Dismantled

Dismantled my string drawings on the weekend, made a few very low-tech videos before they came down.  Here's one:

My friend Berna-Dean brought her red guitar and did some beautiful finger-picking, which unfortunately my little camera did not pick up on very well.  If you'd like to hear some well-produced versions of her lovely voice and music, click here.  

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic about the end of this exhibition.  

Although in art school I always maintained that the drawings I made with a stick in the sand were of a highest quality precisely because they did not last, still I wound up spending the first part of my professional art practice focussed on making paintings that will, with a bit of luck, last well beyond my own lifetime.  

I still enjoy that process of longevity... although of course any physical thing disappears given enough time.  But my human perception of time is limited, and so I also very much enjoy the feeling of having created something perceptibly ephemeral, something that will never again exist in quite the same way during my lifetime.

And now back to my painting studio, where as-yet-unfinished work awaits completion and the illusion of permanence.

Waiting for paint to dry

While waiting for paint to dry, I begin some new sketches.

primed with acrylic colours

drawn on with oilsticks.

Canvas panels are new to me; oilsticks I've only tried once before.  The oilsticks seem capable of greater subtlety than I'd previously realized.  I'm curious what will become of these sketches.

Finishings, or Leavings

Unsure whether a painting is finished?  Just leave it for the time being.

I began this year by working some of the oil studies from last summer.   When I was feeling unsure about any of them, I said, "good enough" and moved on to the next one.

Finishings: Augury studies, oil on canvas

Then I pulled out some of the paintings which I began last January.  A whole year has passed since I was able to focus on this body of work.  What a great feeling to get into them again!  I'm calling these finished....  for now.

"All That Piano"  oil on canvas  17x18.5"

"Downstreet" oil on canvas  17x18.5"

"Forms of Composite Composure" oil on canvas  17x18.5"

Leavings: a few of the "Augury" paintings in my studio

Yesterday I was able to spend almost 8 hours in my studio without interruption.  What luxury!  Making studio time a priority this year was a good decision, and I feel so very fortunate that I'm able to do this.

I hope your year is off to a good start too, dear Reader.

begin and end and begin again

In the last few years it seems I have begun a lot of work but not finished very much.  I've been following a winding path, keeping more-or-less to the same direction while exploring a lot of side roads.

Now, from a vantage point further down the path, I look back at my unfinished explorations and decide to revisit some of them. 

The little studies above, for example.  I began 11 such studies last summer, and set them aside after just 2-3 paint layers.  Digging them out now and working them over is very satisfying.

When I worked on Tension : No Tension at the turn of the year, I did not think I was finished with it yet.  But a few very articulate visitors over the last week have mentioned how complete it feels to them now, and this has given me pause.

So, I begin this year in the studio, with an eye to bringing some past work full circle.  Feels about right.

:)

Tension : No Tension

It's 2018!

Tension : No Tension  has been up at Artpoint Gallery for just over a month now.  My intention was to create an initial installation, and then spend some time re-imagining it over the two months that it's in the gallery.

Here's a link to my website showing images of the first string drawings made during December 2017.

Below, a couple of videos of the work:

 

hanging out in the corner

shadows on a curved wall

The very first string drawing.  It has now been removed...

... and replaced with another.

This is most recent string drawing, made on New Year's eve.

For many years I kept a ritual of making art over the turn of the year.  I did this out of fear that I would not be able to continue making art in my life; my thinking was to make art the last and first thing I did every year, as a way of staying on track.

This year, I felt the need to revisit my old ritual.  2017 was intense, with more projects and exhibitions than I've ever had in one year, plus quite a lot of teaching.  Not a bad life!  But in the back of my mind a growing feeling of being a tad unmoored by it all, of not spending enough time in contemplation and creation.

I'm not sure what 2018 will hold, but I would like to spend more time in my studio.  Revisiting my New Year's eve ritual may help to keep me focused on that.

Happy 2018 to you, dear Reader.  I think it's gonna be a good one.  :)

Greenbook, crops

We are travelling.  I brought sketchbooks & drawing/painting supplies.

soup and portraits

In a day or two I will post some photos of my recent exhibition opening; today it's soup and portraits.  This is the "no tension" part :)

Yesterday I spent some time with Jean Pederson and her mum.  We made roasted vegetable soup, had a lovely visit and also made a few quick portraits. 

Jean's mum, by me

sharpie and copic markers in my 9x12 sketchbook

Jean's mum, by me

copic markers in my 9x12 sketchbook

me, by Jean

copic markers in my 9x12 sketchbook

I don't think I've ever used copic sketch markers for a portrait, but found I really like them!  I also really like Jean's portrait of me.

Roasted veggie soup:

3 carrots

3 yams

1 onion

glug of olive oil

1T cumin

1T coriander

cinnamon - jut a very tiny pinch!

butter

honey

salt & pepper

Chop carrots, yams & onion. 

Put into flat baking dish - lasagna dish or cookie sheet works well

Glug of olive oil, mix with hands

Add cumin & coriander & cinnamon

Cover with tin foil - make sure edges are closed to keep moisture in

Bake at 350 for 1 hour or longer

(if you get into the studio and lose track of time, no problem.  If the foil cover is fairly well sealed, the veggies can go for up to 3 hours, maybe longer, and still be fine)

Remove roasted veggies from oven and run them through a blender, adding water to make soup of the consistency you like.  

You will probably need to blend in batches.

Pour blended soup into large pot and heat through again.

Just before serving, add butter, honey, salt & pepper to taste.

We used carrots & yams, but you can basically roast any veggies and puree into soup.  It's very easy, and makes a delicious soup!  

Also - great way to use those veggies that are languishing in the fridge.

Soup and portraits: an excellent combination to feed body & soul!

Tension : No Tension.... the lead-up

I find it's a little nerve-wracking, you know, to have an exhibition for which there is no clearly defined plan.  It's a case of going into the space and seeing what I can make in a week... 

... a week during which I'll also be teaching an art class, working a shift at the store, meeting with the printer about a new catalogue for the next G9 exhibition.  

How I wish I could have the whole week uninterrupted!  No classes, no meetings, no customers!  Visions of getting into a meditative contemplative relaxed place from which to create this installation, this murkily perfect form in my head; to create something magnificent.

But, no.  There is always life which never stands still.  And perhaps that's a good thing... compressed moments of contemplative imagination are more precious and so more keenly appreciated, and this gives the art - and the life - its power.

As they say: " Join the club."  It's a pretty good club, all things considered.

Thanks for reading, and wish me luck!

Greenbook: continuing adventures

I am coming to really love working in sketchbooks.  Perhaps some of this work will lead to more paintings and perhaps not; it doesn't matter.  The sketchbook becomes a thing in itself.  

drawing: white China marker

gouache: cobalt blue + lemon yellow + raw sienna + white

drawing: purple & yellow felt pens

gouache: quin red + cobalt blue + lemon yellow + white

black india ink

drawing: black Sharpie paint marker

Inktense pencils: various colours

gouache: cobalt blue + quin red + raw sienna + white

greenbook 2-5

A green clothbound 5x5 sketchbook, purchased some months ago.

Finally opened yesterday and colour explorations begun.

What fun!

making pictures

Mural, part 4: finished!

The mural is finished!  It feels like a great accomplishment, and what an amazing opportunity to have been invited to create this.  

beginning

finish

and a few detail shots:

      

A huge "Thank You!" to the fine folks at cSPACE :)

Now I am back into my studio and enjoying very much the quiet focus of solitary work.

Mural 3: in betweens

One evening while we were working on the mural, there was a talk/discussion on public art in the room above us.  We went to it, and I made a few quick drawings of people while listening.

Doing quick portrait drawings always makes me feel calm and good.  It's a way of turning down the brain, meditative and focussed.

Another evening, I was feeling physically low-energy so did not work much on the mural.  Instead, I went home early and made a few small abstract sketches.  The sketches brought back into focus my current studio work, quite different from the mural's aesthetic.

It was a energy nice re-set, and then I could continue with the mural in a good frame of mind.  Yesterday we added more bits & pieces, and taped off part of the wall which will be painted a dark grey colour, so the painters would know what to do with that wall.

We are in the very final stages of the mural now.  I look forward to its completion within a few days... if all goes according to plan. (x) Once it is complete, I will probably miss working on it!  *laughs*  So it goes.

Thanks as always for reading.

V

mural 2

Yesterday we performed structural and cosmetic surgery on the mural.

Holes were drilled, metal parts inserted, things bound together.

Silhouettes were reshaped.

....