Dear Diary

I am now deep into working on my Cinefield®. Of course I never forget how labor intensive it is, but the memory becomes purely intellectual until I start the next one. The mind remembers what the body forgets. In the interim I draw every day. I have two small pads which I have been switching back and forth between.

There is also my photography. I was gifted a “toy” camera. I have slowly been learning how to use it, what it’s voice is, so that we can collaborate. I think whether a pencil or camera, every piece of equipment has its own voice & properties which once you learn you know when to use. Miles had specific horns he used for ballads. No matter what he was playing, he always sounded like him but the flavoring was contributed to by the equipment. So it is for me and all my kit.

The toy camera is not meant to be hi-def or even comparable to what one’s phone does. It intentionally harkens back to those boxy plastic kodak cameras anyone who grew up in the 1970’s/80’s had. (Kodak instamatic 126’s). The pics are lo def and have that look. It is not a filter effect though, but the lens and low MB.

I have noticed some of my peers take photos and then post production add a filter effect or make it black and white and often it’s completely arbitrary. For myself, when I am taking a photo, I have to envision it in black and white from the get go, and not clock through filter options after the fact. Now, with this camera some shots seem to want that older look but without filter. I am lucky it is such small camera as I already carry one or two on me at all times and this wont make bag too much heavier.

Since I won’t have a painting to show for a little, here are some of the sketches I have been doing. I always work quick on them. Sometimes this is a matter of showing off. Always in my head was a practice Matisse did, he would execute portrait drawings intentionally fast. His feeling was if you can capture the essence of a person fast then when taking time for a painting it is easier and also even deeper. There is always a pocket pad on me and even no matter where in the world I am, on my night table.

by Wayne Wolfson

C-beams glitter

My last trip netted me some great photos to use as raw material for my next Cinefield®. As that is so labor intensive, this will be my last painting for a while. Of course I will still draw every day, do some lyra pieces when i start to miss painting.

The piece is 5×7 Watercolor Paper & watercolors.

If anyone saw how orderly my studio was they would be amazed how much constant activity occurs within. Even so, once in a while I go through the drawers of my tabourets since i have the general philosophy of “If you do not know you have it, then you do not use it. If you do not use it, then you do not need it, it is only taking up space.”

I found various things which were made as sort of promotional materials etc for when on the road (professionally printed postcards) and some other goodies.

While supplies last I will send out a small swag pack to anyone who buys one of my books and snaps pic of the book in an interesting place,.

by Wayne Wolfson

Pop Shivers

Shortly to be hitting the road again to gather photographic raw material for my Cinefield® work. Aside from doing that I will also be drawing (woodshedding) or course and adding to my body of fine art & commercial photography. Since what i need to have on me while bopping about the cities of the world has once again changed, i have a new snazzy bag, this trip being it’s maiden voyage.

This piece is done on my trusty pocket pad 4×4 inches.

Pop Shivers 4×4

I got what i would almost label as a toy camera for a gift. This is not a totally accurate though as for some people it is their main instrument and they do wonderful work with it. The low-def aspect of it intentionally is to make it look like the non-professional cameras people used to have pre-digital age. It doesn’t use filter to do this which is good as that always looks inorganic. If one knows the voice of the camera and its limitations, it is great fun and you can get some worth while shots. While i would never have this be my main thing, i do plan on using it often. These are the first shots I did with it. Like everything else, the more i do it the better i am sure i will get.

by Wayne Wolfson

Legs & C.C

My latest two paintings. When I first started painting, as I worked on each piece I would feel my way towards the finish (completion). After many years of drawing, painting, the whole ten thousand hour theory, one day I started seeing the pieces finished in my head before starting. This makes them the complete antithesis from my CINEFIELD® work which starts with a design idea but is 100 in the moment improvised.

This effect/gift call it what you will, is something I had given no thought to before it occurred. It was not a skill that i was working towards or even, one i had read about. Being one hundred percent self-taught, I have no idea if there is a better articulation to how I see painting or what it is like for other painters.

For Legs which is 9×12 French Cotton paper, I eschewed my normal volume and mass effect on the skin. I enjoyed doing something different and it seemed correct for the piece. I think in all my paintings I have done portraits this way3-4 times at the most. I am very pleased with the piece and enjoyed the challenge of creating emotions without relying upon the goonieness of flesh effect.

C.C is in my trusty 4×4 pocket pad. I am still adapting to being used to when best times to paint are wit h the change of ambient sunlight.

by Wayne Wolfson

Two Pastels

I’ve continued on with my exploration of pastels. Really enjoy the medium. I have almost finished the bit of paper which I used for my first foray, which means I can explore some more brands.

Both pieces are 5×7 inches & soft oil pastels.

Selfie

Reclined

Quickly taken photos by me (I do serious fine art ones often)

by Wayne Wolfson

Every Time She Starts To Lah

Changing of seasons and ambient light, still re-learning best time to paint as it is differing from past years. Same with actually photographing the works once complete.

I was sent wrong color for one of my trusty pocket pads. I kept it and use it for all different stuff some serious other things not so much. It felt like it had been a while since I did a painting in one of the pocket pads so decided to do that. Unbeknownst to me, some of the pages were marred. It was only after I started painting I saw this. I decided to keep going anyways. The actual place on paper where I put the paper is fine, there is slight tearing to the right but even that’s not terrible, I am still very pleased with the piece.

Coll 4×4 Pocket Pad & watercolor

Lah 5×7 Paper & watercolor

by Wayne Wolfson

Two Pieces

I paint by natural light and learn for each season when ideal painting time is. In the summer, early mornings are better and by the afternoon I switch to giving my pen a workout.

To start my day I do early morning walks right up until dawn starting too late and it is too cool to be enjoyable. The way it has always gone is that starting in the last week or august or so, every few days/weeks dawn comes five minutes later, air feels little cooler. This year was odd in that it was as if someone just flipped a switch and the conditions which signal the end of my early walks until spring just appeared over night.

I am in process now adjusting to new light situation.

Two new pieces:

Mister Paul 5×7 Watercolor and paper

Ahhh 9×12 Rembrandt Cotton paprt

I have always greatly admired Elliott Erwitt’s photography. He often managed to organically include humor/visual puns, things he saw by complete happenstance. Sunday I was taking all books off my shelves for annual dust-behind. Before i put everything back for one section I saw an unintentional Erwitt-like opportunity for a photo.

by Wayne Wolfson

Three Ladies, Two Mediums

Been hard at work with various projects. I have continued to delve into the pastel medium. Slowly, I am making the original set i bought disappear, then I will try another brand.

There has been a big scandal recently about a well known author whose latest book was a thinly veiled character assassination of a famous actress. To her surprise, she has had very few defenders. An initial defense that she offered up was along the lines of the book not merely being a take down as to write a book requires time sacrificed from other things and effort. Why would someone put their life on hold merely to inflict pain or criticize?

With literature, there can occur slaps, bite-backs etc but if the point of the work is not entirely to harm, then these aspects are tempered by everything else going on within the book. For painting and drawing, the medium makes everything more immediate and there can be no interweaving of a negative and other things as to temper it. You can not do a painting which incorporates an insult/criticism with other things.

Unless a political cartoon type of thing, i do not know any visual artist who would use the currency of their time creating a work to serve merely as a weapon to inflict harm.

Social media has become so fantasy based, idealized versions of people smiling from staged settings, that to present someone as they are is now often not seen as a good thing.

This is why I often prefer to portray myself or members of my informal little troop, there is a trust in what I am doing. And the understanding of my philosophy, truth is beauty.

Nat 5×7 watercolor & Paper

Mar 4×4 Multi-Media Pocket pad

Helen 5×7 Pastel paper & Soft Oil Pastel

by Wayne Wolfson

Pastels

I continue to delve into pastels. The medium is similar to painting but also different. Every medium has its inherent properties and then within the medium different companies equipment has it’s own voice too.

Both pieces are on 5×7 multi media paper

L

MH

spontaneous pics by me as i worked:

A brief word about AI/co-piolet et al:

An aged rocker from the sixties was asked their opinion on writing a song w/ A.I. To paraphrase he said “Well, I guess it is all right so long as they are the one writing the song.” That is not how it works, but being of an older generation & famous chances are, tech is not as necessary part of their life as a regular Joe a few decades younger. It is safe to assume that he lumped it in with email and social media, a new thing he uses a little, often via personal assistant.

AI does not create anything, it collects existing things that others made and Frankensteins them into an often cheesy looking thing. With Co-Piolet whoever decided to name that version of AI that was savvy. I see many authors put an image done with co-piolet up and they will say “It is a creation, i set the parameters.” So if you say “I want to see a rainy street in Paris” or “I want an empty dock overlooking a bay at sunset.” you still have not created anything, a machine then hunts for components other people made and constructs a thing.

For those who have tenuous grasp on the tech a broad example:

You invite friends over for an Italian dinner. You then proceed to go to various neighbors homes who are just sitting down to dinner and you take things off of each table without permission and bring them back to your place as to put it all together for your Italian meal. Just because you named the style of meal does not mean anything, it consists of all stolen things others cooked.

The shame of it is, there are so many good artists out there who would probably gladly lend an image in exchange for credit and link back to their site. If you are a band, an author, anyone who needs to marry an image to what they are doing, take a minute away from self promoting and do a search for artists on any platform, drop them a line.

by Wayne Wolfson

Almost Blue: August 9 Selfie & Blue Pullover

The ever present phones in everyone’s hand has ruined the casual museum goer’s ability to enjoy a painting. Now, a painting must look photorealistic to be “good” because everyone is used to viewing art via their phones. No one wants to see an artist’s brushstrokes or any evidence of a thing done by human hands.

Phones allow people to capture the minutia of their lives instantly. It has almost become de rigueur, even for the most informal of photos for people to do a sort of post-production tweak. Skin is smoothed, other imperfections sanded down. Just as people do not want to see evidence of an artist’s hand in a painting or drawing, photos now may only vaguely suggest one’s age. Unless it is the point of a photo (like those amazing black and white photos of aged people whose crags make them look akin to sculptures) wrinkles, imperfections et al are verboten.

One of my greatest pleasure and something I never tire of is portraying flesh with paint. I did not feel like dealing with anyone but wanted to indulge in my raison d’etre, showing the gooniness of flesh. August 9th, I am looking in the mirror about to shave. Monk’s elliptical patterns float through the half open door.

Gazing in the mirror:

“Wow, good thing I am talented.”

Almost Blue: August 9 Selfie 9×12 Rembrandt paper (this is one of my personal favorites of all my paintings)

Blue Pullover 11×17 Tan paper

by Wayne Wolfson