I spent a long weekend painting, starting two new ones simultaneously. One another Mid Century Modern tableau and a smaller painting in a more intimate setting.
Still half underpainting. And I cocked up the tablecloth pattern. But I love the man in the center's shoes.
This one is closer to finished. I'm thinking about what it needs.
I'm trying to get ready for my solo show at the end of September. I've been working on some smaller pieces and mapping out new paintings. I just have to find enough time to paint it all!
I recently finished this, a second Mid Century Modern painting. I added the picnic blanket at the end, but I'm quite happy with it. The standing man is from a photo I took of a snazzily dressed dude on the London Underground.
Picnic on the Grass. 36 x 24", oil on canvas, 2016
Almost finished with this one. I may lighten the background (or darken the background) so the prosthetic arm shows up better. And when it dries enough, I'll add the smoke from the cigarette. No title yet - working title is 'Hands, hand,' but I'm not sold on that.
Still working on the 'teatime' painting, but while it dries a bit, I started a new one. All the red and yellow is underpainting – the yellow will be black and the red will be white or gray. No title for this one yet.
Teatime is below. I've been adding in shadows...more or less successfully. Sorry about the glare, I can't get a photo without it in my studio. Still a bit to do on it. The more I look at it, the more I see I have to finish.
I was able to paint for a couple hours on the new one after work last night - I worked on Spiderman's clothing mostly. It's far from finished (and now that I look at it, I have more work to do on that green shirt) but it's starting to come together. Here are a couple details:
In other news - What Happens In The Dark has a new home!
I spent a number of years, roughly 2006-2012, racing bikes instead of painting. I wasn't really painting anyway and I've always loved riding my bike. And I've always been competitive. Bike racing is an incredibly difficult, grueling sport with a very steep learning curve. It's especially difficult when you start in your mid- to late-30s having never been athletic. I discovered I lacked fast-twitch muscle - the kind that allows sprinters to sprint - but I was able to develop my slow-twitch, the ability to ride hard for a very long time. With a lot of training - riding two to six hours five days a week, every week, for years; going to week long training camps in hilly country every year and racing roughly 40 races every year.
I was pretty hopeless when I started. Dropped from the pack in every race, nervous and sketchy on the bike. But I learned. I became a very solid pack rider, I worked very hard on explosive power so I could stay with the pack in the surges. I lost weight so I could climb more quickly, but was still heavy enough -- and balanced enough -- to ride in strong, gusty wind. I ended up being good at long, flat road races, the longer the better, especially if there was some complicating factor - bad weather, gravel roads, etc. I actually won some races. I moved up a category.
And I learned how to set goals, short term, mid term and long term goals, and to achieve them through hard work, time and effort.
This is a long way of saying that while I regret not painting those years, I learned so many valuable lessons that are serving me well now as I get rejection after rejection from exhibits and publications to which I'm applying. If it came easily, would it even be worth doing? Doing something difficult, something new, something uncomfortable builds character. Achievement means so much more when it's hard-won.
So I'll keep on.
Over the weekend I worked a lot on the new, as yet unnamed, painting. I have most of the underpainting done and it looks like an easter basket exploded all over it. So much pastel! But the final colors will be bolder.
I saw Mastry, the Kerry James Marshall retrospective at the MCA last week. It was fantastic, of course. I ended up taking closeups of a lot of the paintings -- of underpainting, of where realism becomes abstraction, different kinds of brushstrokes. He continues to be an inspiration.
Perhaps I'll call it Jammie Dodgers.
Dreams of the Abandoned
Home from a long week relaxing - and photographing and sketching - ready to finish off this baby! I've got several in the pipeline I'm excited about starting.
Not quite finished yet, but it has a name. Next I need to finish the tiger mask, put lines on the floor showing the tile divisions, and maybe jigger the hands pressed against the glass a bit.
Finally got a good photo!
What Happens In The Dark - oil on canvas, 48 x 36", 2016
The new one - got the drawing on the canvas and started underpainting. I want the finished piece to feel 'hot' even though there will be lots of whites and cooler colors.
I'm planning on starting this one. No name yet.
This is a difficult painting to get a good photo of – it's so dark. That's mostly what finishing it consisted of, darkening.
What Happens In The Dark
Got a lot of work done over the long weekend. I still want to darken the background, the shadows and the shadowed areas of the figures. The photo is pretty awful, but you get the gist.
