STAGE 4: grey 15 32x32" mixed media on canvas
3:15 PM: stage 4; that's it for today. we had arranged to visit an old friend at 3:30 but pushed it to wednesday because of snow. good thing. i would have had to stop right in my sweet spot, which often occurs just half an hour before i stop for the day. i dare say i am achieving some life long dreams and goals here. i have my heros, and have looked long and hard at them in the museums of the world, especially the met. i know the passages in each painting that feel almost orgasmic to me. rubens'study of two men in the met; goya's the forge in the frick; courbet's the origin of the world; lautrec's rousse; vuillard's the lilac trees in the musee d'orsay; van gogh's drawings in the van gogh museum, amsterdam; my friend and mentor tsarouchis' extraordinary paintings, drawings and set designs, which i was fortunate to see regularly in his studios in maroussi and paris, as well as the rich retrospective in 2010 at the benaki museum in athens...and of course the life and work of my former mother-in-law in athens, niki karagatsi, whose capacity to transform the every day into great art remains a core inspiration....to name just a few.
it feels to me like now is my time of integration. the time when i have the opportunity to integrate all that i have looked at and admired and make it, as far as that is possible, my own.
2:15 PM: stage 3: and, in an unexpected pivot, he shifts the game to vermeer! you know you were expecting something like this! follow the juice! now, in all fairness, she does have what could be read as snakes in her hair.
1:30 PM: stage 2
12:18 PM: stage 1
preliminary drawing for grey 15
11:23 AM: i launched right in to the drawing for grey 15 which, as you know if you're a regular, may change totally. i'm about to apply some collaged bits and will post pics as available.
departing from the vermeer variations brings up some fear & trepidation, which is a good thing. uncomfortable is good. otherwise, i'd put on my slippers, which i don't own, sit in my easy chair and read the NY times, which is not available in crestone and which is now just part of the vast, dreaded establishment.
i ahd wanted to prepare my talk for april 7 at space gallery today, thinking the poor light would be an opportunity to do something different. maybe later this afternoon....