grey 20, 36x38" as it looked at 3 pm today
2:34 PM: a big hailstorm just broke out, and it's way too dark to continue working. so i'm stopping for the day. this dwarf speaks to me and, as my mentor tsarouchis used to say, that's the juice that allows you to navigate the many stages in the journey of each painting.
here's a quote from my old friend, the late henry geldzahler (google him to learn who he was). it's from a tiny book published by hanuman books in 1990 and in which he hand wrote a beautiful dedication:
there are two prerequisites for having any sense of what is of value and quality in your own time. the first is a firm grasp of the history of art. the firmer the grasp you have and the better grounded you are in every conceivable period, the less shocked or thrown off base you're goinf to be by something that appears to be new but isn't or that is meretricious in any of a dozen ways. A grounding in the best art that's ever been done, hitting your head against the concrete wall of achievement, there's absolutely no substitute for it. it means living in or visiting metropolitan centers. you can not learn from slides; slides are the history of images, not the history of art. the history of art is contained in works of art, which are unique.
1:50 PM: as i predicted, the imagery has shifted and is now based on the head of a dwarf in a velasquez painting. it's still very early stage, but it did make me more aware of what it is that becomes so compelling that it carries me through all the stages a painting can go through. it's an emotional connection to, in this case, the face, as well as the juiciness of the fabrics, or other elements in the composition which make them wonderful to paint. i may do an hour more before quitting for the day. more pics when available....
10:11 AM: i'm about to dive back in to grey 20, with a possible scrumble coming up shortly. i have some doubts about the image itself, so that might morph....pics to follow as available.