Bump It Girl #7 (just do it)

Since the first week of the new year I have had an on again/off again relationship with this painting Trying to resolve and ignore problematic areas has kept me from working on other paintings, but it seems to finally be coming together.  Now Bump It Girl #7 (just do it) 42" x 42" oil on canvas is a little closer to what I had envisioned all along. Before the last two sessions, the piece had undergone a number of transitions and revisions (see below).

Bump It Girl #7 (just do it) 42" x 42" oil on canvas  - Here is the painting after the first day.

Afterward, the figure went through a series of transitions.  From this thinner figure...to

This fuller figure which began to form the structure for the next state. When I decided to paint out almost everything and start over. 

So I wiped almost everything out and started again.

Girl on Couch or "Red Hots and Valentines"

It took me twenty-seven years to get back to this idea.  On Friday I stumbled upon the sketchbooks that I was working from in July and August of 1985.  Here are two small sketches from the painting(-s) I finished in early August and September '85.  I never got around to painting the one below until this weekend.  Go figure.
The finished painting is from the left-hand sketch is owned by Jim and Ellen O'Hara.

Study for Lisa's Space, summer 1985

Study for Lisa's Sox,  fall 1985

flipped sketch

Girl on Couch  24" x 30" (in progress) oil on canvas
This is a straight-up figure painting (no bau irony) based on some old drawings from 1985 (some of you from long, long ago might recognize the model)- but the socks were borrowed from a newer set of paintings and a different model.

I managed to mangle the working drawing but here is a similar one from the same sitting.

New Black Dress and re-worked Dolphins

So, it has been some time coming, but this Black Dress (w/ Morandi Bottles) painting has finally come together.

 

 

 

 

Black Dress (w/ Morandi Bottles) oil on canvas, (2012

)

                                          ...and this one has finally "gelled"

Woman in Hat w/ Dolphins oil on canvas (2008-2012)

Time for some work

This reminds me why I don't use color pencils.  New Jess from Old Jess, 22" x 30" color pencil and watercolor wash.

Get more paint on this and do something with these dolphins.

Sabine (Wrong Thought) II

After mucking up the first attempt at this subject last year over the winter of 2009-2010, I thought that I would give it another shot. The canvas is medium size now (as opposed to small) - we'll see if I can keep the text off (or out) of it. Giambologna's sculpture in Florence (in the Loggia dei Lanzi) is the inspiration, although the painting is a reverse image of the original sculpture.


stage 3
Sabine (Wrong Thought) II -Acrylic on Canvas 40" x 30"


stage 2


stage 1

trial and error

moving on with some color and space issues.



So far there has been a lot of trial and error with this picture
and I suppose that there will be a lot more to come.
(48" x 40" acrylic on canvas)

Figure studies

Some quick studies for future projects, using ink, watercolor, and pastel. 

D-evolution (Daylilies)

I painted a landscape in 2001 (Daylilies in the garden)...the paint was way too thin and the color wasn't right. To make matters worse, the shapes were predictable and the canvas seemed to be an unworkable dimension (60" x 30"). You can see most of the original painting above left.  Late last spring, I started to rework this -adding and removing shapes and details, eventually I added a figure, Marcy, to the picture you see above.
  I continued to re-work it over the past year, and into this spring- pushing and pulling shapes, and trying to determine how much detail to put in the figure.  Should it be a generic figure, or a portrait?

It still wasn't right-primarily because the angle of the sitter seemed to be "off" in relation to the surrounding space, and the fact that I have been picking at it over the past ten months...


Finally, last night, I covered the painting with black oil paint, scraped away the bottom half, and scribbled some phrases across the top, and added some stenciled text.
Now I have something that I can work with!

D is for Daffodil - (a very early stage)

D is for Daffodil 60" x 50" acrylic on canvas A small study from two weeks ago.
this is what I have been messing with for a few days.


Jess kept squirming and moving. Partly to avoid the stink bugs and bumble bees, partly because she is 8 months pregnant.


When I started to work on this painting, I wrote down all of the artists I could think of whose last names began with a "D". I have no idea why. I played around with a few "E" names, but I wasn't into it. I looked across the yard to the chicken coop and saw the daffodils, and that was where this painting headed...D is for daffodils.


The scale and design of this small study (from two weeks ago) got me started on this idea.
(actually, that is not quite true. I have been working with/on these daffodil paintings for years and years. I wish that I could keep some fresh for a few months to allow for more development.)
Below is one study from early April 2009.

Daffodil study (2009) 20" x 16" acrylic on canvas

Jess

Jess, 24" x 18" a little study from last night

Images of the self

As of March 7, 2010


March 6, 2010

Based on a recent discussion I had with a friend, I am working to make my figures heavier, or have more weight. I am not referring to pounds here, but rather substance. This is an acrylic self-portrait study (20" x 24") that I started late last week.

Some more Jess from Summer and Fall (2009)

Reclining Jess (2009) oil on canvas 24" x 18"


Thoughtful Jess (2009) oil on canvas 18" x 18"
Both of these were completed during that last days of October (when the weather was still warm enough to work in the barn-studio). It was difficult for me to work on the figure when I was trying to finish work for the Bau Movement show (scheduled to open in January, 2010). Painting and drawing the figure is probably my biggest challenge and favorite subject. There is something about working with a model that is so difficult and so rewarding at the same time.


White Dress oil on canvas (summer 2009) 42" x 36"

Some new work (for the next show)

Chels Leaning (Arno) this is an acrylic on canvas painting 30" x 24"
(in a very rough and early state).






B. P. (Firenze) acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"
This image was first used in a 2008 stencil (below), and for many reasons the story of Dante and
Beatrice Portinari always hits me when looking at photos that I took in Florence.

Eve's Coupons , I hope to work out an entire series using Adam and Eve.


I've been kicking around both of these ideas for almost a year now, and I decided to get them out instead of mulling over them. They are each in the beginning stages, and hopefully I will have more progree to post tomorrow.

Chels Leaning (Firenze ) - completed painting

"Chels Leaning (Firenze)" 42" x 36" acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 2009


from yesterday (July 22)

You can see the earlier versions of this painting from last month (June 22) at (Chels Leaning (Firenze) - in progress and pulling together)


This painting began as a photograph that I had taken on a trip to Florence last year. I manipulated it by turning it into a negative, then enlarged it and printed it. After a bunch of modifications, I made a stencil and transferred it to a mid-sized canvas.

Some new figure painting-Marcy and Day lilies

Marcy and Day lilies, this is a small (24" x 18") oil study for an idea that I have been kicking around for some time. I'm thinking maybe a psychedelic portrait or something.

Chels Leaning (Firenze ) - in progress and pulling together

These are the latest version of "Chels Leaning (Firenze)"
42" x 36" acrylic on canvas 2009

The latest version references a discussion from this past Monday (June 22)



"Chels Leaning (Firenze)" 4th stage



"Chels Leaning (Firenze)" 3rd stage

Chels Leaning (Firenze ) - in progress

Chels Leaning (Firenze) - in progress acrylic on canvas 42" x 36" 2009


Chels Leaning (Firenze) II - mixed media on copy paper 24" x 18" 2009


Chels Leaning (Firenze) I - mixed media on photo paper 24" x 18" 2009

Two studies and the beginning of the larger (42" x 36") painting based on a series of photographs from my trip to Italy in 2008. The two smaller studies are Mixed media on paper and the larger piece is acrylic on canvas.