 "Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 19), oil on canvas, 63x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"}  Drawing 10·27·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Jumping into a pit of obstacles, hazards and rewards, is the means to success in sport and in art-making. I found I can act well when challenged by multiple possibilities, some leading to success, some leading to failure. This is problem solving. This is the activity of art-making. This is the activity of sport. Art is engineering and athletics combined. It is physical, and it is mental. Yesterday I leaped into a drawing. For a while I felt lost. I had created many possibilities. For a while it felt confusing and chaotic. There were moments when I thought it best to abandon the drawing. I did not. I was rewarded. I found order within the chaos I had launched. This success by challenge is a great thing; it brings vitality. If the result is success, then trust in one's abilities are bolstered. More challenge will follow. It is a practice I will continue.
Burnt Norton is now very close to complete. The tweak is on! Burnt Norton shall now be completed with minor alterations in color, line, and form.  "Weoman" (2018 No.3; state 4), oil on canvas, 35x42 inches ("I could not get a rhyme for Roman, And was obliged to call it Weoman." -Marjorie Fleming, "Sonnet")  Drawing 05·22·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches Today I admit to photoshop alteration. For the first time I have done research using the tools of the photo enhancement computer program Photoshop. In the painting, Weoman, I altered the left side because I could see changes a-coming that I had not yet accomplished in the studio. The changes seen here will occur immediately upon my working on this painting. This will happen later today. So, I am not fooling you. I admit, I did work digitally on this painting. The manual work upon it will soon match the changes you see here. It will be slightly different, and much better, than what I was able to accomplish with Photoshop.
Yesterday's drawing continues my complex research into an enhanced sense of value, form, line, and compositional structure. I believe yesterday's drawing is a very good drawing. It is predecessor to great work. My process is undergoing transformation. Process change is leading to image change. The profundity of my work is climbing a hill, moving up, moving toward maximization of my human possibilities; all in a time of superheroes!  Drawing 11·21·2017, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches This morning The New Yorker sent an email to all its subscribers with the cartoon I reproduce below. It is apt in many ways. It relates to our society, but also embraces the constant internal arguments I have. Only I get me, and I don't completely get me. That is the major reason I make art. It is also the reason my work bounces around in search for consistent, relentless truth. Can any human endeavor find absolute truth? I think there are absolute truths, like honesty. However, complex endeavors, like making art, do not easily reveal absolute truth. Thus comes my drawings, one simple, the next complex. There are those that are dominated by lines and those that are dominated by hard core black graphite. Yesterday's drawing exhibits the blackest I can get with that pencil of mine.    Yesterday was enjoyment in my studio behavior. There is a long distance risk in Drawing No.1, and an overall quest for harmony, despite a clogging of forms, in Drawing No.2. Both drawings play well with values, and also with variety in form and line. Compositions are energetically moving while secure in their rectangles.
   I know these reproductions look small on your screen ― don't forget to click on them for enlargement.
Yesterday's drawings appear to be about the artifice of space. I am questioning its possibilities. Unusual in the first drawing is the direction of light (usually I rake it from right to left, but in this one the light crosses diagonally, from lower left). The second drawing plays with line leading to forms, front to back. The lighting in the second drawing is neither important or interesting (it is the contrast in values and shapes that are interesting). The third drawing swoops the forms from front to back, rotating them in space as if on a diagonal arc. So, yes, these drawings vary in their questions about structure. I am exploring the emotional and intellectual affects of invented forms in three-dimensional space. This 3D space is, of course, artificially depicted on two-dimensional pieces of paper.  Drawing-08·04·2015, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches It feels good to run into this without knowing where it's going. More precisely, I am following the lead of positive intuitive feedback. It is a feedback loop, not unlike one experienced with a microphone and an electrical audio amplifier. It is getting louder and louder, squealing in pleasure and pain. I am "getting real" with myself. If I have learned anything from my recent activity, it is that I enjoy moving my line across invented forms. If this is methodology, it is one of discovery of form through seek and find by line.
 Drawing-05·30·2015, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches This drawing took me nearly four hours to complete. It is filled with normalcy and abnormality. Nobody has a nose like the man's, but the breast of the woman looks familiar. And so it goes — I am testing the waters of abstraction versus traditional figuration. For me, this is becoming a forever problem. Besides my addressing this issue of abstract forms versus more naturally derivative forms, I would like to point out the complexity of this drawing's space. The drawing, after all, is on a two dimensional piece of paper. Wandering through its space is a deceit, driven by form, perspective, light and shadow, and line. In this drawing, and in the drawing reproduced in my previous blog post, I have used lines to create surface values which simultaneously drive and animate space. The easiest place to see this occur is on the top of the box on which the woman sits.
It is important to me that you look carefully at one minor element: the woman's left hand. I drew that over and over, till it felt right, at least five times.  Drawing-05·28·2015, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches I do not want, or need, to say much about yesterday's drawing. it surprised me! I feel a WOW! factor when I look at it. Besides the subject matter being "found", there is also the finding of so much more, i.e. forms invented, space invented, values subtly altered to create movement and light, and the use of line to move the viewer rhythmically and to stretch out the perspective. Wow! I am surprised and impressed.
 Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 (state 13), oil on canvases, 60X120 inches (each canvas = 60X60 inches) Possible Subtitles▸ Left panel: "Before or After", Right panel: "After or Before" The painting Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 took a turn toward "rightness" with yesterday's changes to the man in the left panel. However, looking at the entire diptych, the man in the right panel needs revision. His stature (or lack of it) is important to the meaning of the painting, both compositionally and emotionally. After the corrections to the man in the left panel, the head of the man in the right panel appears too large. The work demanded by this complex painting is incredibly absorbing and demanding. I am not tired yet. I am dedicated to finishing this painting properly. Somehow I know this painting is a turning point in the acquisition of the knowledge I require to express myself. Yesterday's drawing is one more study for the man in the left panel of the painting Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014. Take it for what it is, but once again I have to tell you that the reproductions that appear here pale compared to the actual works. There is no way the subtle play of the pencil lines, and their value contrasts, can be reproduced properly. Even more difficult to reproduce is the complex color values and hues in a painting, especially one as large as Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014. Don't worry, I will give you some lead time before these works are shown in exhibition.  Untitled Drawing-05·13·2014, pencil on paper, 14X11 inches 
Untitled-03·08·2014, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches
I am sitting here with a runny nose and tissues. Last night I came down with a full blown cold, the first I have had in recent memory. I won't go to the studio today, so no blog post tomorrow. Tomorrow is Monday, my normal take care of financial concerns day. I'll try to do some of that Money Monday stuff today so I can carve out some time in the studio tomorrow (if I am feeling better). I am ready to renew my inquiry through painting, but not today. Today I will mostly rest in hopes of a speedy recovery.
I find sicknesses, like this cold, occur conveniently during times of major transitions. Take a close look at today's drawing. It is a transitional drawing. I took unusual risks while making it. You can see the erasures around certain forms, like the woman's hip that juts upward near the center of the drawing. These quick and agile adjustments can also be seen thoughout the man's shoulder and arm in the upper left of the drawing. These pentimenti are left over stabs at different ways of making these forms. I was seeking a way to make each mark work with the major form to which it was to be attached, while simultaneously making compositional sense. This drawing flowed rapidly from me. The risks taken were my quick thrusts of the pencil line looking to find the forms which echoed authentically within my intuition and internal sense of self-expression. For me, this is a better way to draw. Self discovery is faster and more accurate. This process was one of trust, not only in the instantaneous identification of form, content, and composition while making marks, but also trust in a deeper intuitive reaction to each line. I trusted I could, and would, react to each mark by acceptance or rejection. Also, I trusted that judgement would be authentic and true. |
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February 2020
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