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Just a couple of recent additions to my Green series, here. In these two paintings, done yesterday, I've added a little dash of a lighter green in fluid acrylic, which differs from the first three paintings in the series. I've put these two on the Prints page of my site, linked to Red Bubble.
Getting back to my Jazz series, here are Jazz 11 and Jazz 12.
When I completed the first of this series, so far numbering three paintings, I was unsure what to call it, at first. A couple of things occurred to me, including "Brown & Green No. 1," but, as I looked at it, the name "Chocolate Mint" popped into my head and I liked it so I went with that, instead. It's totally non-objective; I didn't have any particular subject matter in mind when I did the painting, but the resulting image did suggest chocolate mint ice cream, I suppose, or maybe one of those chocolate mint patties you get in a restaurant after a good meal. I showed it to a friend, who instantly loved it, so I decided to do a few more. For me, the first is still the best, though. The lines, the forms and shapes and the movement, I think, are best in that original image. But, feel free to disagree.
Meanwhile, I've just done a short promo video on You Tube.
A little something different, here: Lemon Twist, which makes use of a pale palette. The title is simply derived from the dominant color, yellow. I may continue this as a series, though I've been working on some other projects, lately, as well. More on those later.
Continuing with the new Jazz series, here are Jazz 2 and Jazz 3.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm starting a new, more colorful series today. I'm calling it Jazz.
Here is Brown No. 5, my latest. I think I may do one more of these before adding a new page to the "Prints" section of my website (I noticed the page loading time has gotten a little slower, the more images I have there, so I need to break it up a bit). I think, at that point, I will do some other color palettes, as well. Not that I'm done with the Brown series; it's just that I don't like to spend too much time on any one series. The fact that I have mulptiple series is, in part, to give me something else I can work on if I get bored with one or another series. Not that I'm bored. I just don't want you getting bored with my work, so a little variety helps. Besides, I want to explore other color combinations that I haven't touched upon yet. There is always something new coming.
Here are the latest in the Brown series, No. 3 & 4. By the way, I'm hoping this series will catch the eye of those art consultants and interior designers out there who keep saying they want earthtones. Hint, hint. If not, then I'd like to get back to something more colorful because all this black and brown is depressing me! Seriously, though, one of my objectives is to cater to the decor market by providing a range of color options, so I've been exploring different palettes in order to acheive this. Besides, it's more interesting, to me, to try the same concepts in different color combinations, anyway. Some will like one combination, while others will like another and I'm trying to appeal to as broad a market as possible - within the confines of my chosen Abstract Expressionist niche, that is. Sorry, I'm not going to paint pretty pictures of horses or flowers just because it sells. Or does it?
I've begun a new series this evening, the Brown series. Here are Brown No. 1 and Brown No. 2.
Meanwhile, on Red Bubble, the Abstract Painting Group, which I'm a member of, has begun a book project which will focus upon the various working processes of the member artists. We've all been invited to write a short article about our process, which I've already done this evening, and we'll accompany these with photos of works in progress. So, I'm planning on shooting progress photos of my next painting, possibly tomorrow night. Just in case my submission doesn't make it into the book (there are over 1,700 members in the group, so, obviously, not everyone is going to be included), I'll be publishing my article and process photos here in my blog, at some point.
Just catching up, here. Monday I painted No. 18, 19 and 20 and today I did 21 and 22, so, I've been exceeding the "painting a day" ethic, here and there, lately. Sorry to all you daily painters out there. It's really not my intention to make you look like slackers. I've just worked out my process so I can work on up to four paintings at once, when I want to. Not using a traditional easel is part of it. As I've mentioned, I tape the paper to the wall (which is covered with plastic trash bags and newspaper to protect the wall finish) and the tape forms a margin around the image area on the originals (which is cropped out of the digital scan later, to facilitate the printing process). Anyway, I have enough wall area in the corner of the spare bedroom I use as my studio to accomodate a maximum of four sheets of 8.5"x11" paper side by side, as long as they're all arranged in portrait format, that is. By the way, you may have noticed that all of my work, with but rare exception, is in portrait format. Part of it is this setup, but I've also become accustomed to that format and enjoy the compositions I get with it. Besides, if you're doing work in series, as I am, it's a good idea to make each piece in the series as consistent as possible. The only break I've made in the Black & White series has been going from 14"x17" bristol board down to 8.5"x11" card stock, in order to accomodate my scanner bed's dimensions. Other than that and the compositions of the paintings themselves, they all share the same properties, at least from No. 12 onward, anyway. Had I conceived, from the beginning, of using my scanner instead of my 5 megapixel digital camera to capture my paintings with, they'd have all been 8.5"x11".
Further additions to the Black & White series, here. By the way, you may have noticed the "white" isn't entirely white, nor are these paintings entirely black and white, either. This is because I begin them all with an underpainting of an orangish brown in fluid acrylic, over which I scumble white. I like the brushy textures I get, as well as the little bits of brown showing through, which kind of wind up making faint little taupe textural elements in the ground. When my knife scrapes through the underlying white, occasionally, the blending of black, white and brown adds a faint bit of warmth to the black, as well. I love it when that happens.
So, I guess, in revealing that fact, I've let you know that these paintings involve a three-step process; they're not as spontaneous and gestural as they may appear. Nothing wrong with that, though. I never said I'm trying to "paint from my unconscious" or anything like that. I admit to being somewhat more formalistic than some other Abstract Expressionists. But then, Kline and De Kooning pre-planned their "spontaneous" images. Kline did sketches on phone book pages, while De Kooning once told Kline he should try tracing shapes made with an opaque projector. So, I guess that makes me somewhat more spontaneous than they were. It really doesn't matter, anyway. The viewer only sees the completed painting, not the process, and most don't really care what went into its creation, unless they're hung up on the assumption that it's the relative degree of difficulty of the process that makes it "art." But, that's craftsmanship, which is not really the same thing. I subscribe to the idea that it's the final image that counts and that whatever it takes to create it - whether laborious or easily executed - is only secondary. While I'm a process oriented painter and my images derive entirely from my choice of materials, tools and, above all, technique, it is still the outcome of this process that is the art, not the route taken to its realization.
After completing Green No. 3, the other day, I was reviewing my various series and decided it was time to return to one of my personal favorites, the Black & White series. It's perhaps my favorite because it reminds me most of one of my major influences, Franz Kline. Even though our strokes are different, as well as our techniques, and these works are at the other end of the size range, as well, Kline is most noted for his black and white paintings. I suppose it's their appeal to me that makes me want to paint in black and white, also. There is just something about being confined to only two colors that emphasizes form, shape, texture and value even more. These elements tend to become overwhelmed in color works because color, especially if it's brilliant and pure, tends to dominate. So, every once in a while, I feel the need to depart from the colors, to an extent (black and white are still colors, even if most people don't think so) and get back to tonal values and contrasts, which become most evident in black and white.
Here are Green No. 2 and Green No. 3, painted Tuesday.
I began a new series Monday evening, the Green series. Not entirely green - there is the addition of some white for effect - but it's principally thalo green on a ground of two other greens, one darker, with a lighter fluid acrylic green scumbled over it for a brushy ground plane. Green No. 1 has been uploaded to Red Bubble. Meanwhile, I painted the second and third versions last night and will be posting them later on.
