cleaning the studio...
...and other adventures in artthe daily bird, revisited, reconfigured, reconsidered
Apparently I was not finished with The Daily Bird.
I’m donating a piece titled “The Daily Bird, Reconsidered”, to the Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, for their yearly gala fundraising event auction, Stars. The event is held on December 11 this year. Click here to go to their website for event and ticket information.
My piece will be in the live auction. It’s made up of 30 encaustic birds, in a 5×6 grid.
The Daily Bird, Reconsidered, Encaustic/Oil/Photo on Panels, 30 panels in a 5×6 grid, 34″ x 41″, 2010, Private Collection
nothing like new canvases
Thank you Rubars Stretchers! (Oakland, CA).
They aren’t all mine. But nine of them are!
huddled masses
Huddled masses, indeed. Looking around hospital waiting room, I see people huddling together. I see it in newspaper and magazine photos too.
In times of trouble, anxiety and apprehension, in times of anticipation and jubilation, people huddle. They touch. They clump. They lean towards each other. They congregate in very close quarters.
So I started to paint groups of people. Huddling. Touching. Talking. Conferring and deciding, reacting and grieving, celebrating and consoling.
Body language is critical in these paintings. People are approachable and inviting, or people are distant and cold. Body language reveals the internal state that is hidden behind the skin. The body language in groups of people is interesting to me…the way we lean in or away from each other, the tilt of a head, the expression on a face.
These paintings are in Search for Self, at the Monterey Peninsula College Gallery. The show opens this Tuesday, November 16, with a reception on Thursday, November 18.
coming soon
Next up: Search for Self, Monterey Peninsula College Gallery.
Sefla Joseph, Ursula O’Farrell, and me.
November 16-December 17, 2010.
Reception and Artist Talk: November 18, 12:30-2:00.
mulling it all over
Open Studios is an exciting and confusing time. I’ve now spent 3 days, with one more to go, talking to people about my work.
It’s exciting because, of course, it’s great when people connect with the work. Who wouldn’t like that? I have had some wonderful conversations with people about what I’m doing and why, and I’ve listened intently to all their comments.
But that makes it confusing too. Everyone has their own opinions about the work…which pieces are their favorites, which pieces are taking me down the wrong path, which are strong or weak, stupid or fascinating, compelling or trite, garish or gorgeous.
You want to know the strangest thing about it? I can hear opposing arguments about the same piece coming from two people who walked in the door together. Art is absolutely, first and foremost, a personal experience.
I noticed last weekend that many of the painters who visited liked a specific painting, but the non-artists liked a different painting–almost to a person–and didn’t even comment about the one that the painters liked. What does that mean?
And what should it mean to me, as the artist?
I realize my work won’t appeal to everyone, and I don’t need it to. I do what I do because that is the work that interests me the most, and it’s the work that is the most honest for me to do. It’s not necessarily the easiest work for me to do, but it is potentially the most compelling, if I can only realize that potential.
And I’ve gotten beyond trying to predict what people will like. I am constantly surprised. I put it out there, and the right audience for the work somehow materializes at some point in time.
People certainly don’t always like the ones that I like the best. I know I have quirky tastes, and sometimes my most difficult pieces are also my personal favorites. And, honestly, sometimes I don’t even like my work. (Am I allowed to admit that?!?) I can feel a profound sense of unease when I finish a piece that went in an unpredictable direction. I sometimes see those in a new light months later when I realize that they were seminal pieces in the development of newer work.
And because no art blog entry should be without an image: here is one of those paintings about which I felt very uneasy when it was first completed, but now I am quite fond of it:
The Petulant One, Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 18″, 2010, Private Collection
one more weekend
I have one more weekend of Open Studios. If you’re in the area, stop by!
Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17, 10am-5pm.
Here are some photos from last weekend. You’ll note that my studio is clean…
Photo courtesy of Judy Stabile
open studios
Open Studios is here again! I will be demonstrating encaustic throughout the day, and I always enjoy discussing any and all of my work with visitors.
Am I ready? No, but I will be by Saturday. Here’s what my studio looked like at the end of the day today. As you can see, I have a bit of cleaning up to do before the weekend. At least I had the good sense to close up all cans and tubes of oil paint two weeks ago so as to avoid any unexpected wet paint in the studio over the weekend.
My new paintings are hung, and it’s good to see them all up at one time. I often prop them up against the wall when I’m working on other paintings, but I forget that they actually belong on the wall (on someone’s wall, not necessarily my studio wall!). When they’re hanging, I feel that I can see them in their proper context.
This is the first time I’ve had this set all hanging at the same time. It’s very informative. I get ideas for where to go next with my work, and can more clearly see the relationships between the pieces. Sometimes I see things to fix, sometimes I see things that I love that I didn’t realize were there. Painting is constant exploration.
two for two
Once a week, more or less, Tom Maderos, Claire Thorson and I hire a model for drawing and painting in my studio. Lately, Claire and I have been drawing together during these sessions. I don’t mean in the same room…I mean we’re drawing on the same drawing at the same time!
In the past, we’ve done paintings together where we took turns working on the painting, but at some point one of us would ‘take ownership’ of the painting and make it their own, rather than a true collaboration.
We are avoiding that problem altogether by working side by side. At times, it’s comical. Claire may be drawing a line that I’m furiously chasing and erasing as fast as she can draw it. We argue (nicely, thus far) over where something should be on the page, or the scale of body parts and props.
Although we’re standing quite close, even that small distance affects our view of the model, so we’re drawing from two perspectives at the same time. This is a very interesting perceptual exercise. We change places every so often so that we can see each other’s view.
Why do this? I think we started in a moment when we were both frustrated with the drawings we were doing, and decided to see how the other person would make things progress. (Maybe Claire will chime in on my bit of revisionist history).
But the experiment proved fruitful, and I find much value in it. Claire makes different decisions than I would make in many instances, and sees something other than what I’m seeing in the model. Working side by side, I have to constantly reexamine my own working ‘habits’–those things that I do without thinking.
And the drawings aren’t bad! I can look at certain parts of them and say “that’s my line”, or “that’s the foot that Claire drew so expertly”, but they are also a true hybrid. It’s like that first look at your child’s face, when you see something so familiar there but also something so unique.
So these are our babies, in a manner of speaking. All are approximately 30″x40″.
Check out Claire’s blog for more of her work.
three painters: figure + form….redux
Here’s the official postcard for the show. If you’re in town, please join us for our First Friday reception, October 1, 6:00-8:30pm.
three painters: figure + form
Another upcoming show, this time with my two painting partners, Claire Thorson and Tom Maderos. We’ve been painting together for several years, working from the model. This is our first time showing these paintings together.
The show will be at Michaelangelo Gallery in Santa Cruz during the month of October. First Friday Reception: October 1, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
And, yes, my Open Studios is during this show. Many of my smaller paintings will be in this show, and larger paintings and other works will be at my studio. I invite you to go see both!
