“…a man’s work is nothing but the slow trek to discover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.” -Camus
The show is finally up at Redbrick, 95 Rantoul St., Beverly MA, bottom floor.
It’s only open M-F during business hours, which is too bad – except on Saturday the 6th (upcoming) when it will be open for December Open Studios from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. I will be hanging around so you can come say hi if you want, and see everything hung up, which looks very good if I do say so myself.
The work will also be on display at Gordon College sometime in the spring – probably from late January until mid-April. That will be a slightly more complete show, including smaller work, some older works from private collections, and more Silver Worlds pieces.
Snared Rabbit
top: Resurrection Rabbit
bottom: Conquered Rabbit
Another angle showing the gilded inner rims of the frames.
from left: Carrion Crows, Lotus Pond, Predator/Prey
detail of Lotus Pond
Persian Megature
Persian Megature
left: Snared Rabbit, right: I am from battles!
Lotus Pond
This is going really well. I’ve switched from acrylic to gouache mixed with acrylic medium (to make it waterproof), which is working out really well – I am much more comfortable with the way it handles; I just can’t get the same results with pure acrylic. Also, the pigmentation of the gouache is SO much richer…*enraptured sigh*
I am from battles!
A greenflaming tendril.
head with a blade and more tendrils
eyes painted in a bit
detail of horns by ears
colophon on back
resurrection rabbit framed!!!
Images from the studio this weekend.
Resurrection Rabbit
Resurrection Rabbit, detail
Conquered Rabbit, detail
Conquered Rabbit, detail
Conquered Rabbit, detail
Snared In Its Glory (At the height of its powers. Thorn in the flesh.)
Snared, detail
left: Black Sheep (Apex), right: Black Sheep (Nadir) 6″x8″ each
Persian Megature
Lotus Pond
On The Shoulders of Giants
Lotus Pond. Two images – make an average in your mind and you will see its true color.
Ensnared. Experimenting with gouache and granulation fluid.
Break At Dawn. More granulated gouache.
Sunless Sea. And again.
Megature. All the shapes finally blocked. I’m worried that I may have miscalculated the figure-ground weight on the right vs. left sides :/
Ok, I’ve actually been “back,” as in “regularly at my studio,” for a little while now (July was a very slow month – necessary downtime) but haven’t been putting up pictures. Thank for the nudge, Jake, this one goes out to you. And Tim, if you’re seeing this, go paint something! :D
The whole shebang, set up for a studio visit/critique.
From a few days ago. The places with little black X’s are prepared for my assistant the talented Susie to paint in. :D
The core of the megature. A colloquium of rabbits.
This is an example of the light refracting (science term check?) differently through the colored clouds at different angles. From the front they are not very bright and can even look like unpainted silver, whereas from this angle they are very red (or blue, n other areas).
panther!
a dear sheep
a fat sheep
Brood Nurse
Snared In Its Glory
Quick update of last night’s studio actions:
Underdrawing for Battles!
Susie silverleafing the panel for The Sunless Sea.
Painted sketch for From Battles! This will now be embossed, gilded and painted.
The battle zone.
Work continues on the Megature…on Friday evening I was assisted by my excellent assistant Susie, who’s heping me for the summer, and we got a lot done. I’m hoping to pick up two more panels for I Am From Battles! and get that underway this week. Had been planning on leaving it as blank wood, but now have decided that it just needs to be gilded. But I will be using composite gold ( = fake) instead of 23 kt.
Here’s an image of progress so far. I’ve washed in most of the clouds except in some up-in-the-air areas. I need to make some decisions soon as to how much empty space there will be vs. the clustered forms in the central bottom right (hehe). But I think more rather than less. Also, still need to work in a horse.
Here’s the rabbit pieces I have going so far (and the ubiquitous sketch for Battles! in the background). I have a panel in preparation for Conquered Rabbit but really want to get back to work on Revolution Rabbit as well…so much to do! And prep for Brood Nurse is coming along really well too; I have some novel embossing going on that I think will make it quite distinguished.
Thousand-year rooster, Persian Megature
Heaven-hound, Persian Megature
Tiger, Persian Megature
***
Also, next week Philip and I are going to NYC to see the Takashi Murakami show at the Brooklyn Museum. He is my favorite living artist (probably?) and I am very very excited.
A recent 7 hour Photoshop training seminar turned out to be a ripe time for all sorts of ideation:
Got some great new ideas for Brood Nurse, a piece I’ve been thinking about for a long time but have not been able to finalize in my head, and came up with a concept for utilizing some nice Japanese-style clouds and my new gold and silver powders.
Some sketches for the rabbit triptych – three pieces which connect but will be separate entities, from a commercial standpoint (as seen in the purple section.)
above: Break At Dawn
below it: Brood Nurse
Sketch for Berries (very much a working title :P), a small piece to help fill in the low price points. A nice chance to get some delicate foliage going on that would be prohibitively time-consuming in a larger format.
Today I sent out a call for an apprentice/studio assistant this summer. I can’t really offer any money, so I tried to play up what I honestly beleive would be a valuable learning experience.
The current list for the show looks like it will be about 23 pieces, now that I have abetter idea of how long it is taking to do pieces in the Silver Worlds series, and also know how big the potential venue is. (My initial goals for the amount I would produce this year would be feasible, I think , if I didn’t have another full time job, but in any case, so many would not fint into the space I’ll probably be in.)
I’ve been pretty sick for the past two days (a case of virulent laryngitis that, like all youngsters, quickly entered a terrorizing adolescence) but was still able to get in the studio and do some work.
To start off, I took this messy, unkempt drawer where my paints have been living:
And used my superb craftmanship and woodworking skill (haha) to create a store-style display where everything is easily accesible:
Painting is an exalted practice, one which kings and potentates have honored and funded for centuries. Keenly aware of this honorable lineage, I make sure to assume the most august and reverential of postures while practicing the art.
(I’m not really sad; I’m just concentrating!) The brush is a 0/3, or something like that.
Side note: I have a fairly idiosyncratic way of holding a brush or pencil, which has drawn criticism from teachers, but it’s what lets me make such fine, controlled lines.
The drawing instrument rests on the third finger of the left hand, with the pads of the pointer and middle finger where the ferrule of a brush would be. The main guidance and pressure comes from the pointer as it pivots on its middle knuckle, heightening or decreasing the tension of the finger’s pad on the instrument. The body of the hand, including the base segment of the little finger, is firm + flat on the art surface which creates a very stable base for clear, steady lines.
Two progress shots of the Megature:
And some close-ups:
^An aeromouse
^A cloud
^Aeromouse with a boar. Overall, I want to the painting to be beautiful, majestic and silly, like a Bjork song.
