a work in progress

I have painted in short spurts on this painting since posting the last photo. I find it interesting that so much time has actually been spent looking; it seems the simpler the composition, the more crucial each element becomes to the whole. I continued to layer on the greens in the hills, and the blue in the dress. I altered the shape of the collar a bit using gesso and successive layers of paint. I added a couple more daps of white highlights to the knuckles, nails,hand, arm, nose, and mouth and blended them with my fingers. I developed the little bird a bit more and added the figure of the girl as a reflection in the eye. I had thought she would be a mirror image and smiling, reflecting a sort of premonition. At this point I am considering leaving the reflection as she is, young and all eyes. I’ve been dreaming more and attribute that to working on this piece from my imagination.

In my last all night painting session, I softened the facial features a bit and defined the hand a little more by adding dark spaces and highlights. I decided to dress her rather plainly in navy blue with a white collar, so as not to detract from the focus of the piece which, of course is her eyes, face, and the bird. I also added some texture to the hill and painted the beginning of the little bird. I added some stylized eyelashes above and may choose to put in another lash or two. The lashes I put in at the bottom I am planning to redo shorter and straighter. I still have quite a lot of work to do on this piece and I contine to stop and stare a lot as I define my concept to myself. I am enjoying noticing the little connections this piece makes with my life and how painting from my imagination has enriched my dream life. I have a friend who makes incredible contact with her eyes, communicating her openness and vulnerability, and reaching out without expectation. Her last name is Bird and she is a priest. As I began to develop the clothing in the painting, I realized that I had given the girl a white collar, much like a priest wears. I have also had dreams about this friend after working on the painting. Many things I think about are going into the development of this piece: connection to the natural world superceding all technological development and entertainment, the ability or inabilty to see one’s self, the complexity of emotion and how unwelcome sensitive people are at times. I’ll develop these ideas as a statement about the piece as I grow closer to completion. In the meantime, I’ll let my friend know how she inspires me to reach out to others.

I added another layer of pink to the background, making the top darker and redder than before. I worked on developing the facial features and hand, striving for some realism in the hand where the girl is in contact with the outer world and less and less as you approach her eyes. I sketched in the bird’s form. I played around with the contour of the body and gessoed out the necklace. I still need to determine what those green hills become and how this girl is attired. I’ll deal with her hair later. It was another all nighter last night and the singing of the birds came as a surprise to me. Big paintings take a long time. It seems I am constantly pushing myself to do new things. I had just gotten to the point where I could complete one of my average sized paintings in one session with a quick tweaking the next day. But those paintings were about 300 square inches or less and this is 1200 square inches. It seems that the size of the canvas controls a lot about how I work. With a piece this large which is not all planned from the beginning, I find that I have many decisions to make along the way and that I am spending way more time looking than actually applying paint. I have rearranged the studio, which is just too small, to allow me more room between the canvas and my palette. It keeps me moving around which helps my body, as well as allows me the space I need to look at the whole piece. Every painting offer different challenges and lessons about how to think about art and myself, how to move, how to see. I think this is why, in spite of requiring continuous change in my life, I can keep painting. I may have finally found a routine that does not make me feel penned in.

This is is the first painting I have done without any photo references in a long time and at 30″ x 40″ is larger than I usually work. I started out by unwrapping the canvas, placing it on the easel and rubbing its surface with my hands until a pattern emerged. Then I began to sketch in the curved pattern my hand was drawn to very loosely and lightly until a girl with a bird on her shoulder appeared. At first I thought she’d have a necklace of teeth and started to sketch that in and changed my mind. Funny that the shape and size of the canvas helped me settle on a basic compostion. It wasn’t until I got into the painting and considering the colors and my message that the white space seemed to get to me and seem large and intimidating. I decided to use the cool palette from my last painting and fill in the blanks. She’s still in the studio staring me down and I must get to work. This evening I went to town and bought some even larger canvasses. When I got home and called some friends they told me about a local framer who will build excellent large stretchers. It would be great to get that done locally and I don’t mind stretching my own canvas. I kind of get a kick out it.

I worked on the hills, making them bluer and added some more definition to the water. I also added the sprigs to the bush. I will probably finish this up in one more session, by lightenening the farthest hills a bit. I continue to learn about blogging and am working a new painting which is purely from my imagination. Last summer I began painting on canvas in earnest again, after about nine years of painting furniture, painting faces, and designing how to projects. When I made that commitment, I began a series of paintings done from photos I had taken over the years and ventured into realism. As I worked on this piece I thought about my artistic goals and as long as I didn’t directly ask myself that question, I seemed to know! Funny brain! I found myself leaving the reference photos behind more and more and not just deviating from the colors, as before, but also the compostion and mood. I want to paint more pieces from my imagination this year. My next post will show the beginning of the first painting in that series. I will continue to work on my other series: the narrative paintings which let me speak the stories I imagine when viewing a small slice of everyday life, the landscapes which free me by reminding me what a small part of the glorious world I am, and the architectural series, which explores portions of cityscapes that evoke memory and often are about the town where I live. I will also, in all likelihood, continue to produce a random spattering of abstract and experimental pieces, since they keep me loose and help me out of any slumps or ruts I encounter in my work.

New painting that I did while taking a rest from the big one of the lake scene. Lovely little flowers in a ledge on the side of a historic hotel downtown. Spring is here and I am eager for summer, perhaps that is why the lake painting is coming now. This one is up for auction on ebay with a low starting price.SOLD

After feeling stumped with this one for a while, it hit me that I had a resource available to me for help from other artists and I decided to post it on the forums at www.ebsqart.com and ask for advice. This was a very good idea and I enjoyed the advice and friendliness of several wonderful artists. The only thing that could have been better would have been if they all agreed! Actually, there was one very solid and basic piece of advice that ran through the thread-things in the distance look bluer, not just lighter. Now, I knew this but in the midst of my painting frenzy, I could not see my way to the basics. I have made all the hills much bluer now. They still require a little work, but I think this helped push them farther away and I’m pleased to be back on track. I also worked on developing the water’s movement, again cautious not to put in too much detail and detract from the subtle haze of the environment. I will continue to slowly build up the patterns in the water.

I added a light wash over the farthest hills and softened the edges of all the hills. I darkened the sky a bit, added the smallest branches and decided to give it a rest. A friend of mine who owns a gallery stopped by to take a look and said she likes it and we talked about how difficult it is to make the light colors recede, especially with such a diffuse light source and no benefit of glaring sun and harsh shadows. She recommended more detail in the water and I will probably develop that more. I have been very cautiously adding details and highlights to get just the right reading without disrupting the haziness of the piece. I began a small collage piece last night and have been working on a new painting of flower boxes in downtown Eureka. I’ll post those when they are completed.

I continued to add thin layers of paint to the hills and put one more light wash over parts of the water. I added the overhanging branches and foliage and decided to place a bush in the lower left corner to balance out the composition. I’ll move on to another painting and give this a rest for a day or two before finishing it.

I added a couple more washes to the hills. I worked on developing the foreground by darkening the shadows between the stones. I decided to make the path to the right have steps and I like this because it reminds me of walking on all the crooked trails with my godson as we followed a beaver. First beaver I had seen at Beaver Lake or anywhere, for that matter. I added the details to the tree. The area at the lower left corner was intended for a plant, but at this point I am considering continuing the stone slabs. I’ll decide after I add the branch overhang.

I added several layers of paint to the water and worked on developing a hint of movement in it without making it too busy. I am pleased with the color of the water and feel I captured the way it looks on a hazy day, well lit, but very softly. I also muted the distant hills a bit and then began to define the darker areas. A good trick for artists who have been working on a piece for a while and can’t really see the whole of it anymore is to look at the piece in a mirror or to take a photograph of it. Works like magic. Posting these wip photos on my blog has replaced running to a mirror with the painting.

The little critters are multiplying and assembling. I hope they will remain obedient! I cannot sit down without making a few more to coo over. I really need lots of cuteness and beauty in my life right now to keep me centered. I’m in a funk today. Being ill is a huge challenge to my self esteem and I’m starting to remember ugly things that were said to me over twenty years ago. I had a ton of personal power at 16. I had a paid acting job, saved up and then travelled to Mexico with a friend, and I always stood up for myself. In my adult life , I often keep my mouth shut and I make compromises for what I think is the greater good. I tell myself that is being a grown up and while I believe that, I also see that it has chipped away at my sense of self. These little critters don’t talk, make no demands, and appear to worship me, how could I not love them?