Cakettes

I am not a fan of The Byrds. However, they do have one album I enjoy. It is unique in their catalog and the artistic direction was abandoned, never to be touched upon again in their body of work

Sweetheart of the Rodeo

It is largely informed by the artistic leanings of new member Gram Parsons. Stylistically, it is the nascent version of alt country-rock. During the recording there was a lot of infighting within the band and a jockeying for control which is in contrast to the overall sweetness to the music.

Listening to it now, whether you like it or not, it does not come across as something which would be controversial. In 1968 though, it was. The brief tour was disastrous, made worse by some of the personalities in the band. This version of the band imploded and the countrified direction jettisoned.

Gram Parson would form The Flying Burrito Brothers with Byrd bassists Chris Hillman. The ‘Burritos would be influential, echoes of what they did rippling out to later groups such as the Eagles, Wilco and many others.

I have always followed the maxim of Duke Ellington, there are only two kinds of music, good & bad. I have big ears and although jazz & classical are my main things I have many things I enjoy which would surprise people. ‘Burritos being one of those things.

The latest birthday cake from the Cakettes is a masterpiece. I would like to point out, nothing was molded. Every little piece was done by hand. The cowgirl & figures were constructed of individual pieces.

More info on cake:

Almond joconde

Grand Mariner Italian meringue buttercream

Dark chocolate ganache

Cowboys made from grand Marnier royal icing

Sweetheart and band label are thyme shortbread cookie

Flowers are meringue and homemade marzipan

Written tablets are homemade marzipan 

Album title is meringue

Addendum: I know having my name on image sort wrecks effect. Generation Instagram has no problem taking images they like for content w/out attribution. To take something someone worked hard on for your site and write “I don’t know who did this” is not a get out of jail free card. I would say to anyone, if you see an image you like and dont have info on who created it, if it is not public domain then it is stealing.

by Wayne Wolfson

Reflex

Still in painting mode. I am literally hours away from short trip which in theory will provide me with photographs to use as raw material for my Cinefield® work. Having had an enforced break, initially I chafed, since I was not controlling the tempo. I now see a positive in having had wait what feels like a long time before creating my next one.

The wait has allowed me to have some new ideas and allowed me to approach my Cinefield® work feeling refreshed.

It will be interesting to see what next one is like as photos dictate the flavor of the piece.

In the interim, here is new painting.

Reflex 11×17 inches Watercolor & Tan Paper. I did a study for this which I don’t do with all my paintings.

Annnnnnnnnnnd I am off. Always looking for interesting things to draw & paint email me if you think you have something to offer.

by Wayne Wolfson

Cap

I was reading an article by a modern thinker or what some would label as a philosopher. He pointed out that in modern society happiness has now become largely defined in North America as when things go 100% one’s way. Everything coming up roses with zero effort, resistance or work required is not what one should aspire to. The rare if not impossible occurrence of such a state existing aside, a little bit of tension, setbacks, challenges, these things foster evolution. Grit creates pearls and pressure diamonds and to avoid these aspects of life is to miss out.

The weather has still not been on my side for traveling and getting new photos for my Cinefield® work. I continue to use the time I would have spent creating my next Cini to paint and do various experiments with water soluble graphite.

I was initially a little annoyed at having to back-burner working on my next Cinefield® but it has allowed me to add to my painterly technique. It turned into an opportunity even though I had not initially viewed it as such.

In about two weeks I will be on the road and hopefully getting some photos to utilize.

Here is latest painting. It’s 11×17 Watercolor & tan paper.

I want an audience not customers. Social media platforms more and more force artists into being merchants or coming across as attention starved with “the numbers game” of chasing likes views et al. I have been getting emails asking what pieces I have for sale which is nice as it’s not info that i bombard people with. For anyone interested:

http://www.waynewolfson.com/works-for-sale

by Wayne Wolfson

Vibe

The short trip I had planned to take photos for my next Cinefield® had been put off. I took the time that I would have been working on that and painted. For two plus weeks now my area has been in the grip of triple digit heatwave. Getting more photos further stymied, I have continued on with painting.

I usually switch between Cinefield®, painting and other visual project, so working on so many paintings in a row is novel for me.

To keep it fresh, for each painting I change the type & size.

This one had an unique compositional balance to it. I find beauty not necessarily in what is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but what is real.

This piece is 7×10 French Cotton paper & watercolor.

I am always looking for interesting things to paint & draw, if interested send email.

by Wayne Wolfson

Terrible Beauty (for Laurie Lipton)

I was supposed to do a short trip as to take photos for my next Cinefield®, but circumstances beyond my control pushed it back. With no raw fuel for next Cinefield® I have spent some of my time painting.

As to keep things fresh, I keep changing the size and type of paper but also the subject matter. With so much time before I can get my shots, were I to just keep doing portraits it would start to become mechanical or feel akin to putting together Ikea furniture.

My last painting was a traditional portrait with straight up compositional balance. When mulling over what to do next I decided I wanted to do something beautiful but sort of off-putting too. I was very pleased with the results.

I dedicated this to Laurie Lipton. I have been into her works for about a year. What makes her special aside from her massive chops is that in her oeuvre the medium of pencil is the star. It is not second class citizen nor merely something to train with between painting.

Although nowhere near her level, viewing her works has made me up my shading game (which definitely improved).

Often her pieces have a mordant bent to them but you have to do a double take on some of them before this is apparent. Existentially tortured housewives and queues of skeletons conjured up by her hand are beautiful but also induce a sort of dread.

My piece is not an image taken directly from her body of work. Laurie’s work was starting point for me, the inspiration for having dichotomy of terrible but beautifully done.

Terrible Beauty is 7×10 watercolor on French cotton paper.

by Wayne Wolfson

L

Among my greatest pleasures is to portray flesh with paint. It is not a salacious thing, it need not be a nude. I’ve done many hands and other body parts. I have done closeups on things so that they verge on abstractions, the viewer initially not knowing what they are looking at.

This is an aspect of painting which consistently keeps me engaged. The wonderment of it, one starts with a flat two dimensional square or rectangle. With pencil & brush you conjure up not only volume and mass but the suggestions of warmth as blood rushes to the surface in areas or through the veins. It is akin to a sort of magic trick and no matter how many times I do it, I still marvel at it.

I switch the types of paper I use as to avoid lapsing into mere mannerisms. With everything else that I do creatively, there are still times that certain types of paper or pencils fall to the wayside temporarily.

This piece is 9×12 and on a white paper which was main one I used to use most of the time. I have finally circled back to it once again. After such a long break, the one which had been the de rigueur found itself the new-thing challange.

I was very pleased with results.

L 9×12 Watercolor & Paper

I am always looking for interesting things to draw/paint. If you think you have something email me.

by Wayne Wolfson

Times of Trouble

The news is bleak. One can take their pick as to why this is an apt description. It is during these times that artists in every medium have a duty, do your thing. You need not insert political message nor program of the zeitgeist into your work.

Creating something for others to experience via one of the senses serves as a reminder. It’s easy to forget that there are things worthwhile outside of the current strife, there are things bigger than ourselves which are more important, culture in all its forms. Culture seems almost to be an insult now in some quarters, it’s now wedded to elitism which is a different thing.

Things which seemingly are not one of life’s necessities, such as art, offer the chance to get out of our own heads. At a minimum, art & culture can be a brief respite from the grind of daily life. It’s always my hope to be able to offer this via my work.

“B” Watercolor & French Cotton Paper 5×7

I am always looking for interesting things to draw/paint, drop me a line if you think you might have something.

by Wayne Wolfson

Truth is Beauty

Ever present cell phones have allowed all to capture the minutia of their lives via pics and Shakey-hand movies. on occasion marvelous things have been captured. The more present negative is that people have forgotten how to look at paintings.

A “good” painting now must be in the real/hyper real style, being comparable to photos. It is not desirable to see the artist’s hand via brush strokes et al in a work.

I was in a museum which was having a Magritte  show. There were the by now all overly familiar images on display. People would walk up to the best works, striding off muttering in disappointment that they liked it more when they had seen it on a computer screen or postcard, in person it looked “too homemade” i.e. brushstrokes etc.

I am not afraid of having one of my drawings look like a drawing or a painting. With Matisse for example, no one is going to study anatomy off of one of his works. However, when he portrays a woman reclining on a couch, you know what you are looking at. Had you been alive at that time and in the neighborhood you might even recognize the woman. Most importantly, even after all these decades, the captured emotion still radiates out of the works.

I prefer to not use professional models. There’s often an artificiality to their poses. My main thing is emotion, this is what I want to give the viewer even more than admiring technique.

More often than not, I use people whom i know and that trust me. This allows for a realness which is beautiful. The realness of my paintings is not the technique but the natural poses and emotions.

Truth is Beauty 11×17 Watercolor on tan paper

by Wayne Wolfson

Dear Diary

With everyone having phones now the ability to capture amazing scenes is always just a pocket away. When something is too easy though, it starts to loose power. Phone-cams went from being at the ready in case something fantastically dramatic should occur to being merely the facilitator of the mostly mundane minutia of people’s live being on a non-stop social media scroll.

One of the biggest and most far reaching negatives of this is how it effects people being in the stream of life. I travel, often. An overly familiar sight now is people rushing around a famous museum or well known area (Luxembourg Garden et al) stopping to raise their phone slightly above themselves while duck billing, snap a pic, then rushing off. Their justification is that they are capturing memories. So preoccupied are they in getting the perfect pics to post that they are not in the moment, not in the stream of life.

Once back home they can show you them standing by some landmark, some great work of art but there can be no description which makes you feel as if there. Even for them, this is the case and they had actually been there.

The adage that travel broadens the mind is not merely about ticking off things on a list of what to see, where to go. It is absorbing a place with all its ambient characteristics which hopefully in some way add to you long after the trip is over.

I am not anti-photo, I take some myself wherever I am. But see and capture with your eyes first. I always have a 3×5 pad in my pocket. I will do small sketches when on the road and take notes. Not always dramatic, sometimes it’s just a room service tray with the leftover bones of a hastily eaten meal or my book bag hanging off the back of a chair.

Not everyone can draw, but you should still keep a little pad on you. Use it to take notes. In doing this you will actually be more present in the moment if you slow your roll and take a beat to describe what you are seeing. As you are doing this just for yourself, even if you can’t draw, why not try anyways?

That is another negative of social media, everything seems to be motivated now towards getting views/likes. The recently departed Paul Auster said “Do a thing simply for the beauty of doing it.” To live this way, you may not garner as many likes etc but you will create true memories.

by Wayne Wolfson

Cinefield® Miles

For all my work, I’ve always had two main goals. To develop a discernable voice and to create works which in some manner effect the viewer. The first was achieved via lots of sweat and singular concentration, while the second will be a life-long mission.

The problem with having a recognizable voice is that one can either unintentionally or out of laziness lapse into mere mannerisms. This is to be avoided at all costs. It is the motivation behind my constantly leaving my comfort zone and trying new things.

For Miles I sought to make it different than what had come previous. It can still be recognized as a sibling of the predecessors as the medium does to some extent effect the voice. The mission for this one was that I wanted the viewer to be able to go back multiple times and find new little moments occurring within to notice.

As is always the case with these works, I only use photos which I personally took. For this piece, I was fortunate to find an area which was trying to entice night people with entire buildings being lit up in purples and pinks. These colors being new to my Cini palette were a great way to further the newness I was trying to achieve. I would combine an overall different color palette with an increased rhythmic complexity.

There is no digital magic, I used my trusty scissors to cut out tiny pieces and a brush for adhesive. The piece is 11×17 inches.

I always have a sort of soundtrack when I do Cinefield® pieces. I do not merely listen to same albums over and over, the soundtrack is what i start out with and as the day goes on other things are put on. They serve as an initial mood setter. This piece’s soundtrack:

Miles Davis Big fun

The Soft Pink Truth Is It going to Get Any deeper Than This

Bennie Maupin & Adam Rudolph Symphonic Tone Poem For Brother Yusef

Mozart (Rene Jacobs conducting) La Clemenza di Tito

(C) 2024 Wayne Wolfson not for use without permission

by Wayne Wolfson