Due to changing my ISP, I am late posting this journal entry. I finished the underpainting for Down on Prospect Avenue and started some over-painting. The painting has a long way to go but I’ve gotten this far with just a few sessions, so it’s moving rapidly. As usual, I struggled with the title for…
I moved. Did you notice? I changed my ISP today and there were some rough patches, as there always are when I do this. Nothing seems permanently broken although I haven’t checked everything yet. The last time I moved, things were a lot worse.
I worked most of the day on The Candidate, the painting in the upper-center in this batch of current work. The underpainting is done. I’ll say it’s done. I don’t like the ground on this canvas. It is another of my experiments with materials that has proved unsatisfactory, but it does have the happy side…
Cezanne, I think, told a young artist that the best way to learn was to draw and paint the stove in his studio. I think this is excellent advice. If you can draw the mundane, you can draw anything. There’s a catch, of course. What the hell is mundane? No one has answered that question, as…
I worked on these two paintings today. They are at the opposite ends of their cycles. I just started the underpainting on The Candidate (painting on the floor). The other painting, Phone Call on Main Street, is cruising into the dock. I’m not ready to tie it to the dock and cut the engine, but…
I’m late posting this journal entry. I actually posted a later version of the bottom painting, Girl in the Lavender Dress. That painting plus the painting on the easel, Break, are both in the Playhouse Square series. Break is 40″ x 50.”
It’s unusual to get rain showers in February in NE Ohio. Normally, the only precipitation we experience this time of year is snow–a lot of it. But the warm weather, 70+, was accompanied by driving, slashing rain. My son urged me to test the low-light capabilities of my new Nikon D750 camera. Have a look. This flashless photo…
Today, I finished the underpainting for the new painting Girl in the Lavender Dress. I based the design on several photos taken around Cleveland’s Playhouse Square, so the painting is part of the Playhouse Square series. Girl in the Lavender Dress, after my second session, is on the easel in this photo. On the Square, another…
I’ve always approached painting as a process of carving away and revealing, the way I imagine a sculptor approaches sculpting. Not modeling but carving. I bring this up because this unfinished painting, Sub Rosa, is a pretty good example of my approach. There are many ways to talk about painting, of course. I used to talk about…
On the Square is 48″ x 60,” which is big for me. On the Square is part of the Playhouse Square series. I think the three figures in the center-rear sitting at a table are done. It’s the only part of the painting that is finished. I tend to work from back to front and,…
It’s hard for me to understand this but until this week I never used Utrecht brand oils. I’m not sure why this is. I’ve visited their shops in NYC and Cleveland and ordered plenty of other things from them. True, I was disappointed with the easel I bought from them, but that was recent and doesn’t explain…
I placed a paint order on RGH’s website, and the agile boys at RGH promptly shipped two 250 ml jars of Paynes gray to me. Unfortunately, I’d ordered two 250 ml jars of flake white. I probably haven’t used more than 40ml of Payne’s gray in the past five years. I checked the RGH website. Sure…
I spent the day working on Picnic. I’ve written before about how I stalled out on Picnic. The issue was predominately the background figures. I put them in; I took them out; I put them back in again. I use ultramarine violet a lot, it’s especially useful for cool grays. I used ultramarine violet on the shirt of the guy at the…
I’ve titled this new painting Down on Prospect Avenue. The other day, I shared the painting after my first painting session with it. I finished the under-painting on this canvas and started “over-painting.” What’s the difference between under- and over-painting? During under-painting, I treat the painting like a pen and ink drawing. The lights…
I worked on the drawing/cartoon for Down on Prospect Avenue for a week. In the top photo, I just finished tracing the cartoon, which you can see still stapled to the canvas. I removed the transfer paper to examine the drawing. If I miss something, I can cover the canvas with the cartoon and trace it…