The idea of my works giving the effect for the viewer of ease dropping on a scene appeals to me. Even more so when what is being seen is sort of open ended, open to interpretation.
This piece was watercolor done on Canson Multi Media Paper 9×12 (98lb).
I have always drawn, doodled and painted but just as a way to burn off excess energy. I was originally solely (in professional capacity) an author. As I mulled over a paragraph or scene I would draw or paint.
Not too many years ago I became more serious about my visual work and also started putting real work effort into it.
I feel very fortunate to now have an audience into what I am doing and who are not even necessarily aware that I write.
Part of my daily work schedule is now specifically for visual work. Aside from the allotted time and the nightly woodshedding in my Midori, I do also still draw as I mull over the words.
Occasionally I have a cross pollination, the pen will inspire the brush or vice versa.
This is 5×8 image tied in with an essay I am currently working on.
Smaller works of art might be of ideal size for where it is going to be placed. There is resistance to this though, as on a subconscious level (at least), some people equate “more” of something with it being better.
It is faulty logic, unless a work’s size is an intentional component, bigger to near on point of domination of a space, is not better. Bang for your buck should never be a cultural consideration.
In the age of consumerism, a sort of forced perception resulting from faulty logic. Just as physically bigger books with higher page count are automatically deemed harder reads (most of the densest books I have read all have had relatively average page counts, it is ideas and style that create density) it is letting the wrong factors inform opinion.
More and more I lean towards smaller works. They lend themselves to lessening the “I am looking at art” sensation while furthering the “I am feeling something/something from this”.
It could be a generational thing, I am wary of deflated attention spans and lapsed concentration of gallery goers. People having become used to necks bent in worship of i phones or tablet will do a cursory look at larger piece, eyes flitting across the canvas to capture “the point” of it at cost of all the other things going on which contribute to a work’s tension & release. Smaller works, there is no dead space all the poetry and flavor is enmeshed with “the point”.
I do vary the sizes of my works but with the largest being 11×14, no one will ever call any of them big.
Seattle 5.5×8.5
I was safely ensconced in my hotel room and ready to work. There was heavy marble topped table on wheels atop of whose curved feet I put my own while painting.
In between, i would walk up the hill for drinks and let strangers make confessions to me as i swirled the cubes in my glass counter clockwise with my left hand.
No one here would call to see when i would be out and about which then delayed the process. Instead I would see on the peripheral, people who surprisingly quickly, had learned where I liked to haunt, waiting.
My first stop would always be the record store. Everyone was always telling me that they were willing to accompany me. While it might have been nice to have company on the way, I had a process. I had learned with Tania that it was not enjoyable for anyone but myself. The record store was too hot, to my surprise after having walked back and forth between several bins, upon leaving I had spent way longer inside than I had realized.
I showed up to the cafes and bars with my brown paper wrapped purchases, ready to build an empty glass cityscape upon the tabletop with whomever had been waiting for me.
I am not anti drama, but I think organic things and beauty have more power. A pleasure for me is the ability to take some thing from my daily existence and then conjure it into my work.
It is not necessary and also has the potential to become a trap if an artist uses their personal lexicon of totems and symbols for every piece. But once in a while, the organics of it make for art which resonates emotion. Not necessarily as upfront dramatic as an artificially induced thing, it is of a more lasting impression to the viewer.
Lion Alone watercolor & paper 5.5×8.5
There is the age old tradition of the painter doing self portraiture. How a painter sees themselves often gives insight into how they view their work. I go for a sort of truth that allows the organics of it to facilitate emotion.
The size of my works is keeping in mind people for whom space is at a premium. Collecting art should never have to be a thing for only those with “X” amount of square footage. I also think of burgeoning collectors whose aesthetics and eyes are just developing. I want them to live with my works not under it. I desire too that the direction their collection goes in is not dictated by a first piece dominating a room/area.
The smaller size also helps further garner the feeling of the viewer sort of ease-dropping into a scene.
Selfie 5.5×8.5 watercolor & Canson Artist Paper
This piece upon initial glance can seem an arresting or slightly off putting subject. Continued observation allows for awareness of the delicate coloration and despite subject matter, a beauty.
This dichotomy is what I was after.
The piece is part of an ongoing series “Drinking with Doctors”.
The paper is a mixed media paper 98LBs It is my second ever painting using this paper
For my paintings I change up both the type of paper and size with every piece. This keeps things fresh and makes me have to think differently for compositional balance. Were I ever to only use one size, eventually i would inherently know the proper choreography. The properties of color too can change with the size of a piece.
There is an established range of sizes for me though. The smallest being 5.5×8.5 to the largest 11×14.
Each size of paper is different from vellum to French cotton to mixed media to American cotton. All the different materials posses their own inherent properties which call for slightly different touch from one medium to the other.
The mixed media paper is the most unforgiving. I enjoy the challenge and much like a runner training for a race using ankle weights, when I use French Cotton paper which I find to be my preferred, it seems “easier”.
Visually I still get the effects & results I want with the mix media paper. It looks slightly different from when I am using cotton paper. My voice still ever present it is similar in effect to the effect of playing different venues for a musician.
I use three different sizes of mixed media paper but all had been the same brand, Canson.
By happenstance I just came across another company when at the art store to buy pencils. Strathmore in the same size and weight as my Canson.
It seems obvious now, but I had not thought to vary or explore companies with my mixed media paper.
Right out of the gate I enjoyed the Strathmore. My first piece gave me results I wanted.
With all my paper I just mentally have them arranged in a circle, each has a number and there is no thought given to which paper to use next as the subject matter may be up in the air but the type & size of paper is already predetermined. I will now add the Strathmore to my perfect circle of paper.
“Absinthe Eyes” 9×12 Strathmore (98lb) Mixed Media Paper
There is something sprite like and summery about Giovanna. The emotions which play across her face occur naturally and this organic component helps bolster the work.
I intentionally choose to work in smaller sizes. I have in mind people for whom space is at a premium. Also there is consideration for the new collectors.
When just starting out in collecting art, one is developing their aesthetic sense. Unlike larger works, smaller pieces will not dictate the timber of a burgeoning collection’s style.
Smaller works in different genres never look out of harmony even when sharing wall space.
Lastly, i want the collector to enjoy and live with my work, not under it. A smaller piece is akin to a good conversationalist who speaks softly so that attention is called for in listening.
Watercolor & paper 5.5×8.5
Audrey wanted to do something different for her birthday which was one of those momentous numbers, more so for women than men. The thought of drunkenly lurching about town with some of her girlfriends all festooned with cheap feather boas while being too loud held not appeal for her.
She asked if I would paint her and then afterwards would be a party.
I agreed readily enough as there was something of an awkward swan or perhaps giraffe about her which I thought would make for a compelling piece.
There was no preconceived notion of how I wanted to put her, organic body language was of the most importance to me.
“How do you want me?”
I told her to just get in any position that was comfortable. While I worked fast, she still needed to be able to maintain the pose.
I began to study the way her shirt draped on her shoulders, the bunching of material at her wrists.
She settled by the window but there was too much light coming from behind her. Moving to the couch she stopped a moment inhaling then exhaling deeply as would a diver before a fall.
One of the buttons to her shirt went missing with a sound that reminded me of candy as it hit the floor. Now nude, Audrey took a Cleopatra pose on the couch.
To my surprise she was calm during the session. It was only afterwards, at the party she seemed to become a little giddy as she told people what she had done.
None of us want to talk about the weather. I understand the etiquette need for small talk. For someone who has just done something; come back from a trip, bought a house or dog, executed a painting, it is more fatiguing as the same comments and questions are presented over and over.
I did participate until I had encountered one example of everything there was to say on the matter of being an artist & the painting I had just done of Audrey.
I found a quiet corner to sit and nurse my drink. Audrey’s friends were all polite so that she could put out the good stuff and the crowd would show some restraint, allowing it to last the whole night as opposed to merely an hour as some other crowds would have done.
An old man sat across from me. He had on a short sleeve powder blue shirt in whose pocket i saw poking out an eyeglass case and the rounded end of a cigar. We gave each other the casual nod of our chins.
When I was younger and asked about my work or art in general there was an over earnest need to try to make people understand. Now I realize that , when it comes up in the casual conversation, at best it is on account of a mild curiosity. No one wants to to sit through a soliloquy on painting at some social function.
I had expended all my painterly small talk. A woman holding a martini glass at a perilous angle wandered over to our spot. She asked the old man:
“What is it that you do?”
“I…am what you call a tinkerer.”
A friend called to her from across the room and she flitted away.
“I was going to say that.”
He pulled out his cigar.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
As he lit up with three deep puffs his eyes twinkled.
“I know I am not supposed to be smoking in here but no one ever yells at an old man. An old man and midgets can get away with anything, taking the last slice of pie, over staying our welcome, anything. Because no one wants to reprimand us. One would think it would be similar for children but if a child annoys, you can let go at them and then make yourself feel better by telling yourself that it’s a teaching moment.”
The scent of his cigar was good. I thought of my grandfather’s study while imagining that Berlin now was very different.
“Audrey’s Birthday” 9×12 watercolor & mix media paper
“Sy” 9×12 graphite & paper
I am near on obsessive in exploring properties of different equipment & materials I use for my art. This is one way of avoiding repeating myself or having the process, which in itself brings me great joy, from becoming mechanical.
There is the preferred equipment & materials I use but i constantly break things up. I utilize paper & pencils of drastically different quality over the course of my weekly woodshedding. The challenge of working with not so great paper or pencils makes it so that when i use my ideal it is easier. It also allows me to work under any conditions and to even improvise at a moment (in a bar, cafe or party) when I had no intention of doing so to good results.
The most important aspect for me in not being rigidly locked down in how i create is that I want a recognizable voice but to never slip merely into mannerism(s).
With my painting, for every piece i switch off the size and style of paper. It keeps me engaged in the work and far from mannerisms.
With Miles, he sounded great regardless of which of his trumpets he used. However, he did have certain trumpets he would use for specific pieces. Of course he could have used any trumpet for any song and sounded great but he felt that although his voice was ever present when playing, each trumpet had its own properties which it injected into the overall feel of the song.
So it is for me with the paper I use for painting. Different paper has inherent properties which add a component to the work. My voice is always there but effected to a certain degree by the medium.
Even with knowing this, I do not change my method of which paper I use. There is specific rotation regardless of which I feel is best for portraying flesh etc. This too is a nice challenge and discipline which I find invaluable.
“Hommage John Lurie” 9×12 Canson Multi Media Papper 98LB
“Foot Brace” 7×10 French Cotton Paper
Paper Life Painting 