Time to Buckle Down

It has been a busy few months in Studio 204. We dismantled the place and repainted. Adding a third artist meant rearranging a few things, also. I rented some hall wall for two months this fall and sold a painting that was displayed there. "Easy Terms" found a new home.

Another artist in the studio meant rearranging wall space, too. This entailed some new framing, re-hanging everything, which takes me forever. As my rental of the wall space ended, another wall space began, on the second floor landing for the months of November and December - Open House time! More art inventory management. I finally settled in and started painting again.

"Central Park Pharmacy" is well underway. It is larger than my previous paintings this year, and I was ready to return to my favorite subject - signs. This one is from North Omaha. I'd found it years ago, and it took some searching to find it again. I actually wanted to paint some of the words on the side which spelled out "Snacks" and other tasty things, but the broken neon and peeling paint of the main sign were perfectly lit in the late day sun. This one should be done by the end of the year, unless the day job gets crazier than it should.

Other art-related activities that have kept me busy are the many area gallery openings this season and more framing. "The Nonno" was framed and shipped to Long Island, and I am having a painting by my mother restretched and reframed. It is ready for pick-up, so I will post it here soon. It will hang in my new office at work.

Looking forward to the Hot Shops Open House next weekend. Stop by and say hello!

Cloud 9 Final

Cloud 9

I have a new series started - Odd Cloud/Cloud 9. It is a grid of nine 10 x 10 canvases, each containing one "odd" cloud. These are the clouds that I see in the Nebraska skies on otherwise cloudless days. Small bits of white that disappear in minutes in the dry air. They fascinate and tease me while I am driving to and fro.

I am not able to correct the photos well enough for the white clouds to show as well as they do on the canvases, but I think you can get the idea from these.

The Secrets Between Us

Top image is the final. Not much of the lighter blue detail is visible in the photograph, and the darker blue isn't as contrasty as it appears here. The edge colors have muted since the progress photo, lower. Earlier progress photos show it the other way around, darker blue on the left, but this is the correct orientation.

Fool's Moon

A little dark and mysterious, but not totally serious. A Fool more along the lines of a Shakespeare character, more like Nobody's, leading down a path, but is it the right one?

Wedding Moon

I didn't realize I hadn't posted a progress photo of Wedding Moon. Here it is, completed, along with a progress showing the edge colors, which have softened a bit.

Progress and a Final

From top to bottom: the final image of "Between Heaven and Earth", progress on "V Series I" and progress on "The Secrets Between Us".

"Between Heaven and Earth" is inspired by the "Linea Nigra" - the darkening of skin pigmentation in a line down a pregnant woman's abdomen. I think of the human gestation period as a time between Heaven and Earth - a gift from God, not quite ready for life on Earth, and while a woman's expanding girth is a clear public sign of that time, the pigmentation line is a more personal reminder of the changes and miracle happening within.

The "V Series" is more abstract thought, no representation is intended. The "V" stands for my birth surname and for the Roman numeral 5. There will be 5 in the series, all based on a circle, at least as it stands now.

The third image is called "The Secrets Between Us", which I like simply for its mystery. Underlying the composition is the inequality of power when one person knows another's secrets, or even when each knows the other's secrets. I see the blue as a calming, peaceful, trusting color (think Immaculate Mary holy medals!) and the orange an indication of power and force, forever unbalanced somewhere between red and yellow. This painting is showing the least amount of change since the last post because I am more slowly building up layers of glaze. I swear I worked on it this week and this is a new photo!

This is the stuff I think of while painting, or driving, or falling asleep at night. You may have other thoughts on these images -in fact I hope you do. Thought you would like to hear the ideas and feelings behind them.

Secrets & More

I've started three small abstracts. From the top: The Secrets Between Us, The V Series (1), and Between Heaven & Earth.

These are all concepts and thoughts that I've been collecting for a while. I bought five 12 x 12 canvases with the intention of doing the V (5) Series, but when I started the first one, realized I would need mental separation between each one. Since these are small, I can easily work on three at a time, but would rather have different concepts going on.

Pictured here are progress photos, after two sessions - a lot of underpainting and glazing. I wish I could show the edges, since they are at least as interesting to me and are an important part of these paintings.

All were started with only the barest of ideas of where they were going, and have continued with the promise to myself that I will paint what pleases me. So far I have succeeded.

I will comment further on the concepts as they progress.

Drying Time

The Nonno is very nearly done. I thought perhaps it would be this weekend, but some things need glazing and are too wet. Finishing touches are unlikely to make a difference in how it appears in pixels, so I am posting the last picture of this now.

Whatever there is to say about it was said last weekend at the Hot Shops Open House, many times over. Hundreds of visitors stopped by the studio Saturday and Sunday and most made comments about this one - mostly that they have a cat like Sushi here. One can never overestimate the appeal of painted pets.

Little Jon is now 9 months old and I am going to see him this week. I'll see the Nonno, too! I hope he likes this. Nice cat. ;-)

The Nonno Progress

This is three sessions (roughly 12 hrs) after the underpainting. I'm pleased with how it's going. It's about 75% done. I have a couple of new brushes, new medium, a few new paints and a new posture - standing for this one. Tougher on the feet and legs, better for the painting.