8/17/20 creek oil painting 27 x 78” stage 2
8/17/20 watercolor
3:50 PM: i did a bit more on the oil i started this morning, using oil pastels. if you compare with stage 1, below, you’ll notice some blues that were not there as well as a bit of orange and a new rock on the left, as well as a deeper orange in the oranges already on the right. interesting how much of an impact those blues have in this spare composition, isn’t it?
i had a longing to make some watercolor strokes, so i made a very small one, and cut it in two so it would fit in this little white frame. nutty thing to do? well, maybe. but it sort of makes it like a collage, with an unplanned transition in the blues that actually works. one day, the owner will wonder why i did that. but they won’t love it any less.
8-17-20 creek oil painting 1 27 x 78”
1:05 PM: i’ve been dreaming for months, since i injured my shoulder and started my 2020 watercolor series, of squeezing those oil colors out on my palette. today i did just that, trying in the process to keep my shoulder movements to a minimum. this first one, on a virgin white primed linen canvas, is a riff on the gouache and watercolor creek paintings i’ve been making.
i’ve been dreaming as well of being able to paint into those wet oil colors, scrape into them in a way only possible with oil. so this is stage 1, which i’m going to leave until tomorrow. first of all, the heat is starting to build and become uncomfortable. but, as well, i do feel some stress in my shoulder. i’ve been so careful so long to allow it to heal, that i don’t want to screw up that process.
perhaps in reaction to the layered, scraped sometimes muddy quality of last years motion series of oils, some of which are now hanging in my show at carbondale arts, i envision this series, if indeed it becomes a series, to be a lighter, more playful, less time-bound take on the swirling waters of our creek. there may be, in this first one, some influences from a book i’ve been looking at every morning over coffee: the guggenheim collection. this is one quote that has stayed with me:” simultaneity was an attempt to embody a change of consciousness in response to a belief that sequential modes of thought and expression were inadequate to realize the fullness and complexity of modern urban life” from kearn, shattuck and virginia spate’s book”orphism: the evolution of non figurative painting in paris 1910-1914.
the san luis valley seen from the trail at 9am yesterday
in that vein, something new i’m doing is to draw from a variety of images i’ve shot with my phone while walking up or painting plein air at the creek. a sense of rock-ness; branch-ness; flowing, rushing-water-ness without describing or focusing on a particular moment. and trusting that, simply having this intention, along with my skill at drawing, will let my brush know where to go.
and beyond all that, just putting oil to canvas after having make 112 watercolors in a row, is a trip.
mikela resting on our trail walk yesterday
normally, the san juan mountains, which in this photo you can just make out on the far west side of the valley, are clear. the haze that’s blocking them is a result of smoke from 2 major wildfires burning right now in colorado. this view is from a spot on the trail about 20 minutes further up than the one hour early morning walks we’ve been taking every other day.
as we walked, i began getting a sense of this first oil. i knew i had one stretched 78x27” canvas. these are the dimensions of with paintings in my sound of a flute series of paintings. i had one that was ready to paint on when my shoulder happened. so today, i didn’t need to go through the stress of stretching a large canvas in order to begin painting.
the CARBONDALE talk pushed back one week:
there’s heavy smoke in carbondale right now because of the wildfires so we’re pushing back the talk marc bruell and i had planned on giving this friday 8/21 to the following friday, 8/28, which is the final day of my exhibition at carbondale arts. we’re hoping conditions improve by then.i’m re-doing the brochure with the new date.