3:38 PM: i’ve been looking at jazz 13, 35x37” on the east studio wall for months. i brought it back to the house yesterday, which is the ultimate test of how well a painting stands up, and it failed the test.
so today, i dove back in & made some radical changes, which will likely continue tomorrow, since it needs to lighten up.
here’s the before and after.
1:09 PM: i brought skateboarder 3 back to the house yesterday so that we could both look at it critically. as a result, i made the tweaks you see here. the strokes i made on the bottom 1/4 are critical to the composition. the highlighting of the skateboard, her sneakers and the outline of her dress allow the painting/collage to be seen more easily from a distance.
4:56 PM: i started skateboarder 3 this morning. i’ll post more later; gotta get back to the house.
like the other two, she’s flying high above a number of maps on her siena skateboard. her green dress and white petticoat are blowing in the wind.
compositionally, again, as with 1 & 2, the shape and colors of the maps RE ll importnt, providing structure to the curvaceous figure. however the lower quarter still needs work.
4:04 PM: we walked up the creek trail this morning, so i was late getting to the studio. i worked on bothe skateboarder 1 & 2, adding collaged elements, mostly from maps.
3:46 PM: i continued work on skateboarder 1, which may be complete, and started skateboarder 2, a guy with a red shirt & cap & a red striped skateboard. i like them both…i’ll know better in the morning.ing
it’s interesting going from painting in oil to gouache. especially since, in my evolving style of working in oil, i routinely scrape just painted passages or white over them and then paint into the ghost image.
all of a sudden, i have to stay with the brush marks i make. going over something you’ve painted in gouache is not advisable and, as with watercolor, the marks you make are permanant.
on the other hand, it’s always good to switch it up, whatever you’re doing: cooking, reading, making love or just walking up the trail. i’m using different parts of my brain when i switch mediums as i did today, and that too is beneficial.
plus, i’m noticing things about skateboarders i never knew or paid attention to. one could say this is about as close as we can get to flying. i love how their arms create balance, and how every part of the body is engaged. it could be perceived as a form of dance.
skateboarder 1 16x6” gouache on paper
skateboarder 2 16x6” gouache on paper
3:28 PM: i’m interrupting my recent series of 38x20” oils to make a few paintings of skateboarders this weekend, for a prospective client who expressed interest. i’m about 70% through the first one, titled simply: skateboarder 1. they will all be 16x6” gouache on arches paper.
skateboarder 1 16x6” at the end of my painting day
11:56 AM: i whited over the upper half of the last supper this morning: dressed the bare breasted dinner guest, yellow and blue stripes surrounding the composition and added a patterned area of squares beneath the figure in green.
i see a significant improvement in the overall composition, and my eye is no longer confused by the pink hue of the upper half, as well as the architectural elements , which are now just ghost images. the richness and vibrancy of what’s going on in the lower half now bursts forth in a way that, frankly, overshadows it’s neighbors tacked to my east studio wall.
DETAIL- the last supper
the last supper 38X20”/96.5X51 cm as it looked moments ago
2pm: i did quite a bit more to the last supper this afternoon, and i’m just about cooked.
it’s getting there, but still needs more work. another figure will join the dinner party, & the upper 1/3 of the composition needs clarification. i like the plaid pattern on the bottom, as well as the bare breasted diner bottom right. the fireplace & chimney add an interesting dimension, and i love the figure in red, from the previous, underlying composition, who has somehow survived thus far.
11:58 AM: i’ve been working on the last supper this morning, and here’s where it’s at right now, still workin’
the last supper, 38x20” as it looked moments ago
3:10 PM: taking into consideration the new direction this painting has taken, i’ve renamed it. it will now be titled the last supper. the reason for this is an old photo i found in the stack of photos i’ve printed out on large sheets of heavy photo paper. it was shot from the upper floor of a friend’s house here in crestone, during a period when our little community was still intact. a dozen of us had sat down to dinner at two separate tables and, aware that there was a prime spot on the upper floor to view it, i left our table briefly to go up and capture the scene. i was unaware at the time that this would be one of the last times such a gathering would take place. in the ensuing months and years, the attendees at this dinner would begin leaving crestone, which began growing at an alarming rate, introducing a new wave of crestonites we didn’t know. at this dinner were people most of whom had been here from the beginning, when crestone/baca was still a tiny town where the residents knew one another intimately.
and so, in a very real sense, this was the last supper.
bear in mind, this is only day 2 of my work on this new painting.
the last supper 38x20” at the end of my painting day
3:40 PM: this morning i cut some new pieces of extra fine portrait linen into pieces matching my previous 4 paintings: 38x20”/96.5x51 cm.and started work on a new one, titled jātaka.a chinese term referring to the former lives of the buddha, and dating back to the northern wei dynasty (386-535).
jātaka, 38x20”/96.5x51cm. on day 1
