Tag: painter

Patricia

One of her grandmother’s last wishes was that she get in shape. Although she liked her body as is, she agreed.

Photos are exacting in their detail so that the mind does not retain the memory of feelings and other acute emotional detail.

I was asked to document the body that she was leaving behind. No matter how much a portrait matches the subject, there is that component of space which we all fill in ourselves.

Capturing her with brush and pencil will keep her past vivid in memory and not merely a perfect reproduction from which all emotion has been freeze dried out.

Patricia 7×10 Watercolor & Cotton Paper

 

patricia

by Wayne Wolfson

Narrative Sixteen

Lucy had that way of looking both beautiful and tough that let me know that I would not be any good for her. At least not as promised by the end of countless movies.
I was looking for a hanger for my jacket as it deserved better than merely the back of a chair.
She was in the other room. I had said water would be fine but I swore that I heard the pa-pop of a cork being pulled, echoing the cadence too of a thousand French waiters hitting three fingers against puffed out cheeks and pursed lips in acknowledgment of their approval and that they will get on it right away.
Motion creates the illusion of accomplishment. Sharks are over achievers. Something caught the corner of my eye.
I had no idea where the light switch was and so decided to stand still and wait to see if it made its way into the strip of night sky that was spilling in through the ill placed window.

She came in holding two glasses. With a laugh:
“What are you doing?”
The light. A long centipede slowly crawled along the horizon line where floor meets wall.
It was all yellows and oranges with spots of molted black. There was a wet reddish piece of meat in its mouth which is managed to continue to carry.
I shuddered and rapidly slapped both my shoulders in confirmation that nothing was on me.
Lucy too was transfixed.
“I cant believe I used to smoke those things.”

W.Wolfson ’19

 

5×4 Quick sketch

 

20190121_122729

by Wayne Wolfson

Sky Bed

I capture what I am seeing in my work. It always gives me great pleasure, whether a series of quick sketches in my pocket pad or more fully realized works.

In Vancouver recently, I stayed way above the streets with a breath taking view of both the neon streams of the street but also to the left of me the port of Vancouver and the mountains behind it.

This is the view from my bed, a sort of urban impressionism. Colored pencils 9×12 colored paper.

 

 

skybed

by Wayne Wolfson

‘Nita

Emotion is a truth which is always beautiful.

Collecting art has become rarefied. Where as formerly passion and an eye (personal sense of aesthetics) were the main & most important prerequisites, they have been supplanted by space and money.

The size of my works is intentional. I have in mind new collectors for whom space is at a premium. Apartment dwellers should not feel it an impossibility to start a collection.
I also have in mind burgeoning collectors who are just starting to delve into the myriad genres of art out there. A large piece starts to dictate what directions a collection will go in for people living in normal sized spaces. Smaller works do not create a visual limitation.
I want the collector to live with my works and not (feel as if) under them which may occur in apartments.

Always is the striving for emotion to come across in my work(s) and this size bolsters it by almost creating a senses that one is witnessing a scene, the viewer as a voyeur.

” ‘Nita” 9×12 Watercolor & Cotton Paper (1st painting of ’19)

neets

by Wayne Wolfson

Black & Orange Can

Lopsided grin not visible but the splashing of the water did not drown out the song that she sang to herself. The traffic, one driver in anger or celebration leans on his horn and through the closed door could almost be Fats Navarro taking a chorus. W.Wolfson

 

Last Painting of ’18 9×12 Watercolor & Multi Media Paper

 

by Wayne Wolfson

Reds

We all carry in our heads the idea of ourselves, the self image. Desires and faults which we try to keep close to the vest aside, a componant to the truth lay outside of ourselves.

This is why often no one thinks their recorded voice sounds like them, as they think it is. The same goes for images. If the pose is not one set up as the subject imagines to be ideal, then it often seems “off” as it’s not inline with the self image.

I prefer to not work with professional models as the poses that they have worked so hard to learn have an artificiality to them which freeze dries the emotions which are the raison d’etre for all my work.

Often, I use same people over course of many pieces and years. As our history grows, a sense of trust develops. They know that, whether they like how some aspect of their visage is portrayed, it is the truth and the truth, an honesty, is always beautiful.

The trust allows for natural body language which helps facilitate emotions.

For this piece, I wanted a delicacy but also the sense of blood rushing and hot just below the skin.

This is only my third painting in my new studio. I was very pleased with results.

“Reds” 5.5×8.5 watercolor and paper

 

Reds

by Wayne Wolfson

Two New Pieces

All set up in new studio. It has been overcast, so I am still getting a feel for the natural light. I was very pleased with both these pieces. The first two in my new studio.

“Two” 7×10 watercolor & cotton paper

“Facial” 9×12 watercolor & multi media paper

 

by Wayne Wolfson

Boogie

Honey Child wanted me to touch her face, the lines of her body, memorization as a blind man might.

I took one of the rooms higher up as I felt it safer. The trade off was that unlike some of the better rooms, my one window did not look out into the courtyard.

At night when not actively pursuing anything, the Hyenas walked softly, their paws crunched on the sand as if it were snow.

This did not seem to bother anyone but myself. To my shame, when the  sun was at its most brilliant a pair of little boys would get the disregarded scraps of leather from the cobbler.  They would then almost completely bury them in the sand, leaving them there until the end of the day.

They would then go back and dig up their treasure. Over the course of the day the sand became hotter and hotter. Each grain burnt the leather so that it became dimpled like a more expensive version of itself.

While drinking mint tea these would then be made into wallets to sell to tourists at the medina.

I had my pen and paper to keep me company but sometimes that was not enough. I would play my records but not too much as i worried of some misfortune befalling the player for which i knew I would not be able to get parts easily.

Mostly I played James Johnson, Willie the Lion, Fatha Hines. Their looping frenzy seemed of another world to the locals.  No one ever complained as they were sure that it was part of some incantation similar to that of the men up in the mountains with their rams horn instruments.

“What do you call it?”

“Boogie.”

To them, the word had a deeper, primal,  meaning and i think it was better.

Fini

 

“Boogie” (1st painting new studio) 5×8 watercolor & paper

 

boogie1stnewstudio

by Wayne Wolfson

End & Start

 

Every true artist first works not at becoming famous but rather to create their own distinctive voice. This is a never ending process as even once established, there are things which add to it.

One factor, whether permanent or temporary is location. How does ambient light effect a piece? The actual walls & structure of a place, what one sees out the window and even activities engaged in when not in the studio. (For the most part not anything so literal as “I am in Paris so I am painting the Eiffel Tower”)

I do not think location should be the main factor dictating the timber of a piece. The artist’s voice is first and foremost, with location being akin to one of many spices thrown in the stew that further adds to the flavor.

After six fruitful years I am changing one of my studios. I em excited by all the new possibilities, grateful for all I got out of the old place (and hopeful that the walls can’t talk).

I am eager to get into the swing of things and it will be interesting to see what is added to my work.

(Last painting in old studio “Kristen” 7×10 watercolor & Cotton Paper)

 

 

by Wayne Wolfson

Me I

There is an age old tradition of the artist doing self portraits. Some consider the value of such a work as offering psychological insight into the artist via how they see themselves/how they are presenting themselves to the world.

Often, I am my own subject. With all my portraits I go for a sort of visual raw reportage, presenting the subject as they are for better or worse.

For this reason when I am my own subject, I might be sidestepping the issue entirely. Or the fact that, here I present myself as I am but with the batman mask of a hood could still be a revelation of its own.

 

Hooded 9×12 graphite & paper

hooded

by Wayne Wolfson