mikela has always loved 2 paintings that were part of my 2010 solo show at skoufa gallery in athens. both are now in private collections. a few weeks ago, she saw one of them on an invitation from that exhibition she ran across while organizing my studio.
"why not," she asked, "create new versions of those paintings on a medium sized canvas, with smaller canvases that include cropped areas of the image, and have a mini-show at gremillion in houston? it could take up only one wall of the gallery and consist of variations on that theme."
you will find one of the original two paintings if you scroll down to greece on my home page. this genre of work is characteristic of the paintings i created during my 15 years in greece. it is obviously a big departure from the series of abstracted collages i've been making lately. but it's a refreshing shift. i love painting on a tinted ground in oil on linen. i happened to have a few pieces of linen i had prepared with a dark grey ground ten or fifteen years ago. while i prefer the ground to be a warmer tannish color, i was impatient to begin and so launched into the project, first tracing the drawing with white transfer paper.
in the mean time, i've ordered a roll of my favorite artfix quadruple primed fine linen, which i'll prepare with the tannish ground i love. i may well alternate days of working on my series of abstracted creek-scapes . one informs the other. if you click on the details below, you will see a newfound freedom in my strokes which relates directly back to the abstract work in acrylic and collaged paper.
the parade theme emerged after a series of photos i shot six or seven years ago, from a second story balcony above skoufa gallery, of a military parade celebrating one of the many saints days in the orthodox calendar. it speaks to my love of foreshortening.
the delicious task of painting the white hats and uniforms, contrasting with the black boots and navy blue bit on the back of the neck, brings to mind one of my mentor tsarouchis' favorite subjects. i am thoroughly enjoying it, and am reminded of just how grateful i am for all the knowledge he subtly transmitted over the years.
9/1/14: today's version top row right, detail of newly painted area, 3rd row
9/2/14: today's version : top right; detail of newly painted area, 3rd row
9/3/14: working on this painting is slow going. today i have a hankering for collage, so i'm about to launch into a re-work of perpetual, 38x38". we had it hanging in our bedroom and it just wasn't working. the current version, which was last worked on in march 2014, is on row 3, center.
