Category: Simplification

Less = More

4/10/2024

Drawing 04·05·2024 (state 2), pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

"2024 No.2" (state 11), oil on canvas, 34¾x43¾ inches

Got Rid of That Line!

12/23/2023

Drawing 12·21·2023 (state 2), pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

"2023 No.14" (state 04), oil on canvas, 40¼ x33½ inches

Maybe Simple is Better

10/14/2023

"2023 No.11" (state 01), oil on canvas, 50x37⅝ inches

Resting at Home

2/22/2023

Drawing 02·10·2023 (state 2), pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Today I required a day off. Yesterday I remade this drawing, whose first state was executed on February 10th. Look back to my blog post of February 12th to see how far this drawing is altered from its original. It is much better. Now it is easier to comprehend. This proves my premise. I am moving everything I do toward more direct, simpler statements. By implementing a simpler way of seeing my work's profundity has increased.

Even More Reduction

2/19/2023

"After Words" (2023 No.1, state 10), oil on canvas, 54½X47½ inches

Finding Peace with Minutia

2/18/2023

"Reclamation" (2022 No.11, state 21), oil on canvas. 54¾x 58¾ inches

"After Words" (2023 No.1, state 09), oil on canvas, 54½X47½ inches

"Course of Action" (2023 No.2, state 04), oil on canvas, 50x63 inches

Reduction is getting me closer to my intended impact. Yesterday I worked on three paintings. All are better. I expanded their impact by reducing the complexity of their forms. This resulted in an increase in each painting's percentage of negative space. "Reclamation" is wider. "After Words" is wider and taller. "Course of Action" remains dimensional stable, but the colors in its forms are simplified.

"Reclamation" is Alive & Well

2/16/2023

"Reclamation" (2022 No.11, state 20), oil on canvas. 54¾x 57⅛ inches

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

2/15/2023

"Course of Action" (2023 No.2, state 02), oil on canvas, 50x63 inches

"After Words" (2023 No.1, state 08), oil on canvas, 49¼X45 inches

Drawing 02·12·2023, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Less is More

2/9/2023

"After Words" (2023 No.1, state 06), oil on canvas, 49¼X45 inches

It is obvious to me, this painting, "After Words," has fallen short of its maximum impact. Maximizing impact has been reduced by too many confusing extras. It is cleaner today than was in yesterday's blog-post, but it must me cleaned further. It continues to be victim of too much, too many ideas, too many directions taken, not enough self-editing. Today I will go in, destroy that asterisk-like distraction lying on the belly of the right-side form.

As example of my failure to see that "less is more", I give you a photoshopped image of "Catapult" (2022 No.10, state 6), oil on canvas, 60¾x 56¾ inches. A third major form has been removed, the one that took up a vertical position on the right side of the composition (see below).