scape, i have a blank mind. it's like a zen meditation. it's unusual for me to have something so specific in mind. but because it's a shift, i like it. i like the challenge. as usual, i don't feel attached to the results, yet in a way i do.
i found these 2 plein air gouaches on paper, painted at the creek last year, which are also in the photo of the studio wall, above. perhaps they come closest to what she described because, more so than most of the others, they do offer the viewer a place in space; a sense of where they are in relation to the landscape.
that doesn't mean what i do today will look anything like these 2 small gouaches. i have no idea what will come out of todays session. rather than going to north crestone creek, as i have been most recently, i think i'll go instead to a location at the base of the trail up to tashi gomang stupa. they're re-paving the road up to north crestone trail, so i'll wait till they're done sometime this week. i've stretched 6 20x20" canvasses, which will be enough to choose the right ones to make larger; probably 36x38." on our next denver trip, i'll bring those along to show the gallery.
2:30 PM: i'm evaluating the 3 recent motion series paintings, which you see here on my studio wall, along with a few of the 2014 plein air oils which served as inspiration.
i'm pondering where to go from here, and considering making a new plein air series in oil, to see how my perception has shifted since i began making the 3 latest motion paintings, and if perhaps making them on a larger scape might affect how i paint the smaller ones with the new expectation that all the marks i'm making may end up on a canvas twice the size or more.
if i do go ahead and start a new lein air series, it will be on slightly larger canvases: 20x20" rather than 16x16". the north crestone trail gate will open back up by memorial day, allowing me access once again to all of the 12 campsites, instead of being limited to the few i can access that are close to where i currently have to park the car.
yesterday while browsing my book how to read chinese paintings, published by the metropolitan museum, i ran across the following description by author maxwell hearn, of one of wu zhen's 10th c. handscrolls: " balanced between representation & calligraphic abstraction."
it seems to be an absolutely perfect way of talking about my motion series, so i borrowed it, and you will now find it as a subtitle on my motion page. click on the image belowto visit the page.
3:27 PM: based upon this 6/9/14 16x16" plein air oil, motion 25, like motion 23 & 24, is balanced between representation & calligraphic abstraction. rather than utilizing an under-drawing, as i did in all motion series paintings 1 through 22, i am recreating the smaller plein air painting on a larger scale. all the spontaneous marks made in the original plein air paintings are translated into studio-speak, moving more towards signs and symbols for rocks & water. on the right is the original 16x16" plein air painting.
2:34 PM: today started out as a sunny morning, but it rapidly evolved into a cloudy, stormy day. winds were blowing at gale force for an hour or so, as thunderstorms moved up from the southwest. so far we've only had a small amount of rain, but more is in the forecast for later this afternoon.
despite the failing light, i was able to get some good work done on motion 24. i stayed mostly true to the 6/9/14 plein air oil, which is 16x16." of course i made adjustments dictated mostly by the larger dimensions. a 16x16" painting doesn't translate to a larger scale without some important changes. also, the brisk, spontaneous movement of the brush on the smaller scale and the the immediacy of the moment out there at the creek are tricky to translate into a studio setting. i also noticed that the canvas i used for the original, while it was portrait linen, was a different brand, and the white of the canvas is slightly greyed. the portrait linen i'm using for the larger version is made by artfix, and is significantly whiter & brighter. this makes the transitions from the delicate tones in much of the painting to the white of the canvas more stark & puts more emphasis on the negative spaces, of which there are many.
you can see this in the photos below, where the original plein air oil is on the left & the new large painting on the right.
3:19 PM:here's where i'm stopping for the day, as the wind picks up, the skies darken and it sure looks like we might get a thunderstorm, as predicted. although motion 24 is not yet complete, she's already singing.
i'll clean my brushes, make my political calls & head back to the house, where mikela is suffering with an intense flu. she's definitely going to get the flu shot next year. my doc recommended it & i'm very glad i lestened to him.
1:31 PM: i began work on motion 24 this morning, it's based upon this 6/9/14 plein air oil, which is 16x16" motion 24 is 48x48" and, unlike motion 23 is being painted on artfix fine portrait linen, which is very expensive & has 4 coats of primer. the difference from the previous painting, which was on cotton canvas, is vast. vast, i say! the sensitivity with which it takes my brush strokes is stunning. it's like the painting is painting itself.
i'll continue working till 3:30, when i'll make about an hour of calls to supporters of diane bush, asking them if they're up for making calls or doing door knocking in support of her candidacy. she's running for congress in our district & is, in our opinion by far the best candidate.
1:41 PM: as i await my mentee, k., who will arrive at 2:30, i'm stretching another canvas for motion 24. this one will. like motion 23, be a larger version (38x38") of one of my 2014 plsin air oils. it will be drawn form one of the 16x16" paintings you see behind me on the wall. i haven't yet decided which one i'll choose. what's different about this one is that i'm using the expensive roll of portrait linen rather than cotton. i want to see what the difference is from motion 23, which was painted on cotton canvas,
motion 23 36x38" oil on canvas
3:14 PM: i brought it back to the house for a few minutes to get mikela's feedback which, as always was very perceptive & spot on. it took only 10 minutes to make the changes she suggested.
this is the first time i'm doing something like this: making a larger version of one of my plein air oils, without making any significant changes. clearly, when you see the two together, there are differences, as you can see BELOW. the 16x16" version is on the left, the 36x38" one i just painted on the right.
1:53 PM: i'm continuing to work on motion 23, which is based on a 10/7/14 plein air oil. it's interesting dealing with issues of scale, and i'm not yet sure it will be successful. i'll continue for another hour or two, then give you my complete comments & observations.
2:37 PM: today i began work on something different in my motion series: a larger version of a previous plein air oil. but this time, instead of riffing & creating something quite different, i'm actually making a larger version of the original 16x16" plein air oil painted in 2014.
it's an interesting experiment, and one that's a lot more fun for me than i had expected. it may well lead to a new direction in my motion series, but it's a bit too early to tell.mi'm already getting a lot of value studying this earlier plein air painting & connecting with the spontaneity of what happens when i'm out at the creek, but in the relative peace & quiet of my studio,
5:20 pm: i ventured out to the creek today for the first time in a long time.it felt so good, i can't begin to tell you. i remembered why i'm making so many paintings based upon my experience of the creek; it simply feels like paradise! and today was an especially sweet day; no wind, perfect temperatue & humidity, and the light was amazing. not yet that harsh overhead summer light. rather, a soft yet sharp & crystal clear light that bathed the rocks, water & branches in a liquid glow.
i made 3 gouaches, stopping short, perhaps a little too short, of overworking them. lots of white space. if you make the image full screen & look in the lower right corner, you will see the exact time each one was painted.
