figures from above III 35x37” as it looked at the end of my painting day today
3:04 PM: i took figures from above III to the next stage todayintroducing greens, pinks & blues and some bold patterns inspired by 18th c. japanese fabric prints. the 5 figures are integrated into the swirl of brush marks and the whole composition will go to the next level tomorrow.
figures from above III as it looked at the end of my painting day today. outlines of a creekscape can be seen next to and behind the skateboarder, and a few colors have been introduced, such as the red shoulder strap of the woman in the museum.
4:23 PM: so i feel complete with figures from above II and this morning launched into figures from above III, which has the same dimensions as the previous two, and has started out along a similar path, with figures from above sketched in with grey oils. and as with the previous two, the composition will very likely morph ove rthe next few days until she finds her song and sings it loud and clear!
this morning i placed the creek plein air watercolor i made october 8, in a frame, which makes quite a difference!
late this afternoon, i stretched and then hung figure from above I in our living room. looks pretty good!
figures from above II, 35x37” as it looked at the end of my painting day today
3:41 PM: figures from above II II is now a very different painting. but what came before, what’s underneath provides the underlying hints of color and form.
i wasn’t satisfied with the painting, and when i walked in this morning, what i saw did have redeeming features, but it was at bottom an attempt to make a next stage figures form above I.
the skateboarder is now the centerpiece. she has appeared in previous paintings, including a couple of goaches on paper.
figures from above II, 35x37” oil on linen, as it looked at the end of my painting day today
3:32 PM: i worked a longer day than usual on figures from above II. while it has some of the elements that were in the painting yesterday, there are many new additions to the composition, as you’ll see when you compare the two, BELOW. it’s definitely not singing it’s song fully yet, but it’s humming a melody that gives us many clues as to that that song will be.
it reveals a delicate balance between abstraction and realism. the figures seen from above, along with the flower patters inspired by 18th C. japanese art, are fast becoming a part of my alphabet. the more i introduce them, the greater certainty i have about how to paint them, so that fewer and fewer brush strokes can communicate everything we need to know.
BELOW: day 1 & today
figures from above II, 35x37” day one, as it looked at the end of my painting day today.
2:28 PM: i started figures from above II and will continue tomorrow, when i anticipate the composition will become more cohesive and interesting, having to do with the positioning of the figures as well as the background colors and how they’re distributed. the clincher in figures from above I was, i believe, the introduction of decorative leaf and blossom shapes, derived from 18th c. japanese prototypes.
11:21 AM: figures from above I seems resolved, so i’m starting figures from above II today. more as i progress on the drawing.
this morning i posted about yannis tsarouchis; here’s a screen shot…for the complete post go to facebook.
figures from above 35x37” as it looked at the end of my painting day today
2:28 PM: we’re going up the creek trail in half an hour & today i’m bringing crayons instead of colored pencils, so we’ll see how that goes….i’ll post what i do later this afternoon.
this morning i took figures from above a bit further, proceeding slowly, listening to where she wants to go next. it’s richer than yesterday, and brings to mind a study i made of an archile gorgy painting in 2017.
figures from above 35x37” here’s how it looked at the end of my short painting day today. BELOW: day 2 & today’s version
2:56 PM: i had a meeting from 10 to 12:30 today, so i couldn’t get to work untill a few hours ago. when i arrived at the studio, i spotted a large deer with big horns and a wound on his side. the same buck was seen about a week ago by someone doing work on our house. he called me out back to see him but he had moved on. joe, the guy who saw him, said he had an arrow sticking out of his side and was limping. i called colorado parks & wildlife to report seeing him, since we discovered they already knew about him and were trying to find him. they didn’t pick up, so i left a message.
looks like he survived for at least a week, but needs either to be put down or cared for and healed. i called CPW again after seeing him, but once again they didn’t pick up and i had to leave a message. i was able to grap my phone and take a quick, blurry shot.
BELOW: the painting yesterday & today
the wound on the side of the buck who had an arrow in his side last week
figures from above, 35x37” as it looked at the end of my painting day today
2:21 PM: i took figures from above a bit further today, adding pinks, reds, blues & greens with some pale black., then doing a scrape with one of my larger scraping tools.. it’s too early to know where she’s headed; i’ll pick up where i left off tomorrow, after the 10am Baca Land Trust meeting, which will probably run till noon.
day 1 of: figures from above 35x37” oil on linen
2:41 PM: following the work i did this morning on tennis/skateboarding panorama, i started work on a new one: figures from above, which is 35x37” oil on linen. right now, what we see is a melange of some of my favorite figures, all seen from above. the only area that’s filled in with a violet color is the shadow of the jumping skateboarder in the center of the composition. a couple i photographed in salida sits on the rocks overlooking their two kids; a woman with her shoulder bag stands on the museum floor; another woman on the museum floor looking intently at her phone….life, in other words.
tennis/skateboarding panorama, 19.5x80” following this morning’s changes
11:45 AM: this morning i made more changes to tennis/skateboarding panorama, eliminating the pink ground i added yesterday. it wasn’t working with the greens, blues and yellows. in addition, a bit of scraping has unified the entire composition, which seems resolved as i gaze at it from about 20 feet.
recent paintings keep each other company on my south studio wall
tennis/skateboarding panorama, 19 1/2 x 80” this is an older painting i found in my storage room
4:22 PM: after working on jazz 20, i began re-working an older painting that was sitting in my storage room. it’s 19 1/2x 80” and it was partially painted with some figures. so i added 3 more figures: 2 skateboarders & a tennis player. right now, i’m calling it tennis/skateboarding panorama, but that name probably won’t stick.
jazz 20,35x37” as it looked following an application of pink oil paint i mixed earlier and then scraped into
10:59 am: my day wouldn’t be complete without some scraping, right? it seems to be the hallmark of my current way of working, eliminating the predictability of preciseness. you can’t predict what exactly will happen when you take a spatula and scrape across a freshly oil-painted surface. on the other hand, it’s not completely random, and does have a lot to do with how your arm and hand move, in a way that totally reflects your gut. your GUT!
