Painting: The Writer's Life

I had an art call (i.e., a painting and chatting video call) with my sister recently, during which I attempted a painting way beyond my drawing abilities.  Oddly, all the strange, squashed dynamics ended up pleasing me in the end.  A limbs akimbo, half-faced writer wedged into a cramped space with a typewriter seems like an apt visual metaphor for the psychological discomforts of the writing life.  

"The Writer's Life"
acrylic on paper

European Starling

A birder friend of mine correctly identified this bird as a starling (specifically, it is a European Starling) which is a level of success that doesn't usually happen with my representational painting - so I'm pleased about that.  

Paintings Made in Baltimore

More of the art backlog from the last few years.  These paintings were created after I moved to Baltimore.  I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I could easily extract from the stack in the art closet.  All are acrylic on gessoed heavy paper.  

Screenwriter Anita Loos

Kitchen Dancing

Water Witch

Doris

Violets

Balloons

Hopper Homage

This painting started out as a quick small sketch copying Edward Hopper's Hotel Room, but when I moved on to paint a larger, simplified version, I added my own spin, inserting the window and checkered floor and shifting to a cooler toned color scheme.  It's retains Hopper's sense of isolation but has become instead more institutional, perhaps a hospital or a dorm room. Freedom exists on the other side of that window. 

The Exeter Experience
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

St. Catherine with a Toothache

This painting was an attempt to copy a section of Caravaggio's painting Saint Catherine of Alexandria.  Sadly, in my version, she looks like she has a toothache, which is not exactly the martyring for which she is renowned.  If she indeed existed (historians debate this point, and if so, who she might be based on), she was likely beheaded in the end, as were many of the people she converted.  Caravaggio, meanwhile, caused a stir by choosing a model who was a prostitute to portray the virgin saint.  

St. Catherine
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

No Longer a Self Portrait

A while back, I attempted a self-portrait sketch which ended up not particularly appealing on multiple levels.  Sometime in 2020, I ran across it again and opted to paint it and modify her into someone else.  She came out a wee bit odd looking too, but I like that the blue background that somehow makes her feel a bit old fashioned.  

Assortment of 2020 Abstracts

Abstracts painted in 2020 (who knows when? 2020 was a blur):

Abstract - Map Reading
acrylic on paper
15" x 22"

Abstract - Chaotic Universe
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Compass Bloom
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Seasonal
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Blue
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Trapped Dragonfly
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Beatrice & Lavinia

I've been remiss in posting artwork (or anything else).  And so, without further ado, created sometime in 2020, two more paintings in the Women in Shakespeare occasional series: Beatrice and Lavinia. 

Beatrice
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Lavinia
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Painting in Arizona

I visited my sister and her husband in Arizona over Thanksgiving, and had time for a sisters painting fest, which involves painting, listening to loud music, and occasionally busting into some random dance moves. Results of my work became increasingly eccentric, from a (for me) pretty decent desert-y landscape based on the view from their sun room to the weird underwater beginning of, I'm not sure...a children's book perhaps?  Ideas welcome.

Cochise, AZ
acrylic on canvas board
11 x 14

Big Fish, Little Fish
acrylic on canvas board
11 x 14

Last Paintings from Class

Miami

The remaining painting classes were, happily, more personally successful.  In a small miracle, I employed perspective in a painting deliberately.  While the the figure is once again a wee bit weird, the sense of that sidewalk disappearing into the horizon works -- and I even know how to do that again; the magic of good instruction at work.

And then, oh happy day!, we had a day of just playing around with abstracts.  I'm so much more relaxed when it doesn't have to look like anything, can just be an exploration of shape and color.  Apparently, this is mildly unusual, and people who can paint objects with more realism and detail can get hung up letting things loose in abstracts.  Not me...I may not yet understand the balance in abstracts, but I do love trying.

Untitled

My thanks to Jared Peters and the Charlotte Street Arts Centre for a great class.
https://www.jaredpetersart.com/
http://www.charlottestreetarts.ca/

Painting Class

After not painting for close to a year, I'm back in a painting class.  It's a great class, although sadly, my painting remains rudimentary.  Still, I'm mildly encouraged that I am starting to see things in a painterly way again, to see the blocks of color a bit, even if I can't capture that.  And yes, I still can't draw.

Here's what we've been up to in class so far:

Class 1: Cupcakes and Apples

Yes, the cupcake is completely mutant, but trust me, icing is more confusing than you might think.  I completely ignored the ridges on the cupcake holder too because various attempts at that were hideous.  Let's just say: I'm rusty.  I was content to drown my sorrows by eating the cupcake model.

Apples, happily, are less confusing, although these are both still bizarre.  The first apple I painted in class.  The second was an attempt at home (with a different apple model, and also different paint colors).  Neither is terribly thrilling, but it got me thinking about value again.

Class 2: Portraits

My people still look like cartoons.  And I can't draw.  And the proportions of her face are wrong in both paintings, and so neither looks like the the original photo.  I tend to have all kinds of weird little dabs of color, rather than blocks of color or conversely, smooth blending of color, so it always looks a mess to me.  Twas my day to get frustrated and compare my work to the really rather gorgeous paintings other classmates were painting. I got over myself by the next class, regained my sense of humor, and got off the comparison trolley to hell, and back onto the, well, painting is fun, just enjoy. Apologies to my sister, the unwitting model.

Class 3: Landscapes

I spent most of the class working on the first landscape, and getting confused as to how to handle the detail and failing to capture, among other things, the color of the water.  But it's a pretty place (Bruce Peninsula in Ontario) in real life.

The second painting (road to Maroon Bells in Colorado) I did very quickly which is some ways worked better, as I got out of my own way.  I'd thought to make it more finished at home, but decided against it, since I'm not terribly attached to it. I like looking at beautiful landscapes in real life, and taking millions of photos, but I didn't have much of an emotional connection to these landscape paintings.  I think I need to take some time choosing not just a pretty place but also considering what I want to say about it more next time I attempt landscapes.

Holiday Painting

Spent an evening doing some slapdash, make-a-mess&have-fun-with-it painting....Here are the results:

O Christmas Tree (Christmas-y abstract)

Sad Girl after the Rain
(Another Blue Person Portrait)

Disturbing Shakespeare

I finally, at long last, stood in front of my poor neglected easel last night and worked on something.  I pulled out an old painting from the forgotten Shakespeare series, and made Lady Macbeth a good deal more disturbing. I still need to fix a few things, but I find I'm weirdly pleased with the new gory approach.

Lady Macbeth

Of course, the Ophelias that preceded her weren't exactly happy-go-lucky either:

Ophelia (No. 1)

Ophelia (No 2)

Texture Experiments

At long last, I returned to my easel today.  I did not, at first, start with paint though.  I had an old painting that was a little flat and stormy green and rusty orange strange colors that I decided to renovate by adding some texture.  So I glued on some swatches of material and parts of a vinyl window shade. I then changed the color scheme to something much more upbeat, with oranges, pinks, magentas, and lilacs.  As a final addition, I added a bit of sand from the garden and let a gentle rain fall on it for a minute or so.

I'm not sure if it's all the experimenting with texture options, or simply dancing around the kitchen during a happy painting pause, but I like this version much better.

Texture Experiments
acrylic, fabric, vinyl, and sand on canvas
16" x 20"

Tree of Life

Tree of Life
acrylic & ink on canvas
11" x 14"

At long last, I spent some time painting.  Tree of Life was inspired by a photo I found in a landscape coffee table book.  The original photo is more muted, the bare tree in the fog, but still had the same peaceful blues and greens.

Design Class Update

Design class has continued, with mixed results in terms of project enjoyment and loveliness of final pieces.

Vines, ink on paper on board, 12" x 12"

Vines was created by carving two 1-inch linoleum squares with different patterns, and then using them to print squares on various colored paper (white, gray, black) with black and white ink. The squares were designed so that the patterns would hook together no matter how they were placed next to each other, lending some order to chaos.  I remain a slob, and got inky fingerprints everywhere (which were fortunately trimmed off of the edges of the individual squares).  There's something I don't quite like about the final project, aside from my questionable printing technique.  If I were to do it again, I think I might limit the number of colors further, which might highlight the pattern, or do a less random arrangement. Still, having never worked with linoleum or printing at all, it was a fun project and contained some interesting revelations on symmetry and repetition.

Ain't That a Kick in the Head
acrylic paint on paper
10" x 15"

Ain't That a Kick in the Head has four elements included - a piece of Renaissance art (the woman's head), a piece of non-Western art (the foot of, in the larger piece, a Persian goddess), a logo (the Apple logo) and a pattern from an animal (the apple pieces are actually part of a feather pattern from an eagle wing).  Color scheme had to include a primary with complementary to either side, so mine ranges from purple through red to orange.  The design had to have the illusion of transparency too, that is, areas where shapes overlap and the color changes. And, the design also had to use the golden ratio -- which was where I ran into a lot of difficulty.  I'm still not sure that the nautilus spiral is in there with quite the emphasis I'd like, but so it goes.  I knew before going into this class that shape and composition are my weak points, while color comes somewhat more naturally.  And in fact, the illusion of transparency is no problem for me to figure out. Compositionally, I probably could have done with less of it in order to highlight shape elements more. I also probably could have done more with the gray background, which is a little flat.  I continue to have a tendency to wash out contrast.  

On this one, I also realized that I can't actually do design for design's sake without having some kind of idea behind it...and so there is a story behind this, which could be variously the hostility between east and west, conflicting ideas of womanhood, a reference to Eve and that darn apple, or simply my own frustration in composing the project (kicking my own teeth in).  I didn't need to decide on any of those ideas, or flesh them out at all, but I somehow had to have *something* to play around with to motivate where to put pieces (beyond the golden ratio, which never felt all that delicious to me).  I suppose the writer in me needs to put story into everything.

Clouds of Joan
acrylic on canvas board
12" x 16"

Clouds of Joan is, to be honest, evidence of not following the directions.  I needed to come to class with a person, an animal, and a word in a specific font to work with on this project, and while I did, the morphing between those in five steps each simply went beyond me that day in messing with graph paper and thumbnails (hey, I'm auditing for a reason).  So I took a break, and played with the image of the person (writer Joan Didion) and with paint and color. Composition was not considered, and I'm not crazy about her being squat in the middle there, but I do like the fun with color, and it was relaxing which, after all, is a part of my motivation in messing around with art.

It's been an interesting class.  It's not what I expected -- I'd envisioned more conversation, lecture, discussions, and largely, it's just assignments, silence and studio time -- but I have accumulated a few new ideas, and a few new tubes of paint, so I'm pleased with that.  

Painting in Process: Tenatively, "Bubbly"

Bubbly
acrylic on canvas
24" x 30"

What I've Been Working On

After a distressingly long absence from painting, I'm putting in a little time at the easel.

Various paintings in process:

Heartbeat - This piece was a less-than-successful portrait I started in a class months ago that I put aside until recently. I changed a lot of colors around, added shadows, background texture, etc. I may never love it, but it's significantly more appealing than it was. Her face is based off a magazine photo, although since, ahem, representative drawing is not my strength, it only looks somewhat like the original person.

Floral - This painting originally had a watery base, that I've since added on some more impasto effects to give it more oomph and depth. It's still essentially abstract floral and light. I may try to emphasize where light is coming from more, or I may just leave it suffused - I'm not sure. I'm also not sure which way it goes; it may end up with a landscape orientation. The balance is not quite where I would like it, but for now, it's pleasant, simple nature.

Voices - This quick painting came out of one damn bad day.  I had a swirled background canvas, and staring at it, I started seeing cartoonish faces, so I pulled those all up to the surface and added in more color; this is how it landed. It's a not-pretty representation of the inside of my head on a rough day, conflict voices orbiting an angry center.

Bird of Prey

Watcher
acrylic on canvas
11" x 14"

Another new painting...this one grew out of a random swirls started last week that, upon reflection, ended up looked like eyes. I dug around for bird photos after that, and found a face that fit my start.

Our last class was made more festive by the addition of cookies - thanks Marylee!

Stained Glass Forest

Another new abstract.  I've been in a huge rut of frustration with painting recently, of the, what's-the-point, skill-less hack variety, and so this painting was a struggle.

It started out as a blank canvas with a light blue base last week in class. Demoralized by a particularly unsuccessful portrait attempt the previous week, I had opted for working on a relaxing abstract.

The painting turned into a swirl of motion, but with nothing appealing or cohesive, a mish-mash of energy and unfortunate colors. Some days it just doesn't come together. I went home when I realized my mother gave me most of my paints, and I would no longer be receiving the fancy paints from Mom on Christmas and my birthday.

On the way out of class, I accidentally-on-purpose dropped the painting in a puddle and then swished it around a bit, with the idea that either drip art would make it better, or dirt would add texture, or really, anything would be an improvement.  But the paint mostly just stuck there, still lifeless and now under a sheen of dirty water.

Once I got it home, I took the sink sprayer to it.  God love good water pressure.  Sections of it peeled up, others flaked away. Amazingly, that actually made it somewhat better.

I put it aside and ignored it for another week.  This week, I dragged it back into class, and started layering in the lined framework,and washes of color over places that were flaked back down to white canvas, and otherwise rearranging things a great deal.  I turned it around and around, and have decided that this way is up (partly because if I turn it the other way, I see an enormous duck).

I built a story line of sorts for it, involving a birch trees and a cave with pools of water and hidden jewels, some kind of ancient adventure, as seen through a window from afar.  And with that, I can find enough affection for it to, at least, keep it out of puddles.