At least until Mid-July I will not be able to take photos to use as raw material for my Cinefield® work. I continue to happily paint, enjoying myself. As I am locked into a groove, this piece too was done in my Talens Art Creation Multi Media 4×4 inches pocket pad.
Watercolor & paper 4×4 inch Pad
I had a little bit of paint left in my palette. I also had few of a different style I had bought while doing residency in Paris. These have a different style of pigment and look to them. I decided to do a loose experiment. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong pad of paper. I have a tabouret drawer for every style I use. Some are for different mediums but look the same unless you take a beat and read cover. I meant to use multi-medium paper which can be used with watercolors and other wet mediums.
Instead I ended up with regular tan toned sketch paper. This meant that among other handicaps I could not do my proper blending. I decided to continue on anyways. Despite it being my first time with the paints and the wrong paper for the wet medium, I was pretty pleased with result, especially for a first foray.
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.
I am in the process of getting the release of my next collection ready. And, I am few weeks out from returning to Europe, so I can not devote massive amount of time required by Cinefield® work. The actual work involved in creating a piece aside, I can’t have my studio take on the inevitable sprawl of sheets of tiny cut out shapes which is part of the process.
Instead I have been doing paintings which is different but as rewarding for me.
Each Cinefield® has been different from the previous and sometimes, time between creating them actually can help. As does going to different places to take my raw material photos.
Here is my latest painting. French cotton paper 5×7 inches & watercolor.
I had read an interview with a deep thinker who said that a major problem with many people in North America is that “happiness” now means when things go 100% their way, no effort required, no resistance to the desire (s).
Aspiring to this type of thing, It’s like aiming for perfection, which is a sure fire way to misery and missing out. While I am not necessarily akin to an 18th century German philosopher who believes life is merely struggle, I do think it has its ups and downs.
The struggles shouldn’t be avoided, pressure makes a diamond, grit a pearl. The trick is to have enough moments in-between the strife which make it all worth while.
There were definite aspects of the past year which, depending upon how one views the world, were brutal. It was some of these bad moments which made me delve further into my craft, as to keep my sanity. I also continued to explore things which resulted in discovering even more new music and authors along with peers with whom I have struck up friendships.
The stoics probably got it right, live an engaged constructive life while realizing it is akin to a giant wheel upon which we are all bound. Sometimes it lifts you up, while at others you are downward slopping. Here’s to hoping we all feel the sun on our bellies more often than not in ’25
I am in the middle of edits for my next collection (spring release) and weather has stalled the painting currently working on, so here are several of the daily drawings I have been doing in various mediums. (all are quick sketches)
Prob my last drawing of ’24 Quickie charcoal piece:
The tiny paint brush I have used all year (macro shot since it’s tiny) Nothing could be more emblematic of my life & year. Beaten upon thing which ceaselessly created beauty/terrible beauty
Read enough biographies on artists and regardless of medium and era a commonality becomes apparent. It is what I call The Sweet Spot. This is the time when the struggle/work for the artist to achieve their distinctive voice has been achieved. All the work which goes towards fostering the skill to do so now takes no more effort to motivate into action than a health habit. And there is now an audience which gets rid of the abstracted “someday,,,” aspect the lack of which causes the “Why am I doing this again?”.
There is an audience but not so big that the artist, even if only on a subconscious level, incorporates into the equation all the expectations of fans, critics and gallerists. There is the luxury of being able to work and experiment giving no thoughts to consequence.
More often than not, the artist recognizes this golden age only after they are well past it. If lucky, in old age they may get a second shot once established as an institution or national treasure but this is not always guarantied.
I feel fortunate, for among other things, recognizing that i am in the sweet spot. I decided to try a bunch of new things for this painting. Why not? I am very pleased with how it turned out. To me, it does not look radically different from my other paintings despite all new things I tried.
I have started reading The William H Gass reader. Right out of the gate I found myself deeply enjoying it. One of the first essays is on books which were touchstones for his life as an author. Early on he makes a point of drawing a distinction, it is not supposed to be a “best books” list but rather ones which resonated personally for him and which served in his journey into becoming an author.
He mentions Flaubert’s Bouvard et Pécuchet. Of the trinity of Flaubert, Balzac and Zola I had always held him in the least esteem (with Zola being, in general, one of my favorite authors). Right before returning to France a few years ago I read the excellent bio on Cezanne by Alex Danchev. Cezanne talks so passionately about Flaubert, i felt the stirrings of considering giving him another try.
That season I kept meeting Helene and Charlie for drinks and book talk. Her admiration of the trio was the inverse of mine. Her description has stuck with me:
“With Balzac, it was all money, money, money if only I had the money. With Zola it was sex, i need power to get sex, I use sex to get money to get power to have sex. But Flaubert, there is an author, the sentences each meticulously crafted.”
I decided to give Flaubert another try. I went to Gagliani and bought Sentimental Education and Bouvard et Pécuchet. I read Sentimental first. It was good, i definitely had more appreciation for Flaubert than I used to. It was Bouvard though which sealed the deal for me. I found the book darkly funny in the way early Celine had been.
What is interesting to me is that when this book is discussed it’s merits are often described via a shorthand of being “funny” ala wacky Swiftian satire. I think people perceive it this way because it and Sentimental Education form perfect bookends. The later is more outwardly “dark”. I like it, but really it is just a romantic era story of squandered potential and the dried up promises of bygone youth. And, of course, the usual chess like romantic patterns of the main characters. Bouvard is actually a darker novel.
Gass has very much same assessment. His articulation spot on and obvious, but not until you have heard him say it.
I would never argue interpretation with someone on art unless they were 100% wrong. With my own work, unlike when I was first starting out, I rarely talk about it. Fascinating though that art can have completely differing interpretations. Is one person wrong or are they merely noticing and emphasizing in talking of it, a different aspect than someone else?
The pandemic has effected people in drastically different ways. I am not talking about how they directly handle it i.e wearing a mask, not wearing a mask et al. Rather, the sea-change that has come over people in regards to their personal philosophy. For some it served as grim reminder that life is fleeting so live while you can. For others, it has served to bring on a sort of cautious vigilance less something else unexpected further swat us down.
A type of cabin fever-life is too short bubbles up in many and temporarily dictates their actions. I find myself getting notes, photos, movies which when looking at, I keep this in mind.
One of the photos which I recently received had an interesting compositional point of balance. I decided to make a painting of it. As i worked on it, I found people all had different interpretations on it. “Hot” “Silly” “Weird” “Beautiful”. Like Bouvard, it has a little bit of everything in it. The main overriding intent is not for me to say as why would I want to make anyone wrong and temper their enjoyment.
I have noticed lately that there are a lot of museum shows & installations “walk through a van Gough painting” type of things using projections and other tech. I am sure this will attract revenue. For anything which is lazy, bad or dare I say plebeian, there are intelligent people out there ready to supply articulation as to justify it. The gimmick as (art) museum show; “This will attract those who don’t usually go to museums.” It is not so much bringing culture to those who normally would not bother but rather a transmutation of it into something akin to the latest block buster movie.
The problem with this is that it makes the artist/work besides the point. It is spectacle as focus and not artist work/intent. The deeper problems with this, as it is many people can not stand in line to get their coffee without keeping their head bent down in their phones as to be blasted by digi-sensations as to distract them from their five minute wait. A Picasso-laser show type thing is further contributing to a complete lack of the public’s ability to “merely” stand and look at a work of art. All art regardless of era and medium has a component of contemplation to it. We are perhaps a few years away from people going to one of the great museums of the world, standing in front of an immortal piece; a Renoir, a Velazquez et al impatiently waiting for the razzle-dazzle to begin.
When reading about art, depending upon where you live, there is a lack of the ability to go out and actually see the painting or works by a specific artist. The internet is good to look something up and get the gist of it, but it can not compete with the real thing. There is a difference. Looking at works mainly online, going to mutli media mutations of an artist’s work have changed what looks “right” or “good” to a modern art audience. They do not want to see brush strokes or other evidence of an artist’s hands which are a part of their voice. A smooth machine like perfection as encountered online, on postcards is what is now preferred.
One could imagine Soutine talking to a gallery owner or museum director and being told “Don’t worry, we will smooth down the rough edges digitally…”
You can’t fight progress nor the populist bent but merely offer an alternative for this willing to explore. The ability to portray flesh in all its beautiful imperfections is something I will never tire of.
It had been rainy/overcast for what feels like forever. I worked at my painting in stops & starts. Sol finally obliged me and I finished. I was pleased with the results.
I decided to work in a slightly different way with this painting. Most likely to the viewer it will just look like another of my paintings with no radical visual departure.I noticed a difference and will switch back forth between the two methods. Varied approaches are another thing which will allow me to keep things fresh. I want to create and not produce paintings.
The building across the way from my *studio, I had used images of it in my last large collage. I knew to Wait for no one to be around as to not have my phone being pointed in that direction misconstrued.
When it is my painting hours I am now sometimes watched by others from their Juliet balconies. At first it was just something for them to do while getting some air, cup or coffee or smoke in hand. After first week of this i know there developed some curiosity about what I was working on.
Now, when I finish a piece I turn it towards the window so that they may from their concrete and steel nests, see it.
I am currently working on a large 22×30 painting. I must go slower as its new paper to me and the weather has been wet. So far I am pleased with the results.
During tough times I think it important anyone capable of creating beauty to do so. Not as a means of distraction but rather a reminder of what we eventually will return to once the crisis is over (beauty/culture). It is the reaffirmation that as long as the night seems, there will eventually be a dawn.
Beauty & culture also serve as a reminder during a crisis of who we are, not merely people trying to survive but a small part of a greater whole.
*I have live/work studio and am not breaking quarantine
This piece is 9×12 Watercolor & Multi Media Paper.
Paper Life Painting 