Several excuses
May 1, 2009
I’ve been very neglectful of my blog lately and my lack of posts is starting to bring me down. Especially because the one-year anniversary of the studio box recently passed.
Several facts have made blogging about painting difficult. For one, I’ve been working on much slower paintings over the past three months. I’ve considered posting some in progress, but I don’t think I’m ready to do that yet. Perhaps because they feel more open-ended and I’m not sure where the work is headed. Instead of painting in the direct manner–that is, all-at-once–I’ve been painting in the indirect manner of building many layers over time. I’m working on a portrait, which I think will end up being one side of a diptych. It’s taken several sittings of glazing to get the skin tone right. I recently thought it was finished, but when I went back to my studio the skin was entirely too orange so I applied a very transparent cobalt blue glaze to correct the color. I’m anxious to go back and see how it looks.
I’m also working on several larger abstract compositions. In many ways, these paintings are taking me back to my college days. But a great deal of uncertainty seems to be inherent in them as well. I’m just not sure what I’m doing, where they are headed, or why I am painting this way again.
This past year has been excellent in terms of productivity for me. And I attribute much of that to this blog. All visual artists need some type of forum to share their work. Something, however small, to stay accountable to. Because I wanted to have a year of many paintings, I also actually taught myself to paint in a different way. I painted smaller canvases in one or two sittings, applying creamy paint opaquely. This new way of working was very fun and enjoyable and I think it will always be a part of my toolkit, even as I return to slower paintings.
And finally, life is just getting in the way. I’ve been in the process of moving and considering my studio space. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be packing up my studio, moving everything, and trying to get started in a new space. This could invigorate my work, or throw a hurdle in the process. I have several half-completed pieces that will just have to wait for a few weeks. I anticipate painting, and posts, will continue at a snail’s pace until early summer.
May 4, 2009 at 12:28 am
Good to see you posting again. I was out of commission for awhile recently too, and hopefully am back to work again more regularly. I just finished a painting that I started in June last year, and I’ve been experiencing all the same situations you describe, slow processes and time consuming deliberations. I have been going through some difficult personal situations over the last year as well, and found it impossible to work for months at a time, but still found some satisfaction in writing posts about other peoples work as well as some highlights my own archives. I personally find the processes and evolution of paintings very interesting and encourage you to go ahead and put up work in progress and share your thoughts as your work developes. I assure you that it can be quite interesting both to other artists like me who understand and relate to your trials and processes, and hopefully of interest to those from other disciplines who might find learning about what we do and how we go about it interesting. My last painting is well documented on my blog from the 1981 study and construction of stretcher bars in June 2008, right through the finished productlast month, so you can judge for yourself the value of what I am suggesting here.
May 4, 2009 at 9:03 am
Thanks Dane. Good to hear from you. Well, maybe I will post some work in progress soon. Thanks for the encouragement. Something about it makes me as nervous as standing in crit in college with fifteen sets of eyes scrutinizing the unfinished work. But then, that’s actually a good thing and the way to make the work stronger. I just checked out your finished Watermelon Girl and it is beautiful. I’ll comment more on your blog. Thanks for reading!