Back to Sleeping During the Day

In the last period of my life that I had time to paint deeply or obsessively, I would often paint a favorite image over and over. There would be something different that  I was chasing in each iteration.  

This was one of the last images that I really painted a lot.

My life was starkly different then. I was serially single and childless. Can you tell? 

"Pedestrian" 36"x45" (1998)

In this new period (the last six years) I have not really indulged going deep with an image.  I have been pretty much been careening through a bunch of different subjects, techniques and genres, like a drunken maniac. My dog is perhaps the only repeating theme. 

I think, however, that I am starting the serial thing again. Using an old title, "Sleeping During the Day."  The first one of that title was painted in 1990. It was tiny, maybe 12"x12". Someone... probably me, sleeping under a bright square of window.  I think I have a slide somewhere. The painting is now in the Swig Collection.  

Here is the new version with my daughter and of course my dog.  I have only painted this version twice, but who knows how many iterations I can come up with.  I am a fount for making up problems to tackle in painting.  

Finished with yellowish star.  Whole thing measures maybe 24"x30"

Earlier with a red star.

First one of M and E.  This one is big and tight, 3'x5.'  I liked the intimate scene painted in a non-intimate size.

Pardon me, but I shot these with my phone.  The last couple of posts I had Cera Hensley photograph my stuff.  What a world of difference.  

MBK and Elmo or... Debbie and Billy?

I was gifted a bunch of canvases from our friends Debbie and Billy.  I think they were unused signs for their wedding.  They have been married for years and are expecting their second child.  So, through a konmaring impulse and need to make room for the new nugget, I got some really high quality canvases.  Most of the canvases were blank, but this one had an interesting ground for layering. 

Here is the finished version.  Elmo is in sharp focus.  The bag is a drawing.  The window is a an abstraction.  You can still sorta see "Debbie" in it.  The floor is doing this undulating movement... bonus!

Early sketch

Husband really likes this version.  

Almost finished.  Carpet appears to be trying to slide off the canvas!

Everyday Company

I was gifted some canvases from my friends Debbie and Billy.  It is fun to find the composition for this unusual format.  I like the tension of the two of them facing away from each other. 

"Everyday Company" 36"x24"

Here is the preliminary sketch.  The couch was a lot longer.

Happy New Year!

Whew, we made it through the holidays, yay!

I managed to finish a few things!  Here is the second to last painting from what I am calling the "Rug Series.  

So far I am calling this one "Sunday Afternoon".

"Sunday Afternoon" 40"x30"  I really like the hands.

I drew it over an old painting.  

I really was trying to think of a way to save the bird. However, he had to go...

It's Next Weekend!

Open Studios In The Mission

November 6, 7, & 8

Friday night 5-9 pm

Saturday and Sunday 11 am -6 pm

I will be in the crowded hallway-like studio at the "Stable" #317.

Open Studios In The Mission

Open Studios In The Mission

November 6, 7, & 8

Friday night 5-9 pm

Saturday and Sunday 11 am -6 pm

Dog Dreams

Please come by and say "hello".  I will be skulking around the hallway, as usual.

Blew Up An Old Painting

This is a much larger version of one of my favorite paintings of Makiko and Elmo.  The original is about 12"x9" and this one is 5'x3'.  Painting on these larger canvases has helped me finally loosen up.  It is very exciting and liberating.  

This one is called... "untitled1".  

I've started a file of temporarily untitled works.  I will eventually name them... I hope.  But, I don't want to rush it, or settle.  I am open, however, to suggestions.

My studio mates, Ytalena and Fuzz helped me figure out that this painting needed something in the upper right quadrant, some kind of Fibonacci thing.   First I tried just adding detail to the view outside the sliding glass doors.  Then I just went for it and added the anchor.

I added an orchid, not an anchor.  (This is the second to last version.  The rest are in order.)

This is an early shot.  I was really flinging the paint.

Here is Elmo as a cat.

Makiko has a different hair-do and Elmo with a different head.

Second to last one again

Hmm, here is the final.  I took it with my phone not my tripod and SLR.   There is a big difference!

Remember When It Rained On Valencia Street?

Break Through

I had a break through last week.  It came in the form of this family picture.  I like the composition, but mostly it is the looseness of the paint quality.  I felt free and this painting came out whole.   

Boom!    

Living Room

The little Bonnard and Vuillard exercises did the trick.  I get so hung up of surfaces that I end up tightening everything up till they squeek!  (Which has a certain satisfaction in a obsessive way.)  I am going to tweak the background a little bit.  But mostly it is done.

My dog Elmo was my first subject when I resumed painting after a 10 year hiatus.  He is one of the most magical beings.  

Back In Collage

It's not really a collage.  It just reminds me of one.  It is my bike at the corner of 23rd and Folsom Street.  I am getting into this large format, 3'x5'.  

"Folsom Street"