musing on a favorite statue. Quick lyra sketching in trusty 3×5 inch pocket pad.
Paris Painter part 1
Finally able to get back to my Paris studio. In general I’m always tweeking my road gear. Post pandemic, I’ve done some shorter trips but nothing with logistics of returning to Europe. I had no idea what to expect of others in regards to behavior while en route. With this in mind the lighter I could make my bags the better.
I have a great new notebook. It’s refillable and utilizes the disc system. What’s different about it is that the discs are inside the cover, so I can put it in my pocket. I bought a cutter which allows me to refill it with any paper I choose. I saved space by creating good sized pad comprised of watercolor paper, regular sketch and tan multi media.
I have several great arts stores around me so I will eventually get normal sized paper too. This is my first painting. 4×4.
While getting here, there were times of great crowds of people but thats nothing new for international travel. I didn’t find the vibe any different than normal. Regardless of rules, many people masked up. As the tips of the plane’s wings sliced off the edges of Grey silver clouds, I mused to myself. Masks.For me,it’s not about political affiliations, what happened to the concept of sometimes having to do a thing you don’t want to. That’s called being an adult. Truly, your life has not been too bad if having to mask up is the worst thing that has ever happened to you.
Cinefield® – Kini (Blue is Cool)
About to head back to Europe shortly. I had previously written about being able to utilize a pocket printer as to be able to do Cinefield® pieces in my Paris studio. As I live right around many great art supply stores i am sure that I will be able to find adhesive. However, I have never been one to leave things to chance. So i have been experimenting with glues which i can bring with me and are not as outright industrial as my adhesive.
The nature of my pocket printer pieces is that they are small, index card sized at most, 4×5. The first one I did, I tried a liquid glue stick of Elmer’s glue. This wasn’t ideal as when it got on the front side of image it caused discoloration. Also it was so liquid-y that there was no way to really control it despite the fact it was in a pen like delivery system.
In an absolute pinch I could have made due. My final attempt was with the glue sticks with which school children work. This took a bit of learning curve as pieces and sometimes entire sections after the fact would pop off making a brief snow flurry of cut pieces upon my table.
I got a handle on how to best utilize the glue stick, although it made everything more labor intensive. The good thing about it is that I can easily pack a glue stick in luggage w/no hassle from TSA.
There is very little chance though, because of the nature of the glue, that pieces I do would last. The photo I take of the finished piece will be the work/the art. I can’t fully explain why, but there is a freedom in this.
Of course it may be non issue as I find my preferred adhesive once moved back in.
Like all my Cinefield® work, every image is from photos which I personally took. One can see more edge/line of each piece, that is the nature of using pocket printer. The printed material is akin to business card sized photos, there is the impossibility of seamless edge blending as i often achieve w/my regular paper pieces. this piece is roughly 4×4.
Cinefield® We Are Romans
This was my most labor intensive piece. I am very fortunate to have the luxury of what I refer to as “wiggle room” which means no deadline, no audience or collector expectation. Untethered from these things, I can explore and evolve.
Regardless of how accomplished a finished Cinefield® ends up being, I always feel as if I have come away having learned something new. The desire to evolve and go one better as to best deliver an emotional payoff being my raison d’être.
This piece is 11×17. Like all my Cinefield® every i mage used are from photos which I personally took. There is no digital magic. I used the traditional method of scissors and adhesive applied with a brush.
We Are Romans
Limited Edition ‘Sauce
I am currently in the middle of finishing up a labor intensive full sized Cinefield®. My cover for the latest Funki Porcini album Where the Sauce is Deluxe has been as enthusiastically embraced as the album itself. I have received queries about whether the piece or prints of it are available for sale.
I am not ready to part with the original and my initial thought of prints of it made me worry of a loss of intensity, reducing down my work to becoming akin to something one would buy at IKEA et al.
I was presented with the idea of making one print only available to the public. this idea appealed to me as unlike with the current trend of NFTs, here was a work of art one could have and hold. Only doing one copy makes it so that one is not merely buying a slightly pricier, better quality poster.
Of course it would be nice for this piece to find a home but the other part of my motive for this posting is to save anyone with questions about the piece some time.
Here is all the pertinent information:
This piece was used as the album cover by Funki Porcini’s same-named album (2022).
All the images were from photos that I personally took. There was no digital magic/manipulation. I used the traditional technique of scissors & adhesive applied with a brush.
There will only be two prints of this made, one of which will remain uncirculated in my personal archives.
The technical specs are as follows:
– 24×30 inches Printed on Archival semi-matte photo paper 95 lb.
– Cold press mounted and Custom Framed with Museum Glass in a Black Metal Frame
Price: $2,500
Price includes shipping and insurance.
All payments made through Venmo in US Dollars
http://www.waynewolfson.com/works-for-sale
Cinefield® Go,Baby Go
My collage work in a very short amount of time became part of who I am. I lamented the fact that for longer trips/residencies I would not be able to do them. I began to investigate ways to perhaps make it happen.
The easiest thing would be to just use magazines/newspapers from wherever I was. This didn’t appeal to me as I have always prided myself on only using images from photos which I personally took. I researched pocket printers.
My Cinefield® are very time consuming and how to get the images aside, I had already had it in my head that were I able to do them on the road I would go far smaller as it would render a trip pointless were I to spend entire time alone in studio working on a piece. I also have other creative things that I want to do while on the road and the way my normal Cinefield® are made would have eliminated that possibility.
Another practical aspect of going smaller is that all the pocket printers I was finding seemed to utilize types of film. I did not want the raw materials to become cost prohibitive in constructing them.
For obvious reasons it was important that the photos not be laminated which eliminated many of the choices.
I found a device which literally fits in jacket pocket and feels solidly built. It connects to phone via blue-tooth which allows me to use any/all my own photos. The film is not exorbitantly priced although I will stick to my normal paper when not on the road.
My in general goal for doing pieces on road is small in size and utilizing no more than one packet of film per piece. Time wise, no more than two days working on it as this will allow me to also paint, write and absorb wherever I am in the world still.
The small size allows me to also do other things for the hour or so at a time that I am pressing a piece (basically laying heavy books atop it to get rid bubbles).
The film required a completely different touch and technique. In general I have only done several smaller pieces. Surprisingly, they are harder to do than normal size. There is less room to create rhythm/tension & release. What were already small piece often need to be made even smaller.
This is my first piece using the pocket printer. As always, it’s only images from photos which I took utilizing my trusty scissors and adhesive applied via brush.
It is 4×5 inches. surprisingly, it only took seven photos (the photos for pocket printer are about the size of a business card) I did it in two days. I was pleased with result and the fact that I pretty much met all the “rules” I had in mind.
addendum:
The news is bleak. The internet is fertile grounds for scams masquerading as charities or people who want to help. A hero of mine, José Andrés has a charity whose goal is to feed those in need. It eschews any politics for the basic notion that you can change the world by feeding everybody. This charity is not solely concerned with the Ukraine, although they are boots on the ground there now. Over the past few years, wherever there have been natural disasters he and his colleagues could be found trying to help out via feeding those who are hungry for whatever the reason.
I recommend to all to at least take a look at their site as it’s worthwhile.
“Cinefield® Go,Baby Go” 4×5 inches
Why So Cereal
“You made me beautiful” she said upon seeing the finished piece.
It was, but I just painted what I saw. With all my portraiture I go for a sort of raw reportage. If I see it, it appears in the piece. I never airbrush out (so to speak) any imperfections nor do i exaggerate any by way of settling scores. To me, all truth is beauty.
I always want people to be able to return to a piece and see new things. This is why traditional beauty has always bored me. The little quirks and imperfections make it real, make it interesting. The organics of a piece is often helped by only using people I know as subject matter. The trust allows for natural body language and facial expressions. There are some great yet unknown painters out there whose work’s power is diminished by coming across as overly academic or all the cheesy glam poses. I don’t worry about the beauty aspect, but rather the realness.
This piece is 11×14 inches. Watercolor on brown paper.
Funeral Clothes
The magic of the internet, artists no longer need face the prospect of spending a life in service of the process but with their oeuvre largely unseen. The flip side of this coin is that there are some artists who, without easy access to an audience would have to work harder and ultimately become better artists. It also has made artists seek not an audience but customers, their output reduced down to just another commodity.
I try to largely eschew promoting what I have for sale. A cursory look at my blog shows what a rare occurrence the promotion of things for sale is.
However, I am not anti commerce. Art is meant to be seen, to be read. I have a new collection which just came out. Succinctly, it’s beautiful, it’s heavy.
Available at Amazon in Kindle & paperback
The Other Side
I draw every day, no matter where I am in the world. When on the road, at the very least I will do quick guerilla sketches and woodshedding in my ever present trusty pocket pad. Of late most of my formally done works switch off between Cinefield® and painting (during the execution of which I will still woodshed every night).
A new painting had been started but then it rained out every day with the forecast calling for the following week to be more of the same. I only use natural sunlight to paint by so this was not good for me. I put the painting aside and went on to start Cinefield® Where the Sauce is Deluxe. Between the weather and how labor intensive that piece was the painting sat untouched for four weeks, something I had never done before.
When I went back to work on it, it felt strange initially but I quickly found my rhythm. I am very pleased with the piece. Although I always end up over the course of working on a painting having to let it dry a day between coats. As matter of personal preference, I was not a fan of having a piece left untouched for that long a duration.
The Other Side watercolor & paper 9×12 inches
Cinefield® – Where the Sauce is Deluxe
Throughout my oeuvre, emotion is my ultimate goal. I want the viewer to feel something. Music is my main source of inspiration regardless of subject matter or even medium.
I have pretty big ears, never restricting myself to one genre nor era.
Although I lean towards jazz & classical I do have some categorization defying things in heavy rotation too. Things like Kruder & Dorfmeister, Kina Rao and Funki Porcini.
Funki Porcini is an absolute favorite to whom I have listened to for years. His music encapsulates various moods. In lieu of one sonic voice ever present on every album which can lead to a feeling of heard one heard them all, he offers up instead, technique which he uses to great effect to create dense dreamlike works.
My Cinefield® vary, from cityscapes to floral explosions to abstracted colors and shapes. The commonality being their density and dreamlike quality.
I now have the pleasure of one of my Cinefield® being used as a cover for the forthcoming full length album by Funki Porcini. Both share the same title. As is always the case with my Cinefield®all the images I used were from photos which I personally took. There is no digital magic, just my trusty scissors, I applied adhesive with a brush. One difference in my methodology was in only listening to a specific soundtrack comprised of a pile of albums including the new one and a few other favorite of his as I worked. The piece is 11×14 inches.
I will put up details on where the album is available once its out.
Cinefield® – Where the Sauce is Deluxe 11×14
There is a special multi-night gig associated with this going on:
We will be doing the album launch with the Laserium at commonground in Coventry, four nights 28-31st January.
Tickets HERE
1/29/22 The album is now out and available via all the usual digital platforms (amazon, bandcamp et al) bandcamp link:
https://funkiporcini.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-sauce-is-deluxe
Paper Life Painting 