Here are the four paint-centric paintings that I was working on when you last saw me. They are all done with mixed results.
This is number one which I think was the most successful. Vague shapes, bodies in motion.
This is number two. Muddy in the middle. I should have left more of it blank like the river that runs through it.
This is number three. I think I have improved it a little since class, but I think it lacks values, too monochromatic.
Number four is not too bad, looks like a aerial photo, but I like aerial photos.
But these are all 9x12 and I much prefer 18x24 (Bigger is better). Not sure how to do that. Do I have it in me to cover all that area with my little brush? I don't think I do.
Well how about if I divide the 18x24 into little rectangles and paint freely in each one and make them relate to each other in some grand plan?
This is a study for that. I like them well enough individually but they don't relate to each other. The first is mainly indigo, the second perylene green, and the third is sepia. Dark colors with strange properties which could make a skeleton to hang my other colors on.
Maybe not. Seems to me I have the option of painting bottom to top, letting the little details grow towards or against each other, or top to bottom, picking some image to span the whole painting and then abstracting it.
I agree that the first one is the most successful. I think #2 went just a bit too far--those hard stripes negate the delicacy of the lovely shapes you had going. I like #3 and #4. In general, I just feel you lost the beauty of the "let paint be paint" when you started to overthink things and add style elements (like the stripes and mosaic-y bits). As for the size issue--why not use a larger brush and keep the beauty of the first four paintings? I am not a fan of the disparate rectangles.
ReplyDeleteThat last one was kind of a sacrifice sheet. I wanted to see how well the the three dark and strange colors worked with a minor color, quinacridone gold, azo green, and vermillion.
DeleteStill like 3 the best followed by 4. 1 and 2 are just not pleasing to me.
ReplyDeleteGet a big piece of Yupo, some big brushes, some colors you like and have some real fun with that last idea. Yupo was made for this.
Ken, this is a great idea for you! Get a whole pad of Yupo and try your new direction. Yupo is perfect for letting paint do its thing. And it won't let you overthink or get too precious or fiddly with the details. And get a whole pad so the lessons will really sink in by the time you use the whole pad.
DeleteOr you could just get a full sheet of Yupo 26 X 40 and go crazy.
DeleteI think this was good departure for you and encourage you to continue with it and see where it takes you - without you over-determining its outcome. Like doing it for summer vacation maybe. With no old ways of doing things, no big paper, no over-thinking, no stripes, no tiles. I think you'll find something happening without planning it.
ReplyDeleteI love big paper. I love stripes and tiling, and I hardly think at all, and that's the way I like it!
DeleteWhat happened with you doing these smaller ones that aren't doing that? I thought you said you were going where you never went before. Must've been scary. So much for the new track and welcome back to the old rut.
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