Abstract Art Blog

Revisiting Two Paintings

Last year I had painted two mostly green canvases, each 24" x 24".  At the time they seemed as finished as I could make them, but their images continued to haunt me.  I am not used to painting in this small size, and often have difficulty coming up with something that works for it.

Recently I got them both out and decided to have some fun with them.  Here are the originals:

Choose Life One, 24" x 24"

  Choose Life Two, 24" x 24"

Here is how they look after I revisted them:

  Choose Life One, 24" x 24"

  Choose Life Two, 24" x 24"

Painting a Series

In my last group of paintings I worked on a series which began with one painting called Culmination.  In the series, I used a similar method of preparing the backgrounds, then drawing circles and filling them in, and finally drawing a leaf pattern and filling it in.  Each layer is somewhat transluscent, allowing the previous layers to show through:

  Canvas #42 40" x 40"

  Canvas #41  44" x 44"

  Patchouli 30" x 30"

  Earth Songs  40" x 40"

I had to go back several times and change the shade of color I used in each of these, until I felt the blend was right. 

My Two Passions: Art and Writing

Shouldn't it be, "art and literature," not "art and writing"?  Or perhaps "making art and literature."  But that sounds too egotistical, as if by the mere act of "writing," one were making "literature."  In the visual arts we have eliminated the separation between "fine art" and "crafts," haven't we?

Maybe not.  I knew exactly when I crossed that line in the 1970s when I started a leather-craft business making belts and handbags for sale at craft shows, and then automated a little bit and hired employees in order to sell through retail stores.  I knew I was no longer making fine art.

Is the difference in the artist's intention, or in the unique quality of items made?  If each creation is one-of-a-kind, then we are more likely to call it fine art.  Yet, that doesn't really resolve the issue.

When I was going to college and art school in the early 1960s, these questions were important.  An artist was a priest of sorts, who could help us transcend this mundane life.  Or an interpreter of culture, who could help us understand our position in it.  Anyone who was simply making pretty pictures was an "amateur" or "Sunday painter."

The act of writing seems less fraught with this tension.  One writes in private for months or years, and it is only upon publication that the question of literature comes up.  And today there are many outlets for publication (internet journals and magazines, blogs, print-on-demand publishing, etc.) besides traditional publishing houses.  Having an audience who reads what we write is often gratifying enough without an official critic's blessing.

A Year of Making Art, Day 366: The Final Day

April 20, 2008  Day 366

I have completed my project:  I made a drawing a day for an entire year!

What have I learned from this year?  First, that I shouldn't necessarily jump full speed into every project I think of.  Second, that I do have enough fortitude to carry out a long-term commitment like this.  Third, it is better to write a blog when you have something to say rather than filling space every day just to do it.

As a bonus, I now have 373 new drawings.  While many are so-so, I think there are a good number that I can be proud of.  Some day I might even add them to my website (another huge project).

Today's drawing is celebratory:

  Drawing #373  9" x 12"

I also painted today, finishing Canvas #41, though I may go back and change a color or two:

  Canvas #41  44" x 44"

I plan to keep writing this blog, but two or three times a week instead of every day.  Thanks to those of you who stayed with me through this year and gave me encouragement along the way!

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 365: One More Day

April 19, 2008  Day 365

Last night my sister Laura and her husband, Jim, arrived in Ithaca permanently.  A moving van loaded everything from their house in Kansas City last week and will deliver it this Monday.  I still can't believe I'm lucky enough to get my sister to move to the town I live in.  With families spread all over the continent and further these days, those of us who can live near each other are very fortunate.

This morning I finished Canvas #42 by filling in all the lines I'd drawn yesterday.  I may still decide to change one or two of the colors, but I am basically pleased with it:

  Canvas #42  40" x 40"

After that, I made my drawing in browns and tans.  I finished with a black brush pen, and a few strokes of yellow.

  Drawing #372  9" x 12"

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 364: Two More Days

April 18, 2008  Day 364

This morning I got up at 6:30 a.m. because Blixy was coming at 7:00 to drop off Mike and Rachel.  They have no school this week.

After breakfast, Rachel and I helped Mike put up the badminton net, and then we played for an hour.  I was wiped out then and suggested a table game next.  We did, and then moved on to ping-pong.  Then another table game, and Dance Dance Revolution.  After lunch we visited the Museum of the Earth, which did not have their air-conditioning on.  It is in the 80s today, and the museum was so stuffy that we didn't stay long.

After having an iced-chocolate drink, Mike and Rachel played computer games while I got my work done.  Today's drawing was an experiment, where I first made all the short pen strokes in reds and oranges, and then began to shape it.

  Drawing #371  9" x 12"

After that, Blixy arrived and we played some more badminton before dinner.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 363: Three More Days

April 17, 2008  Day 363

I have no idea why I woke up in a bad mod this morning, but a sense of foreboding and self-pity has tainted everything I've done.  Instead of having compassion and patience with Adrian's foibles, I reacted as if he were weaving a noose around my neck.

So what if there were spots of dried red cherries all over the kitchen floor when we got up this morning?  Cleaning it up only took ten minutes.

At least I weaseled my way out of going to the doctor's office with Adrian this morning, and it only cost me a bucket of guilt.  "You should have gone with me," he said when he got back.  "I forgot everything."

Adrian always gets the brunt of my bad moods.  Who else will put up with them?

I worked on two canvases this morning, continuing my "culmination" series in blues:

  Canvas #41  44" x 44"

  Canvas #42  40" x 40"

In my drawing, I began with browns, adding black and tan.  I started with calligaphy pens and added lines with a fine point black pen for texture. 

  Drawing #370  9" x 12"

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 362: Four More Days

This morning I finished the top and bottom of Canvas #39 and spent the rest of the time on Canvas #40.  This is the first time I tried to paint a "culmination" series painting in blues instead of red, orange and yellow.  I mixed some shades of light blue, brilliant blue, and cobalt blue to fill in the lines I had drawn:

  Canvas #40  30" x 30"

Then I did a simple black-and-white sketch for the day's drawing:

  Drawing #369  9" x 12"

Now I've got to do the grocery shopping because Adrian is still wearing a boot cast and limping around.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 361: Five More Days to Go

April 15, 2008  Day 361

Since this is a leap year, I have five more days to go in order to finish my "year of making art."  It is great to know I will make it, because too many times in my life, I did not stick things through to the finish.  I always get restless and want to move on, perhaps as part of my bipolar disorder.

Today I finished painting Canvas #39 and did some work on Canvas #40:

  Canvas #39  30" x 30"

In my drawing, I made a frivolous, spring-like floral:

  Drawing #368  9" x 12"

It is definitely spring today.  The temperatures are only in the fifties, but daffodils and crocuses are out, all our neighbors are gardening like mad, and birdsong at dawn is a cacophony.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 360: Culmination Series

April 14, 2008  Day 360

Today I worked on Canvas #39, drawing and filling in circles, and then additional lines that I will fill in tomorrow. I am working on a series of Culmination paintings, attempting to capture that sense of bubbling up and exploding that was in the original:

  Canvas #39  30" x 30"

  Original CULMINATION  48" x 48"

I also worked on several more backgrounds today, for three canvases that will follow the culmination tradition, but in blues rather than red, orange and yellow.  I'm not sure if it will work as well, but if not, it will be something different.  I'll find out as I paint.

In my drawing today, I began with brown lines, gradually building up a strong center that flies out to the edges.

  Drawing #367  9" x 12"

Then I had to get my teeth cleaned, which I hate.  Does everyone feel that way?

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

   

A Year of Making Art, Day 359: A Final Attempt on Canvas #37

April 13, 2008  Day 359

When I looked at Canvas #37 again this morning (see previous post), I decided there was too much contrast around the edges of the large circles in the perimeter of the painting.  I began to fill in these areas with the orange I had mixed yesterday.  Then I covered over the circles completely with the orange to tone them down.  After that, I began working with the lighter orange, again toning everything down in the next group of circles.  After that, I refilled all the small leaf-like spaces, beginning with a pale yellow and working my way to red around the edges.  This pretty much took all morning, but I was finally satisfied:

  Canvas #37, 40" x 40"

I ran out of 14" x 11" paper, and opened up a 9" x 12" pad in which I found an old drawing with no date on it.  I loved its sense of playfulness, and tried to get that same effect in my new one.  The old one was made with mixed media, including ball-point pen and pencil, which gave it a lot more interesting set of textures.  Here's the old one:

  Found Drawing  9" x 12"

Here's my new one:

  Drawing #366  9" x 12"

After that, Blixy and the kids came over and we went for a great walk in the woods.  It was brisk, but mostly sunny after a bit of rain and snow flurries this morning.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 358: Fixing Canvas #37

April 12, 2008  Day 358

This morning I tried to "fix" canvas #37.  I mixed a yellow, an orange-yellow and an orange-red wash (diluted with water and gloss medium), and wove bands of color around the circular shapes, filling in all of the pale background.  When I got done, I liked the painting much better, but there is still something bothersome about it.

  Canvas #37  40" x 40"

In my drawing today I focused on blues and purples, with fine black lines for detail and a slash of yellow for highlighting:

  Drawing #365  11" x 14"

Adrian and I went out to check on Laura and Jim's house again.  They will be moving here permanently next week, and I am looking forward to that.  The house looks great, and there were no open doors or windows this time (see previous posts).  Almost all the renovation work is complete.

Adrian was wearing his boot cast for his Achilles' tendon, and I thought we might take a walk in the park, but he said it was irritating him, so we went straight home.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 357: Taking a Break with Sharapova

April 11, 2008  Day 357

Today I spent all morning finishing Canvas #38:

  Canvas #38  44" x 44"

Later I made a drawing in reds, which seemed a bit too contained:

  Drawing #364  14" x 11"

I took a break in the middle of the day to watch Sharapova win the quarterfinals of the Bausch & Lomb tennis championships.  I yearn to get out on the courts myself, and hope that sister Laura will be up for that when she finally moves here next week.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 356: I Throw Away a Bad Drawing

April 10, 2008  Day 356

Today I filled in the lines I'd drawn on Canvas #37, but after all that work, I didn't like the results:

  Canvas #37  40" x 40"

Then I went to my ophthalmologist's office to get "computer glasses."  Lately I've noticed I have to bend my head back in order to see through the middle part of my glasses, which has the prescription for seeing at that distance.  New glasses which have the computer prescription all the way to the top should help ease this strain.

The first drawing I worked on today was so bad that I'm throwing it away.  After that, I did a quick whimsical piece--the opposite of the tedious one I'd been working on:

  Drawing #363 14" x 11"

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 355: A Real Spring Walk

April 9, 2008  Day 355

Today I continued work on Canvas #38, adding some colors with my palette knife and brush, and then drawing lines in red, blue, brown and white.  Unfortunately, I did not photograph this step in the process.

My neighbor and I took our first real spring walk--there was absolutely no snow or ice anywhere!

I didn't get around to my drawing until late, working with browns, tans and a little black:

  Drawing #362  14" x 11

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)