Clearing up.....

 After working for the better part of three months on my paintings for the show in New York it was an enormous relief to see them finally leave my studio. They were headed for a workshop in Emeryville where they will be fitted with a customized crate and be shipped to the East Coast. (I will hopefully see them there hanging on the walls of the gallery when I get to New York on April 6th.)

Re-entering my studio two days later was a shock - it was SO messy and dirty! Tools were everywhere. Oil paint had hardened on my palette. Brushes needed cleaning. Dirty dishes filled the sink. There was sawdust, charcoal, and goodness knows what else on the floor. I'm usually quite tidy and organized so this was traumatic. The process of getting everything ship-shape again is slow but theraputic at a time when my brain needs to rest for a while.

The show will be at Stricoff Fine Art in Chelsea.

The opening reception will be on April 7th 6.00 -8.00pm. I'll be there so please come along and say Hello if you are in town.  


























The Day Before Shipping...

Paintings in studio - 3-22-2011

The paintings I've been working on for the past few months are leaving my studio tomorrow to be crated and shipped to New York. For the last two days I have been labelling and wiring the pieces and painting the side edges White (three coats). I always forget how long it takes. 

This photo shows the back frames I have to build in order to link several pre-painted wood panels together to create the whole painting. It's a lot of work! I sometimes wonder why I developed such a physically arduous process. But then I look at the finished piece and see how all the differend under-paintings lend an air of fragmentation which I love.

These and other pieces can be seen on my updated website.

Four Stages of a Painting.

I have just finished a painting of a pier in New York. Here are some of the stages it went through during the last month:

1. Panels are cut and under-paint color is applied.

2. Fragments of posters taken off the street are applied to the panels.
Then the basic structure of the painting is established with acrylic paint.

3. One narrow panel is discarded for compositional reasons.
The three remaining narrow panels are fixed together with a backing frame.
The painting now consists of two pieces, each 48" x 36".
Pier posts are added and the left panel is developed with acrylic paint.

NY Pier #2. 48" x 72" (diptych). Mixed media on wood panels.

4. The painting is developed in oils. Subtle lettering in the warehouse modules on the right panel (hard to see in this photo) come from an old "Carnation Milk" sign. Bands of paint to suggest water are applied with the edge of a piece of wood. Remains of old posts are added to the bottom right corner.

This painting is headed for a group show in New York which opens on April 7th. Watch this space!