I’ve been bearing down hard on this painting, trying to finish it. Which can result in a certain amount of progress, but usually backfires after a while by making me feel completely burnt out. I sit and stare at the painting, sit and stare, and cannot think of what to do to it. It’s utterly [...]
Archive for April, 2009
Little-ease
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Lead Balloon", dictionary, doubt, finishing on April 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Really, Truly, Almost Finally Finished
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Mote", finishing on April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One more pass over the body, and some finicky tinkering in the head-space.
Sweet lord, how happy it will make me to actually finish something. Even though—or especially because— it took almost a whole year. And is only 16″ x 12″.
Spring Fever
Posted in Life, In & Out of the Studio, tagged apple trees, Studio on April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The weather for the past three days has been glorious, fast-forwarded to spring, and then on to summer: sunny and hot, under clear, limpid skies. All the trees are ecstaticly flowering, and people have emerged onto their front porches, walking their dogs and babies, exposing white shins and elbows, everyone giddy with the sudden, almost [...]
Imbricate
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Lead Balloon", dictionary on April 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Recently I’ve been enjoying paging through the dictionary, reading words at random, and I’ve started writing down the words that catch my attention for some reason. I have a particular predilection for words of latinate origin—which is no surprise, given all the years I studied Latin, although I couldn’t translate anything now if my life [...]
The View From My Studio
Posted in Life, In & Out of the Studio, tagged Studio on April 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Easter Sunday, after a dreary day of rain.
Support Systems
Posted in Life, In & Out of the Studio, tagged doubt, failure, fear on April 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It’s hard to write about an inevitable part of artistic life without sounding like a self-obsessed whiner. But the truth is I’ve not been posting much lately because I’ve been in a bit of a hole. I wrote in an earlier post something about the act of painting being like skating out over a chasm [...]
Really, Really Close
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Mote" on April 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It’s mysterious why some paintings come so much more easily than others. Why is this one falling into place relatively easily, while “Lead Balloon” is torturing me, and making me feel like a painting-idiot?
Headcase, Indeed
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Lead Balloon" on April 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I want to finish this painting by the end of April. I hope I can manage it. It’s driving me truly crazy that I can’t seem to resolve it.
Something Different
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "black blob" on April 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m so enamoured of the hovering, tethered black capsule shape in ‘Lead Balloon’ that I decided to make a painting of that shape by itself. I’m completely unsure of how to do this. I know that sounds stupid. What could be easier than painting a black oval on a white ground? But I have no [...]
Goodbye, Beanstalk
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Jack", plants on April 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I pushed the restart button on this painting. I bought a new plant yesterday, and I hope it will both be fun to paint and that it will stay alive long enough to finish the goddamn painting. Unfortunately, it’s not at all like the original plant, so I guess I’ll have to give up my [...]
