PaintBlog 2013 – Intermission

When last we saw the second canvas, it looked like this.

It’s still in that same state, because I’m still trying to figure out what direction it should take. It’s in a delicate state; a wrong stoke or color could stop it in its tracks.

I should note that in order to create the work above, lots of paint was applied, swirled, and scraped off. The scraped-off paint sat on the palette, just looking like a lot of wasted paint, so I thought I’d make use of it. Which meant yet another canvas.

So, large amounts of reddish stuff, and left-over blue from the sky picture, were swirled around another fresh canvas. No pic of the blank canvas, but here’s stage one.

That’s actually kind of interesting, but what you can’t see very clearly is that the paint is in very thick, giant wads. So we smoothed it out a bit.

This was then smoothed down even further with a sponge house-paint brush.

After letting that stand for a while, it started to assume a form.  It kind of looked like a tree, so we went in and tried to detail it in that direction, mostly using white to highlight the light on the far right of the figure.  There are a few dark spots applied as well, mostly to the lower left of the figure.

And a bit more detailing, using some darker colors, bringing in some of the shadows and trying to give the over shape a structure.

Then some more highlights, using more dark red.

And that’s where that one stands as of tonight.

Well, how about that.  Three canvases and none of them close to being done.  Oh well, it beats…um, I’m sure it beats something.   Non-painting I guess.

Paintblog 2013 – Three, and–

Well, when we last met, we were working on clouds for a landscape. I’ve done a little bit of work since:

Hm. Well, I don’t know about you, but this…isn’t going anywhere for me. I recognize that it is still in an early, unformed stage, but I am used to having a work speak. Sometimes it doesn’t, and that’s when I know I am forcing the work, and more than likely, I will end up undoing whatever I do.

I haven’t done that yet. What you see above is still how the canvas looks as of today. But it seems pretty clear this isn’t going anywhere, and I don’t feel like driving on that road right now.

So…what now? How about starting something else? Without a plan? But with a bunch of paint scraped off the last couple of attempts?

Absurd? Well yeah. Stay tuned, my friends. And thank you for stopping by.

Uh, okay then. So–

As always, we start with the blank canvas.

Now, we add cadmium red, cadmium yellow, alizarin crimson, burnt sienna.

These colors are then smeared and blended, using a Popsicle stick and wax paper.

In contrast to the other painting, some things are suggested right away with this. So we add some white, to bring out the things that are hiding.

Here’s that in context.

Here’s the full context with some white work on the lower right.

Again, just following the suggestions of the painting. That is one crucial difference between the “planned” paintings (such as the landscape currently in limbo) and the “unplanned” ones (where the paint is just applied, and we’ll all figure it out later).

A closer look–

The full canvas again, with some more work both in detailing and a bit of highlighting in the area in the lower left.

A close-up of work on the right.

And some more.

A close-up of the white highlighting in the lower right. Looks like teeth, right? Well, who knows where that will go. Teeth today, claws tomorrow. Well, sometimes the prospects are limited….

A bit of refining on our original starting point–

And we have the full work as it is….

…except. There is an area that cries out for some white highlighting.

And there we have the work so far. Or so it seems.

While this work-in-progress definitly is assisting with its own creation, there’s still a question that hasn’t been answered. While we’re satisfied so far, the direction doesn’t seem to be leading anywhere. We can highlight and emphasize, but the final goal still eludes us both.

Unless–Well…how about that thing that’s been suggesting stuff, that perhaps another eye? Oh. Okay.

Hm. That…that seems promising. That seems to indicate a direction.

It also screams, “Don’t screw this up!” which is a good sign, but also a bad sign, that I’d better know what I’m doing before I do anything more to this canvas.

So I am putting this canvas on the wall, until it tells me I’m ready to know what I’m doing.

Yeah, that’s a bit scary.

Paintblog 2013 – Two

When we last met, the sky was a simple blue color.

I then went in and painted cloud skeletons:

Then, with that as my guide, I mixed a small amount of raw umber with white to start building the clouds.

I stopped with one layer, because I wanted to step back and see how things were proceeding. I can’t really tell if I like it or not. We’ll see.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.

Paintblog 2013 – One

So, I haven’t done any painting in forever. There are a thousand excuses for this, and I could list each and every one of them, but that would waste everyone’s time, wouldn’t it? And I never do that.

Anyway, I decided to start painting, even though I don’t have any inspiration or anything. The muscles still have to be moved or they atrophy.

As opposed to most of the previous paintblogs, this one has a plan. It’s going to be a landscape. So:

We start as usual with a blank canvas. This time in “portrait” mode.

The colors chosen were titanium white, cerulean blue, and phthalo blue.

So, let’s start. Pretty much just white and cerulean right now. Sorry for the lack of light on this, but you know you shouldn’t expect quality!

Here’s what we ended up with–oh sorry, my thumb must have blocked the flash.

Let’s try that again, shall we!

Then I drank some beers, decided I didn’t like what I had so far–it seemed pretty automatic and not what I wanted. It was okay, but I’ve done it before, and I didn’t want to do it again. So I blue’d the whole thing again.

And that’s where we stand as of right now, which is June 6th. Where will this go? Or will it go anywhere? Stay tuned. Here’s a bunny! The bunny was in the back yard.

He (or she) ran away after I took this picture. You know how bunnies are, right?

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, and we’ll see what the future holds.

Return of the Living Dead Part II

I think I may start this thing up again. Right now, I have a paintblog in the works, and it seems like the Island might be a good cleansing experience.

More tomorrow.