I’ve been working on this painting, Washington Square, for some time. The underpainting is far enough along to show it. It’s 44″ x 56″. I’m 6’2,” so you can get a sense of the painting’s size. There are 12 figures and 7 pigeons in the work. There was a 13th but I’m painting it out.…
HaHaHa.
Not 20 minutes after posting about dragging my shirt sleeve through paint, I did it AGAIN! Twice in one day is a record, even for me. At least this time the shirt was already in the ‘wear in studio only’ category.
Crap, somehow I managed to do it again. Without noticing, I dragged by shirt sleeve through the cadmium red on the palette. The red oil paint got all over my shirt and arms before I noticed. Luckily, I didn’t get any in my mouth. No matter how hard I try, this happens with distressing regularity. Whenever it happens, my wife scolds me like I’m eight-years old. Sigh, another piece of clothing relegated–like half of the clothes in my closet–to the ‘cannot wear outside the studio’ category.
I will remind her of the time she sat too close to the palette and dragged her long auburn hair through every color, and painted several pieces of furniture with her hair-brush before we realized it.
I am wrapping up one of my really big paintings. This bad boy, The Offensive, is 74″ x 96″–roughly 6 by 8 feet. It comes from a series of paintings with subjects that are more topical than my recent work. At different times, I become engrossed by such topics. If you peruse my gallery, you’ll seem some of them there. I’ll have The Offensive in my gallery soon. Its size alone presents challenges, both in making it and in photographing it
My wife left for New Jersey today for a five-day visit. Sunday will be the first anniversary of her father’s–Wayne Kaniper--death, and she wants to share it with her mother and brothers. It’s a cliche but it’s hard to believe it’s been a year already. We miss him.
“Who’s your favorite artist?” That’s a silly question, isn’t it? If you’re like me, you enjoy the work of many artists, so how could you choose? No, it’s a silly question. It’s not that I’m easily pleased, or that I’m one of those inclusive types–hardly. I’m a tough grader; I’m judgmental. My time is important…
I had a good drawing session on the painting titled The Photographer this morning. This painting of a single figure is 32″ x 48.” I think one more session will be enough. When I mentioned this painting the other day, I didn’t show it, and I won’t show it here. I don’t think you can get much from a drawing on a toned canvas (warm gray). I showed the drawing stage for the series I did about making The Call, but that was a special case.
This morning, as usual, I worked on drawings, this time for a painting titled The Photographer. This was the 2nd drawing session for it. I spent the rest of the day painting on the 44″ x 56″ Washington Square. Today’s painting session was the 3rd for this painting; it’s still too raw to show. Yesterday I had my initial painting session on a work titled Three Young Women. The ground on this painting is more absorbent than what I normally use. I like it–the absorbent ground–a lot. It too is too raw to show you.