Sorry I haven’t been posting – blame rhythm of living issues + tech trouble. It’s sorting out, but I must get a new scanner, so I can’t show you my new Norway pictures yet. Am aching to.
Meanwhile, I’ve been continually adding flower pictures to this website. A whole lot more are coming, but already, there’s SO MUCH TO SEE – FIND THEM HERE!
I’ve finished 21 Norwegian mountain pictures, and probably as many more are in various stages of completion. Some won’t make it, but others – like these two I’ve taken quick snapshots of – just might. I had given up on both, and the one below actually lived on my floor for a bit. I’m surprised I didn’t walk over it!
For some reason, I began messing with it again today. Now, it may have real promise, although I’m not sure why. I’m operating out in front of my ability to truly assess what I’m doing – so I’m confused and uncomfortable. And hopeful too.
Oh, and yes, I KNOW the mountain above looks a little like it might be wearing a lacie bra. Maybe I’ll change that. Or not. Tomorrow’s going to be interesting – we’ll see how things stand after the next hard push.
Just because I LOVE her!
A big ol’ bloom again, I know, but with story: while painting it, I became so disillusioned that I tossed it like a frisbee into the corner. Do you see all those dripping marks going upwards? Thats when they happened! I pitch a lot of losers onto the floor, but this is the only time it ever resulted in such wonderful and unexpected marks!
A few days later, while cleaning up a bit, I rediscovered this picture, and I changed my mind completely. I don’t know why I hated it so, but I was wrong – it’s a good one. There are some quite wonderful mark/texture combinations going on in there!
The funniest part is that I’ve tried making intentional “frisbee” marks but can’t get them to work right!
Here are close ups for you:
I can’t believe I started painting flowers four years ago. Seems like only moments have passed, but there were enough of them to have done almost 350 pictures!
It all started when I decided to paint the irises in my derelict garden. Soon enough they’ll be blooming once more, and I think I may do it again. My hand is much looser now and I’m a lot more daring in my mark making. I wonder how this will go?
As you know, I’ve been posting one of my flower pictures every day, for my Sweetie, who has been on a month-long work trip far, far away. She returns this coming Wednesday, and guess what? The wisteria that has gone wild in the trees and saplings around our house is blooming right beside where we set up our hammock! It didn’t do that last year. I took this photo for Reidun, just in case the show is over before she gets home.
AND here’s purple perplexity: Reidun has been working via remote on her office computer, which is so darned cool. But, some weirdness happens: when I emailed her this snapshot of a painting I was working on . . .
. . . this is how it looked after bouncing from me – to her computer – and then on to Australia!
Life is full of noggin-scratchers! I love my life of sharing them with my beautiful bride, who will be home soon!
Can you tell that I like big, splashy blooms with lots of bold and black in ’em? I keep choosing another – and then still another – to show you! Maybe the next one ought to be a different – I wonder which one it’ll be?
There are a lot of reasons why I like this picture, but it’s too nice a day to go into all of that! Enjoy your morning flower on this morning in sunshine!
First off, click this image and take a good look, then I’ll tell you about it – – –
Oh, am I confused! There are some incredible things happening in there, but this is the back of one of my pictures!
Okay, maybe third of this image is the result of ink (in various dilutions) having been forced clear through from the front – remember I’m using a printing press quite a bit, so I can create lots of pressure. The rest of this picture is what I did trying to complete the incredibly ethereal (and unexpected) surprise I discovered when I first turned my paper over!
Clearly, there are some things I still must attend to (like the white spot on the shoreline under the big, black mark. That’s a hole that must be mended. Easy enough, but tweaking this picture the rest of the way will be agonizing. I’m not sure how to do it.
So, I’m running away tomorrow! I’m gonna go fishing, and I might do it Wednesday too. Yep, screw art, it’s time to play hooky.
When I paint, I don’t start with any underdrawing – and usually have no plan other than to make some kind of first mark and then go from there. Very improvisational. I LIKE working this way – it’s free and uncertain – ideas pop in without my expecting them to. If I get a good one, it can change from one picture to the next.
Wanna see what I mean? Let’s take a look by first revisiting two blooms I’ve already shown you. In this one, bold brushstrokes outline the petals around the edges of the bloom – it’s very straight forward:
In this next one, those big black marks are beginning to wander away from their first purpose! They still sort of establish the outside edges of the flower, but aren’t they also about what surrounds the flower – almost background? And notice how within the liquidy gray in the middle, you can begin to see the shapes of pointed petals.
And here is the picture we were heading towards – – – now, the petals that were just beginning to make their appearance in the last picture, have become their own bloom, while the big outside marks have drifted off into surrounding space! From even a short distance, all of these paintings would look very similar, but now you can see that they’re not so at all!
Here’s a closer look just for the heck of it!
It’s a pretty enthusiastic bloom, right? I wanted some big, bold ones that you could climb right into (visually), and ended up with several that were quite nice.
No particular bells and whistles with this one – just no nonsense, pretty decent mark making. Sometimes the way forward is to just get it done!
Moves this close to the disaster hardly ever behave. There’s no such thing as a small mistake, but BIG ones happen way too often!
Once in awhile though, all of my marks go down right (or close enough) and I get a picture like this. Then it’s time to sneak back in and add a little fine texture and detail. I think of it as starting up a visual conversation – giving the big stuff something to talk to. Plus, it’s fun!
CLICK THE IMAGES TO LISTEN WITH YOUR EYES!
I said yesterday that I’d show you another of my flower pictures gone wild, and here it is!
Seeing this with fresh eyes, the syncopation and variety of marks and textures thrills me. Wow, I really nailed it! Here are detail views so you can see what I mean – – –
Sometimes simple – and bold – and a bit whacky fit together quite nicely! It all just sort of splurts out and there’s the picture, looking kinda cool.
This one grew like weeds. One mark led to the next, really, really fast – and I did several other pictures too. In fact, I made a whole garden turn feral in just a few hours!
Maybe I’ll show you another version tomorrow. Here’s a closeup of this one – some wonderfully charismatic marks in there:
Gray sky or dark sky – I’m stuck!!
This one started as a pair of two sheet pictures, but they fit together so astonishingly well I finished ’em that way!
Here are closer views – CLICK ON EACH TO BRING IT STILL CLOSER!
I managed some particularly ragged (yet really well directed) mark making in this picture. It’s powerfully graphic, with great character and contrasts in the textures!
Good Morning to my Sweetie down in Wallaby-land! Especially missing you this morning – – –
Very like yesterday’s bloom – and maybe even nicer? It’s not unusual that I do several variations of an image. I frequently work through an idea that way – it helps me see it in different aspects. Broader vision = growth and more creative power!
