Blank stare?

Is this Kasimir Malevich's, White on White? Maybe Robert Rauschenburg's, Erased de Kooning Drawing? A Robert Irwin installation? Nah!!!! It's the start of another -work in progress. Not sure what I'm going to do here, nor whether I will do this painting horizontally or vertically. The size is 40" x 72", a real odd size but I like different formats (check my post from June 15: Plank Road). In fact, I have a small strip of canvas left over when I trimmed this one that would go nicely as a 3" x 72" painting. Now that would be a different sort of format for sure. It would be sort of like a Gene Davis painting turned inside out. In case you are interested in the paintings I mentioned, just for fun, I've included a link to each (hope the links work).
White on White: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/art/20_ptg.html
Erased de Kooning Drawing: http://www.wishwallmural.com/learn/rauschenburg-med.jpg
Irwin installation: http://againstacedia.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/irwindisk2.jpg
Gene Davis: http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/picturepostcard/images/davis11-03-1.jpg

City Blocks (finished)

Finally done. This painting took longer than it should have but I've also been involved with forming a Blues Band and my time gets a little divided. I am very pleased with the results here and hopefully will stretch a new canvas tomorrow. If you saw my first post on this -work in progress- chain of posts, then you will know that the name of the painting is derived from a childhood toy similar to modern legos. Their shape suggested to me a way of laying out the isometric drawing on the canvas. There is a sequence I followed in painting the flat surfaces to the forms. That sequence was arrived at after I had started the painting. Usually, when I start a painting such as this I am totally unaware of what I am going to do next on the picture until I've gotten a ways into it.

work in progress

Hopefully this is the last -in progress- photo of my painting. It should be finished this weekend. I am very pleased with it and I'm excited about starting the next one.

just about done

My painting is close to completion. I wish I could get a little better illumination when I photograph it but it's large enough to make such things difficult. I am very excited about the results so far and my mind is constantly imagining new subjects and content for subsequent works. I live in a small place but I really would like to increase the size more on these painting; say, up to 8 or 9 feet in height or length. I guess I ought not make anything I can't get out the door...haha!!!

work in progress

I got a bunch more done on this over the weekend. I'm working on it right now as I post this since I don't have to be at work for awhile yet. I am very pleased with the way it is going but it sure is slow. I have some sketches I did Friday at the bar that I'll post in a few days but I wanted to update this painting.

work in progress

This is definitely slow going on this painting. I managed to get some time in this morning. The weekends are usually best for concentrated effort. Because I draw the paint up to the penciled lines being careful to keep a crisp edge, I cannot speed through this like a plein air painting done while trying to capture a specific time of day. I think I prefer this way of working even though it tries my patience a bit. My painting decisions can be tossed around in my head for a time while I work. I'd probably hate this method of painting if I had worked it all out beforehand in a sketch. Not knowing where it is going keeps the monotony away.

work in progress

I only had thirty minutes to work on this painting this morning, the process is very slow. I mark all the lines of the composition with a straight edge and compass but I don't mask the edges when I paint, rather I brush the paint up to the pencil lines carefully. Masking works well when I use acrylic paint but with oil I'd have to wait until each adjoining area was dry before I proceeded with taping over it; that's time consuming and not necessarily the effect I'm after. The photograph does not display the surface of the painting very well; I prefer to have the evidence of the brush strokes visible in the flat color areas so that it is obvious that this painting is a product done by hand not a mechanical process. In essence, this is nothing more than an enlarged sketch drawn as carefully as I can do it.

work in progress

Here is my next work in progress. The stretcher I put together Friday; it measures 43" x 48". This is another in the series of abstractions I've been doing lately. I've titled the piece, City Blocks. The titled comes from an old toy I once had as a child by that name. City blocks were a predecessor to legos and snapped together in a similar fashion. The forms that I mapped out on the canvas reminded me of my old toy so I choice that for the name. You might be able to see the light penciled lines for the composition of the piece; I'm sure this is going to take quite some time to complete but I'm pretty enthused so far.