Amanda

Still not sure when I am going to have a chance to take photos to use as source/fuel for my Cinefield® work. In the interim I have been enjoying painting and drawing in my trusty pocket pad. A few people had commented on noticing I had changed type of pad I use a few months ago.

Always on me now is Talens Art Creation Multi Media 4×4 inches. It stands up to blending I do when watercolor painting and same with water soluble graphite. A small thing, but which makes a big difference for the times I throw it in my bag instead of pocket is that it has an elastic which holds it closed. This means that the pages are never torn nor bent.

This piece is watercolor & multi medium paper 4×4 inches. As always, if you have interesting photo of yourself that I might be interested in drawing, drop me a line

Delight

I currently have no new raw material (photos) for my next Cinefield®. I do not mind as I am enjoying painting. Portraying human flesh with paint continues to give me the same pleasure as when I initially was able to do it well.

Here are two new pieces. Both are watercolor on paper. One in my pocket pad 4×4 inches and the other a new paper I recently discovered 5×7.

There is a great quote by author Paul Auster along the lines of “Do a thing simply for the beauty of doing it.” As an artist, I came up pre-internet (this was when I also had to have a string of terrible day jobs) A buddy and I would do literal Xerox-staple ‘zines. We would run all over town bullying, pleading & annoying Bookstores, Record stores anyplace, to carry them.

If two people saw them, you felt like you were one hundred feet tall. But, this was the bonus as it was about serving the process. It was a calling, a romance, which I am still swept up in. There was not the worry of social media numbers, likes. reposts etc.

I have noticed that many Parisian artists sort of have this attitude. Of course it has become a necessity to maintain an online presence no matter where in the world one is, but you do not see heads bent in prayer to screens in the same way you do stateside.

Do a thing for the beauty of it and the rest will follow, it may not be as immediate as posting and then getting a “like” but it will be more lasting and meaningful.

Paris Painter III

I have been greatly enjoying using my newish pocket pad for painting. It is interesting how ambient light effects a piece. If a room is naturally darker then the application of paint is thicker whereas a really bright space less paint is used. This is because of how the eye perceives the colors.

My studio has a natural sort of yellowish/gold tinge to it. I am fortunate in that I can see in my mind’s eye how to compensate for it.

“M After” Watercolor & pocket pad 4×4 inches

Drawing with impulse buy pencil

One of my other favorite statues in Paris

so many buildings have plaques denoting who lived there, when and what they did. There are many for Picasso who had numerous homes in the city. Sometimes an artists had many homes because they kept skipping out on the rent! With some artists you see several plaques all within the same arrondissement.

Paris Painter II

The lighting in my new studio is different, but I feel I have a handle on it now. I am well into the swing of things. I’ve mostly been using my semi new to me pocket pad for painting. Drawings been spread out all kinds of paper. 4×4 inches

I discovered a new to me paint company. They have been around since 1830. Among many greats, Matisse and Renoir got their watercolors from them. They remain very artisan. Just looking at the paints you see the difference in pigments. They also have proprietary colors.

paints are not paints, each hue has its own distinct properties and then this varies even more from company to company.

Not knowing if I would like them, I just bought five to try. This is why on my first piece skin doesn’t have volume & mass I usually achieve. I instantly liked the paint, it handles diff than anything else I have used. Decided to go all out, new 5×7 paper, new paint.

Maestro. One my fave statues in all of Paris.

R (Adventure of a Paris Painter 1)

For the first time in a decade I’ve had to change my Parisian studio. Gone the view of the dome for Val de Grace and the enormous bird who sleeps in the windowbox among the geranium, his throaty song heralding dawn.

I was a little sad of course. On the other hand in warmer weather once past the noon hour I would not have to paint clad in a sarong and tee shirt or risk baking like a potato.

I am still learning the light in new place, ideal times to paint.

Here is my first piece, watercolor and pocket pad 4×4 inches. I was pleased with the results.

Quick sketch,new to me paper

Zam-Zam

This is my last painting in America for a while. It is Watercolor & French cotton paper 5×7. (As has become my practice I will use whatever paint is left in palettes to do a pocket pad piece too)

I was very pleased with how it came out.

I am always looking for interesting people to draw, feel free to email me photos (people only) if you think you may have something of interest.

Do not forget about my newest release, available in paperback & kindle:

Whammer (Selfie)

Finished my painting. I had actually done a study for it beforehand which is not my usual way of working.

A bunch of us used to sit around and play games which were tied in with the life of being an artist. One was: describe your technique or mission in one sentence. For me it has always been “The gooniness of flesh”.

I want to show the heat generated by the flesh, the blood coursing below the surface, the splotches, the bruises.

Probably couched in grandeur terms, this was one aspect of the power of the work by the tronie painters as well as the mannerists painters. Even Jenny Saville’s earlier work has elements of this beauty and power.

I often do self portraits as showing myself as I am does not offend nor disappoint me as it may were it someone else emerging from my brush.

It is a truth and truth for me is always beautiful.

It is 11×17 Watercolor on tan paper.

Quick Sketch Study

Always looking for interesting things to draw/paint. Email me if you think you have something.

Drawings

Full ahead into my next Cinefield®. Of course still drawing every day. I do not seek out things with a specific vibe. I would like to think that when not portraying someone from within my circle, I am a sort of spokesmen for those who have slipped through the cracks, the lonely, forgotten and outsiders.

My regular subjects intuitively know I enjoy that sort of convulsive beauty. I am fortunate that they trust me to present me with such honesty.

Poet laureate of the forgotten & ignored or from within my circle, either way, it’s raw reportage. I do not seek to beautify nor take down any subject.

All pieces are quick sketches in my trusty pocket pad.

I am always looking interesting things to draw, email me if you think you have something.

Pocket Pad

Just back from a trip where I successfully was able to take photos to use as Cinefield® fuel (materials). As is always the case, this is going to be labor intensive.

While on the road I used my new pocket pad. As I work on new Cini this will continue be main outlet for visual work too.

The pad is 4×4 inches and we are already fast friends. Back in my American studio, I finish me coffee put on some Miles and get to it.

Always looking for people to draw. Email me for details.

Blue Robe

Weather finally allowed me to finish the painting I had been working on. This is good, as I am back on the road Sunday.

I went for a self portrait. With a new year and what looks to be a bumpy road for us all I wanted some positivity. There is a long tradition of painters doing self portraits. I have already done many. This one was just to remind myself that i am a small link in a chain that stretches far back. All those other eras had tumultuous times but despite whatever was going on, culture lasts past it.

My other less lofty inspiration was the face I see in the mirror every morning as I shave. I had given up sweets several years ago. Between that and getting older, I noticed one morning that I was slowly becoming a character out of a Velazquez painting.

I don’t mind as it is interesting to draw and paint.

This piece is 11×17 Watercolor & Tan paper

I did one study beforehand in water soluble graphite.

Water soluble graphite Study 4×4 inch pocket pad