I am still in the midst of working on my Cinefield® and editing my novel. I have managed to work on my paintings, albeit in a very different way. As I do not have space on my painting table, I use my writing table. Since I can not have this taken over by paint palettes, I did one small thing which involved mixing only one color at a time (i.e base coat for hair, background et al) This way when I was done with the session, I could set the painting aside and not be unable to use my table. Most importantly, I was not wasting paint either.
In creating my Cinefield® works, butcher paper is rolled out onto my painting table to protect it from the glue. Every few days I have to change the paper as snow drifts of dried glue accumulate. On the days that I did this, before laying down more paper I took the morning off from Cini work and did the parts for the paintings where I had to have full palettes of paint (the skin, creating volume and mass for the flesh).
It has always been important to me to have a discernable style while avoiding lapsing into mere mannerisms. To prevent this, I present myself with challenges to keep things fresh.
Neck is 5×8 White Canson Paper. It handles very different from all the papers I have been using for a while and is also a different size. I enjoyed the challenge and was pleased with the results.
Flapper I used my ever present Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
I am in the middle of two bigger projects, editing my novel & my latest Cinefield®. I do not have studio space to do full sized paintings. In the interim I am doing pocket pad pieces which allow me to pint without leaving palettes of paint out.
The methodology of this is different than how I usually paint and I enjoy the challange.
Stacy Says Watercolor & Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
Duke Ellington famously said that there are only two types of music, good and bad. Now more than any other time it is easy to explore. This is a freedom more should take advantage of as there could be something out there waiting for you that is currently lazily being written off as “Nah not my thing” .
Although seemingly far removed from what people know as my musical taste, i do enjoy Robin Trower. He mixes virtuosity with an emotional cadence. While this is not the first thing I reach for nor remotely indictive of my taste, when in the mood it hits the spot.
I used my at home watercolor set up & Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
Always looking for subjects to draw paint, email me for details
My first painting of 2026. It is 9×12 Rembrandt Cotton Paper, cold pressed. For paints, I used my studio set up which is a mix of companies, all professional grade.
I am always looking for people to draw/paint. I get my share of unsolicited submissions. More important to me than “beauty” or the typical idea/portrayal of it is an emotional honesty. That allows me to convey emotions that will keep the finished work interesting in the audience’s mind, long after the viewing of it is done. It is odd when I receive photos of people in traditional academic poses or overly glammed out ones. For the academic poses, it is how one is “supposed to” learn to draw bodies & anatomy. It is a sort of trap since it is establishing a foundation within the artist which will lend an air of be stilted or overly academic in future works.
The impressionists were revolutionary not merely because of their use of colors and effects of ambient shadow and light. An equal important aspect was that they were among the first to eschew having the subject matter be historic/biblical/mythic. Instead they painted one another or friends and denizens of their neighborhood going about their daily lives. (Courbet and Millet were proto impressionists )
The lives which they conveyed when viewed now sometimes seems of another world but the canvas still radiates emotions, the beauty is not trapped under museum glass. It is because it all comes from real experiences and emotions.
For both artist and model, do what is real and the truth for you. I am fortunate to have an inner circle that trusts me and whom I have painted for years. They trust me enough to not merely give me their idealized version of themselves. I have always said that truth is beauty. This is part of an overall technique which is how I work and that many painters have utilized:
Everything for an artist is impressions which is then transmuted into expression via the work.
Finished my latest painting “Hat”. It is a 5×7 on French Cotton paper. I tried a few new things with this one, portraying the skin in a slightly different manner than I normally do.
There is a sort of “game” on social media where one says “I will die on this hill” and it’s something small (that is the bit) but which one feels strongly about, or that drives one crazy when done a different way.
It is supposed to be whimsical but it is one of many ingredients in the current unpleasant gumbo North America finds itself mired in. While reading of the different little things people have such strong opinions on can be funny, it has also become a sort of behavioral template, a permission to rage and scream. Not everything needs to become a culture war issue nor devolve into people you do not know swearing at you or just injecting negativity into a post.
A modest proposal: Let us make 2026 a better year, even for the jerks, since to paraphrase Marcus Aurelias they are always going to be around regardless.
It is very easy to do, suck the air out of all the negative conversations & postings on places such as Twitter. You are not going to change anyone’s mind, nor are you going to prove them wrong since it shan’t be acknowledge by them. Even a person 100% in the right, yelling at someone in the wrong is only contributing to the din.
Strongly do i believe at least half the trolls if not engaged will sort of drop away. Also there is definitely a good percentage of politicians and in general creeps who do and say horrible things and when citizens and the news discuss it while showing clips of what they said, their tweets and posts et al it only keeps the things alive while also spreading its visibility.
When the Nazis were on the verge of occupying Paris, many different people wanted to get Matisse out and to a country where he would be safe. He refused to go. His view was that if he and others like him left then what were people fighting for? What would France then be without its culture?
Culture is important, it reminds one that there are things bigger and greater than the “I”. It links us all together. Even though it is comprised of different things for each of us, we all dream, love and hope. Culture is the thing in which we put all these emotions and from which we also take inspiration.
History is littered with terrible moments and culture endures during, often it shines after. Now more than ever before it is easy for one to explore new music, art and literature via online. Do not write off an unfamiliar thing as “Not my thing” without giving it a try. This is a freedom which can lead to something that adds to you, who you are what you are about.
Don’t bother telling a fool they are acting foolish, don’t let a troll make your blood pressure rise, instead use the time to check out some new things. Like Matisse, I will stay here, brush in hand.
As I am in the middle of writing my next novella, sometimes I day dream which is an articulation of extraneous ideas that I will not use as to be able to concentrate better.
I day dream as I clean my studio. There’s a vague idea that I have had of an artist who has all the equipment he needs to do his thing and in variety. In his mind’s eye, this makes him “rich” as he let’s slip at a bar (This leads to trouble).
When I first started doing visual work, I used the pages of the newspaper (for the youngsters: this was like a twitter news feed but accurate and truthful, made from thin slices of a tree, which showed up on your doorstep every morning) I used black and red markers as to be able to see my drawings.
I then graduated to blocks of cheap paper filling every page on both sides.
Slowly, I worked my way towards legitimizing the need of good equipment. Initially, i was thrifty out of necessity, i.e using pencil extenders as to squeeze every drop out of a pencil.
Fast forward, I can now afford whatever I want for equipment, i can buy things merely to experiment with etc. I still use pencil extenders and observe other economical practices, not because I have to or even because I am cheap. It is a sign of deep affection for serving the process.
When working on a painting, the amount of paint which I use at most only takes up two ten slotted porcelain palettes. Not much but I often find myself when a painting is completed with a little bit paint remaining.
I started the practice of doing a smaller painting with remaining paints in my trusty Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches. Nothing is wasted and it often presents some manner of stimulating challenge for me. It’s my version of what great chefs like Paul Bocuse did in their every part of the animal philosophy.
The Mark Watercolor & Rembrandt 9×12 cold pressed fin paper
Gerd Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
I am currently working on a novella and so will devote my allotted time for visual works towards painting. At the end of the day of working in full sized painting currently underway I had a little bit of paint left in my palettes.
I used it to do a smaller work. I did this for same reason I use pencil extenders when down to nubbins, not out of cheapness but as further sign of deep affection for serving the process. (I will say though, for someone who is constantly drawing etc, it does add up)
“Reflexive” This piece was done in my trusty Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
Also few spontaneous photos I took as I worked, the poetics of the everyday.
Addendum: “How not to Look Like an Ass While Living History”
Yesterday, regardless of what side one might feel they are on or even what country residing in, was historic. While I do not begrudge someone not wanting to make a statement or gesture via their social media sites, in such cases the best thing to do is silence.
It looks tonally weird (and deaf) for some huge thing to be occurring and in the midst of it trying to rack up likes or views for what one does as if just another day.
No one’s career has ever been made via one blog post nor tweet. It can wait a day, I assure you. To think it doesn’t matter if one does not live in the country in which a thing is occurring is to get it wrong too. We, all of humanity are connected. Ironically, this notion seems to be forgotten more and more even as it becomes easier to interact with those afar from us.
It is not our duty necessarily to provide commentary or messaging on an event as it occurs, but it definitely is weird to ignore an event by acting as if it’s not happening. Years down the corridor of time:
“What were you doing when the regime fell grandpa” or “What were you doing when this huge thing happened Grandpa?”
“Me? Well Billy I was trying to get at least fifty likes for my latest blog post/I was trying to get people to listen to my band’s cover of a cure song on youtube.”
Just back from a trip where I was able to take photos to serve as fuel for my next Cinefield®. I lucked out and was able to get so much raw material it will allow me to do two which will lead me right up until next spring ( I won’t work on them back to back, taking a well needed break between which accounts for some of time frame)
While working on my Cinefield®, of course I will still draw every day and do my water soluble graphite work in pocket pads but this will be last painting for a while as my studio will become dominated by tiny confetti like pieces of paper laid out on sheets.
For this piece I wanted to try something a little different. I made the flesh appear without the volume and mass letting the lines tell that story of the body. I was very pleased with the results and enjoyed the challenge of going against my usual preference. That is one way for an artist to avoid falling back on pet-licks for a piece.
The painter Phillip Guston said that when one paints, at first everyone you know is in the studio with you and one by one they drop away until you are left only with the painting. I understand that, the pleasure of serving the process, everything else is temporarily suspended, where will the painting end up etc etc.
I am in the middle of typing up all my notes & stories from Europe. The visual work that I do, it is work but it isn’t. I have been going at a steady clip with my paintings but not because of any specifically set tempo. The visual work becomes a respite from the challenges of other things. Ideally, if nothing else my work offers people a brief cessation from the doomy bleakness of the news.
My paint palettes are now exactly as I want them, incorporating professional grade half pans from several companies.
This piece is 9×12 watercolor & Rembrandt cold press/fin grain 140 lb
Paper Life Painting 