2:46 PM: today i did some work on 2 paintings: luck & magic and an untitled painting, probably from 2022-4.
1992, 14x17” gouache on paper, /coll. the artist
10:29 AM: painting of the month is a new catagory i’m about to introduce to my site. i discovered this one while searching through my storage room in adjacent to my main studio.
3/26/25 ano kato, 38x32” oil & collage on portrait linen, as she looked at 12:30 today
10:33 AM: although it’s been only a day that i didn’y come to my studio, it feels like weeks have passed! so now i’m gazing at 3/26/25 ano kato on my wall and wondering where she will go next befor ei start on something new? we’ll see, as i’m just finishing my breakfast and about to get to work.
BELOW: LEFT- someone from salida posted this today on FB. RIGHT-a photo i took during the march through town at about 1pm, following the gathering in the park.
3/26/25 ano kato as she looked 2 days ago
10:21 AM: yesterday afternoon we drove up to salida with 2 friends to take part in the hands off rally.; one of hundreds that took place across the country. about 1,000 people attended in a small town with a population of about 6,000! it began in the park, where there were speakers, and then continued as a march through the town, with signs and chants. although this is but a tiny picture of what took place in towns and cities across the land, it was an indication of just how deeply we’re feeling.
3/26/25 ano kato, oil on portrait linen, 38x32” following this morning’s grey-over
12:46 PM: i painted over everything but the figures, as well as the figur eon the upper left, leaving the 3 dancers enveloped in a warm grey. it’s so much fun painting over things that were extraneous, despite the face that i spent hours creating them.
2:33 PM: i did a lot more work on 3/26/25 ano kato today. she’s not there yet, but i’m stopping for the day. tacked to the wall next to dancers, and now featuring 3 of the same figures, sje is looking like a next stage. the added figure of a woman ecstatically dancing with one arm thrown over hear head and bright red shoes, takes the composition to a new level of dream/fantasy. the dancers are swimming in a sea of pinks, tans and yellows.
3/26/25 ano kato 38x32” oil on portrait linen as she looked post-scrub at 10am
9:49 AM: so what do i mean when i say “3/26/25 ano kato revived?” well, yesterday she took a trip that was coming entirely from my head, and not from my heart. i thought it might be cool to do a series of taiko drummers. the key word is thought!
so i scrubbed out what i could, and the result, revealing a couple of dancing figures from the previous incarnation, is interesting; so much so that i think i’ll let it sit for a day or two and see what i feel tomorrow or saturday. it has that suggestive ambiguity i love, and exudes the fresh breath of the unplanned and “accidental.”
the circular bown marks, for example, would not go away, no matter how vigorously i scrubbed them. they are what remian of the drum that the taiko drummer was beating; an echo, one might say, of the taiko beat and rhythm.
she’s a prime example of painting as process, and an example of how, in the end, painterly marks rule.
luck & magic, 32x38”, oil on portrait linen, as she looked following this morning’s refresh
8:56 AM: i made some what i thought were tweaks yesterday to luck and magic and when i saw them this morning i knew they had to go. the paint was still fresh enough for me to wipre them out and while i was at it, i whited over the the area in the lower half of the composition, between the two figues, which was bothering the hell out of both of us.
1:21 PM: this afternoon i started work on taiko 1, 32x38”
taiko 1, 38x32” oil on portrait linen as she looked at 2pm
luck and magic, which i last worked on march 9th, needed some simplification in the area between the two figures. (BEFORE on the left)
12:41 PM: i made some tweaks to dancers and 3/26/25 ano kato this morning. in 3/26/25 ano kato, above left, the changes were mostly to the fifure on the lower left, and the ochre surrounding the legs of the dancer on the upper left is new as well.
in dancers, above right, the tweaks are more subtle, but i think you can make out the two grey curves just to the right and left of the two lower figures, which help balance the composition.
fragment of a painting, date unknown, 18x22”, oil on canvas
10:49 AM: while glancing up at my studio loft area, my eye caught this fragment of a large painting on canvas, date unknown, which was rolle up. i went up with a scissors and cut out this piece, whic i think is fabulous. it measures roughly 18x22”. i temporarily mounted it on board with masking tape.
yesterday, a gallery owner from Nicosia emailed me and attached a photo of this painting, which he says he purchased recently in athens. he didn’t include info on who the seller was, but i do have a faint memory of making this painting, sometime in the mid-60’s, in my athens studio, or possibly on andros.
3/26/25 ano kato, 32x22” oil on portrait linen, as she looked moments ago, following extensive work this morning.
1:21 PM: i whited over most of the unncessary marks in this composiiton, bringing it closer in spirit to it’s sister, the previous painting titled dancers. they look good hanging side by side on my East studio painting wall. so i think i’ll stop here for the day, even though it’s a bit early, and cut a new piece of portrait linen for my next painting.
BELOW: stages of 3/26/25 ano kato. of the two figures inspired by the crew doing fire mitigation last week, just one remains; the one on the lower left. the dancing female figure on the upper left has appeared as a guy in the previous paiinting. and, other than one vertical branch and a bit of blue creek water, all creek references are gone.
3/17/25 ano kato, 32x38”, oil on portrait linen, as she looks at the end of my painting day today
3:30 PM: the dark background was too much, so today i painted over it with a warm pink, setting the dancer free!
3/26/25 ano kato has progressed, and is more interesting visually, but still needs further work. a tree trunk and some blue creek water have appeared, and we’ll see where they go tomorrow.
3/26/25 ano kato, 32x22”, oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day today
3/17/25 ano kato, 32x38” oil on portrait linen fowwlowing today’s tweak
3 PM: the black surrounding the dancing figure in 3/ was too intense, so it’s now a warm grey.
and 3/26/25 ano kato has gone to the next stage
3/26/25 ano kato, 32x22” oil on portrait linen, the current state as of 3pm
