3.30.23

Shower journal.

I finished my course in the fall and I was trying to “plan” where to go next. I decided that keeping a journal might help. Well, the journal became the thing I would spend all my time at the studio doing. I got hooked on taping out four sections on a page, painting an abstract piece with a limited palette (two colors and black and white - mostly) and just playing around until I took off the tape, had four little paintings and then practice my “editing” skills to see if I could improve what had been painted randomly/intuitively. Then I’d write about what I liked or didn’t and what I thought I was trying to express. All good work for an artist to do.

And somewhere in all that I got my inspiration from the morning shower because what better place to have random thoughts. So here is a first sample of some of the “best” from the journal keeping in mind composition and value (light and dark). Where does my eye go? What do I see?

It’s all in service of developing my visual vocabulary.

8.13.22

The final weeks of Find Your Joy delved a little deeper into color and the main thrust of the class - contrast in tone, saturation, temperature, and variety in mark making. The end of the class focused on working in a series (which is what I almost always do) and intention. Finishing this class I feel like I’m at a point of continuing to paint my “the space between” figurative portrait series and/or moving into “find the figure” paintings (and hour of abstraction and an hour of uncovering the figure. The first relies on a model as the source of inspiration (and thus the logistics are more difficult). The second is more self-reflective and abstract - more fantasy. A friend once said I didn’t need a model because I just make it up anyway. I’ve never thought that was true. Each series, each painting is unique to that particular individual (at least they look that way to me.) If I wanted to paint “generic” figurative abstracts I could do that. But there is something more I want to express and I still haven’t found the right means of expression, so I think, for now, I’ll keep working on the “space between” using the lessons I’ve learned to get closer to finding the best visual language. I think the self-portrait in this group is a new step but it all depends on the next model.

7.30.22

More class work: Week 5 (inspiration), 6 (contrast), and 7 (composition & tone). The struggle over these weeks was balancing doing an “assignment” and trying to figure out how this relates to the work I want to do. Lots of stumbles over trying to get it “right” when maybe all I need to do is “see” it.

7.8.22

More class work: Weeks 2 (mark making), 3 (emotions), and 4 (integration). Some successes. Some lessons. Lots more exploring. Lots more work to do. These are studies and not finished pieces.

6.11.22

First week of Finding Your Joy on-line painting class.

Over all theme: Letting Go.

Achieved by painting to music.

Windows by Chick Corea. Abstract painting. Step One: paint for only as long as the song lasts (8.5 minutes). Panic and exhilaration. Step Two: paint with music in mind but take as long as you want. I think improvisational jazz is a good find for me. Variations on a theme. Organic. Rhythmic.

I thought I’d try a song with lyrics. Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell. Abstract painting. Step One: length of the song (2.5 minutes). Step Two: paint as long as you want with song in mind. Hard to resist the narrative.

I’ll Be There by the Four Tops. Representational painting. Step One: Paint for the length of the song (3 minutes). Less panic. I didn’t feel like I had to cover the whole surface since there was an object (a figure). Painting over the Step One painting. Step Two: paint for as long as you want with song in mind. Lyrics and figure tried to be there at the same time. Keeping intentions isn’t easy.

I thought I’d try again with a different song. Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye. Representational painting. Step one: paint for the length of the song (5 minutes). The experience mirrored the Four Tops Step One version, but different in that the inspiration (the song) was different. Painting over the Step One painting. Step Two: I only allowed myself to paint for the length of the song again. I wanted it to express the song more than the figure. If my long term objective is to paint the “space between” then being comfortable with the suggestion of a figure is good practice.

Bonus content . Two “Journal” paintings experimenting with making dark marks in one and with gesso as an editing tool in the second. The third piece is a literal palette cleanser, or what to do with leftover paint. I think I’ll make this a new practice.

All in all this was a very productive week. Lots of journal writing and watching some video information, too. I’m going to get out of this what I put into it. Not sure I “let go” completely, but it was a good start. The point is to find what brings you joy and paint more of that. Practice. Practice. Practice.

5.29.22

Homework. Just finished the free, 8-day “Find Your Joy Taster 2022” on-line course with Louise Fletcher. (Watch a YouTube video of her painting — she’s rather entertaining.) I’m about to sign up for her 10-week course because her approach makes sense to me. Paint joyfully and then look for the technical skills you need to improve your paintings ( as opposed to learn all the technical skills and then try to figure out what you want to paint.) Below are the results of the four assignments which I interpreted as: Free Painting, New Tools, Intentional Ugliness, and Working with Limitations. The purpose was to experiment and find both what you like and what you don’t, and then do more of what you like. And the more you do what you like the better you will become. It was a good week of work and nice to get a little outside perspective.

4.24.22

You have to suffer for your art. I think I have believed that many times throughout my career. If I’m not struggling then it isn’t real, or important, or worthy. It’s supposed to be hard.

Maybe that isn’t true.

Art making is supposed to be easy — I’m creating something that has never been said in this way before, trying to use materials and means of expression in ways they’ve never been put together before. It’s like inventing a language, but a language that has to have some vocabulary that everyone can understand. And the people who’ve taught me — and the people who’ve viewed my work — they have their own language — and I have to remind myself that theirs not mine. I can’t paint to please them. I can only paint what pleases me.

Art communicates. It can have a political message. Or a technical message. Or a philosophical one. It can be historical. It can be ephemeral. It can be very, very, very personal. But it has to have something more than just a message . The artist and the viewer have to share a curious passion and a desire to communicate. A painting has to be an invitation to see something differently — to visualize in a different language — to meet in a new space and share new ideas.

In the new series I’ve started this month, the model is a man full of joy. And so to match that — to speak about that — I have decided to paint in a way that brings me joy. I’ll be curious. I’ll have fun. I’ll try to be fearless, but still pay attention to some of the rules (value, composition, color, texture).

So far, I’m having a great time.

2.25.22

The beginning. The middle. And the…not quite yet.

Over the past four months, I kept thinking this series was ever-so-close to finished. I’d come to the studio the next day and see - nope - there was more to do. Every day the same themes haunt me: 1) nothing is precious - so let everything go, 2) a limited palette has rewards - and challenges, 3) the narrative matters - even if you don’t know the whole story, 4) objectification is hard to overcome - people are not objects, they are experiences, 5) there is more in the space between then meets the eye - but someone has to edit it, and 6) abstraction requires a leap of faith - because what the painting is/says is up to the viewer.

And the end is just the beginning of something else.

12.1.21

Sometimes detours are the better route. Connection wins the day with this series. Though I still think of them as six panels, it also seems right to think of it as a whole. In fact, that very notion of separate but whole seems right.

I’m just not sure what to do with it next.

11.7.21

The whole story.

The latest series took a detour for a couple of days. My normal process is to work on the six pieces separately, as if they are chapters in the story. Time moving forward as the '“space between” gets revealed or filled up with experiences, words, gestures, feelings or impressions. But does it? Is there a logical sequence? Or is it the whole experience happening at once?

I decided to close the gap, as it were. I moved each piece next to the others and worked on them as one piece. The figures in the separate pieces had been cut off at the edges. I had an opportunity to extend them into another plain. Heads sprouting. Arms reaching. Legs dangling. And even “negative” space leaking out of its original confinement as slashes of color or dark lines meandered into other spaces.

For a moment, the story looked more complete. More literal. Bodies moving in and out of space. An altarpiece of sort. Co-mingling.

But that isn’t the space between. Not the way I see it. Recognizable symbols were telling the story. The story of the space between is non-objective. It’s about impressions. Metaphor feels more comfortable. That shape is like an arm reaching, but it isn’t an arm reaching. The focus is not on the figure, instead it is highlighting the forces acting upon the figure — the space that emanates from the figure perhaps but also beyond the figure.

There can be moments in the process when I like something — maybe even love the way it looks. It makes sense. But part of the process is moving beyond what is comfortable. Being willing to take a risk and make things worse. Let it go so it can be more.

So I’m marking this moment. Appreciating that I got to this point. Happy that I like it.

And now I’m embracing separation again.

Let’s see if I can tell the story in a different way. A more provocative way.

A new story.