Cat Study

Study
oil on 8 by 10 inch panel
in progress - blocking stage

I am painting cats now.  

An Interesting challenge:  a subject that never behaves predictably.  

They are easier to deal with than humans and their egos.  

Promise and Hope

 

A blank canvas panel is so full of promise and hope.  Nothing guaranteed of course.

Shadows form their own pattern, creating a painting of sunlight, an image that goes away as the sun moves.

Everything I see is a reflection of the past, because it's already happened and my eyes are just catching up.

What we create, what images we bring forth, these are longing for moments that have passed.  Even when imagining the future, we can only use memories of things, of actions we have experienced.

A blank canvas, that is only physical, our souls are never blank, 

Blocking, and Stuff.....Progress?

If you follow my blog, thank you very much.  The attached images are of works in progress, which in my case, is a way of saying I am not sure where to go at this point.

oil on 9 by 12 inch paper

oil on 9 by 12 inch paper

 

 

Edited Digital Image
Dallas, Texas
Oak Cliff Neighborhood 

When I walk, my eyes constantly search for images.  

Not so much when driving, as I'm more concerned with other things, such as the things that can hit me.

There is also a decrease in the angle of vision as one's speed increases; but, the mechanics of perception is a very dry subject.   

Let's just say that I miss a lot of opportunities when I'm in a rush. 

When we are still, a world opens up to us.  

Think about it.  Vacation in a place for two weeks or live in a place for a year.  It's two different worlds.   Walk through a museum, or sit and contemplate a single painting.  

I believe Mies van der Rohe was right when he asserted that time was our most important commodity in design.  That could be extended to time being the most important commodity period.     

Man vs Nature

Sketchbook entry
Photograph is not as clear as I wanted.  But, the sketch is preliminary.

 

This sketch was done on a sleepless night.  It's more contemplation than drawing. 

And, when I can't sleep, I think about questions probably beyond my abilities to answer; but, I'm a guy, and that will never stop me from trying.

Man and Nature was the subject that night.  The conclusions were something like the following.

Nature is order, the first order people knew.  

It's the basis for the geometric, platonic solids we still use today for construction, science, etc.  They are, metaphorically, distilled versions of nature's order. 

Man vs Nature is not a conflict between chaos and order.  It's a struggle between two different orders.

A losing battle for Mankind, at least in the longrun, both sides wielding weapons of distruction, removing what does not fit in thier version of order.  Man only dominates for a short while before nature retakes her ground, destroying man's creation as surely as man destroys hers.  

This simply is the struggle for survival.  Natures plan is for us to be food for someone, even if it is just the bacteria in our decomposing bodies.  Of course, being people, we have other ideas about that.

At this point my thinking changes into a question.  

How did I get there from this stupid doodle?  How can I better express this in drawing format?  I'm hungry.

I need to get more sleep.

Life

Photographic Study
digital file
not intended as a final product
Bones are not us, so they remain.

Image notes:
I don't like the warped appearance of the perspective, should adjust by backing up or using a more advanced camera.  Cell phones have limits to what can be done.  Limits that fade with each update.

musing on paintings

This was from a class in oil painting
my first effort at pallette knife painting,
and in some ways, my most successful attempt.

 It is on my studio wall, not stretched or framed.  It's a reminder of where I was, and a sign post of how to move forward.   

Someone said there really is not any future, only the past and the present.  He was a designer.  I have always felt this was a fairly important statement, but I have never understood why.  

I could take a stab at it here.

I can only imagine anything in terms of what I already know.  By extension, I can only create images in terms of what I already know.

Painting starts in the mind?  I suppose that makes sense.

notes on experiments with pallette knife technique

oil on 9 by 11 inch panel
thin underpainting, black applied with knife

oil paint on 9 by 11 inch paper
same technique as first painting

oil paint on 18 by 24 inch unstretched paper
no underpainting, used scrapping technique
note:  painted over 
This is a record of the effect.

 Of the three attempts the first one has some impact.  The colors seem to evoke something.

The second one is more of getting used to the strokes.  There are some similarities to pencil drawing where pressure is key to controling line and shading.

The third painting has an interesting effect where the texture of the canvas shows through; however, it needs to dry completely before applying second layers or it will smooth out and lose the effect.

Food. Is it Art?

Diner Stuff
digital image
from Metro Diner in Oak Cliff

I have a difficult time seeing food as Art. 

A job as a professional cook is a highly skilled and difficult profession - although the average pay of a kitchen worker has not reflected  that fact.  A chef, the person running the kitchen, is one of the most stressfull positions I have seen. 

It's not the skill involved.

For me, Art is contemplated and meditated on, away from the loud noise of marketing and machines.   Food is found in the middle of a massive marketing scheme.  There is no contemplation, only consumption and desire.

Food is a part of life.  It's power is in the primal animal side of humanity, not in the intellectual pursuit of Art.   

That is why.

 

Cat Photograph

Photo of Alex my sister's cat.

 

Cats are almost a required image on the internet.  Cute little predators.  

But, in terms of what this blog is about, this sort of image would need to be broken down into basic shapes and reconstituted as a painting or drawing.

In fact, that is an exercise assigned to me a long time ago in a water color class.  I seem to remember it helping.

What is Human?

From my sketchbook.
Study for something

There are times when I draw faces that are exaggerated versions of people.  If this looks like an alien species, that is not the point.  It's a question.  

What is it that makes us look like humans?

We anthropomorphize almost everything from animals to random shapes in clouds.  How far can I push drawings before that stops?

I do consider this to be in the realm of fantasy, although you never can be absolutely certain about the line between fantasy and reality.

   

Untitled Painting

oil on canvas
18 by 24 inches
Untitled

 Posting an painting from earlier this year.

Mission Statement?

I cannot control everything.

My circle of people - they want to fight this idea. 

They must be shown the truth.

They spout all sorts of reasons.

It's for your own good.

I'm just trying to help.

It is the Truth.

My way is better.

Delusions at best.

But, how?

Force, I have not right to initiate that.

A small still voice I hear.

The only path open to me. 

Do not repeat the cycle.

Conversation With Myself

Breakfast at the diner,
a time of introspection.

,

 Why don’t I work digitally and skip the material art world altogether?  A lot of people are doing this, and their work is, for the most part, exciting and intriguing.  

I can’t really give you a clear answer.  It’s not like I can’t, or there is no opportunity.  

That medium just does not appeal to me.

It doesn’t take up any space outside of the digital world.  As long as we have computers, the images are permanent, no decay, and no need to work at preservation.  Things in the real world are mortal, unless they fashioned out of gold or ceramics.  Those materials don’t seem to fall apart with age.

There is a certain beauty in maintaining something seen as worthwhile.  The labor, the effort, the struggle - whatever name you choose, that marks the importance we place on an object.  

Example, in city politics, the neighborhoods where sidewalks are maintained are affluent and near city officials.  The broken sidewalks, they are in neighborhoods that feel, with justification, that the current government just doesn’t care.  Yet, the houses the people live in are kept up to the best of the residents ability.  The yards are kept in shape.  People care about their neighborhood.

You just don’t have that relationship between art and people when you uses digital images.  You can forget about them and they don’t change.

The other thing that bothers me is the potential to make infinite and indistinguishable images.  We have already seen what that sort of thing does to a well designed object, like chairs.  It devalues the individual chairs and soon they are just ignored because they are everywhere.  

Photography of Things

Breakfast

On the Easel - Contemplating Balance

Small Study
oil paint on 4 by 6 inch panel

balance is strange

the more I look

the less I understand

a structure

 a building

 in fighting gravity

achieves balance

 a losing battle

we need such structures

for our lifetime not the structures life

achieving balance involves a struggle

for space in our heart

of opposites

but 

the mind 

it craves symmetry

that is not really balance

Symmetry doesn't move

there is no struggle

no compromise

no life

I have questions.

As an artist, is it possible to separate emotions from intellect?

Is that separation worth pursuit? 

Hmm?

Does a painter not observe before even sketching the beginning?

Have you seen an idea without an emotion?

Math can be loved;

but,

can Love be reduced to a formula?

How to Become An Artist

Pencil Sketch
April 2022

The beginning

students.  

Start drawing.

Sweat, 

Struggle 

Master the craft 

Then color may be learned.

        Children leap directly to color and crayons.  

                They simply draw, color, make a big mess.

                             Children have fun. 

                                                    Children are smart.

Abstract Painting in Progress

Oil paint on 8 by 10 inch panel
Title:  Capitalism is not a dirty word.
This is a shot of a work in progress.

This painting is inspired by reading the book "The Wealth of Nations"  by Adam Smith.   Not my normal reading; but, it should have been read earlier.

I am still working my way through the book.

It's not easy to read, at least for me.

The thing that struck me is the emphasis on describing the relationship that is created when goods and services are exchanged.  Relationships that have been observed in action.  People were exchanging things for coin long before the book was written. 

Relationships are rarely equal.  

Someone always has more or controls the means to produce more.  That difference makes this system work, balancing of needs.  

Of course, this is what is going through my head while I am painting.  The painting is as abstract as the concepts I am contemplating.

Digital Sketchbook Entries 4/31/2022

The following images are captured with a smart phone.

Visual Note:  There is very little actual white in the image of the clouds.
Note:  Depth is created by trees and perspective.  The farther away a tree, the more solid the leaves look
Note:  Trash can becomes focus of shot due to location
This is a quick snap, more of a candid photo than a set up 

Use of depth of field allows for selection of details.
Point of view is not from standing position. 
Studying the root system of a dying shrub
Note:  While this was an accident, the ground and wall together follow the rule of thirds, which I believe creates an image that does not appear contrived.