celebration XII , 16x20” following the changes i made earlier today
1:10 PM: celebration XII was last worked on this past march 29. this morning, in reviewing the series of 16x20” paintings i made during that period, we both felt that this one needed more work. so i worked back into it earlier today.
BELOW: celebration XII before (left) and after todays modifications
3 PM: so that’s it for today. it started out as a clear and beautiful morning and now the sky is thretening and the wind is gusting to 45mph! i did more to still life with refugees this afternoon and i’m ready to stop. it’s getting richer and juicier, but it ain’t there yet. i’m glad iun-pinkified much of the composition…i’ll have to see how she strikes me in the morning when i’m fresh.
1:03 PM: that pink was just too pervasive, so i’m re-working the painting using some of my creek photos and introducing water, ripples and reflections and tree branches. here’s how she looked moments ago. still painting…
still life with refugees 42x42” oil and collage on linen as it looked following todays collaging
3:01 PM: today was collaging day. i took a roll of white drawing paper, made some drawings in black peppered here & there with color, and collaged some of them onto the surface of the painting. it’s tricky to get all the air bubbles out, but i think i did a pretty good job.
my vision was to open the space, eliminate some of the pinks, which i was inspired to do after gazing this morning at one of my more successful paintings hanging in our entryway.
BELOW: before (left) and after todays collaging
still life with refugees 42x42” oil on linen, as it looked following this mornins session
at work this morning on still life with refugees 2, introducing black & deep pink
12:19 PM: continuing work on still life with refugees 2 this morning, using black and deep pink/red
3:04 PM: i made a few small but significant tweaks to pine peak, all in the upper right portion of the composiiton. that green rectangle was too dominant, so i took 20% off the bottom and introduced a swish of off-white to break it up. i’ll have to sit with it to determine if that worked, and maybe bring it to the house & gaze at it hanging there.
pine peak, 42x42” following this afternoons tweaks to the rectangle on the upper right.
still life with refugees 2, 42x42” oil on linen
BELOW: yesterdays version is on the left
1:24 PM: i made some tweaks to still life with refugees 2, which i’ve been working on the past few days. i feel that it has improved. if you compare yesterdays version with todays, BELOW, see if you can locate the areas i worke don today and if you agree.
still life with refugees 2, 42x42” oil on linen
4:07 PM: i spent most of today on still life with refugees 2, which i worked on yesterday. this one is demanding more time than i had expected, so i’ll continue tomorrow morning.
still life with refugees 2 42x42” oil on linen
2:26 PM: today i went back into still life with refugees 2, which has been on my east studio wall for weeks, asking for my attention. it’s still in preocess, but i’m taking it slow and avoiding large areas of strong color. so you have to look carefully to find the little gems. the skateboarding girl is a new addition; she has appeared in previous paintings, with her green dress and white petticoat flying up. as well, tree trunks and branches from one of my creek photos have appeared, and will be worked on more tomorrow.
still life with refugees, 42x42” oil & collage on linen, as it looked moments ago
2:40 PM: yesterday i went down a rabbit hole and couldn’t get out. so this morning i whited over it, scraped a bit and then painted into the richness that remained.
the only thing i didn’t touch was the guy doing a handstand, who was originally part of the 2020 post Olympics celebration ceremony. but now he’s at the bottom of the composition. to his right, a figure with a red jump rope from the same event, and above him, the now familiar striding plaid shirted figure, the main character in the tv series the good doctor.
the distressed, you might say, composition, with it’s scraped over and blotted areas, gives us enough to comprehend and leaves enough for us to fill in the blanks.
AI would not approve, and would immediately make everthing clearer and sharper, i imagine. it cannot, by it’s very nature, comprehend painterly. but once it gets wind of this, i’m sure it will.
still life with refugees, 42x42”, oil & collage on linen.
3:05 PM: i wasn’t happy with the previous state of still life with refugees; it was way too busy. so today, i made it even busier! here it is as it looked at the end of my painting day. the script you see was inspired by a photo i saw of the oldest known scripts.
before flipping it upside down
12:41 PM: pine peak, 42x42” oil & collage on linen as it looked following this mornings session
12:29 PM: as usual, when i took my first glance at pine peak upon entering my studio this morning, it seemed too busy and too much of an attempt at a realist interpretation of my photo collage of mikela holding a mirror while adjusting her hair.
so when i took it off the wall, my fist instinct was GREY. warm grey. and in that first spurt of energy, i mixed the grey in a plastic container, added some solvent along with my favorite medium neo megilp, and brushed it on, covering much of what i did yesterday. i did leave some small areas, making a new and much more painterly composition. yellow, red and green stripes appeared on 3 of the edges, as well as a green triangle and rectangle of color.
what i learned today was to go with that first burst of energy and then leave it alone. trust it.
still life with refugees, 42x42” as it looked after yesterdays rubbing & scraping
1:43 PM: i’ve been looking on and off at still life with refugees and i’m feeling it may actually be resolved as is, post rubbing and scraping. i’ll keep it up on the wall and see how i feel over the coming days. i may stretch it, now that the new stretcher bars have been delivered, and see ho wit looks stretched.
