Abstract – Depression
I will leave the reader to discover the visual metaphors in this piece.
Monthly Archives: March 2017
The Wink
This is another study done on very heavy (246# linen textured) paper. I began by cutting curved lines into the surface. These curves serve as the scaffolding for subsequent brush strokes and the trough for the green ink I introduced while the paper was wet. I moved the pigment around on the wet paper with an […]
Near Miss
I slashed the paper with a razor and wet the it before I adding color to today’s study. While the paper was still wet, I made some blobs of yellow and used a dip pen to ink the outline them. The gash that I sliced into the paper interrupting the circular arc suggested an arrow. The rest of […]
Abstract with Arrow
I love working on this thick linen paper. I always start out by etching into it with a blade. I want to see how the colors bleed into the grooves. Today’s composition is a combination of watercolor and ink. I had no plan when I started this except for a few curved lines. The bright […]
Yellow and Red
Even though I started this composition with dark blue, it turned out to be mainly about yellow and red. The dark tones seem to recede into the background as the red thrusts forward underlined by the yellow. The exception is the dark streak that overlaps the red orb. The background forces its way forward.
Pale Blue Abstract
Yesterday’s lesson was to clarify my relationship to the world through the marks I make and the colors I apply to paper, and not on their meaning. That is a very clear artist’s statement, but unfortunately it contains no information about how to accomplish that mission. There must be a starting point, a first mark on the […]
The McGuffin
Abstraction: I’m trying to get a better handle on the approach that various artists take to painting. I do this as a means to better understand and, perhaps modify my own approach to expressing myself visually. I’ve had occasion to look up the definition of ‘abstract’ in connection with visual art. My reading about Richard Diebenkorn led me to the […]
Color Patterns
I was playing with foreground/background in this little study. Typically, artists use visual cues to enhance the feeling of depth in a landscape. For example, an artist would paint the blue of the sky fainter (or less saturated) as he or she approached the horizon; s/he would paint a mountain in the distance with a bluish cast. On the […]
Arthur in Decline
Alfred E. Newman, of Mad Magazine fame had an avocado sapling named ‘Arthur’. A year or so ago, I germinated a couple of avocado pits as well. Here are a couple of my paintings of Arthur as a sprout: Arthur’s Roots, Arthur On His Own, Checking In On Arthur, Arthur Update. This is Arthur today: Arthur has […]
Turbulence
I was sitting on the back porch, reading. I was wearing my red hoodie to as shade to the sun. There was a buzzing behind my head. I’ve lived in California long enough to become used to hummingbirds, so I knew one was checking me out. It was ever so brief. I felt like a […]
