...and so it goes! I had forgotten the little trick of increasing the size of an image by simply clicking on it. Both of today's reproduction will enlarge if you click. In the case of the triptych, this really helps! Again, I do not yet feel the impulse to say much about my current work. It is coming quickly. When working, I have the unusual feeling that I know what must be done, moment to moment. Storing energy by being away from the studio has its benefits and one of them is the energetic plunge you see reproduced today. I hope you enjoy it with me!
You may miss the changes in Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 during your first quick glance at today's reproduction of the painting. They may appear minor because of the small size of the reproduction. But, again, they are surprisingly important. Zoom in (its in HD!). In the left panel you will see the changes in the feet and legs of the woman, and in the right hand of the man. Mostly I worked on the woman's feet and legs. Her back leg moved forward, and her toes became defined. Her legs, one after the other, generate a vertical plane which produces a spatial corridor between the man and the woman. It is important compositionally, and emotionally!
For the last two days my studio time has been divided like this: First, Experimental drawing. Second: Enhancing minor elements of Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014. Yesterday I spent two-thirds of my time on the drawing. It is difficult to believe, but the decision making on the woman's feet and legs took well over an hour. Basically. I think I can sustain this daily rhythm of working for at least another week. As you know, I very much want to move onto the next painting, but I feel this is as important to me as "Joy of Life" was to Matisse and "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" was to Picasso (both reproduced below my work). I have been trying to talk myself into the belief that Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 is complete. But every time I touch the painting, it gets better. Yesterday I learned something important. I worked on the hands of the man in the right panel. I was startled by the importance of these hands, not just because of the emotional expression they add to the figure, but also compositionally. The fingers on his right hand (on viewer's left) act as a small plane which helps the viewer fall into the composition using its third-dimensional aspect. I am bolstered by this success. That right man's hands are not complete, but I will wait a day or two for the oil to dry before completing them. Today I will work on the woman's feet in the left panel. Tomorrow I will report to you my perception of this seemingly minor change. I thought the man's hands I changed yesterday to be a minor alteration. Perhaps defining the the woman's feet will be just as important as the man's hands. I really would like to move onto the next painting, but the knowledge I am absorbing as I continue to work on Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 is just too important. What I learn now will stay with me forever.
I wrote in yesterday's post that I am accepting my total fascination with the surfaces of three-dimensional forms. You can see this in yesterday's drawing. Yesterday I reproduced a Lucian Freud etching in order to exhibit a common thread between him and I. Today I show you an early Matisse, where he, in his imitable way, plays with the color and light on the three-dimensional surface of the face and upper torso of a woman. My intense experimentation with drawing is leading me optimistically, one to the next. My investigation of the means to reproduce these drawings falls way short of satisfaction (Complaint: I just can't seem to reproduce the subtlety of the pencil line with its vast range of values. Also, I can't seem to get close to good reproduction without the white paper looking gray).
I am surprised, and nurtured, by my recent drawings. Each seems better than the last. Each feels more like me. Yes, I want to return to painting, and yes I want to begin the new triptych, but also, yes, I need to finish the diptych, Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 (which, after the recent series of drawings, feels very old and limited to me). Yesterday's drawing plays with the male and female form, with many contrasts and distortions. I am truly enjoying my playfulness. I am getting closer to expression of my true and unique self. I am returning to those things for which I have affection and humor. Two days ago I made this drawing. Both of the figures are well coifed. I will be back in the studio today.
I don't know if my last drawing (made two days ago) has any discernible significance. I approached it mindlessly. Sometimes working without reason opens doors to ideas that are significant. After reading the last three sentences I believe confusion is apt. Something worthwhile may result. I certainly am not going to spend much time thinking it.
Yesterday was a slow, sunny, warm, and enjoyable summer day. I needed to slow down, look around. That I did with these two drawings. The curve coming is the final assay, and response, to the painting Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014. I am preparing myself.
BTW: I have been playing with the means to reproducing my work for this blog and for my website, MEHRBACH.com. Today's reproduction of yesterday's drawings are far from the originals. I am trying to get better, but I lament that this blog reproduces mere semblances of the real things. I finally found a the head for the man on the right. Like everything else in the painting, Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014, that man's head went through a myriad of appearances until I found one I could accept as true.
Yesterday's drawing returned me to my occasional play with relative sizes. In this case, man versus woman. It is also further investigation into the space created when an object hits a wall (revisiting a similar inquiry seen in the drawing reproduced in yesterday's post). Consequently the shadow defines space between itself, the wall, and the floor. There is a third piece of research. It is the complex invention that is the woman's body. Distorted, as it is, in order to animate the spatial composition. Her crisscrossed limps and torso are severely foreshorten. Her complexity of form, and her relatively large size, are juxtaposed against the comparatively simple upright form, and small size, of the man. Why does my present work feel conservative to me? As the present painting, Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014, is nearing resolution, I can feel the next question I wish to tackle. When I review this painting in this format, reproduced here, this painting looks to me like mere preparation of things to come, places to go. I am deceiving myself. Every day, upon my first entrance into the studio, the grandness of this painting is sensorially powerful. Its size, its composition, its forms, its artifice of light and space, are engrossing and compelling. In the past, when I reached this stage of development, I moved on to the next painting. Not this time. I am wending my way through this painting, acquiring tremendous knowledge, knowledge I need to go forward to new works.
Yesterday's drawing is an experimentation with spatial play and composition. When I play this way a few discoveries intensify the process a long the way. And afterwards, I enjoy looking at the little discoveries. In this case I am writing about the man at the left, stretched out in extreme foreshortening. I particularly like his head and the way it twists off his torso, creating the triangle of space between it, the floor, and the wall. The form of the head itself is also expressively satisfying to me. Two days ago I made a series of three drawings. In each I explored a different aspect of composition. The final drawing in that series had me investigating the creation of the third-dimension on two-dimensional paper. Of the three drawings, its subject matter is the most unusual. When I focus on compositional research it appears I allow the content of the drawing to appear without self-criticism. This is probably good. In any case, as I do my research through drawing I follow instinct and intuition to where ever it takes me. Yesterday, while in a compositional exploratory mode, I produced the drawing you see here. Weird subject? I am not going to worry about it. I do enjoy its dynamic composition, generated by unusual forms and spatial play.
|
To read my profile go to MEHRBACH.com.
At MEHRBACH.com you may view many of my paintings and drawings, past and present, and see details about my life and work. Archives
April 2024
|