Sunday, November 29, 2009

Gather Your Thoughts - Goes Big


Up above is Gather Your Thoughts 2008 8x10 inches. Below is going to be the large version 48x60 inches with some places reworked and others explored further.

All and all a fairly productive weekend. I started three paintings and I am pretty far along with two of them. I started the big one and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I worked through some sketches. I little bit of it was figuring out how to address the rivets and a few interesting areas of the under painting. I decided looking through my sketchbook that Gather Your Thoughts was the right direction to go. I have many smaller paintings that I have been meaning to turn into much larger works. I guess that's one of the best arguments to do small works - they're a great arena to work with ideas before going to the really big canvases. I also like the fact that they are more affordable for the general public.

I believe very strongly that art should be for everyone. I know I was told back in art school by one of my painting professors that "we are elitists and our work is for the elite by that very fact". Well, I disagree and I think it's a shame to hear people say to me that "they don't know anything about art, so they can't say if a painting is good or not". Do you like it? Can you except it as art even if you don't? Well, thats all you need to know. Trust me I'm not moved by the majority of the art out there I see and why should it be any different for anyone else?

I know many friends that express that they don't feel comfortable with going to museums and galleries. At the same time they wouldn't think twice about going to a concert. I don't know where this disconnect starts or all the causes of it. I do know there is definitely a lack of arts education within our schools and a association with social class within films and television shows. Maybe, that's the root of it and once the seed is planted it's hard to shake people's paradigms.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

What did August do to me?


Above is the new painting started tonight August Lied and a studio shot. It's a canvas that's going extremely fast. Maybe it will have finished painting itself while I sleep? I'm feeling a bit slap happy right now a combination of staying up late too often and that six shot German chocolate mocha I drank this evening. No, it wasn't my idea to have that many shots. The guy at the coffee shop wanted to try something new on me. I'll make it clear that two to three shots is sufficient in the future.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The sweet trappings of the studio



Ah, the sweet trappings of the studio. I know it sounds weird, but sometimes the studio serves as my sanctuary from the world. It's home to my soul in a way.

I've been spending a lot of time drawing out the plans for my future studio space. The big question has been for years whether to rent or to build with a preference to build. I'm really a night person when I work. While, the world sleeps I paint into the morning and call it quits a couple hours before the sun is due to rise sometimes even mid work week with a job to go to in the morning. Being five to twenty miles from home and having to drive home to crash just doesn't seem like a very sound plan for me. There are pros and cons to both needless to say. The build option is less studio space than renting or buying an industrial space, but either would be a huge increase on work space for me now.

I'm beginning to realize how coping with a lack of space is a huge hinderance to an artist's creativity. I also realize what a comfort zone a art studio is for an artist despite it's limitations there is a feeling of not wanting to give it up or trade up for a bigger space. You become very attached to the space. Nonetheless, for me it's time for a bigger studio and that's going to be my goal for the upcoming year. A new bigger studio.

On to the new work. The new painting is titled 204 Days. The title comes simply from the bus stop sign being for route 204 and the Days denotes the time the camera and the human perceptions capture. I like to use elements from the collage elements along with words that denote the overall theme of my work.

The idea of time and the perception of it is a huge part of my work. Time is very much a reality for us, but our perceptions of it become so subjective and distorted when tired, sick, drunk, or ultra healthy and energetic our understanding of events in retrospect or during is so altered. I find myself questioning the essence of it all and wondering if what I consider reality is nothing more than an elaborate illusion, because of how elusive trying to put a finger on what is real or imagined is.

Again, I don't know the answers or feel sated by the answers or others, but merely pose the questions in paint.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Dreams of April Continued

Finished up Dreams of April yesterday morning then headed off to the Farmer's Market downtown. I need to start taking my camera to get people shots. Since the weather has started to cool down a little in Phoenix. I wish it would just be cool period considering it's hitting the low 90's in November here.

Drove up to Sedona to deliver four new works to the Lanning Gallery. It was a really nice drive up and back down. Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees leaving them bare. They had a nice steely look against the blue sky and red rocks of Oak Creek Canyon. It's nice to go up there and truly see the seasons change.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Dreams of April

Dreams of April

Capture

Working on new pieces. Just finished Capture and started working on Dreams of April. Dreams of April is a really fun painting I think. I'm debating on how finished I want it to look. I like the sketchy quality and almost "drawing" look it has. It's the first piece of a triptych. I think I'll just keep with the flow and allow it to feel a little more sketch like.