skoufa II, 37x35”/89x97cm. oil on linen, as it looked at the end of my painting day today
1:48 PM: my process of switching back & forth between 2 paintings i’m working on seems to be productive. so today i returned to skoufa II, which has the same 37x35” dimensions as the one i was working on yesterday: skoufa. as usual, it started out as something very different, as you’ll see when i post the images of it’s progression over time.
it kind of jumped into focus today with the addition of the figure in white shorts, on the right side of the composition, and the addition of some details to the balcony on the left, especially the bluish tint of the glass railing. so now, gazing at it from 20 feet here in my studio, i’d say it POPS. everything is making more sense visually, like the distribution of reds & blacks. the subtle introduction of a darker grey triangular area on the right deliniates the transition from sidewalk to pavement, and the….for now…faint markings on the sidewalk, identifying a set of squares that make up the sienna & grey surface give the whole scene, as viewed from above, more perspective.
BELOW are a few of the stages this painting has gone through thus far
BELOW are two 2014 paintings from my ano kato series. click on series in the menu above & scroll down to ano kato to view more. you can see the manifestation of my ongoing love affair with views from above with figures in severely cropped architectural settings; in this case the interior of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
as well, you can observe the progression in my use of color; from earth tones to brighter, more primary colors. and from painterly, sketch-like brush work to more layered, even tortured surfaces, which change & evolve over time, and take weeks or even months, rather than being completed in one sitting. at times, i miss that immediacy, but you’ve got to know where you’re at in a particular moment in time, on all levels; psychologically, emotionally, physically, and surrender to that reality.
