thinking & making

  • A very good painting session

    A very good painting session

    Everything about this roughly two hour painting session felt good. It had its ups and downs but more often than not I was experiencing a flow state. I succeeded in not overworking anything, and I now have a clear vision of where this painting will end. I am toying with a tone change in the…

  • Starting something new

    Starting something new

    I was finishing up sanding a few freshly primed wood supports when I came across an old project I started about two years ago. I had cut up the solid wood top of an unused drawing table to use part of it for another project and was left with a 22×15 inch panel that seemed…

  • Painting: River Through Mountains

    Painting: River Through Mountains

    I decided to relieve myself of the impulse to make another tonal, semi-representative work by forcing myself to work with a non-representative palette. I painted this over three sessions and I feel pretty good about it.

  • Future paintings

    Future paintings

    I spent some time last night priming new surfaces to paint on. I’ve got two 8″ square and two 12″ square panels. More importantly, I’ve got a nice 24×36″ panel that I’m really excited to work with. I need to see what I can learn from making increasing the scale. Plus, i’ve got some other…

  • Honey Boy (Self exploration day, part 2)

    Honey Boy (Self exploration day, part 2)

    After a really wonderful afternoon of relaxation, meditation, journaling, and art viewing, I found myself looking for some passive entertainment. I was sitting at the Art Institute thinking about how much I had enjoyed people watching and so, rather than go see some jazz as I had planned, I walked over to the Siskel Theatre…

  • Self exploration day part 1, Meditation, Ice Skating, Art Institute

    Self exploration day part 1, Meditation, Ice Skating, Art Institute

    No matter how much I fuss and fret, and renew my attempts to murder the Sovereign of the Centre by superimposing my human seven-holed features upon him, I can never succeed.

  • Another experiment

    Another experiment

    I found another small old painting in my studio and couldn’t help but start going over it. I learned quite a bit while making this. (1) If i’m going over old paintings, i need to leave more of the old in tact (2) i need to stop using prussian blue hue. i will probably repaint…

  • Not so precious

    Not so precious

    In my second sitting with this painting I brought in the sky and sea, and I have to say that it was thoroughly enjoyable and I like the outcome. In particular, I love this section of the shoreline. I’m making a conscious effort to evoke the essence of the scene without getting too precious.

  • New Beginning

    New Beginning

    Started a new painting last night. I had intended to do the same scene again but after making that little waterfall painting the other night, I changed my mind. Gotta move on. I’ll be painting more loosely and following my intuition.