3:34 PM: today i started a fresh painting, which is a variation on the one i completed yesterday, tokyo olympics 4. not surprisingly, this one is titled tokyo olympics 5.
new elements include: above right: ll. cooljay singing it’s tricky; 3 arms & hands & a few more figures seen from above standing in line waiting for their flight to board.
the two together could make an interesting diptych.
TOKYO OLYMPICS 5
BELOW: tokyo olympics 4 & 5
2:56 PM: i had a few interruptions today, but very welcome ones! the crew was here to evaluate what needs to be done to clear brush on our lots in order to reduce the danger from a potential wildfire. over the next few months, they’ll be working to achieve that goal, which is a service provided by the county.
but i did get some work done, and may actually have brought this painting to resolution. i’ve been able to maintain lots of white space while not fragmenting the composition. in that respect, it’s like a piece of music, with staccato & adagio playing out across the surface.
the carbon pencil drawn figures, who are people waiting for their flights as seen from above, introduce a cool balance, with their smaller scale and distictive angle of view.
the central figure above, seen from behind wearing his many colored and patterned tokyo olympics jacket, appears to be directing a symphony, and his red headed buddy encourages the viewer to become part of the drama, and allows you to fill in the blanks of where his head ends & body begins.
today’s palette
tokyo olympics 4 as it looked at the end of my painting day
2:57 PM: after doing some studio reorganizing this morning, i started a new painting on a piece of primed 33x19 portrait linen. i have a second canvas with the exact same dimensions tacked next to it on my east studio wall, and i’m thinking of making the two interconnected.
here’s how it looks so far
as far as imagery goes, you’ll notice 3 things going on here: 2 celebrating figures viewed from behind; a drummer viewed from above and a drawing of two pedestrians walking, also seen from above.
tokyo olympics 4 as it looked at the end of my painting day
w-cup 1 on 12/31/22
w-cup 1 at 1:45 pm, following today’s work thuis far
w-cup 1 following removal of today’s changes
4:45 PM: once i got back to the house, mikela was very dissapointed at what i had done to w-cup 1. so i put my coat back on, went back to the studio & restored it to it’s former self. i think she was spot on, and i’m glad i caught it while the new paint was still wet & was easy to rub off using solvent & a rag.
1:51 PM: following a somewhat meandering first half of the day, i felt like going back into w-cup 1, which actually no longer has anything to do wioth the world cup, as the central figure is a skateboarder form the post-tokyo olympics celebration.
in any case, that’s kind of irrelevant, as this composition is, presently becoming a study in figurative abstraction.
blocks of color came about naturally, and the entire surface is peppered with white marks made with one of my fan brushes.
i think i may move on to w-cup 3 and see how it goes.
11:03 AM: this morning, FIRST I WATCHED this extraordinary MUST WATCH video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANaVkRxDPCI
then i scraped w-cup 3 so that it now looks like this, which i way prefer.
let’s see where i go next…
w-cup 3 at 1pm
w-cup 3 at 3pm
3:31 PM: my intention as i entered the studio this morning was to stay relaxed & allow w-cup 3 to go where it needed to go. and that i did. it could now very well be titled sunset header. i love skies and i love the creek, both of which now play an important role in the composition. lately, i’ve been photographing our sunsets practically every afternoon, like the one you see BELOW. so i’m intimately engaged with the greys, the pinks, the mauves…
so the world cup soccer player gains new meaning as he flies over the creek at sunset. the referee to the right has thus far survived the transition, and looks on in awe.
w-cup 3 as it looked at the end of my painting day today
4pm: looking west across the valley during our Stupa walk yesterday
8:54 AM: as the storm clouds rolled in preceding last night’s snow storm, we took our afternoon Stupa walk, which ended early because it began snowing. our view of the valley at that hour was spectacular, and i tried to capture it using the panorama function on my iphone. the temperature was 45° so the precip fell as a mix of rain & snow, with very high winds driving the rain against our bed room window, which made a loud pounding sound. we ended up with .44” of new precipitation, which was likely over a foot on the peaks above 11,000 ft. a very good statrt to 2023!
2:55 PM: it’s an overcast day, with rain turning to snow starting later this afternoon.
i started work on w-cup 3, 36x19”. the piece of primed linen i’m working on is the other half of w-cup 2, and has the same grey & blue brush marks on the lower portion of the canvas, which i’m painting into. the figures are the same, except for the referee in red on the right. the there are dancing figures towards the bottom & the soccer player heading the ball in blue on the upper left.
it’s way too early to tell where this one is going; tomorrow will probably be a key day in watching the direction this one wants to take.
2:15 PM: i had thought i’d start something new today, but it’s actually fitting that i do that tomorrow, the first day of the new year. there were a few small but significant tweaks i wanted to make today, to w-cup 1 and skateboarder dancing, which was last worked on december 18th.
the area of w-cup 1 that needed tweaking was the skateboarder’s hands, face & red shoes, as well as the rectangular window-like form above his head, to which i added a touch more of light blue. a thin stripe of the same light blue was also added to the dark blue rectangle on the lower right. but i believe the most obvious improvement was to the hands.
if you compare the 12/18 version in the photo on the left BELOW with the one on the right, following my tweaks, you can see for yourselves.
the photo BELOW on the left was taken on december 18th. on the right you see the painting following today’s tweaks. just to the right of the skateboarder there was a curved orange shape within a curved red shape. both had black drawings. after gazing at this painting every day since december 18th, or almost two weeks, i concluded that what i took out today was seriously detracting from the integrity of the overall composition.
i knew something was off, and it took that long for me to zero in on the problem area.
1:34 PM: when i entered my studio this morning w-cup 1 still seemed way too busy. so, using grey & pink, i simplified, for the moment retaining only the dancing figure but with a checkerboard patterning added to his trousers. so now i’m returning to w-cup 2, which i still like a lot, so i won’t do much. then i may start a new one if i have the energy.
2:35 PM: so i just made some minor but important tweaks to w-cup 2, which i think has resolved it.
on wednesday i had gone over the whole painting with a thin wash of grey oil paint, as i was intending to use it as an underpainting. but when i revisited it yesterday, i felt sad to obliterate this beautiful composition, with it’s precious white spaces.
so, while it was still wet, i went over the grey paint with a solvent soaked rag, removing almost all of it. in the process though, i took out the delicate sienna pencil drawing of the soccer player’s bodies. so today i re-drew them, and i think we’re done!
w-cup 2 following my tweaks
w-cup 1 12/30/22 1-45pm
2:36 PM: as i am wont to do, i made significant, one could say radical changes to w-cup 1 today. but it’s more accurate to simply treat them as an evolution in development. always listen carefully & follow your gut.
the morning began with the tree trunks on the left, as i was feeling that some structure was needed in the composition. once again, the images i have of the 2020 post-tokyo olymoics celebration came intothe picture. this figure, in his green shirt, red shoes & helmut in one of my favorites. the event designer used a checkered background, which was not in this particular photo, but which i remember from others i have somewhere.
something i love right now about this one is how the dancing figure integrates with the pick & pale blue passage on the very top of the composition, aas weoll as the pink & ochre rocks i drew in earlier this morning. of course, his red shoes are the kicker. the event designer paid special attention to the costumes, some of which echo the checkered patterning on the distant rear wall and all of which contain sensitively selected patterning & colors.
as it stands now, i’m feeling pretty good about it.
w-cup 1 as it looked at the end of my painting day today
3pm: w-cup 1 was too congested, so i painted over it, then scraped into it and began working into that. it’s at an interesting stage as i end my painting day, with elements of landscape & remnants of w-cup 1.
it’s clouding over now, with increasing wind gusts & looking like we’ll have to postpone our trail walk till tomorrw afternoon. more later…
