Manual Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 22:37:00 +0000

After a long hiatus and many other life directions and distractions, I am painting and posting again. Let's see how this goes?

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:20:00 +0000

At the easel again. This one inspired from the view out my front door. Oil on canvas, 24x24".

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:52:00 +0000

A new direction and a new painting. Thanks to a few new canvases, from those that love me, over Christmas and the resultant motivation to reorganize my studio space I am back at it. This is the first and another was started last night. I hope the fire is fueled and the groundwork laid. My daughter joined me and is the real whip behind getting back in front of the of the easel. to be continued...

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:59:00 +0000

So, this is what I am doing these days. My creative need has begun leaking into other realms and having a great time exploring new mediums. I believe I have an eye for this as well, not to mention the technical background to really enhance the skills I am picking up everyday. There is something immediately fulfilling about creating a nice composition and for people. It's also nice to generate creative work so quickly compared to the months per piece painting can require.

On that note however, there is no real replacement for painting. In fact, I'm hoping this new direction and endeavor will serve to nurture my paintings both through constant 'seeing' exercise and compositional thinking. Not to mention the added resource of harvesting models and ideas for scenes. I hope to be exposed to more painting subjects as a result and that it turns into more productive painting sessions. Time will tell, but I am already painting more with solid ideas. This can only be good.

More to come...

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:22:00 +0000

Jars of paint thinner. But I say, paint thicker!
I have been creating lately, but more learning with photography. I don't consider it a substitution, but more an addition. It's a whole new medium however with a high technical learning curve so it has been keeping me busy. Shots to come soon.
I have really been jonesing for paint in the mean time...

New Exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:33:00 +0000

A few pieces (7) have been recently admitted into a year long exhibit on the downtown ASU campus. 2012 For Our Eyes Exhibition: The For Our Eyes Gallery art exhibition seeks to showcase area nonprofits that share roots with ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus and share its mission to highlight and improve the quality of life for Arizona. October 10, 2011 – October 12, 2012

http://copp.asu.edu/action-advocacy-art/

The works selected are; John on 58th, Boogie's Cup, Campus Tree, Mother of Us All, Power Plant from Cooley Gardens, the Question, and the diptych 'Apache'.

http://www.lancecraft.com/

More information, reception news, and locations will be available soon.

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:49:00 +0000

Renovations are underway to my subject matter and final products. The example seen below is a re-purposed canvas spawned from a moment of inspiration. There are a few canvases that need a new breath of life and I'm looking forward to this kind of painting. It allows for a more organic approach focusing on the act of painting instead of the act of manufacturing an image. Both considerations are important, but this method fields a more appropriate ratio of creativity and freedom to contrived machinations some of my figurative work seemed to demand. We'll see, but bottom line, this approach is so much more fun.

Cacoon

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:28:00 +0000

A metamorphosis is at hand and will soon begin to emerge. Patience...patience

Plein Air

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:57:00 +0000

I actually found the time to get outside yesterday and as a result I discovered a great area from which to paint. The day was beautiful, but just as I got set up the wind picked up. It wreaked havoc the entire time which cut things short and left me with a slightly hurried piece, but it was all worth it if not just for happening upon the location. It's a preserved desert island just down the freeway from me with clear views of the surrounding mountains and plenty of wild. I set up not 30yards from a hawk's nest in fact.

I hope to generate some good work out of the spot. I'm also devising a painting/camping trip soon. I will keep an eye on any paintings this time so they don't end up in the fire again.

Spring exhibitions

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:22:00 +0000

Next month, my recent landscape diptych 'Apache' will be on display for the Shemer Art Center's exhibit 'Point of Pride' in Scottsdale, showcasing local work of Arizona artists. http://phoenix.gov/parks/shexhibt.html

Currently showing in the Sundust Gallery's exhibit 'Flights of Fancy' is my piece 'In Your Hands' in Mesa, Arizona through next month. Please drop by this charming and supportive gallery for a taste of local artists toil. http://www.sundustgallery.com/

Apache Junction, what's your function?

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:59:00 +0000

A recent color correction has moved this closer to escaping the easel. I suspect a few minor glazes are in order. I am vowing to get into to the field more often no matter the barriers at home. Field work is so much faster and deliberate.

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:48:00 +0000

Some tweaks led to more tweaks which then required some revisions and in turn the corrections that go with that. Unfortunately, the original 'tweak' involved upping the key for the sky dramatically, hence the chain reaction. The result? I am more satisfied with the tonal composition, but have some foreground color issues to address. That said, I am back to where I should be with this. Some glazes and a little knife work and we'll see where we are. Yes, the yellow will be tamed.

Now, to watch paint dry.

Back to work

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:19:00 +0000

I have been busy the last couple of days working on this diptych and below is the progress. I am within perhaps a couple more sittings. I need to complete some planned glazes and to address the foreground. Consider the foreground to be in the 'underpainting' stage yet, so please refrain from the harsh critiques just a touch longer.

That said, I am diggin the mood which is close to my original intent. Expect this one to warm up and expect more landscapes to follow.

Painting is freedom. Painting is flying nekkid in warm currents.

Art is not the art you thought was art, sometimes

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:38:00 +0000

Art, what is it? That's a tough question really. How can one even answer that? Is it subjective? Does it have rules or guides or some qualitative objectivity? The question has at least two parts, what has it been and what is it becoming? There are a thousand permutations from the tangents, but let's just think about two halves since we are in the middle. There is art that will be and art that was. If art will be produced in the future and if that is different in any way from the art we now know or did know, then you have to resort to some other metric to discern the answer to 'what is art?'. Half of the answer could be a legitimate review of what has passed as art before historically, but that is only half. And how can you really compare the art of the past with art today or tomorrow? The context alone is all off.
In that first half it is easy enough to go back and observe the current world's consensus on Van Gogh, Modigliani, Bernini, Rembrandt, or Mozart to name some examples. Not all of these artists were considered artists in their time nor was the body of work recognized as art. Some yes, but not all and this has given modern (not necessarily modernist) artists a sense of safety in the notion, "well, I am misunderstood in my time," or "my work will be recognized after I am gone, but it IS art".
It is here that artists rely on the other half of the question about art in the future because no one knows. There is also the expectation for artists to do something new, to pave new ground, to discover something.
That's all fine. I believe art does discover, but I don't believe that is it's purpose per se. But I digress.
What is it then? Let's start with what it isn't. Art is not an oil painting. It isn't a sculpture or music composed. It isn't effort or toil or time spent on a piece. Art is not concentration and it is not beyond us. Art is not a pencil drawing. It is not charcoal, ink, a brush stroke, hype, hyperbole, price, or showmanship much in the same way sex is not pregnancy or birth.
Yes, bad sex can lead to a baby (jeff koons), but a baby is art. Yes there can be pretty babies and ugly babies and we can disagree on which is which. There can be abnormal babies and a huge variety otherwise. Some babies die. Many become something after being a baby. Are they still art then?
This question and all of those implied in the previous paragraph is much easier to answer than to come up with a definition of what is art? No, I will spare you my answers for those questions too. Not to ruin the day, but I alone cannot create the definition of art. It changes and it requires participation with all that observe it to define it.
But, the next time you view something that could be art, whether hanging in a museum or in a pile of trash under a bridge or in a garage in Glendale ask yourself, "is this life or is it the wet spot that almost was?"

First Friday at the Just Breathe Wellness Sanctuary

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:37:00 +0000

It's First Friday again, the monthly Scottsdale art walk. Please come down and take in the art and atmosphere in downtown Scottsdale. This is the best time of year for this event so it should prove to be a good turn out.

This month you can find some of my earlier work displayed at the Just Breathe Wellness Sanctuary ( www.justbreathewellness.com ). It can be found online or listed on the free gallery maps distributed throughout the stops.

Now get out there and get some art!

In my heart is a knife man

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:21:00 +0000

Tonight, I am a knife man. That's all I can commit to right now, but I may really be a knife man in 2009.
There are a million arguments against; isn't it like cheating? it is for the impatient, it is without discipline, it's primitive, it's bound by opaque etc.

A knife delivers the brush strokes I want a brush to stroke. A brush is indispensable make no mistake, namely in early stages among others, but a knife can be subtle and always strong and nuanced. Every stroke is spontaneity of energy yet imbued with intent. Every stroke is a thought first and a life of its own thereafter. If the color is not worked out ahead of time it will distract. But if you create the right color by mixing it on the canvas it too looks brilliant. On that note, it stands up strong and bright if you intend it to. It randomizes pattern. It unifies disparity. I'm almost always satisfied if I use it with confidence. That's the key, confidence. The false kind will expose itself right away. It has to be the real thing. The kind hailing from knowledge and experience.

My knife is at times like sculpting while at others the opposite. It is at times like sculpting in that I chisel at the surface to reveal or expose something. It can dig out the truth under the surface. This comes early in the knifing stages. This is usually responsible for atmosphere and improving edges. I tend to bend knives in this stage.

The opposite of this technique is the whipped topping, the dance of texture. This is a build up stage, not a cutting one. It is the staging floor of color. It is the spire atop the monument and good ball bearings in the wheel of a homeless grocery cart. It is the moot in smooth. I tend to drop knives often in this stage. I hold it so lightly the surface of the paint pulls it from my finger tips.

In my heart is a knife man me thinks.

Passion

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:19:00 +0000

Passion has many voices and even more iterations. It has results and a pulse and can be related to as most people understand what it means or what it feels like, but few understand where it comes from or if it has a source. I don't propose to explain this now for all to see, but in reading a great thinker's post this morning I am choosing to resubmit his post here, fully credited of course. He just explains it well enough that it should be hoisted up as a rounded enough explanation for all to see.

"People often ask me where I got my inspiration for one thing or another. Or what possessed me to do something. Or why I have a passion for a particular project. The assumption behind those questions, I think, is that if one could find out where such causes originate, it would be possible to pick a promising field of endeavor then activate the inspiration to spark higher levels of achievement.

But it doesn't work that way. In my experience, I do the project I can't stop myself from doing. Passion is the thing you can't control, by definition. It's the same with inspiration. At any given time there are dozens of projects that I think make sense, but sooner or later one bubbles to the top on its own, logic ignored, and takes over my schedule.

Dilbert was like that. It drove me; I didn't drive it. It felt as if some invisible hand was pushing me. You can label it passion or inspiration if you want. Religious folks might have a different interpretation. The only point is that it controls the person, not vice versa.

If there is a logical component to chasing these passions - beyond the thin rationalizations I tend to layer on them - it is the fact that sometimes you have to get them out of your system to free yourself for the next one. For me, this was most true with my book God's Debris. It was my first non-Dilbert book, at a time that writing such a thing seemed like a really bad idea to all observers. But I had no choice. The book sprang fully formed into my head one day while I was showering, and I couldn't do anything else until I got it out. That meant writing it.

So when people ask how they can find their passion, the answer is that your passion finds you, as long as you can free up your schedule from the "must dos" enough to let it in. When I had a full-time job, before Dilbert, I awoke at 4 AM, sat alone in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee, and waited. I did that for a year or two, just emptying my mind and freeing my imagination. I don't remember the day I picked up a pencil and started drawing instead of sitting during those hours, but I'm sure I didn't have a choice." -SCOTT ADAMS

My painting comes from a similar direction. Between painting stages I often sit and ruminate on a new idea or thought. This usually culminates in new images that HAVE to get out. This process can get pretty efficient in that images and ideas come at any time; sitting at a stop light, the shower, elevators, anywhere. The stronger the idea the more intense it forms and the more it wants to get out. I would hate to think what would happen without this outlet.

Neutral

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:26:00 +0000

Crisis averted. There is nothing like a period of reexamination to clarify the road ahead. I’m sure every creative person experiences this purging turmoil at one time (or even much of the time) or another. I feel back on track with new weapons for tackling what lies ahead.

I am currently closing in on the finish to a few projects; a commission, a Halloween/Jack the Ripper themed show next month, and a bone deep inspection of the modern phenomenon of Holocaust denial. Granted, these aren’t exactly geared for cheery tea time chats, but if you can’t see the shadow you will have a difficult time finding the light.

There is much afoot, stayed tuned.

1st Gear

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:55:00 +0000

It has been a slow road off of the recent crisis. The crisis is a crossroads; if I paint this infrequent my art life may go nowhere and then necessarily become extinct, traded for a more stable family friendly career. I haven’t been painting much lately as a result. I think one way out of this crisis is choosing to make more time for it, a proper amount. I have tonight, but an obstacle or two has already been presented. I have a prior obligation I am reluctant to attend and I have no energy. These are mere obstacles and for now I am resolute.

I have entered into a fine conversation or two recently and perhaps I will post those later. One deals with my art in particular and I found it an interesting take. It was opined that my work is interesting and of notable quality, but “empty”, my emotional content that is. On some level, I agree. Now, for those that know my work and have been exposed to my thinking, it can be agreed that this is quasi-intentional. It is intentional in that my priorities are for painting ideas and notions, not emotional moments and flowers or even pain. I paint ideas and concepts almost philosophically and have actively resisted too much specific emotional baggage. Though this is what I have done, “empty” is no achievement, regardless of where on the totem pole I place the importance of emotion.

That said, my ‘everyman’ forms serve a great purpose. I do not wish to personalize my forms so much that they overpower the theme. Often it is the very idea that individuals are lost in the modern media, replaced by numbers and sensation that drive the ideas behind my paintings. I want to focus on the greater concept of how we are changing as a people, as a world, as a species, with every new development in the conditions of our evolving human condition. When I painted In the Mines, I painted the whole of the lost souls and what it means to risk going underground and being left there in a commercial world. I painted the dark light of man’s last moments, pre-buried. I didn’t paint Jim’s ordeal or Jane’s sacrifice; I painted the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. The same goes for the painting representing the tragedy at the World Trade Center Towers, In the Towers. It represents all of those lost, the fear in all of us, the futility, the capitulation and quiet resignation in the face of the foreground avatar. Bodies twist in that one, as much from the idea of such fantastic carnage as it represents how little we knew of what it must have been like up there and how they would never know what would happen in the years after down here. It is unknown. Putting a specific emotional and realistic face into that dialogue would seem too one sided, like starting an argument with an absolute and refusing to budge your ground.

As mentioned however, “empty” is no triumph and I admit, I could stand to include this element in a more thorough way with my forms. Granted, ‘empty’ may not even be the right word, it may be too harsh (maybe not?), but the viewer trusts me to make the whole argument and I believe I can trust them to engage the whole idea of my intent without stopping on agreement or disagreement of how I use emotion in my paintings. So, I will soon endeavor to better frame my arguments, not neglecting parts of our being for the sake of sterile understanding of the truth.

Clutch

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:23:00 +0000

I started a new composition. Sorry Stacy, yours is in my field of view still, just not on the easel. I am in a mild crisis however, so if there are extenuating circumstances, these are they.

How could I ever not do this? By that, I mean paint. I think I imagined last night, for the first time, not having access to [painting/creative endeavors] and it depressed me on a fundamental level. Not because it was sad or because I would not be able to do something that made me happy. It wouldn't be that simple. The depressing insinuation has everything to do with imagining forfeiting who I have always been, who I am today, and whom I always thought I would be.

This new painting, though in the initial stages, shows me painting will never go away. If I were to give all of this up to make those around me more happy I would only accomplish the opposite by becoming a negative force in their lives. If I had to be someone else out of capitulation, what good is that for anyone? What does that teach? What lesson is that? I know. It is a lesson on how not to live. It would be a lesson in failure and regret and forfeiture. Noble lessons some may say(the French?), but I say that those lessons come along the way regardless, in moments of thinness and moments of cowardice or self doubt.

Painting should be thick, brave, and confident. A painting should not be just a picture, it should be an idea. It should be a journey, an exploration, and an experiment. It should be something unresolved in the beginning. It should be a trial and a discovery and something worked out, like life. These criteria should make this new composition interesting.

I am a painter because I am not otherwise.

Shift

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:33:00 +0000

This could be chemical or this could be bad wine at midnight. This could be fatigue, but this could be real. Often in reflection or thought I come across a new spin on an idea. I practice at this. It takes that, practice. It's tough looking at something differently or anew on demand. It is also important to attempt to view everything from as many angles as one can.

Life is a train ride. Sometimes however, you really need to get off or get on top of this train to get a view not as much for the scenery, but of the vehicle. I still like this metaphor, though my perspective has come to believe that life and choice is nowhere near as linear as train tracks. It's more like the old board game Trouble, where each decision or move is predicated by a push of the hemispherical pop up die toss thing. As in life, direct intention and action couples with randomized interference at the interface of life to determine your fork in the road and inevitably your fate, only in life, the die may have infinite sides and a few other features. But I digress.

Tonight a perspective flashed before me that had no immediate rebuke. There was no automatic refute in my head. There would have been if the idea were as false as it should be, but apparently there is room for consideration. This idea may require a climb to the top of the train and a look around. The flash was this; against all life experience and against all desire and makeup of me, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, I may have to give up painting. Why? I do not live for just me anymore. As minimal as I have allowed painting to become, it may not be enough. It brings in nothing for anyone but me, though I am it. From my daily demands it just seems there is less and less room. And yes I am aware this implies that on a daily basis there is less and less room for me in my own life.

The more I write about this the worse the feeling gets. I don't want to avoid that, but I don't want to buy into something that feels as blackhole-ish as self deprecation. I had the thought for the first time in my life and I felt dread instead of reassurance, that's all.

I may feel fight worthy tomorrow.

In Tangled

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:36:00 +0000

In Tangled. It is the name of this painting, but it explains so much now. I am entangled with this painting. I mean that. I am not only wrapped up in this painting, but I may be entangled in it in Quantum terms. The changes, the spin, the intent of this thing, this canvas, is some part of me, is it this from afar, mysteriously as Einstein might have suggested. I walk away but it changes in my head as I see it on the canvas and as it changes in the studio. It changes on its own now.
I have been working on it longer than ever anticipated. More than I hate it at times, I appreciate it. It is becoming sentient it. I am only helping it now, not creating it. I am helping it reach it’s own conclusion, I merely facilitate. It’s Ok though, this part too is a part I love. I want to move on, but can’t. Not yet.
This end of the image, this stage is what I think making music must be like. You play your instrument, but you get to a point where your fingers remember riffs on their own and your breathing anticipates passages. Together something original happens, something new. This is where music or the brush becomes your lucid dream, your creation you are riding, your movie being shot, the track you are laying down as you listen. You are in the audience of your own concert. This is no autopilot, it’s experiencing what you are working on, it’s active and passive, transcendent.
This may be the experience, or even the wine, but this guarantees nothing, namely quality. That argument begs debate, but over drinks with friends and maybe in another blog. Suffice it to say, getting to this point with a painting delivers a lot of satisfaction.
Is it done? No. When? No idea. When it speaks up I suppose.
I’m glad I got to paint tonight. Tomorrow is 19 hours of work straight and Saturday is at least 12-16 hours without rest with 4 hours of sleep between. That should effectively eliminate Sunday for anything. I have found welcoming Monday is more than tough, but I must trudge forward. Monday and Tuesday are painting nights so I have to come up with energy and positive vibes from somewhere.
I worked in Burnt Sienna Deep, Burnt Umber, Ocher, with a spit of Flake and a brush of Prussian for depth and primarily on the background.

Time to Paint

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:46:00 +0000

I painted this weekend, somehow. It was a busy weekend. Due to a fairly thorough sub layer Saturday night (Brown Madder, Yellow Ocher, Prussian, and Flake) I had to walk away from finishing the whole upper layer as planned. It was too wet to continue in the time I had. I had hoped to catch that tacky stage for finishing some complimentary highlighting, but was unable to get started on time. I was ready too. That has become a thing in fact. More on that later.
Tonight IS a pre-designated painting night however and in that vein, tonight I paint! I prep for the final skin with some revaluing of shaded areas. I will tackle the compliment highlights tomorrow. There is a chance I could throw it off with tonight’s grays the other way around. My recent color adjustments have prompted tonight’s revaluing, but when executed, this adjustment in value will lend itself well to establishing the form of the final layer of skin I hope to tackle tomorrow. It depends on how carried away I get tonight. The fun part is, tonight is relatively monochromatic and generally just shading. It *should* be pretty straight forward and relaxed though there will be a lot of ground to cover. I have a lot of area planned and a unifying warm gray, but this gray will have to dial up and down over the variety of under layers I will be addressing. This will be tough to do correctly, but I love this kind of straight sword fight on occasion. There is less calculation and more fight.
As for the other thing, starting on time is tough in an active household. My painting is regularly deprioritized, but the fact that it has any priority at all is a testament to my perseverance for its importance. This type of struggle is historically common in the arts. I don’t intend to suggest that it is justified in any way because it is common. I won’t even argue that though most successful artists, whether musical, written word, visual, or performing artists, have experienced this priority struggle, that it is even then justified. Hell, I’m not even trying to justify it. There is no reason for that. What I would like to point out is simply this; until one experiences great success in something creative, other elements in life will attempt to unseat those endeavors claiming they are a waste of time or that they obviously are not contributing to the bottom line, the bills, or whatever. No, there is no justifying the creative endeavors because that would require that they are compared to success, time spent wisely, the bottom line, bills, or whatever. There is no comparison because those things exist to support creative endeavors, not the other way around and are not to be compared as though equal or competing.
I am fully aware only now, that not all people understand this distinction. It is an important one. The people that do not understand merely see the above observation as only moving words around while their personal interpretation remains intact. Those that understand the distinction are just nodding, hopelessly. They know the difference and know it is hopeless to explain. In a nutshell, art is life and all that we do is but a servant, obediently struggling to carve out enough time to live it.

Snake's Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:19:00 +0000

I was right, I started hating this painting. Tonight I painted, now I like it again. There is much work ahead, but the direction is clear and the finish nearly as much so. Once again, I used the intimidation of a more difficult task, or at least one with heavier consequences, to my advantage. Knowing I had to lay down the final skin layer for 'In Tangle' and nail it, I decided instead to aim for lower fruit, the snake and some glazing. It paid off. I was relaxed and open. As a result, I have to keep looking over my shoulder because the painting is creeping me out. I will post it soon, perhaps this weekend if I get the chance to work on it again. I need to harmonize the color in her final layers for it to visually sing first.
It is this act, this forming a picture from thin air, causing an emotional reaction, on a previously blank canvas that really gives testimony to the power of imagery, imagination, and how these things color reality. And by reality I don't mean practicality or prudence or maturity. I mean reality, our surroundings and our results when we interact in it. If you were to walk into my studio right now, you would find me nekkid typing at the computer and drinking wine, then you would see the wet painting just behind me and you would have a reaction either internally or something externally/more expressive. I'm kidding about the nekkid thing, but that imagery caused a change in your chain of reality as well. That change may have lead to a memory or a story or a gag reflex, but whatever the reaction or even lack thereof, your reality altered ever so slightly. This painting would do something similar, maybe even the gag reflex. Reality is chaos really so this implies the butterfly affect = a butterfly flaps it's tissue wings, changing the air around it which passes change on until eventually it chains to a typhoon in Japan. My point is, this painting came from the ether of my mind as imagination. Empty head jokes aside, this imagination can lead to a typhoon of change and in this studio I'm flapping my wings like crazy.
Tonight I worked with Cad Yellow Medium, Burnt Sienna Deep, Golden Alzarin, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ocher, some Flake and some Prussian, but just a swipe.

Tonight was mine

noreply@blogger.com (Marrt) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:26:00 +0000

Tonight, I made headway. I cannot claim victory yet, but the changes I made fit my vision, improved the whole, and revealed new things. What more can you ask for? What was the secret formula? What series of events lead me to progress? What guide, what Sherpa joined the party? Well, nothing that exotic, I simply had more important work to do (a portrait) and chose to put it off for tonight. That gave me the freedom I needed to experiment with an idea. The sex beforehand on this very floor, wine after that, and funky online radio station playing some sort of Latin rap/Maori Tribal chants during the session helped a touch, and the fine cigar for post analysis rounded out the picture. All day I was in a funk, but tonight was a measured electricity. It was probably the sex.
I'm reconstructing the InTangle piece. It shouldn't be long now. I can't wait. Though it has proven interesting as I have now worked with new elements like animals, in this case a snake, I am ready to push forward... and, yes, at some point finish that portrait too.
Tomorrow is a painting night as well. I do not anticipate the same formula at the ready, but I should be flying high enough from the relative success I found tonight. Of course, as often happens, I could wake to the realization of total dread. I could look back on tonight's formula and find that maybe the sex was right, but the wine clouded my clarity (it is red after all), the music skewed my soul (kinda felt like that anyway), and the cigar poisoned the whole affair (it was a nice Rocky Patel though?). That would be Ok because I know the day after that I will appreciate it again.
Worked in Prussian, Burnt Umber, and Flake tonight.