Progress to Completion: Bad Luck Girls

"Bad Luck Girls"

36"H by 36"W, on canvas. 

(click for enlargement)

This is something I've started over the past weekend. If you look closely you'll see a discoloration in the surface, especially in the left side. That is because I have used acrylic matte medium to laminate four pieces of paper onto a canvas so that I could continue my drawing all the way out to the edges. Some of the matte medium has gotten on to the surface but it doesn't seem to affect the way the charcoal rubs onto it at all.

So far, work on the paintings in the studio is phenomenally slow, but I've been reassured by several people that it's to be expected so soon after having a baby. I have a play pen all set up, waiting for the day when he will tolerate being put down with some toys while I work. 


I've decided to keep updating this post with my progress. After four hours of painting, I've got this:

(click for enlargement)

Acrylic! For a brief moment with my napthanol red, I thought "Wow, just like my oils. This isn't at all hard." Sadly, the only reason the paint felt thicker and more buttery is because I've had the tube for five years. Once I moved to other colors it seemed thin and watery, so I'm thinking of getting a tub of heavy gel medium and seeing if that helps to compensate for the lack of texture. Maybe Golden's OPEN line will be more like what I'm used to. It's on my Christmas list.

Here it is after six hours of work:

(click for enlargement)

The lavender shoe at the top right seems badly drawn right now. I will come back to it after I get all the shoes blocked in. At this point all my concerns are about the technical aspects of the painting, and later, when I'm wrapping it up, I'll start to think about it as an art object, rather than something I'm working on.

I really should throw out my tube of cobalt blue. For one, I suspect it has actual cobalt in it, which is a toxin. But I'm stubborn, and despite a texture like blue plastic cottage cheese, I painted the blue satin shoes. Not nearly as finished, but at least they're blocked in.

Here's the completed piece:

(click for enlargement)

I have varnished this piece so it is incredibly difficult to photograph without having some light bounce off the surface.  I named it Bad Luck Girls primarily because of the open umbrella that served as the background to the still life. Also, there are thirteen shoes depicted in it, although one is incredibly hard to spot. 

In Progress: Ex-Latte Five

"Ex-Latte Five"

7"H by 5"W, on panel. 

(click for enlargement)

I painted this in acrylic just this past Sunday and found myself really enjoying the experience, which surprised me.  I've had a set of acrylics for about five years, but rarely found myself using them, and when I did I painted very thinly and didn't experiment with any mediums. Well, if I want to paint in an manner which is at all similar to my way of applying oils, I'd better learn to slather it on like butter. The trick is to go a lot faster than I normally would. This painting has just an hour invested in it. There couldn't be more- the paint dried on the palette really quickly.

So far I feel successful. However, this is still unfinished even though what is left is just minor detailing. Mixing the same color for a specific area may be the most difficult thing to do in acrylics as the paint darkens and changes as it dries. When I took a class which used acrylic paint in the past, that feature of the medium was a source of constant frustration. I'll take another whack at it this coming Sunday (still not renaming this blog "One Day a Week" despite the reality), and see what develops.

In Progress: Light the Floor

"Light the Floor"

20"H by 16"W, on canvas. 

(click for enlargement)

This is my first serious acrylic painting since a little experimentation in school. I decided to begin by mixing black and white gesso to work out the initial values in the underpainting. So far, I really do like the medium but I do have a little problem with judging the drying time with the colors.

When I shot the photo I'm using as my reference for this painting, I was in an abandoned house in Mississippi. Painting the window with the same energetic pale spring greens that saturate that landscape seems the most likely. Interestingly, this was the first property where I had physical problems with getting around from room to room, and not because of the amount of refuse. The floor, while holding together amazingly well in most places, had some precarious soft spots where water had been dripping for decades. 

In Progress: Retired

"Retired"
36"H by 36"W, on canvas.
(click for enlargement)

This painting began with a doodle on a post-it note, just a simple composition study with areas of positive and negative space. I've painted some problematic areas several times and as with most things that aren't based on my own photography, I'm having a difficult time figuring out whether I'm done or not. At the moment it seems like there's too many neutral and cool grays.

This is my last oil painting, at least for a little while. I took a two-month break from the oils and all of a sudden I can smell the mediums and thinners, and I hadn't been able to detect the odor since I was in school. Frighteningly, I was also unable to smell them while pregnant. I wore a mask while painting, but I still didn't smell anything while in the studio. So in the interest of my baby's health and my own, I'm packing the oils away for a little bit. 

Hiatus

I have a very good little reason for not being very productive lately, and his name is Simon Stark Black.

(click for enlargement)

He's two and a half months old at the moment, and while he lets me sleep most nights, he certainly isn't ready to be introduced to the art studio. Painting had slowed down quite a bit even before his arrival, but now I'm in the studio very rarely. I should rename this blog "One Day a Week".

Website Down

My site is down temporarily as I change hosting and do a little bit of redesigning. The URL is still correct.

Chatter

"Chatter"

48"H by 48"W, on panel. 

(click for enlargement)

This is being taken to the State Fair this Saturday for delivery to their Fine Art Competition. Here is the accompanying Artist Statement:

"With my paintings I explore the accessories of modern life, directly confronting consumerism and the link between identity and material possessions. In this work, I have made a study of the artifacts of material culture, diffused and tangled in a treacherous jumble of repetitive colors and familiar shapes."

It may not be the best that I've ever written, but it is short, and I felt that that was important. I didn't want to get the reader too bogged down by elaborating on ownership, culture, totems, self-worth, and femininity.