12:48 PM: after having motion 30 hanging in the house for 24 hours i spotted and area on the left that was a "dead spot," & noticed that the central rock form was a bit too dominant, so i worked on it, made a few other updates, photographed it and, when i saw the images of yetsredays and todays version side by side on the screen, it was clear i had done too much. so back it went on my easel, and here's the current state. comparative views of yesterday & todays versions are below with the current state on the right.
back to work on motion 30 /
motion 30 at 3 pm today
3:25 PM: i'm continuing work on motion 30. the painting looked like this (above) at the end of my painting day today. almost gone are the original marks inspired by our visit to steamboat springs a few weeks ago, and my hike up to fish creek falls. all that's left, for now, is the nude figure of a woman standing on the rocks in the upper central portion of the composition. she looks hesitatingly into the swirling maelstrom of rushing water beneath her feet. in the photo i shot, she was a teenage boy wearing shorts, so i took a few liberties. i'll see in the morning, as usual, weather more work is needed.
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1:11 PM: i seem to be in a phase where i'm re-working various motion series paintings rather than starting new ones. today it has turned out to be motion 30. this was one of those paintings that had all the freshness of the under-drawings i've been making then painting over. but the mpre i looked at it, the more i could see that it needed more layers, more stages, more process. i mean look what happened yesterday with motion 16, which i hadn't touched since april! it called to me and i made a revision that allowed it, finally to sing. you just never know. what you see above are the changes i made so far today to motion 30 on the right, and how it looked before the changes on the left.
unexpected return to motion 16 /
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3:34 PM: the last time i worked on motion 16 was back in april. today was spent preparing surfaces to work on tomorrow. late in the afternoon, when i'm usually done painting and i'm cleaning up, i ran across motion 16 and that passage on the bottom left was bugging me. it just didn't work with the rest of the composition, and kept drawing my eye; never a good sign.
while searching through my drawers of colors, i had stumbled upon a treasure trove of holbein oil pastels, which means i can delete them from my blick order. i opened a few to make sure they were viable after so many years sitting in the drawer. and, lo! after scraping off the tip of the stick of oil pastel, which has hardened, they were fresh as when i first bought them, probably about 10 years ago.
so basically, i was trying them out on motion 16, which i felt did need something. so here's the result, and i'll see tomorrow what more i need to do.
back in my studio /
at work today on motion 27-a.
4:35 PM: after a quick trip to boulder/denver i'm back in my studio. my news is that i'll be having an exhibition at space gallery in denver with 2 other artists in may, 2019. i'm excited!
so today, fresh from the excellent feedback mike, owner of space, gave me on 4 new motion paintings i dropped off, i'm trying an experiment on a canvas that already had a few layers of paint, motion 27-a. i'm calling it an experiment because i'm being a bit bolder in my mark making and overall composition, in preparation for making larger paintings for the show; probably 60x60". that's almost twice the size i've been working in, and will require some adjustments and new solutions, which excites me. i'll continue work tomorrow.
more work on motion 27 today /
3 pm:just before k. arrived, i did one more quick round on motion 27. it felt a little too defined. like ok this is a rock and here's some flowing water, oh and here's some indications of blue sky....
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so although it still needs work, my eye has an easier time taking in the whole composition . that said, there's something missing, which may show up after a one day break to go to my dentist in boulder & to my denver gallery to drop off some motion series paintings & have a conversation about them.
lately i'm back in the 9th-10th c. chinese space i was enjoying about 2-3 years ago. in part this is due to the fact that i've been using my book on taiga as inspiration for k. to make some studies. he's developing rapidly and next time wants to show me his new drawing program, put it on my desktop imac and do something together.
motion 27 at 1:30 PM today
1:39 PM: i had given up on motion 27 and was about to un-stretch it yesterday, when i got the message to give it one more chance.as it turns out, i'm doing more work on this one than i had done on many of the others in the series. i'm going to stop & clean up now to prepare for another visit from k., the 12 year old student i'm mentoring. i have some thoughts about where to go with him today, and we'll see how that develops. i'm always sensitive to where he's at & which direction he wants to pursue, even though he often seems to want to leave it up to me. i'm thinking of asking him to make a study of a chinese or japanese landscape, like the spectacular one he did last time. except this time i may suggest he add just one color towards the end.
taking motion 30 further, inspired by taiga / last minute intervention to motion 27 /
motion 27 at 4 pm, following an unexpected revision
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as i was about to clean my brushes & pack up for the day, i took a look at motion 27 & felt it was too heavy. since i already had my paints on the palette & my crayons & colored pencils available, i launched in to a major rework. it's still rather dark compared with the others, but it gives a feel for the mystery of the creek-scape. so now i'm cooked, and i'll see how it looks in the morning.
motion 30 as it looked at 1pm today.
DETAIL of motion 30 at 1 pm
1:05 PM: today i'm focused on one painting, rather than four, as i was yesterday. my challenge is to maintain a lot of the white space, or breathing space more accurately, while enriching the previously uncomplicated one-layered composition. i might consider leaving it as is, letting it settle into itself & see how it looks after a day or two.
12:20 PM: this morning while having my breakfast snacks i perused the book i have on 18th c. japanese painter taiga. i found a few statements relevant to what i'm thinking & feeling lately.
the concept of painting as soundless poetry
and capturing the essential meaning
i'll leave it at that for now, and get back to work on motion 30. this new motion series painting started out as a translation of images i saw & photographed recently at fish creek falls. the figures i witnessed at the creek, in various characteristic poses of people who are delighted at being in such beauty and are exploring it, entered the picture plane, i'm dealing with how to make them part of the essential meaning emerging in this painting. and i don't know yet what that is.
simultaneous revisions to 4 motion paintings /
working on 4 paintings made for an interesting day, topped off by a visit from my mentee, k. he expressed interest in exploring the history of art, so i had him choose a 10th century chinese landscape painting, followed by an architectural drawing by 17th c. painter jacob van ruisdale and make studies. the results blew me away. i knew he was talented, but this study went beyond what i imagined this 12 year old was capable of. i'm already thinking of future projects for him, and maybe a collaboration between the two of us.
4:19 PM: today i worked on all 4 of the paintings you see below. in the left hand column of images are, starting from the top, motion 30, 20, 29 and 27. i just now added details to the images below, which are to the right of each one.
12:31 PM: this is probably the first time i'm working on 4 paintings simultaneously: motion 20, 27, 29 & 30! it just happened. i kept seeing things i wanted to do in one of the four, which inspired me to do something on another of the four,....you get the picture. my mentee , k. is arrriving at 2:30, so that's my cutoff.
wacky day in the studio /
3:08 PM: today was a wacky day, even in my wacky world. i had given up on motion 27 & was going to un-stretch it to scavenge the stretcher bars, but a voice in my head said i should give it another shot. voice in my head? do i need therapy? well, that's kind of the way it works when you are your own boss, right?
so i introduced that forest green and preserved some of the more compelling, suggestive passages, and now all i can see is a damsel in distress waving hello with her abbreviated paw, and an even more distressed halloween-like face, hair raised in horror. perhaps he's spooked by our pres.
and, amongst the rock markings in the lower left, sex is happening, or about to. read this while you can; it will likely be expunged at some point.
BELOW: details of the painting
BELOW: the revised, yet again, motion 29.
DETAIL of motion 29 after todays revisions
simultaneously, i was making more revisions to motion 29. a dear friend whose opinion i value highly, was saddened by the last minute changes i made yesterday, depriving it, she thought, of the movement of the water, which she loved. still a good painting, she observed, but it has lost that magic i felt it had.
now theres a challenge! back & forth i went, between 27, which i hadn't touched since july 5th, and 29. i'll have to wait for my friend's response to the changes i made to motion 29, but i believe the motion of the water she was mourning may be back, albeit in a different form.
BELOW: comparative views of motion 29 in the state my friend loved, yesterday when she was disappointed, and on the right, today,
revising motion 29 /
motion 30 at 3:30 PM
3:33 PM: after revising motion 29, i returned to the new motion 30. taking it very slow with this one so i don't mess up the negative spaces. more tomorrow.
motion 29 as it looked at noon, following revisions
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12:39 PM: this morning upon entering my studio, i felt motion 29 needed work, so that's how i spent my morning. i feel good about the changes, which created a more consistent movement in the composition, eliminating some elements of the previous composition, especially in the lower third of the canvas, which drew your eye to the detriment of the top 2/3. as well, i felt there wasn't enoush breathing space, so the painting seemed busy & separated into distinct elements, with no unifying sweep for the eye to move over the surface.
BELOW, a comparative view.
motion 29 this morning / stretching motion 30 /
motion 30 at 4:15 pm
4:37 PM: the introduction of figures is new in my motion series. what will become of them as i continue work tomorrow is up in the air. right now, 19th c. french painting springs to mind, when figures in the landscape were a thing. when i encountered all the visitors at fish creek falls neat steamboat springs a few days ago, i was struck by their relationship to the rocks and water, and shot lots of photos with my phone. the guy in the lower left with the blue shirt is playing a digereedo. none of the figures were nude, but it seemed to me they should have been. whereas at first i was shocked by how many visitors there were, i soon began to see them enriching the landscape, and knew i'd be painting them. BELOW: 3 details:
DETAIL: working on motion 30 today
2:51 PM: i stretched a new 38x36" canvas and have begun work on motion 30, inspired by our recent trip to glenwood springs and my hike up to fish kill falls, which was replete with visitors, some bathing, one playing a didgeredoo, which was harmonizing with the sound of rushing water ....
motion 29 at 11 am this morning
11:03 AM: yesterday late afternoon i come back over to my studio with mikela. she gave her usual spot-on feedback, and as a result i made a few more changes to the painting. there was one particular in the mid-left area that she was very right about. it was a beauticul passage, & the red i added yesterday afternoon detracted from it.
BELOW: the painting before (left) and after my changes late yesterday afternoon: