"Past Tense, Future Imperfect" 2008
Oil on board with found object assemblage.
30 x 30 inches
This is a new creation, combining the "Rutherford" plain-air urban landscape painting with found object elements and assemblage art. I will be posting more complete text and pictures of this work as it progresses. This is a preliminary arrangement; nothing is fixed yet.
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Creation of "Rutherford"
Progressive data on "Rutherford". re digital image of the painting I am currently exploring. A bit later in the afternoon, the triangle of light blue building wall is more of a 45 degree angle and plays against the yellow/greenish brick rectangle on top. I think of Edward Hopper's "Sunday Morning" when I look at this. The strong sunlight and building detail reminds me of that.
(May 15) Version 2 is next. Still have the tower detail to add and finishing the detail in the metal/wood structure on top of the "blue" wall part of the building, but other parts are coming nicely. The detail on the brick wall at the right still needs to be added also. There is an overall warm feeling that fits with the atmosphere. I am still researching what this building was, or who owned it. It is currently up for sale, as many along this road are.
(April 6) Still rather "sketchy" at this point, t his version (V1) shows the first and second level of underpainting. After the charcoal drawing and initial wash underpainting, I have applied thicker areas of paint to the major forms (building walls, sidewalk walls and grass, and the sky). This process was completed in 4 separate sessions, working roughly between 4:30 and 6:15 PM, Late March and early April. The sky painting occurs in my process more as a "guided abstraction" than as a concentrated effort at representation. I form impressions of color, always in contrast and compared to other elements in the composition (noting, most importantly here, that the blue sunlight on the wall is both brighter and warmer than the sky). The pigments in the sky are flake (lead) white, prussian blue, viridian, and very small amounts of sap green and burn umber in darker areas. I corrected the drawing once, making the top of the low wall in the foreground more horizontal and adjusting the corner where the warm brick and cooler blue walls meet on the center/left.
As with the other "building" paintings, I am interested in the history and impact of this location. The process of organizing oral or documentary history related to specific locations like this is interesting and unique. Often the historical record is limited to real estate listings. People with knowledge of the site - what businesses were housed there, any particular or significant events that occurred - are difficult to track down. I will post new information as it becomes available. This is a 20 x 16 inch oil on panel.
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"U.S. Finishing" proposed oil on panel.
Photo image of proposed "US Finishing", which was a Building landscape of derelict textile industry building at Buncome Rd & W. Blue Ridge Drive in West Greenville, SC. This plant burned in 2004 and a micro-burst wind blew down the wall in 2007. Owned by a Burmuda textile company, they bleached and dyed fabric here in preparation for printing. The finished painting, as planned, will be 14.5 x 48 inches, oil on board, plein air.
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"Black Light Confirmation" (unfinished)
oil on panel, 16x20 inches.
This image is a charcoal underdrawing in preparation for the still life "Black Light Confirmation." This is a still life composition (see image 3), which plays on an autobiographical narrative of my self awareness as artist. The location of San Francisco bay area in the late 1960s and early 1970s is important in this narrative, and the influence of graphic media is evident in my use of DayGlo (tm) water-based tempera poster paints at this time. (see Past Works page for samples of this early experimentation with abstract color and form).
A photographic image of the composition in the studio. Reflection of the artist in the mirror background.
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This verision has tonal underpainting with some areas progressing into secondary stages of finishing. The light is a floodlamp housed in a metal casing with a glass UV filter lens. Some of this part of the painting is glazed directly over the white ground to highlight the light source. I also plan to use some flourescent pigments, purchased from RiskReactor.com in mixing paint for the jars in the foreground.
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This is the original charcoal drawing of the composition. Several corrections were underway when I took this photograph. I have also recently added a picture of me at work, roughly age 11 or 12, around the time I was painting with DayGlo water tempera flourescent poster paints.
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"Untitled"
Oil on canvas
48x24 inches
Studio composition completed partially at Furman University in spring, 2007 under direction of Michael Brodeur.
I am currently working from a series of photographs to complete this painting, something I have never done before. I wanted to have a try doing this before giving up on this one. |
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