Week 9 at the Studio

First let me say how nice it is to sit here in my studio in Millville surrounded by paintings and works in progress. I am feeling particularly energetic this week. I had a good day in spite of positively miserable weather. I enjoyed my class at Princeton with Kenny Goldsmith this week as we get deeper into the exploration of language and words. Great class…makes me think for sure.

I was in the studio many days this week but when I arrived on Tuesday I realized that I only had panels that were half prepared. So, I decided for a day to focus on exactly that. I worked on finish-priming about 8 panels and pre-priming about 8 more as the small paintings are happening rather fast. You can see the finished panels above as they are in their last state the an imprimatura in place.

While they were drying I set up a still life of some paint tubes (the primary colors) and lit them from one side. In January I did a rather unsuccessful painting of paint tubes and the metal was lost on me. This time I decided to focus, focus, and focus. I did two layers as the last was to modify the shapes, metal and background. Primary Trio (below) came out much, much better. I manged to capture the metallic sensation of my favorite brand of oil paint - Old Holland. As you can see I am very bad about cleaning the tops of my oil paint tubes before putting the caps back on.  I get incredibly impatient when I am ready to paint.

Today I decided to do a vertical panel and focus on the ethereal quality of the atmosphere again but this time in oil. From a photograph, I loosely interpreted a tree, Silhouette, and its surroundings. I used transparent paint for nearly the entire painting. I also used a very limited and muted palette to keep the colors quiet. I also used an Old Holland turquoise color in some of the first strokes as it changed the gray to a blue-gray.

Both of these paintings are 6 X 8 inches. I hope to increase the size of my panels. So, today I took the bold step of calling Cheap Joe's and ordering 10 X 20 inch panels in pursuit of larger landscapes. I hope to find references as I am not prepared to paint oils outside (but itching to paint watercolor plein air for sure).

Next week is very busy as Princeton will occupy Monday and Tuesday. I will also be moving my paper forward (made possible by the input of many kind faculty and friends at ACCC). So, with Easter coming and a visit to my parents in Delaware with John and the pack of three, studio time will be limited to Wednesday and Thursday of next week but as it warms up, the studio will be outdoors! More to come next week as I continue at Princeton, the gym with my brother, the studio for much of the later part of the week progressing rather slowly but surely.