28 June 2017

balance in

I am making a blog post today simply because I haven't in awhile, and I do like to post every couple of weeks.  It has become a kind of discipline over the years.

There is a lot of work going on in the studio, but I don't feel I want to share it just yet.  Not from some idea of wanting to show only "best" or even "good" work - any regular reader of this blog will know that I don't curate in that way here - but just because, well, I think it all really needs some quiet percolation time just now.  

So, while some things percolate, here are a few other things which provide a balance.

Balance in the studio: pausing for a bit of precision work in between the big loose paintings.  Below, from the "Sound" series, reworked oil paintings:

sound oil paintings balance in studio

A circle centred inside a square is a very static composition, lots of potential for boredom!  But I am determined to find ways of making it work, through use of colour, emerging/receding image and placement of lines.  I think these two are looking better than some of the earlier incarnations of the squared-circle idea.

ink and twig drawing on paper balance at work

Balance at the job: A small sketch quickly done while working at the art store, made with a twig dipped in black ink for the lines, and a brush to get the washes, on office paper.

"augury" sketches ink and gouache on watercolour paper balance of materials

Balance of materials: A few more ink & gouache sketches on w/c paper, very tiny at 4x6", because I wanted to paint yesterday but did not want to get into the big oil paintings again just yet.

roses in bloom balance in the life

And balance in the life; the garden has been keeping me busy too :)



13 June 2017

very small things and very large things

how I see

surrounded by circles
what I see

new work in progress, "auguries" oil colour glazing, verna vogel studio
inside the studio

full moon as seen from studio doorway verna vogel
outside the studio

surrounded by circles rumblesat art in space mission
ink and mixed-media stitching on paper, 7x7"
included the RumbleSat Art in Space Mission
(read about it here.)

Very small things to very large things, so many circles.

      

Sometimes I feel very keenly that what I'm doing in my little studio relates directly to the whole universe as we know it - and what a fine feeling that is!