End Sloat

So I finished this painting last week.  (The beginning was outlined in the blog post http://lanitanaka.blogspot.com/2012/01/coming-out-of-my-holiday-scramble.html 

"End Sloat" (final version) 24"x24" oil on canvas

My new direction continues to unfold.

It is all about space.  In the past, my space was logical.  There was an up, a down, a horizon, a foreground and a background.   Now my space is being pushed and pulled in different areas.  It doesn’t exist naturally.  

I try to serve the paint versus the paint serving the making of my imagery.  I want the texture and color to be a prominent element.

Someone once said that the difference between design and fine art was that in fine art there was no answer.  I am comforted by that sentence since direction is hard to gauge in my new process. 

The other thing is that I don’t know when a painting is going to be finished.  It just kind of happens and in the case of “End Sloat” it was very abrupt.

I’ve been trying to marry this idea of abstraction and realism together.  Some say it can’t be done, others just laugh.  I’m just stubborn. 

Sketch

Blocking stuff in.

Must not get too attached to that lamp post.

Yikes!

Too much color

Indulging in blurry drippy bliss.

I added the red and I think I'm almost there.

Serious Bird

I'm perverse, I love painting birds that we humans don’t like.

"Serious Bird" (final version) 8"x8" oil on canvas

First version

Second version

Third version

Fourth version

Fifth version

Question Scale

This is such a silly painting. 

"Question Scale" (final version) 24"x24" oil on canvas

first version

second version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scammed

I was engaged in an art scam this week.  You know those scammers that email you usually for jobs?  Well now they are branching out to art collecting.  The first clue was the highfalutin’ language, with bad grammar and bad spelling.  Then there was unusual willingness to spend dough for two paintings that they only saw on line.  It would be one thing if they knew my work and had seen it in person somewhere, but that was not the case.  The third flag was that they said they were out of the country right now, but would be back in a couple of days.  I am not sure why they always say that, but they do.  The fourth flag was that they were moving to London.  These operators are always moving to London.  Either, London is now full of these scammers, or they say they are moving to London because it sounds so fancy, not unlike the highfalutin’ language use.  The last clue, was when I told them very nicely that I preferred to use PayPal, (when they offered to send me a check and have Fed Ex come to my studio and pick up the paintings) big surprise, they disappeared! I didn’t have my hopes up too much, there where just too many flags.  However, I have to admit, it would have been a nice way to start the 2012, if they had been legit!   

Makiko did this.  I thought it apropos

Coming Out Of My Holiday Scramble Part 2

Here are the two other paintings I messed with over the holidays.

This one started as a Gerhard Richteresque painting ( http://lanitanaka.blogspot.com/2011/10/4-new-paintings-started-painting-two.html ), then I added a bicycle and the Old Holland green rectangle. Then there were a couple of stages that were just too painful to document. At one point I even put a drawing of a nude in it.  So, I set this painting aside and forgot about it. Now it is back and getting better.

AFTER with new title, "Bike Abstraction" 20"x20" oil on canvas

BEFORE

The painting of “Sabu” really got me into glazing and working almost in a watercolor technique, so I added a red glaze and an ochre glaze to "Moto Beast". I like it much better. The glazes really enriched the color.

BEFORE "Moto Beast"  30"x30 oil on canvas

AFTER "Moto Beast"

Coming Out Of My Holiday Scramble

 I really get insanely jumbled up by the December holidays.  They seem endless, chaotic and full of guilt.  Why can’t it be organized like my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving?  Ok, I know it is historically flawed, but a holiday based on food and thankfulness can’t be all bad? Plus, it’s one afternoon of food excess and four days off, what’s not to like? 

Through this three week "Christmas" holiday, I think I made it to the studio only a handful times, which gives me mixed feelings. Still, I managed to "mess" with six paintings.  Four were ongoing and two are new.  Here I am posting the beginning stages of the two new ones.

This one,  “Sloat” I started, for me, in a revolutionary way.  I started with a collage on paper that I blew up on the canvas.  I thought that would be enough but now I am adding more images and layers.  It feels like “Orange Bike” in a way and that is exciting and scary.

"Sloat" 24"x24" sketch on canvas

A little more paint.  I like all the elements.

Don't like the middle, but I do like the Eric Fischl color scheme.

Process, process, process... to be continued.

Next I have started “Bike Bird”.  I am taking the idea of collage onto the canvas again.

"Bird Bike" I think this one is 8"x8" oil on canvas

I can't resist blurring.  I even want to blur other people's paintings. 

 To be continued...