Wrapping Up

Finished two more tonight - Mersault and Failed Snapshot.  I didn't worry about cropping them like usual. I need to photograph everything in the sunlight at some point anyway.  The gallery is open on Saturdays, so I'll probably swing by to photograph anything I miss tomorrow after work.  I'm not sure if hanging is going down Tuesday or Wednesday, but I wouldn't mind having one more evening to touch up here and there.  I'm going to be rushing to paint the remaining sides up when I get home from work tomorrow.  If it's Wednesday I will finish the one canvas I left off the list and I will have 13 works in the show then.  Everything is pretty large or at least horizontally long if not tall.  Failed Snapshot is a good example it's 30 x 60 inches.  It will take up a lot of wall to be shown.


I'm going to eat a sandwich and call it a night letting tomorrow be what it will be.

Almost...

Finished both Go Fish and Reflection today.  Also installed the wires behind the canvases and almost have all the sides finished.  I have two works to finish tomorrow evening.  The show hangs on Wednesday and I will be so very glad.  


I'm needing a short break before I start in working on the balance of the Lanning Gallery Show in July.  I have one canvas I may or may not include in this show, because I forgot to turn it in on my canvas list.  I don't think I will really need it.  Kim is already talking about editing the show down a little.  It's 14 canvases total, but they are large and since it's a two person exhibit I have two rooms and she doesn't want to crowd the canvases.  That works for me.  When I worked as a gallery director the philosophy my co-director and I stuck to was that work needed to breath.  Jess had worked for museums so she really had no love for the salon style of hanging art exhibits.  I visited SMOCA twice a week when I was in High School, so that has shaped my views on how art should be exhibited just a bit.


This body of work has taken me a little by surprise in some ways.  It doesn't look like a lot of work on paper, but when you have the canvases all over the studio and the patio it feels like the largest body of work I've put together.  When you get big the amount of wall space the artwork will eat up is just as big.  The other thing is these are intense canvases that psychologically are larger than they are even physically.  The characters within are very intense and the moods are unique within each of them.  If I were the viewer I wouldn't want to see them hung three to five inches apart from each other.


Modified Show is this Third Friday and next First Friday
@ 407 E. Roosevelt Rd. in Downtown Phoenix
6-9 PM


Click here for more info

Additions

Today I purchased the first of two pieces of new furniture for the studio.  I went antiquing to find a chair to replace my broken one.  Of course I found a swivel stool with a back that is actually a little taller than the stool I've been using.  Hey, great find really and the best part is it was only $10.  We're going to go out tomorrow and hit the shops we didn't make it to today.


Our jaunt was of course after the Modified Arts' video interview.  Needless to say the whole idea of being on camera made me a bit nervous. Admittedly, I really don't like my appearance on film.  I was also rather nervous about the usual tripping on my words.  Oh well, I'll post a link when they have it up anyway.  The interview covered a lot of ground regarding my influences and the ideology behind the work, which of course my blog reveals often.


It's really remarkable how updating the blog forces me to some extent to think about what I'm doing more.  It also serves to help me remember working titles and details about the works prior to hanging and opening receptions.  When I finish a work I become fully engrossed in the works currently in production.  I often forget about the just completed works unless I keep them out, so that I can reference their color pallet to match the current works too.

Gone Fishing

Go Fish above is going well.  I think I will finish it sometime tomorrow.  This is the last weekend of work for the show.  I have Reflection, Mersault and Go Fish to finish.  If some of the smaller works get finished they get finished, but I'm feeling just a little toasted at the moment. This are really strong works and I think they'll be surprising to some.  There's definately a focus on the figure that other shows flirted with, but only scratched the surface.  

I have another big push for the Lanning Gallery show for July now to worry about.  I am going to take a little time to recharge and ride my bike a little before I start hammering out the next batch of canvases.  Some of the work of this show will go into the Lanning Gallery exhibit as well just like last year. I am going to make an effort to create at least seven new works for that show.  I feel that Go Fish and Reflection are the direction those works will take.  This body of work marks a change.  Yes, it's easy to see that now that I can really take a look at the last 7 months worth of work and what's on the easel.  I'm not completely sure of where it's taking me though.  Frankly, I'm not really sure I'm supposed to know or even consider it.  Sometimes you really just need to let go and ride the wave beneath you and enjoy it.

Perspectives and Revelations

Work continues...


This painting is going very smoothly.  The big debate will be to use color or keep it noir.  I'm going to have to sit and stair at it for a while.  I really like how the figure in the front is painted and really hate the thought of touching a thing.  Sometimes the shading and brush strokes fall into perfect place.


This has been a crazy week.  Starting Monday I've been working under new employer's with the print shop I work at being sold to new ownership.  It's really a breath of fresh air that I've really needed.  More work, but a much better work environment already.  That's really important to me as an artist.  If I come home stressed out or worried about my day it's going to effect the work.  I really don't like the art born out of frustration and angst. I guess painting my bad feelings inside just bores me anymore.  

Closer

Getting closer to the show.  Work continued on Mersault and I started two new paintings.  The one shown is titled Moment (working title for now)  I also thought about calling it Reflection, but time will tell.  The other work not show is titled Go Fish and I'll post that later this week.  

I had my Wife pose for many different photos tonight for Moment and Go Fish and other future works.  I think this body of work is a bit of a departure from last years and I can see the direction it's taking me is a good one.  I think the more you work with the figure the more important perspective - bird's eye or worm's eye along with foreshortening becomes.  The canvases are more challenging and fun for me to create.  The consequence from a physical working standpoint is that my canvases take longer to think up, design and perform.  I'm just going to have to learn new strategies of working to make sure I get things done.