John Graham has a major painting in the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MOMA). It depicts two woman who look out at the viewer with crossed eyes. I made this drawing and it reminded me of Graham's crossed eyed woman at MOMA, but here the implication is, of course, different. Graham was a great supporter of Arshile Gorky, one of my favorite painters. Gorky has always been an influence on my work, Graham not so much. My son commented on the small size of my pictures, so today I have increased the size to allow one to see more detail. My original intension for this blog was to focus on my thoughts and not the images I was making. This idea now seems silly, because my thoughts cannot be separated from my art. I also intend my readers to go the MEHRBACH.com to view images in a larger format and higher detail than seen here. However, I update MEHRBACH.com about once a mouth and this blog I update daily. So larger images here make sense. I also worked on "Pond." It is coming thogether and is continuously changing. The light has shifted from the right to from behind (the moon?). I will show you a picture of its current state in my next post.
"Pond" is beginning to surprise. When I created the white circle at the top of the painting I thought it would become a cloud. I even looked at the lovely clouds in a few of Rene Magritte paintings for inspiration. But now the white circle has become a source of light (the moon?). If you view earlier versions of "Pond" you will notice the lighting on each figure is a bit different, particularly the shadows cast. It looks like the painting is demanding back light from the white circle. When this fully occurs the web of shadows will create linear perspective leading back to the circle. As with all I do, I too must watch and be patient as this painting's final form is revealed. My one drawing from the day surprised me too. Its subject is unusual for me, yet it has elements of ideas touched upon in my past, such as markedly different scaled figures and a table. Here it is...
This is the same drawing I posted on 08/06/2010. The complete alteration to the woman's head is a great improvement. I learned something very important about the relative sizes of forms, and their compositional interplay, which has already aided me in solving the painting "Pond." I find it amusing that I had to drag this drawing out of my "discarded drawings" file, not to be seen again until someone else pulls it from that file. I had given up on improving it. This blog allowed me to see the solution. When looking at this drawing, as posted here, I accepted my complete annoyance with the woman's head, found it intolerable, took it out of the file and erased the head completely. I took an electric eraser to it and, in the blank spot where the erased head had been, I immediately saw a better way to solve the drawing. This woman's head was drawn three times from scratch; very unusual for me. Usually I find the form and refine it, erasing a lot, but never fully destroying the original idea. This did not happen this time. This drastic rethinking is occurring more and more. A few times over the last two weeks I began what I believed to be a quick "warm up" drawing and found myself spending hours erasing and replacing. That which was once rare is becoming more commonplace. Is this a sign of increased mastery, or increased confusion? I choose the former, since the quality of my work is strengthening rapidly. I worked on "Pond" today too, but did not photograph it. "Pond" is in the midst of an important alteration (I will show its newest state in the next post). Here is the promised "current state" of "Pond." It is version 3 and will change again soon. I feel good about its progress. I am optimistic it will finish well. Enough said. As usual my day began with a drawing. This allows me to dwell upon the major technical problem I am having in moving forward in my overall problem solving. Yesterday's post showed a drawing which made me very uncomfortable (its composition and the form of the woman's head are both very disturbing to me). So I began the day by jumping into this drawing and approached it in an open, intuitive manner. I believe it much the superior drawing when compared to the one in yesterday's post. There are two levels of problem solving in the studio. One is the current problem of solving the previously begun painting, or paintings. Two works are in this mode, "Pond" and "Two Men." The other level is my current comfort with my approach, i.e. how I make my images. The initial drawing speaks to me of my comfort level, which is never satisfactory. As in yesterday's post, it sometimes feels overwhelmingly wrong. On days like that I should probably pack it in and go for a contemplative walk, but I don't and most often the work suffers. The good part of this is my coming back stronger, with a more satisfying approach, in the following days. Here is a study I made for a new painting. It will be a street scene with the street plunging into the background. This idea has haunted me for a long time. It is time to tackle it in a major painting. I spent several hours working on the drawing I show here, and I am dissatisfied. For all the work it lacks integrity. I need to go straight for me and what interests me most. Yes, this type of drawing is made from interest, but it is more about practicing skills than making art that counts. "Art That Counts" speaks deeply of who I am, it delivers my internal view of the universe, it exhibits what I know, and it questions my knowledge's authority. I returned to "Pond." I realize I did not name this painting in the last post in which a photo of it appeared. That was back on 07/29/2010. Take a look at it then. In my next post I will show a photo of it in its current state.
Started the day with a drawing (as usual). Here it is... The big news of the day is the first study for a new painting, "Baseball." I have long desired to return to this subject and paint a picture full of action but without a specific story. In other words the players will be all over the place doing what baseball players do: run, catch, throw, bat. I also returned to "Pond." I will soon post a photo of its current state. It is going well. I returned to the drawing shown yesterday and here is the result. I am not happy with it. It proves some drawings can not be altered enough to be acceptable to me. However, since this is a blog about my daily life in the studio I will show the good, the bad, and the ugly. The images posted here sometimes surprise me in how they appear on this site versus their actual appearance. I like this drawing better in person, but it will never be as good as the other drawing I made yesterday (see below). I have returned to the painting "Pond." I intend to have it complete within the next few days and will exhibit it very soon.
Too often my intuition rules. The drawing and the painting shown today were made because intuitive questions which require intuitive answers. I feel insecure about both, but I feel these works are required. I must make them. First, the drawing. It again visits my idea of finding while making, and the need to touch both media surface and form surface simultaneously (not an easy task). So this is a "practice" drawing, like a baseball player taking batting practice, repetitively swinging at pitched balls. I repeat myself in method. It gets old. It is annoying. Here's the drawing... Looking at this drawing I like the central figure, but dislike the woman on the right. Her chin, and how it swings into her left jaw line (on our right), will be re-drawn today. This is version 5 of "Two Men." Look to previous posts in this blog for more information regarding earlier versions, or visit the web page ART in PROGRESS. This painting is very close to conclusion. Today I will probably not paint on "Two Men" but return to "Pond" (shown in previous posts and on ART in PROGRESS). I spoke to Dick Schellens on the phone last night. I thanked him for his in studio comments regarding the painting "Two Men." If you return to earlier posts in this blog you can see its origins and its miscue in terms of light. At the end of today you will be able to see all four versions of this painting in larger detail than you can see here on the Art In Progress web page. I had let this painting sit quietly in my studio for several months, feeling uncomfortable with it but not knowing why. Dick said, "The men are in two different light sources." An astute comment which brought me back into the problem solving. The next day I changed the painting, and I have changed it again. I intend to paint on it again today. Here it is in its present state: To the left is a photo of the drawing made yesterday. It tells me I am getting closer to my ideal of feeling through the entire surface of the form and the drawing. Everyday I look at a Picasso print, which hangs (in reproduction) above my bed. In the Picasso the two female figures are distorted, but the eyes are very alive, so felt, so emotionally active. Picasso and Matisse, no matter how far they stray from classical form, exhibit this liveliness in the emotional aspect of the represented persona. I want this too. This drawing makes the effort to get this. I want to post everyday but yesterday ran away from me. I updated my website. At MEHRBACH.com you can see larger pictures of my better work. On this blog I post work as I make it. I do not always like the work I post. On this blog I think it important to show the good, the bad, the ugly. This blog is as much for you as for me. It is helping me understand my priorities and the meaning of my work.
After I was finished with my website update I made a drawing and I revisited the painting "Two Men." Several days ago I posted photos of two earlier versions of "Two Men." The newest remake is better again and tells me more about the direction I am intuitively finding as true. After today's work I will post a photo of the current version of "Two Men." I believe the drawing is a good one, and later today I will post a larger image of it on my website page RECENT DRAWINGS. For now here is the blog size image... |
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April 2024
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