C-B XII, reclining woman, 16x20” oil & collage on linen
1:47 PM: celebration XII was entering a territory i prefer to avoid: predictability.
so i worked into it, scraping, drawing with compressed charcoal and yes, occasionally glancing at deKooning’s women.
this is what has emerged thusfar from a burst of frenzied work. hints of the underlying painting remain, resulting in an enigmatic poetry of sorts; how, for example, the plaid shirt is incorporated into the reclining woman’s cheek.
i shortened title to C-B XII, reclining woman since spelling out celebration made it too long.
so if you take a look BELOW at yesterday’s version and compare with today’s, you can see for yourself what i mean when i say it was predictable. while the figures are animated and interesting visually, the composition as a whole is somewhat formulaic, especially if you have a look at previous paintings in this celebration series. while i continue to admire them as beautiful paintings, i think i reached the end of that road; that period.
BELOW: on the left: celebration XII as she looked yesterday, and right: C-B XII, reclining woman today
DETAIL of the woman’s face with the plaid shirt peeking through from the previous composition
