Abandoning Process

This summer has been a blur.  (My favorite kind of painting, blurry.)  I feel like I have been in a frantic state for  a while, always in a frig-in' rush.  I forget that I am not living by the bell anymore, but old habits die hard.  All I can think is, I need to get to the studio and this mind set has seeped into my paintings.  This summer I started 3 30"x24" paintings, that I have not finished.  Now, not everything gets resolved, but for me this is a high number in one series. 

I started them with abandon, not a lot of conscious thought.  I have been consumed with experimentation, process and am getting no where.   

"Stretch One", 30"x24"
  It doesn't look like this anymore and I changed it a lot and I am not sure it's a good thing.  I am ignoring the pain. I can't even post what it looks like now.  Maybe someday...

"Stretch Two"
This one is more resolved for me.

"Stretch Three" 30"x24"
They all kinda looked like this in the beginning.  The Drippy White Series.

This was "Stretch Three" now it's is called "Employed Cruising." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, you get the idea.

I want to abandon these for now.   This is unusual for me, because I usually will grind a painting into the ground before letting go.  I feel free writing this.  Tra, la, la!

What I am doing now...
So, on the side, not really thinking too much about it, I started preparing some small canvases.  It started out as a meditative process.  Also, it was something I could control when what I was painting was so out of control.  I took an unusually long time sanding and gesso-ing surfaces, trying to obliterate the weave of the canvas. 

Things are going to get surreal.  I have had these funny little images popping up in my head. Which is an old way of working for me, instead of waiting to see what happens on the canvas,  I picture it first.  I am working slower, with less process and experimentation. 

New Format And Going In All Directions

Drippy sketch

 I got all these new canvases that are longish rectangles.  It is quite a change from the squares I've been working with for the past year.  I started three of these puppies a couple of months ago. ( I work on about 4 paintings at a time.  If the planets are aligned, I am in the studio 4-6 hours a week, 5-6 days a week.) I prioritized the small pieces for the San Pablo show, with Jhina and Scott, so these long paintings are a long time coming.  I think I was figuring out the format and how to compose it.  I started out vertical, but ended up turning the whole thing on it's side!  

30"x24"  oil on canvas.  I started out going very white.

Now you see him... 

Now you don't.

24"x30"  Ta Da!  New title, "Eaten By A Crow"

Lanai City, Hawaii

 Lanai City reminds me of that mythical place portrayed in "Northern Exposure".  It is full of old timers, eccentrics, and wide eyed transplants.  For example, we had dinner with Mormon missionaries at my cousin Michael's mom's house.  (I have a lot of Mormon cousins) They had been visiting various Lanai residents and had a picture of one family's living room that contained a makeshift pen with a baby deer in it (I really wanted a copy of that picture, but alas... ) Of course the deer could jump out and did, anytime it wanted to, but like a good pet deer, it always jumped back in.  Another time we saw a guy walking an exotic dwarf goat, that was not Nigerian, the goat that is, not the guy.  I know this because I am into Nigerian Dwarf goats. 

Some folks have been rescuing, and raising baby deer that have been orphaned, due to the drought.  (I guess these guys got too big for the living room)

My mom Mildred is from Lanai and we still have lot's of family there.  Tom, Makiko and I just got back last night.   I saw my friend Susan Hunter, who makes amazing jewelry, that she sells at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manele Bay and the Koele Lodge in Lanai.  I also met the artist, Mike Carrol.  He is a painter that relocated from Chicago and opened a gallery, http://www.mikecarrollgallery.com,  in Lanai City.

Makiko by the Banyan Tree outside our hotel room window

Makiko won the "Crystal Pineapple" for archery at Koele. 

Polihua Beach

The streets of Lanai City, speed limit 20 mph.

San Pablo Gallery HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Scott, Jhina and I are having a show together, at an out of the way gallery in San Pablo.  Scott and I paint on canvas and Jhina paints on wood panels and uses en caustic wax over her painting.  We are calling the show "Machines, Muses, & Memories to encompass our different subject matter.  Jhina uses old photographs in her paintings, so there are the memories.  Scott does El Caminos, the machines of the group, and at the time of naming the show, I was painting my dog Elmo, (my muse), views of Highway 5, (hence vehicles) and various collages, made up of glimpses of San Francisco, (kinda memorish). 
Then I found out I needed to make smaller pieces for this gallery space, so that threw me a bit and I started doing birds, bunnies and a stop sign.  Scott and Jhina are consistent to the theme,  my stuff is a bit of a stretch. 

This is the lettering on the wall for the show.

MACHINES, MUSES, & MEMORIES
Jhina Alvarado, Scott Inguito, and Lani Tanaka
August 11-September 9
Reception August 25 11-2
San Pablo Gallery
13831 San Pablo Ave, Maple Hall, Bldg 4 San Pablo, CA

Come on out for the wine and cheese, then hit the Lytton Casino down the street after the reception.