I spent much of yesterday's studio time framing. I prepared newer work to replace the older work at Long River Studios. I have one more drawing to frame today. Later today you can visit Long River Studios to see the work in its actual state, on paper and canvas. As you know, I have often been unhappy with the reproduction of my work in this blog. Thus I encourage you the see the real thing whenever possible. In this regard, I feel OK about today's reproduction of yesterday's drawing. In reproducing yesterday's drawing I approached the use of Photoshop differently. Perhaps I can get this close with every artwork from now on (albeit, today's reproduction is not perfect: the drawing is on white paper and here it appears as a low value of gray).
There is stuff to do besides make art. Yesterday was one of those days and today is as well. I still made art, and I will today, but art-making time is limited. I have to frame today, and also transport work to the local gallery, Long River Studios.
Yesterday's drawings are either more complex in their values and contrast, or my ability to photographically reproduce has gone terrible.
The miracle of better and better.
Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 (state 42), oil on canvases, 60X120 inches (each canvas = 60X60 inches) Possible Subtitles▸ Left panel: "No", Right panel: "Yes"
First, please notice I have reproduced the painting Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 with a white bar separating the two panels (previously I used a gray bar). This white separation is better, as it better approximates the white wall on which the painting will be exhibited. More important to me, Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 is better today than it was before yesterday's work. The minor alterations are making it better and better. Reluctant as I am to continue to move this paint toward ultimate finality, I must admit it is worthwhile. With every action I feel I am creating the penultimate chapter, but no, there is more than one more chapter to complete. Yesterday I started by altering the feet of the woman in the left panel. I ended by repainting her legs and dress. Her rear foot is not resolved. I will start there today. The woman's feet function similarly to the man's right hand (in the right panel), i.e. it aids in defining the plane that is the artifice of the 3D world in which the figures sit.
Yesterday two drawings took up about half of the studio session. I like this division of time. It allows me to explore my current concerns, then return to the ponderous endeavor of altering minor elements within the mostly resolved painting, Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014.
In the order I like them.
It is difficult for me to go through the ups and downs of internal, physical, intellectual, and consequently, creative energy. The last few days feel creatively low. But, who am I to judge? I am just the guy making the stuff. In any case, right now I feel today will be the day I return to full creativeness. Yesterday was a typical day of energy seeping back in, a day of returning to the way I prefer to feel. Yesterday's middle drawing is the best, so I show it first. My interest in surface it apparent in drawings #2 and #3. These exhibit my great interest in the emotional subtlety that minor forms emote within the overall form of the human face. Knowing this, I looked back at the works of Lucian Freud, which is a relevant comparison (see an image of a work by Lucian Freud after my work).
This drawing is all I have from yesterday. It seems to be a celebration and exploration of drawing skills. I have little to say because I don't feel great emotional attachment to this drawing. It was pleasurably analytical in the making.
It is what it is. A query and then an answer. The answers are never the correct and the queries just keep on coming. Such is the making of art.
Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 (state 40), oil on canvases, 60X120 inches (each canvas = 60X60 inches) Possible Subtitles▸ Left panel: "No", Right panel: "Yes"
The painting Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 is very close to complete. Yesterday's entire studio session was devoted to it, obviously! It is time for final decisions about minutia. Let's think back to some of Henri Matisse's work between 1905 and 1910. Matisse made decisions not to over-detail things like limbs and extremities. In those works of Matisse, feet and hands often appear awkwardly drawn. The viewer is forced to look at those paintings in terms of color, composition, and surface (e.g. Dance of 1910 or Nymph and Satyr of 1909, shown below). As I return to complete Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 I will be making decisions about hands and facial elements (the minutia). This may not happen today. I think I need to step back and breathe a little before I proceed to finish it off.
A problem with yellow ochre.
Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 (state 39), oil on canvases, 60X120 inches (each canvas = 60X60 inches) Possible Subtitles▸ Left panel: "No", Right panel: "Yes"
I got too involved with the form of the man's pants in the left panel. I moved the color toward yellow ochre and didn't notice the color mismatch. It was not until I stepped back at the end of the studio session that this color problem hit me. It disturbs me greatly, mostly because I concentrated on form, and absentmindedly forgot to watch the entire painting. The yellow ochre does not play well with the woman's dress, nor does it reflect the man's pants in the fight panel (not the man in the right panel is the same man as the man in the left panel). In any case, this is a minor problem. All I see now are minor problems. This painting is almost complete, and this fact is the opposite of disturbing.
I like yesterday's drawing. I will not draw today. I will go straight to the painting.
A note about reproduction: The painting is evenly lit. In the past, when photographing the painting, I have added lights to the normal overhead bank of lights used during painting. I noticed the extra lights caused areas of color to wash-out. Today's reproduction of Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 is not quite as vibrant as yesterday's, but overall it is more cohesive because of the even lighting. I continue to grapple with the white paper in reproducing of the drawing. It appears gray in today's reproduction. The choice is always made to exhibit the pencil line, and the consequent form, as best as possible. This does not mean the reproduction perfectly reflects the subtlety of the pencil's values. I will never be satisfied with reproduction.