Still Painting

I had a very nice studio visit with Gary Comoglio  today.  He is opening a new gallery in Alameda.  He said some nice things about my work.  I think he said fearless.  

This is coming a long. Few more layers and dimensions.  Bike is a bit bikey.

Ring Throes

Back here in San Francisco, I started the week by losing my engagement ring! (Probably not a good omen)   I noticed it was missing when I got to the studio. 

So I walked home and back to the studio twice, looking under every car and tire.  I was on my bike so I imagined the bumpy road shaking it off my finger.  Crazy, I know... but I was out of my mind.

Thomas the plumber, came out and took apart the pipes, to no avail.  I was resigned that it was lost forever...

Then... yesterday, three days later, Makiko was in the shower.  When she noticed that the exfoliating glove made a funny new clinking sound.  She said she tested it a few times before looking inside and lo and behold, eureka, voila!!!  There it was! 

The terrible week got "better."  I got a couple of different people wanting to schedule studio visits.  I put "better" in quotation marks because gallery interactions cause me acute anxiety and give me the blues.  Don't know why, the art lovers can be perfectly nice and usually are.

Anyway, I don't know what will happen from that, but for now I feel...  LUCKY.

New Studio In Lanai

No, it isn't your monitor.  It isn't suppose to be red,  it really is magenta! 

This little two room building is behind our house. Originally it was a Philippine  bakery.  The left door is going to be Tom's drum room, the right one is my studio.

The insides are still under construction.

Drum Room.  It is very difficult to photograph a small windowless room.

Armen, our contractor extraordinare, has done a lot to keep the feel of the original buildings, yet give them a much needed face lift and modernization.

One of the many things that he came up with was taking out the old window from the DR and put it in the kitchen. The DR walls were doubled to make them more sound proof.  (Lanai plantation houses are single wall construction, which means they are 3/4" thick.)

Then he built a new matching window for my studio.  We will get more light in the kitchen and in my studio.  And.. all the windows will look like they have been there for 76 years.

Arty photo of studio.

Studio view from the inside.

There is going to be a washer and dryer in here too.  Though the words "oil paint" and "laundry" in the same paragraph make me stutter.

Oh, well... somethings can't be helped.  Just keep looking up...

...at the beauty all around and think... happy thoughts... 

Scale, Layers, Color and What Else?

The most dreaded question, "What are your paintings about?"  

It always makes me feel like a deer in headlights.  It's hard to distill experiences and thoughts to a couple of sentences.  

I am always thinking about what is happening in my work, but it is a dialogue between me and the painting.  It is a kaleidoscope of problem solving, experiment and hindsight.  

Sometimes it takes a year to know what a painting is about.

I think this painting is almost finished.

 What I want my paintings to be about... at least at this moment I am writing this... is whatever I can get away with.  I am playing with layers, space, color, and the hoped for prize of movement and emotion.

Guess Who Rented The Rothko Documentary?

It was me.  I rented the Mark Rothko documentary.  He made Makiko and me scratch our heads.  I tried to get someone to watch it with me a second time, but had no takers.  I live with Art Documentary Haters.

Baby Rothko (first layer)

So, in an effort to understand, I am making a "Rothko."  I have at least, three counts working against me in this endeavor, but they won't keep me from trying.  Number one, I know an important part of the Rothko mystic is scale and my painting is 12"x9".  Second part is that Rothkos need to be grouped and have a room of their own.  That was a very important element to M.R.  He did NOT do group shows with other artists.   And the third problem... oh yeah, you need to be Rothko.

Even with all that working against me...  I am feeling it.

Interesting and gutsy fact about M.R., he turned down showing paintings he made for the Seagrams Building and returned the money.  (I think it was $35,000.)  Because he ate there with his wife and found out it was a fancy Four Seasons Restaurant, instead of a commissary for the workers!

He wanted his work enjoyed by everyman, not just the rich.  What a luxury.

To be continued.