70 x 60 Problem
Thought I would stick this half made painting up here. So many times I get to this point. This painting could go either way–kind of predictable, maybe a tad boring or somehow I am going to push it into something significant. The only problem is I don’t know what that is yet.
+”center”a>Point Reyes, California
My friend Grant, took me to a secret beach located at the very far end of Point Reyes National Seashore. To access the beach you have to climb down an old rope, but once there we wandered along the deserted beach. The fog was coming in so the light was particularly beautiful. Granite stones being tumbled smooth by the endless rhythm of the sea.
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/div>Side of Dumpster
Driving to my daughters school this morning I passed this dumpster. Whoa. This is a detail of the door.
/div>Studio Work
I have been working on several large paintings. These are on canvas which is new for me as I usually work on panels. The wood panels when over 5 or 6 ft get very heavy. I also have been using two up turned 10 gallon buckets on the floor to prop up my paintings while working on them. It puts them at a good height for me to work and the slight angle makes it a bit easier as opposed to being perfectly flat against the wall. So simple. Lately I have been so busy with trying to fit everything in that when I come across something that is so simple and easy I am especially appreciative of it. The same idea has been happening in my painting. Simplification. I am trying to show the paint’s own character more and less of the heavy handedness of my own agenda. The clue to this idea comes every day when I am painting. Every time a drip of paint falls off my brush by accident it seem to land in the perfect place in the painting and actually make it significantly better. How can this be?
Studio Work
I have been working on several large paintings. They are on canvas which is usually not what I work on, but when the wood panels get so big they get very heavy. I also have been propping the paintings on two 10 gallon buckets and leaning them against the wall while I work on them. Such a simple idea. I have been very busy in my life with so many things lately and like everyone else find it difficult to fit everything in….. So when I come across something that is so simple and easy I especially appreciate it. More and more I am following this idea in my paintings. Simplification. Allowing the paint to be more itself and not overly manipulating it. The clue for me was that every time a drip of paint falls of my brush and lands somewhere on my painting it always seems to be in the right place. How can that be? I think I am sometimes standing in my own way.
Cropping
Often parts of a larger painting can help me see what I might want to focus on in my next painting. Here the looseness and variety of textures and shapes coupled with the subtle grid lines practically could be an entire painting. Less is almost always more. Especially in painting.
Artplane Workshop at Esalen
Just returned from another Artplane Workshop. I don’t think Jennie and I have ever worked with a group of people who managed to paint so much in 5 days. Every night there was a group who stayed up till 2 am working in the “Art Barn” Painting is usually so solitary. I thoroughly enjoyed working with this group. They also ate more chocolate and drank more wine than other groups in the past. I already miss them.
Top Photo, Amy Johnson, 2nd year Artplane student painting mid week.
Christina Byrne and Elizabeth Hudson working late in the afternoon.
Bottom Photo, Jennie Oppenheimer giving an end of the week critique to the students.
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Searching Continues….
I have been so busy lately. Here is how this one went…it got very dark for awhile…..
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/div>Starting
Tonight I just decided to skip pretty much everything I usually do and try, in one session to go from blank white canvas to something that is graphically strong. I can’t re paint too much as the under color is wet and it darkens the light. Quickly lay in what a finished painting could look like from very far away. Not even sure how much of this will stay like this but it did seem like it wants to be this kind of a painting. It’s as if it already knows what it is going to be.
The Art Plane
Sometimes the very thought of making or writing something can become the barrier. When it becomes like this I just start. Like now. I have no clue what to write, just the growing frustration that I am not. Why this plays out time and time again for me (and I suspect others) always amazes me. It eludes me. The longer it is put off the bigger it becomes-the fact that nothing is happening-and then finally I just start. I don’t think the mind can create AND procrastinate at the same time. Creativity usually wins out and then suddenly it’s no longer an issue. Amazingly, the doing is the antidote. This relief coupled with the stimulation of what is happening on the canvas or paper shifts everything. Time slows down, concern gives way to gentle excitment. I call it the Art Plane…it always felt to me like this space or place was a distinctly separate plane. It’s always available. All the time. Sometimes I can get in it but mostly I’m on the ground looking up at it wondering why I’m not. Spending too long out of it, at least for me, is not a good thing.
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