celebration 27, 32x36” as she looked this afternoon at the end of my painting day
4:07 PM: i had taken steps towards a composition with multiple figures yesterday but today i found myself getting excited about a photo of one of the tennis players in the us open. we’ll see where she goes tomorrow.
the initial drawing for celebration 27, 32x36”
this afternoon, having completed the portrait i’ve been working on for the past few days, i started the drawing for celebration 27, 32x36”
words & worlds, 42x40” which was completed on april 20, ‘24
2:37 PM: i completed words & worlds, 42x40” back on late april. since then, being one of my favorites, it’s been hanging on my studio wall. this afternoon, i shot a few details of the painting, which you see here.
all morning i’ve been working on a 12x8” potrait of a friend here in crestone, which i’m not going to post for reasons of privacy. if he feels ok with me posting it, maybe you’ll see it tomorrow. this is just day one, and there’s still a lot to do. the portrait is from aphoto i shot of him a while back. he was kind of surprised that i was going to make this painting of him, so i explained that, during my 15 year stay in greece, i made quite a few portraits; many of construction workers from a site near my studio at the time. whevever i glanced at the printout of the photo, i felt a longing to paint a portrait. so i found a piece of portrait linen, upon which i had painted a dark grey ground some time ago, and transfered a tracing of the photo onto the canvas. let’s see where she takes me tomorrow.
with minoan celebratiopn
DETAIL of celebration 22, following the modifications and improvements i made yesterday, especially to the figures.
10:26 AM: yesterday i worked more on celebration 22, which i had last worked on 3 weeks ago. gazing at it this morning, i think it’s a much better painting now. here’s a detail:
2:29 PM: i made more modifications to celebration 22 and am done early for the day. we’ve got another intense thunderstorm happening & i’m ready to be home.
ABOVE: celebration 22, 32x36” as she looked on 8/16/24, and on the right following todays work
11:55 AM: following an intense thunderstorm with heavy rain & hail this morning, the sun is back out. i wasn’t happy with celebration 22; there was way too much going on, taking our eyes away from the 4 stages of exercises of the girl gymnast from the 2024 paris olympics.
12:22 PM: i think i’ll continue mking modifications & post when i’m done.
panoramic landscape painting 1, 5x28” gouache on paper
panoramic landscape painting 1, 5x28” gouache on paper (there was somehight falling on the plastic covering; i’ll post a better shot tomorrow
4:23 PM: as i went through a number of landscape paintings in gopuache on paper, i came across these two. during that period i was making paintings on paper. some of the landscapes that i found inspiring, usually in late afternoon light, required thati painted imany of them as i sat in the car. these are two of them. lots of prep goes into this; i needed to have all my materials readlily accesable in the car, which needed to facing the right direction so that i could see the landscap but not have any direct sunlight falling on the paper or the palette.
studio view this afternoon, with many celebration series paintings hanging on my east wall, the most recent is in the center
DETAIL of celebration 26, 36x36” oil on portrait linen.
12:40 PM: this is one more detail of celebration 26, which i completed yesterday. so today i’ll be stretching more canvasses so that i can start something new tomorrow morning.
celebration 26, 36x36” oil on portrait linen, as she looked at the end of my painting day.
3:09 PM: i worked on celebration 26 on & off from noon till now. i’m calling this a breakthrough for what seem to me obvious reasons. i was attempting to modify the composition to allow all 5 figures to work together in the composition. and i think, in the final half hour of working on it, i was able to do just that and more. the and more refers to that unplanned, unexpected flash of light that guides your hand and brush to do what no planning could ever accomplish: majik!
if you click on the detail to the right here and make it full page on your computer, you’ll see what i mean.
celebration 26, 36x36” as she looked at the end of my short painting day today
1:58 PM: i had to cut short my painting day today so i could get to the doctor in alamosa & have my gum boil checked out. they’ll likely prescribe an antibiotic till i can get to the dentist on tuesday.
i was able to do more work on celebration 25, partially filling in the drawings i made of a drummer and a woman on the beach shooting a photo with her phone. i went over the black surrounding the female basketball player with dark grey, since the black was too strong.
celebration 26, 36x36" as she looked at the end of day one
3:15 PM: i had done some prep work on the sienna ground of this one a few weeks back, and let it sit while i worked on completing celebration 25. this afternoon i launched into it, first making drawings in black litho crayon of assorted figures in my growing menagerie. today i focused on the jumping basketball player, who first appeared in celebration 25, and a female bather, hands in the air, jumping into the sea. we’ll see where she takes me tomorrow, which i’m anxious to learn!
