I am enamored of this greenish yellow color, which goes from a pale verdant gold to a murky, dark algae.
Working in watercolor is good practice for me in doing just enough. In holding back. In stopping. In conceiving something clearly at the outset, and carrying through, not second guessing myself if the process unfolds more [...]
Archive for December, 2008
Less is More
Posted in Finished Work, Thinking Things Through, tagged watercolor, working from life on December 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Dying Peony
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "untitled/girl tree", plants on December 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Um. I just realized that the horizon line is nowhere near horizontal. How could I not have noticed that it has a distinct slant to the right?
In other potential problem areas, I’ve been away from the studio for almost a week over Christmas, and I turned the space heaters off and let everything go into [...]
Blue in a Good Way
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Lead Balloon" on December 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The light green background wasn’t working in this painting – not enough contrast with the body. But I didn’t want to go with the deep brown again, like in the other Headcase painting. Too matchy-matchy. I think I like this royal blue color. It’s sort of got me excited about this painting again. Which would [...]
Capaciousness
Posted in Thinking Things Through, tagged fear, lewis hyde on December 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I was re-reading Daniel Smith’s article about Lewis Hyde in the NYT Magazine recently, and got to thinking about this notion of a creative or cultural commons. In the article, Smith writes about distinguishing between
“rivalrous” resources, like drinking water, in which one person’s use by definition competes with another’s, and “nonrivalrous” resources, like the English [...]
“Arctic Freeze”
Posted in Life, In & Out of the Studio, tagged Studio, weather on December 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So, apparently it never snows here in Portland, or rarely enough so that the arrival of a mere inch or so is enough to paralyze the city and send everyone into a frenzy, complete with full-on news coverage of the so-called “Arctic Freeze” and public health advisories telling us all to be sure and “dress [...]
Mutual Support
Posted in Finished Work, tagged courbet, raphaelle peale, still life on December 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I think that’s going to be the title of this little painting, because of the way the two tiny pears are balanced, kind of holding each other up. It’s showing up here at about it’s actual size, 6″ x 6″. I can’t resist painting fruit (especially if it’s got some nice blemishes); I am perpetually [...]
Overtired
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Mote" on December 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Whoa!!
I know, right? The brown?? Crazy!
I don’t know, I was just looking over at this painting leaning against the wall one night, right before I was about to leave the studio, and I just suddenly realized that the green background was kind of . . . blah. Nothing was popping, there was no good contrast, [...]
Closer . . .
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "untitled/girl tree" on December 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Lead Balloon
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Lead Balloon" on December 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I do sometimes worry that this painting will never come together, but I try not to let myself go there. Sometimes, I think I can actually jinx a painting by indulging in negative thoughts about it. On the other hand, some paintings you never quite develop a feeling for. However, I’ve been better about avoiding [...]
A Pithy Nugget
Posted in Life, In & Out of the Studio, tagged dave hickey on December 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A quote from Dave Hickey that for some reason has stuck in my head for years. And which seems apropos, for a blog about art:
To put it simply: art ain’t rocket science, and beyond a proclivity to respond and permission to do so, there are no prerequisites for looking at it.
Taken out of the context [...]
