Wonderland 3

Wonderland 3, 48" by 40", oil on canvas, 2015

JMW Turner

Five things that I like about Turner's late watercolours:
1. they seem to ooze light and mist and atmosphere
2. they are beautiful without being pretty
3. they evoke such a deep space using very few strokes
4. they are painted quickly yet, they seem timeless, still, and considered
5. they are an account of a great painter's eyes, his joy of seeing

A few thoughts on "Paint Is Only Skin-Deep"

I was thinking about this painting that I made a few years ago because my last few pieces have been using fashion photography images and wanted to see how my current work differs from this piece from an older series from 2013.

Paint Is Only Skin-Deep, 2013

In many ways it is similar:

-confused, obscured space making it hard to locate the figure

-energetic marks

-vibrant colours, high contrast

-dealing with the question of illusionist vs. flat space

One More Time, 2015

But in many ways it is different:

-intent for the use of the fashion model is very different (ie. commentary/critique vs. armature on which to make a painting)

-the paintings now are much more process oriented (ie. building, destroying, rebuilding)

-much more paint is being used (can tell in the photos)

-fragmentation of the image is the central idea

I was wracking my brain as to what my latest paintings mean. I still don't really know, but I think they have something to do with creating a first hand experience in the making of the image as opposed to trying to convey a subject or idea. The use of fashion models from magazines and online sources are the handle for me to make paintings on a daily basis. Not a muse exactly, but as an entry point where I can enter "paint mode" and get down to work. I think what I'd like to try is to incorporate an actual object or an element from my daily life into these images. But then again, that might seem forced. 

Guess I'll keep making them and see what happens.

Point of Interest: 4 kms

Point Of Interest: 4 kms, 48" by 40", oil on canvas, 2015

Why painting?

I've been asking myself this question a lot these days. I spend most of my free time painting, watching videos about painting, listening to pod casts about painting, and thinking about painting. So, why painting?
There is an allure that painting has. There's a mystery in it that, despite it's corniness, I want to delve into. I want to learn all about painting so that maybe I can understand it. I find that the more I learn, the more there is to know. And the more that I know, the more I forget (could be the effects of aging). The more I forget, the more I feel lost. But when I feel lost, that's when I make a small breakthrough and the whole cycle resumes.
The breakthrough comes in the form of a painting that seems to just fall into place. Every stroke you make is perfect. And you know every stroke is perfect so you feel free to take chances. Lo and behold, you have a piece that you never thought you'd be able to make. And the end of the painting comes to soon, you are having such a thrilling time making it, that you don't want it to finish. You want to keep going. You start a new painting.
This next painting will always be unsatisfactory. You begin to expect that all your paintings will just fall into place, never mind the 20 or so before it that were all a real grind.
This is why we go through all this work. We slave away at our paintings, chipping away at our projects day by day, so that we have that one piece that makes us feel beyond ourselves. Not necessarily like gods or master creators, but more than our physical boundaries.
Of course you could think about it a different way. Why painting? = Why not?

This drawing took a while.

Parliament Building, 12" by 9", micron pen and felt marker on sketch paper, 2015 

"Painting Fiercely" demo at Opus

Step 1: drawing delineating main shapes (ie. dark, lights) to use as a general framework.

Step 2: block in the main shapes with base tones, starting with the dark colours first (working dark to light in oils). Be sure to keep the paint thin at this stage (diluted with turps).

Step 3: add lights and darks to the base tones (this gives the forms depth and structure). It's always important to figure out how the light is working in your picture, this will help in its composition as well.

Step 4: this is where we destroy the picture. This helps us to go beyond our initial image/source material and create something new. Smudging and erasing the colours is one way to create unexpected new forms. Try to obscure the figure so that it is on the edge of being unrecognizable.

Step 5: now try to bring the figure back into the image using your source material as a guide. This is where the process becomes give and take: reinforce the form, mess it up again when it becomes to fussy again. Repeat these last two steps until you feel like you can't do anymore to the image.

Demo Result 01

Demo Result 2

More sketches

Getting more used to sketching everyday and in fact, I start to feel a bit weird if I don't. Here's some more samples.

watercolour on cold press

watercolour on cold press

watercolour on cold press

micron pens on sketch paper

Princess and the Pea

Princess and the Pea, 34" by 42", oil on canvas, 2015

Sketching in Spring

I've been doing a lot of sketching lately, partly because I want to get out of my apartment a little more (been feeling cooped up a little), and partly because I want to see what happens when I draw just for the sake of making a drawing (seeing and translating the visual world) as an end in itself. I find that I've been drawing mostly as studies for paintings. So usually the drawing isn't really finished or goes beyond the realm of a thumbnail. I also found a great class on Craftsy.com about sketching outdoors and thought I'd give it a try. Here's the results from some of the assigned projects.

Water colour on cold press paper

HB and 6B on standard sketching paper

HB and 2B on standard sketching paper

HB and 6B on standard sketching paper

Pen and ink (Micron pens) on standard sketching paper

HB on standard sketching paper

Water colour on cold press paper