Sunday, November 25, 2012

At Sunrise

























I shot this at sunrise and the background was very dark—dramatic
photo with brilliant flowers but I had a hard time painting the background
as dark as it was—too much color in the black or the wrong temperature.
I've had to do a lot of trial and error lately with backgrounds to set off
colors in the foreground. It would be so nice to just "know" which value
and temperature would work. The plastic container also looked jet black
but when I mixed an interesting cool black, it looked dead and cold.
It'll be fun to have a few more tries with this and vary the composition
and colors.

Friday, November 16, 2012

In the Window


























I paint everyday but not posting it all. I've learned so much from 
observation, but find myself obstinately wanting to over-ride what 
I observe in order to be more creative. My head is filled with so many 
possibilities of what a painting can be it's hard to see what's best to do 
at any given moment. The great thing is that I've become observant of 
everything around me—even when I'm not painting—people, things, 
the way the light falls—it's mesmerizing. 

When I'm painting, I try to be faithful and get it all down and end up 
with "right" but dull so I've changed my routine. I now start a few 
small paintings and a few larger ones so I always have something in 
some state of becoming so I'm not compulsive or desperate to finish 
anything. I'm no longer faced with having "completed" something then 
faced with the blankness of starting something new. My studio is too 
small to keep a lot of set-ups so once I get the bones down, the set-up 
goes down (or it dies or rots). And then I feel free to rely on memory or 
imagination or whatever the surface asks to be. I have 4 or 5 surfaces 
in the wings, so if I reach an impasse on one or lose focus, I can switch, 
hopefully applying something I've learned to another. It's oblique, like 
coming to a solution sideways, and so non-direct, but it aligns with the 
way my brain works. I still have frustrating days but think: so what? 
I'd rather spend my day doing this than anything else.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Big 'Choke

























Still painting everyday . . .

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Eggs and Glass



















I've been spending more time looking at a painting, living with it
for a few days—trying to make decisions more thoughtfully. I painted
the rim of the glass the brown and yellow it was, originally, then
realized that it could be the liveliest part and wake the painting up a bit.