Black is my new White

I remember when I was in graduate school one of my semester end group crits centered around how I use too much white in paintings.  One critic said it was a crutch and the remaining 15 minutes were spent pointing it out.  Since then I had a heightened consciousness for my use of white, sometimes just indulging it and other times forcing myself to omit it from my palette completely.

Recently I can not get enough of what you might call the opposite.  Blacks and blues that cover.  With white I liked its transparency and even just the gesso white of the board, the pristine, light filled quality.  But I've been finding the rich darks so seductive in their subtlety.  I bought a bunch of different blacks at the suggestion of another painter and it has fed my investigation.

Another thing I find so nice is how it can be dense and deep or flat.  I like the way it pulls a viewer to approach at an intimate distance.

Stray Boy, 2014, Oil on Panel

Detail of an in progress painting

Midnight Remote, 2015, Oil on Panel

 This one and this one too, they were precursors to this obsession.

Snow Day Creations

Even though we only got about 3 inches of snow, there was enough hype over the "Blizzard of 2015" to get me two snow days.  I stayed indoors and off the roads like the good citizen that I am, and used the time to do some creative projects I've had on my mind for quite some time.

The first (above) is a Nugget pillow!  Nug loves to put her head on a small pillow.  I have one with sequins on it and another with embroidery from Mexico, both that I really like, that she is constantly drooling on.  So I figured I'll make her her own pillow.  (Because that's not a spoiled dog or anything.)  And then I saw this cat pillow, and figured "oh! if I make it look like Nugget then she will know it's hers."  And so far its working.  I always knew there was genius inside that thick head of hers.

Staying with the theme of pillows, I decided to give another one a face lift.  A couple months back I bought a box of Rit dye for like $2 to jump on the dip dye bandwagon.  I tried that with a white shirt and the results were terrible. 

 But I love the pillow pictured left, it was just getting dingy even after being washed.  So I threw it in a dye bath and rewashed it and I love it now.  It's funny because in my paintings I keep covering original paintings with a uniform layer of blue.  I think I just need to put my whole living room in a blue dye bath.

And what kind of snow day is it without cooking?  Especially a soup.  So I made a minestrone.  It's pretty classic although I used gluten free noodles which turned out surprisingly well, sometimes they disintegrate, and some aged balsamic on top.  

The one big family secret I will share and my mommom would be so distraught to know I am doing this...add a sweet potato to broths.  They disintegrate in a good way and sweeten and thicken the broth.  We do it with chicken soup and I did it with this soup and it really added to the flavor. 

  

And finally, I replanted this pig pot!  My friends gave me this amazing planter for my birthday and I had been keeping basil in it.  But that all died, its too cold in the kitchen.  So I split succulents and replanted them here.  I recently learned about this which I guess a lot of people know but I had no idea.  You can take an arm of a succulent and plant it in the soil and it will grow roots.  I tried it with another planter and its been about 4 months, so far so good.  It's great because when my original three little pots are looking leggy I just break them off and replant.  

Studio Shots: October 2014

A few from my collection of cardboard snacks (sushi, a poptart, hard shell taco, behind: Al's Knee)

Finally cleaned up my space.  Some paintings in various stages of finish

Excellent catalog I bought from DC Moore's recent exhibition here

Recent painting of cake, with a sinister fork

Studio Upgrades

Having a bit more time this summer to commit to the studio, I have taken on a few very needed and necessary projects.  I just didn't feel like I could give up any hours to diy ideas which can stretch into much more complex things with me sometimes.  Luckily, these two were really easy and I am really happy to have put in the time.

The first is shelves for viewing paintings.  I needed a clean space to look at both finished and unfinished paintings.  I also needed it to be eye level because looking down at a painting on the floor is very different than when it is at this height.

It was weirdly easy -- using leftover moulding from frames that had a lip, I painted the wall and shelves white.  Then I used brackets to secure them in place .

The second project was creating storage racks for my paintings.  They had been leaning against each other in a pile which gave me such an uneasy feeling every time I looked at it.  I had researched buying one of these at one point and it was oddly expensive (as art supplies have to be for some reason).  

But then recently I came across a genius idea of someone else's here.

I made it one step cheaper actually than his method by deleting the pegboard step.  I had this shelving unit from Ikea that already had holes in the shelves.  So I bought another for $35 and using dowels that I cut to length, I divided up the space.  So far both projects are proving totally worth the minimal effort and investment.  

Spring Studio

Spring in the studio. 

Old Studio Wall Pt. 2

I changed up my 'recent acquisitions' wall again since having my newest favorite painting framed.  Today was a snow day so it was a good project to keep me from going stir crazy.

That painting is by Greg Biché.  It is quite hard to photograph now that it is under glass but see it here, on his website.  Click the link, really, because there are four others in this series and many excellent paintings and drawings.

I also decided to take a better photo showing the John Bokor drawing and Jean Smith painting.  I have access to a computer so I can plug my camera in once more!  Woo, I didn't realize how dependent I am on a computer until it was gone.

I took the other dog painting that was on this wall and moved it to the side wall with a few other serious treasures that I want to share.  I will post that soon, just have to finish it up.

A Few Studio Shots

The view from my desk

A few new tools that were a gift from my dad.  They don't do a good job at their intended purposes -- in fact they're pretty useless-- but fantastic shapes for looking at and painting from.

Love the windows and shape of our space

My fantastic new palette table.  It's so wonderfully enormous.  An old ikea table found on craigslist.

New Studio

I finally got a studio space exterior to my living space.  It took quite some time and budgeting but we did it.  I am really, really excited about it but I think Nugget's face captures some of the anxiety that comes with settling into a new studio.  I still have to get a bunch of things to make it feel comfortable and usable but I gessoed about 12 surfaces today so that makes me excited.  I am also sharing this space, which is much larger than pictured, with three of my favorite painters/artists so that adds to the excitement. 

In the Studio: Dogs on my Mind

I have been painting a lot purely from my paintings, no reference in front of me.  And a shape that keeps presenting itself is dogs.  You probably can't tell but there are five dogs in these three paintings. 

 I think maybe I like the challenge of painting a dog that isn't cute, that holds the complexity of relationship you can really have with them -- and trying to get that right.  The painting on the wall isn't working and is about to be completely changed, I feel the urge to cover coming on but this post is a little homage to my girl.  She's especially on my mind today as we found out she has a torn acl and needs about a billion dollars worth of surgery.  Dog paintings with a cone head here we come?  I hope not.

New Things

I got some new things!  The first is a $5 necklace that I wear as a bracelet.

The second is paint, glorious paint!  This is my first time buying Old Holland.  I have always wanted to but until now always talked myself down a notch.  However, Blick was having an online sale and I knew exactly what I needed so I went for it.  Can't wait to try them out today.

And lastly, I got a great used book of Matisse drawings.  Its called Femmes and Fleurs but its in German so I can't read a stitch of it.  But I don't care.  The shop is a great little place in West Philly called The Last Word Bookshop (40th and Locust), its owned by one of my former student's father.  Check it out. 

Color and Pattern...Come On In

       

Turkish Ottoman from a favorite local shop called Woven Treasures on 23rd and South                  

 Spray painted this odd piece Alex got in college that was ugly brown but an essential place to put keys and a drink

We have lived in the same 900 square feet for four years and about three months ago I decided it was time for a bit of updating.  I also decided I had about $250 to do so.  After painting the walls a light, cool gray, I have slowly been making minor additions and changes.  Here are a few of them.

Taped off this chevron pattern and added some pattern to a boring stool with leftover paint
Got a new carpet on overstock for $100 

               

 Alex's parents gave us this unbelievably gorgeous vase for our one year wedding anniversary that passed this week

My parents scored us this awesome piece of stained glass on a road trip to Florida for $35 off craigslist

And I have big plans for that coffee table in the first picture, just scored off craigslist for a whooping $30.  

Every once in a while I feel miserably constrained by my budget ('do you know how many amazing and weird things we would have if I had a well paying job Alex?') but then I get some ideas and that creative competitive thing (you know what I mean?) kicks in and I think, 'I bet I can do this for under $20, maybe even for $0'.  I really think being resourceful can make up for the missing 50% of my salary that most other people have, it saves so much money and is so incredibly satisfying when the work is done.

In My Studio: Thoughts on White Space

The Backyard (looking out and from above), 2013, Oil on Panel, 36 x 48 IN PROGRESS

In the last few months, I have been very preoccupied with this idea of using the white of the panel and how it can interact in a painting and if so how it can do that successfully.

I was always taught to quickly paint out and address any white space, and, if I am being completely honest, I usually encourage my students to do the same.  It is necessary in achieving a sort of dominance over the materials when you are a beginner feeling so hesitant.  

But what about now, when I feel I have a real ownership or at least understanding?  I make paintings that have always engaged the question of space.  I like to see how it can flatten and extend and condense.  In fact, I would say it is one of my main overarching obsessions in the construction of a painting.

Using the white of the primed ground is something I have always done in my drawings and so in recent months I have been trying to make paintings this way too.  In the most successful outcomes, the two areas marry and lock together like a puzzle almost.  It creates this push and pull of what is 'background' or behind that makes the art nerd in me positively giddy.  It also has been challenging me in a new way to make a painting that works.  

The drawing that kicked off this thinking...

One of the first paintings I did with this in mind...

A larger more recent painting
The right wheel and seat, things that should be most solid are made from saved up white ground

 I think I am most pleased by the piece at the top, it is my most recent large painting.  I did it completely from memory of our backyard both from looking out our third floor bedroom door and our living room window at that blue hour of night.  

Of course, since I felt I had finally got a good stab at this marriage of ground and paint, I promptly told myself I now needed to make a painting where the entire background was addressed and then smeared away.  It ended up being the weirdest painting I have ever made and I can't decide yet if it is horrible or I love it so I won't put it into the blogosphere to live for eternity.  But things are churning here in my little studio -- hope they are in yours too.

New Painting and Titles

Fruit for Lou, 2013, 16.5 x 18, Oil on Panel

Here is a new painting of mine, done in the midst of an awful studio week.  Not a typical type awful studio experience you may be picturing, awful in that I was doing everything but painting required of a painter.  

Documenting work, applying to a show, applying to a few jobs, (which includes the dreaded updating aka complete re-writing of all materials)...you get the idea.  So I was glad to see that somehow I made something I am really excited about in the few hours I could free my mind.  Maybe the creative energy that was utterly dying inside came out my brush?

Anyways, I needed a title for the piece right around my breaking moment when thinking of one more word to describe myself, my work, anything, felt like a death sentence.  (I know this is all sounding a bit dramatic but it was, especially the moment my computer bit the dust with three more pages to print.)

  So I turned to Alex, who ironically works as an attorney defending people on death row and will not enjoy my reference above and did not find my predicament the least bit life-altering, and said "title this pleaseee!" 

Because I think titles are so important to get right.  Ideally, they operate just as the painting does, so for me I guess its some sort of poetic reference of the world and objects around me.  And right when I think, I don't care I'll just title it, I think what if Rosy-Fingered Dawn wasn't titled that way?  It can be such a missed opportunity. 

And Alex then casually pulled me out of my neurotic mental spiral downward with 'Fruit for Lou'? Lou is a nickname for our dog and there you go, it was personal and weird and seemingly normal but actually illogical and exactly like the painting.

Caught in the Studio: Before the Storm

Here in Philly, we've been waiting for the snowstorm to show all day.  For some reason, it has just exhausted me (and Nugget).  I think it may be the strange sort of light the clouds have created coming in the window.  I am really hoping it comes soon and when it leaves, so does winter.  You can tell from my painting from memory that I have spring on my mind.