New wanderings (isn't this a given, now?)

Two new works on paper, 38" x 50" each

    I finished these two new works on paper a couple of days ago. They're an effort at seeing how some of my newish ideas might work out on a larger scale as paintings. I'm feeling confident about how some of this is turning out. If these were already paintings, I would have made them denser with imagery and pushed some of the formal relationships further. There would be more layers, for sure. As they stand, I'm feeling good about the way things seem to be developing. I particularly like how the one with the overlapping blue fields turned out. I won't be able to reproduce it as a painting, but I'm hoping to retain some aspect of the warm colors filtering through the cooler colors on top, if I choose to make a painting out of this idea. I feel like I'm getting closer to a name for these hard-edged, yet flexible forms I'm using. I'm also doing some related research that I hope will help my tie together some conceptual ideas running around in my head. I'm heading towards a need to revamp my general artist statement and am trying to get enough information to formulate a more solid basis for this new direction. 

    Today started off with an early (for me) morning with jury duty. Of course I had too little sleep last night and have been a walking cloud of drowsiness all day. Anyway, I got to City Hall, went through the jury panel selection part, made it to a court room and was dismissed, thankfully. My jury summons had me reporting to City Hall instead of the Criminal Justice Building which almost always means that you're going to sit on a civil case, if chosen. I got lucky and had a high juror number, so the judge and lawyers in the case found their jurors well before my number would have been called. 

    So, I have my jury duty work "excuse" sheet. Since I work for myself, to whom do yell at for missing work time, even though I have a valid excuse? ;)

    Afterwards, I stopped by Artist & Craftsman Supply to pick up some canvas, gesso and a pack of six 9" x 12 panels. I'm in the middle of working on several small paintings begun earlier this week, but I'm thinking that this afternoon and evening will be a good time to stretch at least a couple of new larger canvases. 

TM

 

Vacation sketchbook

New sketches and other things seen while away recently

    Been back from a great ten day away from the everyday for a couple of days now. We returned to Holbox, Mexico for a second go-round. The ten day mark seems to be a good enough time to release the stress and pressures of everyday life and not feel like you still need more time. At least that's how it worked for me. Holbox is a barrier island on the Yucatán peninsula about 2 hours away from Cancún. No resorts, but small hotels, good food and lots of water to cool off in. Ten days of doing next to nothing but napping, reading, haivng a drink, swimming and doing more nothing is a great refresher. 

    Since I've noticed that I don't really do much in the way of art while away on vacation, I limited the amount of art materials to some colored pencils, graphite pencils and a sketchbook. No need to add unnecessary weight to my luggage with stuff I won't use. I let a couple of days go by before I felt like doing anything artistic, but once I started, it continued for a few days. My routine was to do some drawing before or after breakfast. That seemed to be the best time for me to get something done since the rest of the time I was in the water, napping, eating or reading. 

    I've been working on some new ideas for paintings for a few months now and that proved to be great fodder for continued low risk exploration in terms of materials and time. I took these mornings to think more deeply about what I wanted to do and how I might want to pursue this work. Just having the time to think without daily distractions was almost enough for me. The cell phone service was minimal on Holbox, so that automatically took away wasted time. I also made it a point to not be online as much as possible, which turned out pretty well. Anyway, the ability to just think and let my thoughts wander was a blessing. I've returned with a much more clear idea of what I'm attempting to bring into being now. There's considerable more work to do before I'll feel comfortable with what's to come, but there's so much room to just play with the ideas now having had this free time away from the regular routines. 

    We returned Thursday evening and yesterday, I spent some time in the afternoon at the studio working on a couple of 50" x 38" works on paper; one vertical, one horizontal. I'm trying to get a feel for how each of these configurations might work once I get to larger canvases and panels. There are going to have to be a bunch of adjustments because of the differences in supports and materials; colored pencil to paint, paper to canvas and wood. 

TM

    

     

J's studio I & II

J's Studio I

J's Studio II

new works on paper

D52908, 2008, ink on paper, 20" x 24"


Field, 2008, ink on paper, 20" x 24"


White Pattern, 2008, ink and acrylic on paper, 24" x 20"