Weekly Round-up February 11-17th

This week I managed a session with the light in my front hallway, mentioned last week. Below is a chronological tracking of this painting, which was started back in October. Sometime during Daylight Saving and Winter this light phenomenon disappeared, but it is back in full force between 7-9am right now.

I also continued work on the self-portrait started last week and started a charcoal drawing.

 Additionally, I started an new painting of the light coming into my studio window mid-morning. I am excited about the idea of painting over old paintings right now, but allowing some remnants to show through. I also did a small, 5" x7" study of my legs, feet and one hand. In acknowledgement that I could use some work on painting/drawing hands and feet, I am trying to do more studies that involve solving that problem from life.   

    Finally on Friday, I visited MOCA Jacksonville and the Cummer Musuem with my BA Portfolio class. It was a wonderful trip. The MOCA has a fantastic Rackstraw Downes painting, as seen below, the edges are really gorgeous. 

Here is the crew, stading in Nicola Lopez's installation A Gentle Defiance of Gravity and Form. 

Weekly Round-Up February 4th-10th

This week I am excited to announce that a particular shape of light from my front window has returned, after a long absence following the time change. I've only lived in my house for a year now, so I am learning the ins-and-outs of the light shifts. Below is the light, I'm interested in painting, and the painting as its been since November. I'm hoping to paint this weekend if the weather is sunny.

       

I also continued to work on my night window painting in the living room. Unfortunately, the lights are now blown out, so I need to go back and adjust my values. I have a little light of my easel, but I still end up over compensating because my palette is in the dark.

                 

I also worked more on the fruit and dead bird painting, appropriating enough on my Dad's death anniversary. Below is where it started at the beginning of the session and where it ended up, the orange's leaves wilted far more than the grapefruits'.



And started a self-portrait.

I currently have one pupil!






















Finally, to share inspiration this week. I listened again to James Bland's wonderful interview with Antrese Wood on her Savvy Painter Podcast. I love everything about the painting below, "Full Moon" has all the right moves in my opinion.

Weekly Round-Up Jan. 28- Feb. 3

This week I continued to work on the surprise commission that I referenced last week, so more anticipation without documentation. I also started a new night painting of the same lamp and corner of my living room that I'm also painting by day. I'm painting over a night kitchen painting that turned out TOO brown and it seemed very boring. If I were braver, I might have just sliced the middle third out of the kitchen painting and left it, but instead I'm just painting over it.

by night

by day

My favorite part in the night kitchen painting, that now doesn't exist, was the reflection in the microwave. I am going to try to think about keeping some elements from the original painting in the new one, but I haven't quite figured it out. I also think it will happen organically. 

On a final side note, I stumbled across this image on Michele De Campo's Blog and it seemed powerful and relevant. The act of staring into the world and finding meaning seems palpable in these two images side-by-side. It is difficult to articulate the connection felt to other painters and their records of looking...but it is real. 

Left: Andrew Wyeth, ‘Spring Fed’, 1967. - Right: the original place at the Kuerners farm

Weekly Wrap-up

In the studio this week, I slowly crept closer to finishing two paintings and managed to start a new painting. Sometimes I think I am wasting too much time and being indecisive with allowing the works to be adjusted at an infinitesimal level...but I am also just painting on them until they seem done...and sometimes that takes longer than I would initially anticipate.

First is a window painting that takes place midday-to-late afternoon. Below is the very minor shift that happened this week: the right photo is where the painting is now, very minor changes on the right wall and window. I hope to adjust the interior/exterior relationships but it was very overcast so the painting session was slightly doomed from the start this week.

 

Here is that painting's history:

 
Finally, a shout-out to the painter Jan van der Kooi. This work is partially a reaction his exquisite paintings, as featured above, that endlessly record the same windows. http://www.janvanderkooi.nl/ 

The second painting I worked on is a surprise commission piece, so I will share photos of that painting once it is complete. So on to the newest painting started this week. It is a still life featuring a dead Gray Catbird, and orange and a grapefruit. The bird flew into a window several months ago. I won't deconstruct my thoughts behind the work at this point because they are still percolating.

  

Two years later, I'm looking at windows

This spring I am teaching a senior studio thesis course, BA Portfolio, at Flagler College. As part of the class, students are asked to maintain a record of their weekly activities on a blog, uploading a minimum of three process shots a week, a reflection on the work and any influences from the week. In an effort to keep up production during the school year, I am going to follow the assignment.

As evidenced by the last post, it's been a while since I've acknowledged this platform...March 2015.....

This week I worked on two paintings that have been going for sometime, so the changes were incremental. One is of my kitchen window at night. Below is the before and after of the moves I made on Monday night, I've been slightly lost on how to resolve the bottom half of this painting for a while, I think I am getting there.
 

Here is where it started. I've abandoned the entire reason why I started the painting initially, which was looking at my sink and the window/plant. For whatever reason, it fit better in my viewfinder than on my panel.
 

  

Here is one of my other painting in the works, I have been documenting the progress of this on Instagram Stories, but apparently wasn't saving the videos. Its of two windows in the corner of a room, during 3-4 different times of day. Again, this painting has been progressing steadily...on Wednesday I found another patch of light and worked on the bookcase. I also adjusted the sewing machine stand and central chair for the 100th time.