get back

http://www.vernavogel.com/get-back/

Got four large-ish paintings back from one of my galleries today, which I intend to re-work a bit.
In these older pieces I was playing with the idea of allowing the raw, unpainted canvas to show rather than “hiding” the stitching under layers of paint.  Show the stitching process, keep the painting process very minimal kind of thing.  
Here’s a link to the first raw canvas piece I made, in 2011.  
After that one, I made some more - remember these?

Out Of Sound, 51x45 inches

Sky Light, 45x51 inches

Horizons, 62x35 inches

Connection, 62x25 inches

Problem is, raw canvas is pretty much all the same colour.  When I was making these paintings, the colour of the canvas became quite a challenge: how to work with this predominant beige – how to keep things simple but interesting?

I spent part of 2012 working on how to keep the raw canvas look while making the finished paintings more visually appealing.  I called this body of work “Spatial Awareness”, because keeping some of the raw canvas visible while creating a dynamic painting required a much more thoughtful approach to the underlying composition of each one, since I didn’t want the option of simply covering up visual discrepancies.  
Here’s a link to some of those efforts.

So now the plan with these returned works is to, yes indeed, cover up some of that raw canvas colour!  I still want to maintain the original idea of carefully considered space and minimal colour – just not the same same same raw canvas beige.  The changes I intend will be simple but (hopefully) effective.

Wish me luck!  :)

up and running!

Woo-hoo!!  Bells and whistles and big smiles!

Here it is, finally, my new website blog!  On my website I've called it my journal, which sounds prettier.

For my first post I used a couple of old-ish photos that I've posted here before, but those images do seem to encapsulate how I feel.

I'm sorry to say I don't know how to set things up if anyone wants to follow it or anything slick and posh like that, I am just now very happy to have finally made a blog post via my new website.

The website needs a bit of work still, and gradually it will be looking better and perhaps functioning better too.  Baby steps, right?  And I am one impatient baby, ha.  But quite happy tonight.

:)

skin

In between working on my soon-to-be website, I have made this:

 The paint is a skin that covers the bones of the stitched canvases...

People quite often tell me that I am very calm, very laid-back, nothing flusters me, etc.  This month that calm is only my skin, and underneath I am comprised of a lot of impatient, inarticulate bones!

There is so much to learn in getting my website going - and Kim has done most of the difficult work already! - still I'm finding it rather frustrating to sit in front of this screen for hours at a time when what I really want to do is paint.  

*sigh*

But I am too impatient with the computer - I must not lose my focus, I must keep telling myself that it will be worth the effort in the end, and meanwhile, in between things I am still painting a little to keep myself sane.

And, isn't my painting lovely?  I really like this piece!  :)