Rocktown, Indiana

New Work

2012-01-10T17:35:00.000-08:00

"Mother", 4' x 4', 2012

Saturday I pulled out an old work that was framed, but that I never really resolved. The size and shape are perfect for the entry view wall in my upcoming "Mounts" show at Dewclaw. I decided to completely paint over and see if I could coax out a Mountsian image by this Saturday. It would have been enough to have a good image happen, but this (newly finished) piece also connected for me personally and fairly directly. That's something I used to experience all the time, but not so much now. I'm a little nervous because this was too easy. That's also something that I used to experience often, fast and effortless moments with meaningful results. So I'm stoked. I'll take a better pic and post once the frame dries and I can move it.

I also decided to augment the Mounts paintings with some new drawings. I've never really worked quite like this before. I used to do large and loose drawings, where charcoal gets smooshed around, much like painting. I've also used drawing to triggers ideas, by making numerous fast, almost autonomous drawings with a sharpie. I'm not real crazy about what these drawings are. They're tightly rendered doodles. I do really like how the process slows me down. It seems to set me at the perfect speed for processing some obsessive tendencies in visual thought. I think their small size also contributes to them being some sort of sweet spot for me, in terms of rendering thoughts as they occur. They are each 5.5" x 7".

I'll display them on a painted rectangle, I believe just tacked to the wall with some tiny brad nails. I really wanted to have more done for the opening, but I will just work on them and add them to the show as I can. I plan on having a work table in the gallery for this show.

How to remove cat hair from art.

2011-12-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

Discovered and Forgotten

2011-12-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Trojan Warrior Install Video

2011-12-18T18:54:00.000-08:00

Nest Tree

2011-12-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

I received the dreaded notice from the health dept, to remove my brush pile. It's been 5+ years since my last notice, and this is the largest it's ever been (this sort of maintenance never seems to happen without prodding).

I managed to break everything down in two days, into 3 wood stacks, a light crunchy scattering over the yard, an extensive and attractive garden border of twisted large branches, and this "nest tree" on the right.

Mid-way through the pile, I found this old yard offering. The tree was still green from an artificial dye. It also had around 100 bendy branches that could not be snapped off, had to be clipped. I have a dead cypress in the yard, I've not yet removed. How funny to wedge this green dyed dead Christmas tree into the cypress' branches, making it look alive (and saving me a lot of tedious branch cutting).

Before long I had an entire pile of bendy brush that would be hard to break down. Yep, I wove everything into the nest tree. Here's a detail. It has way more brush in there than it appears in these photos....way more.

I should mention that I almost hoard rotting wood. I really enjoy having it around, and even messing with the pile, digging through and finding the various stages of decomposition. Finding various fungus growth. The urge to build with it is strong too. I had to restrain myself from leaning the larger limbs onto other trees and building things. I would love to be able to engage in strenuous puttering like this all the time.

Latest Work

2011-12-16T15:21:00.000-08:00

So....I've been messing around with these sculpted surfaces, and today veered into a new direction, within this new direction. I'm experiencing an affinity for tin foil that's not really about the art politics/policy of using tin foil at all. It's working for me materially in a way that's very similar to paint, plus optically, it's off the charts, in terms of eye bang.

I wouldn't classify this new work as New Casualist or slacker abstraction (I believe this was coined by MAH), because I am still wrestling with finding or creating a sound, ringing resolution. Still, I must acknowledge that those influences helped me pass through some materials and handling barriers, with relative ease.

Trojan Warrior - Day 4

2011-12-11T19:06:00.001-08:00

I'm calling it. I'll top coat tomorrow and install on Tuesday, and paint more flying debris on the actual wall. Today was difficult. I did not gear up mentally, because painting the debris seemed pretty straightforward, with little problem solving. So I tried to do it on auto-pilot, and became impatient. Also, I noticed neighbors across the street moving, and I had to keep looking out the window, spying. That house is problematic to the neighborhood, and has been for years. It keeps getting rented to new versions of the previous people, which is an interesting idea for a movie, but sucks when it's real. Then someone gets arrested, and the house sits empty for a while, which is actually good. This last incarnation of "1659 Dwellers" were tolerable. Yep, hard to stay focused today.

I may document the installation, in "how to" steps.

Trojan Warrior - Day 3

2011-12-09T19:10:00.001-08:00

I spent about an hour this morning finding and photoshopping a cross for the shield, then received an email from my client with a specific image. Not a big deal to change it. I get really lazy about finding the fastest solutions, at least with these commissioned works. I was going to use this shield:

And was even pondering this:

As I said, left unprodded, I get lazy.

Re the above current state of the mural, I'm happy. There are still drawing issues, hand issues, etc. but I can live with it. I'm really excited about the freaking light hitting form thing. I forget until I do this representational work, just how amazing it is to depict light hitting form, with paint. Also, I dispise high contrast and hard edges, and yet I had to go there with this one. You can't paint metallic without high contrast and hard edges.
It was good to have to deal with that. No wonder artists still spend their entire lives painting realistic paintings. It's an endless field of discovery.

Spartan Warrior - Day 2

2011-12-08T19:05:00.001-08:00

I got a late start today, and then could only work in 1 to 1 1/2 hour spurts, with 1/2 breaks. Still, I pretty much got the face and headpiece done, the the arm worked out. This makes me want to spend time learning to paint faces and the figure. I approached the metallic surface with a very loose and intuitive method. That was fun, and again, it makes me want to spend more time learning techniques.

How To Paint a Spartan Warrior - Day One

2011-12-07T16:55:00.001-08:00

Download source images, prep canvas, make drawing and transfer.

Establish values and shape with a tonal wash.

Figure out the foreshortening that you should have done in Step 1, but didn't have an image for.

Add some color, call it a day.

Dewclaw Inaugural Exhibition*

2011-11-25T16:31:00.001-08:00

I'm calling my new work and show space Dewclaw. The first show will open next Friday, Dec. 2. There is a lot going on that night around town, so we are also having a preview opening on Wednesday, Nov. 30. 5-9 pm each night. I'm excited to finally show this first group of Lane Markers together and in subdued light.

This space still feels like a chapel. It will be interesting to see if this holds when other work is in there. For now, it's so perfect for this group of work, I could cry.

If you're around for either of these nights, please stop by. Dewclaw is part of the newly opened South Studios at the Complex. We are a few doors south of Wug Laku's area in the Circle City Industrial Complex. 1124 Brookside Ave. I currently plan to have the space open on Saturdays 1-4 pm and by appointment.

* Coincidental acronyms are harmless....really

While Rome burns.....

2011-11-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

Lusterstone, tin foil, pom-pom, and spray foam.

I can't seem to help myself (which is a more profoundly true statement than I intended). So much is wrong in my making these things, and a couple days ago it hit me that I was standing in line at Hobby Lobby, a store I despise, purchasing pom-poms for these trivial trinkets. I had already had an internal discussion, and decided I would use mostly recycled materials, or materials I already had, or thrift store items, or dry donated paint skins.....and here I was buying pom-poms (I had already tried to not use pom-poms because Nomi does, and I love her work, and it seemed wrong for me to use them too......but I decided it was okay on that front).

I left the store and thought about hitting Walmart next door. I was hungry and I have been craving Whopper Jr.s ever since I had one a month ago, on a lark. Should I add a trip to Burger King to this outing?

I'm having a hard time reconciling my current impulses and desires with current events at all levels - personal, local, and global. For all my bluster about having come to terms with art for art's sake (with a thumbs up), I can't help but feel self-indulgent, and I can't really blame the current local art scene swing towards justifiable worthiness in art. That's really just someone else's issue. I believe things that engage me are meaningful, and that engaged human beings are good for mankind, in some undefined way.....but I'm engaged in making trinkets.

Still, there's this......

Mound by Allison Schulnik from garaco taco on Vimeo.

Fountain Square Don't Care

2011-11-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

"Sugar Tattoo" from the cover of "FSDC"

Review: FSDC Book Launch: Shared Heritage premieres a rarity in the Indy world: the artist-produced zine. 'FSDC,' or 'Fountain Square Don't Care,' incorporates the work of eight promising artists. (Nuvo review link)

The zine title cracks me up and this seems like an interesting new art endeavor at the Murphy Center.

Gallery Ideas, Part III (plain ole studio)

2011-10-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm skipping over Part II ideas, but may post them later, for kicks. Here's Part I posted yesterday. As much as the studio space itself inspires these other ideas, I really need to focus more intimately and more individually. This is how I connect to the world, and others, in a meaningful way - as an artist partially ignoring that world, and others. It took me a very long time to accept that personal artistic exploration has meaning, and that at its very core this activity is generous in spirit.

I feel oppressed by the municipal/corporate interests that have been guiding our local arts since around 2000. While there is much more going on, and some money being invested in local arts and artists, it creates a whirlwind environment of highly social, but disconnected participation. It's being done to promote an identity, which is fine, but I wish they would have gone for "world-class" architecture, rather than art.

I don't really need to add my gimmicky ideas to that pool. We have plenty of entrepreneurial art activity planners. It's difficult for me to ignore the space's gallery potential, and I may occasionally clear it out for the occasional Swivel Gallery Show (the space is perfect for placing a single swivel chair in the middle of the room and hanging one work on each wall, or one person's work on each wall).

This is a long-winded way to say I'm going to scale everything back down to using this space as a studio, at least for now.

Gallery Ideas, Part I

2011-10-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've rented a small space at the Circle City Industrial Compex. It's perfectly intimate, tucked away a bit, no windows, and a nice size for a small gallery. It's been a huge struggle to ignore this space and focus on getting other things done. I've only been in there once since I received my keys, but the ideas are flowing, some good, some whacky. Posting publicly will help me sort out the diff.

Exhibition ideas:
Unstable Art Show - I've been sculpting paint skins while they're still moving (wet), which almost sounds cruel. I'd like to have an invitational one-night only show using in-flux materials. This could be in winter so we'd have the whole snow/ice possibility. It could involve stacking materials. Pretty much anything fragile or ephemeral, as long as it's not fumey or food related. For the exhibition I'd cover the floor in plastic and possibly even display some things in tubs.

Documented-only shows - I'd like to have a strong online representation and had even considered having the gallery officially be an online gallery, which happened to have a bricks-n-mortar space in Indpls. The space would serve almost as a set for the online activities, and would also be a sort of tourist attraction (at least in concept) for the "real" activities which occurs online....a sort of Precious Moments Chapel for you to pay homage to ;-) , full of momentos (for sale) of online conceptual moments of note. Document-only shows would play into this idea in that I would put up shows in the space, but only present a documentation of them. Not a new idea by any means, but it's still interesting to consider just how and what one could do with it.

Artists You Don't Know - I'd change the title, but this would be either one show or a series of shows featuring local Indiana artists who are making really intriguing and independent work, but who are not really on the radar.

It's Not Gonna Happen - (or Proposals for the Unlikely) -It's a much more positive idea than how it sounds. This will likely be a proposal show, where artists submit very informal representations of projects that simply will not happen, mainly because of context. That same inappropriate context is what makes the idea so fascinating though. For instance, I was making proposals for an area high school, and when I saw the natatorium being contructed, an image popped into my head and I couldn't shake it. Their mascot is a panther. I visualized this image of a panther where the huge scale and the cropped (swimming) shape made it impossible to read correctly on first glance. It actually looks like a loch nest monster or something inexplicable. That moment when you realise it's a panther would be so amazing.....Still, the idea falls so far outside of the norm, as school mascots go.....It's not gonna happen. I may keep this show limited to decorative painting projects, but public art projects are also a great place for "not gonna happen" ideas.

Fantasy Art Finds - (Needs better title) This could be either a proposal show or a theme show for new work. What art would you most want someone else to have made? This really is different from what art you as an artist would like to make, I think. The context could be narrowed. I've always liked to imagine my dream thrift store painting finds. What would I most want to find in a thrift store, or similar place, that some other person had taken the time to make?

Paintings for a Mobile Home - I first had this idea back when I actually lived in a trailer. As campy as the idea is, I was seeking a framework that would encourage sincerity. I've always wanted to keep one foot firmly planted in a non-academic, provincial place of art appreciation. It seems important to always consider what I'd be doing and how I'd be thinking if I were unaware of current art considerations. What paintings would I make if they were intended to be hung in a mobile home? It's almost impossible to conceive without irony, but fascinating to do so. I'm not sure if this would be an invitational show, or just a group I'd do.

I rarely feel inspired by others' theme show ideas, and I am a little chagrined at how much I'm going there myself. Next thing you know, I'll be pushing spectacle art events....

Iron-Artist Assemblage Competition - Timed assemblage of provided materials. Could also have a blind collaboration, where artists work in sequence on one piece. This was actually a side-idea to Sculpt My Yard Offerings - which was originally simply Sculpt My Dumped Tires. I bring in stuff that's been dumped in my yard, you or I make something from it. I though about somehow inviting others to make surreptitious yard offerings that I would try to distinguish from the naturally occurring dumpings. It would be an interesting head-trip, but is just way too insular in scope, even if it's made into a display of some sort.

The Strontium Show - Fun with phosphorescent paint.

I'll end the exhibition ideas here. Gallery Ideas, Part II will be ideas for funding the gallery, and also ideas for setting up the space itself.

October News Brief

2011-10-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

I'm preparing for a large series of paintings, where I plan on working within certain parameters. I plan on keeping a fairly consistent palette and work within a theme, and I'll be working with a surface that I don't plan on mucking up a lot, maybe just gentle scraping back. I'm going to treat it as a challenge to not rebel, but to find innovation and adventure from within this predetermined working structure. I may need to have a second group going, where anything can happen, just for sanity's sake.

I talked to two different people outside, while wearing this cicada shell on my lapel. Neither person mentioned it, and I continued to wear it for several hours inside the house. Then caught a glimpse in the mirror and it startled me.

I'm once again starting up the touchup service. I moved my sample making setup outside because of the fumes. Then I spent several hours online researching other, less toxic materials. The mosquitos are almost gone now and it will be nice to spend time outside again. This was an amazingly long satisfying summer, and now I feel like winter will be just a blip. It's usually the reverse.

I finally harvested my fancy carrots. They ended up being shaded by the tomato plants and were a tad dwarfed. I did go ahead and eat a few. They were excellent.

Myrna's continuing to be an absolute delight.

Felix and Sheila inherited a sleeping blanket. It crinkles, they like it.

Alan on the drop cloth pile. I better move those.

I will be leasing studio space starting in November at the Circle City Industrial Complex, home of Wug Laku and friends. I'm getting excited about some exhibition ideas I have for the space. More to come....

"Against The Tide" - Online Exhibition and Book

2011-10-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

Sharon Butler of Two Coats of Paint has posted an online exhibition, featuring a great line-up of artists. An exhibition book is also available here. The show includes Mary Addison Hackett's amazing painting "Two Oceans Full of Love", and work by many other exciting artists. I am really blown away by Magnolia Laurie's work.

Yard Offering - 9/17/11

2011-09-17T18:49:00.001-07:00

Found near my mailbox. It's nice to know kids still use diabolical schemes for delivering their insults.

The genie's out of the bag

2011-09-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, first off, I did not intentionally mangle the metaphor for this post's title. I realized after the fact. I have a standing order for a commissioned painting. The specifics were left open, other than a preference for certain colors, and a light unusual landscape. It sounded so straightforward, but I've been workin within frameworks so much lately. They are loose frameworks, but still, I rarely paint on the wide open ranges now.
I'm finding it difficult to stay on task with this commission. I'll switch over to acrylics, and maybe even follow a sketch. In the mean time, it's really been a blast to forage like this. I miss it.

Kincade channels Whistler and makes a sci-fi poster.

All are in progress.

Mocked by reality

2011-09-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

I painted a nursery cloud ceiling on Sunday. I have a pretty good technique for getting a reasonable amount of realism, in a very short amount of time. 1/2 day without rushing at all, and all with a 2" chip brush. Yep, I get a little self-congratulatory every time I do this scheme.

Then I happened to glance out the window to see this:

...and then this:

My puny little nursery puffs and I were mocked the entire trip home.

Lane Markers on web site

2011-08-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

I've finally uploaded works from the Lane Markers series to my site, along with this brief verbal description of the series. This group is demanding studio attention, after being cast aside for several months. It's good timing.

Kildare Puppies

2011-08-11T19:16:00.001-07:00

My neighbor's dog had 8 puppies. Momma is a very sweet and beautiful hound mix. The puppies are 3 1/2 weeks. They will be available to adopt in 3 weeks. E-mail me if interested.

Rosebud

2011-08-11T19:08:00.001-07:00

Recent Work

2011-08-11T11:32:00.001-07:00

Logo 1, 6" x 6.5" Logo 3, 4.75" x 3.5", acrylic and oil

Logo 2, 5" x 4.75"

Party Favor, 10" x 7", acrylic

Life After ____, 11.5" x 10", acrylic and oil

Gifted and Lucky, 10" x 11.5"

Forgotten Parties, 9.5" x 10", acryic and oil Missing Decade, 9.5" x 11", acrylic and oil Abandoned Legacies, 13" x 11.5" Stroll Troll, 10" x 8" Present, 8" x 8", acrylic

I resisted posting this new work until it was hung. These works were all completed in June or July of 2011. All were started in acrylic. Some maintained most or all of the original acrylic imagery. Some were continued in oil to the point where the acrylic start is no longer present. All are on 1/2" shaped birch plywood. They are currently on view through August 26 in Asynchronous Salon.

Asynchronous Salon - installation

2011-08-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mary Addison Hackett was in town to help install Asynchronous Salon, and to perform her wall painting. I put her up in my newly converted artist's studio fantasy suite, complete with cat, clamp reading light, and sweet scents of linseed oil.
The Marsh Gallery at Herron School of Art is a beautiful space. It's on the east end of the main hall, and this show will be up through August 26, with a closing reception on the the 26th, 5 - 8 p.m.

Steven LaRose's series "The Barely Comprehensible Realm".

*MAH photo
*MAH photo
*MAH photo Nomi Lubin's collages. More work at "Paintings" and "Not Paintings".

*MAH photo My recent shaped panels paintings.

*MAH photo *MAH photo Mary Addison Hackett's Pool Paintings from Fluid: The Elusive Chapters from the Passage of Time.

*MAH photo

Mary Addison Hackett's alla prima wall painting which she did while listening to Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs." The album is 64:07 in length, as is the painting, per MAH's pre-established rules. A videotape of the painting will run throughout the exhibition.

*MAH photo "The Suburbs, 64:07"

Spacial weirdness. Ahem...above.

Until next time......

Horse Painting

2011-08-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

This is from the late 1980s, is/was about 12" x 12", and I still remember the panicked focus with which I painted it. The slathered-on medium dripped through the brushstrokes as they were being made, and at some point I finished painting, and then watched and waited to see how much more image melting would occur. I don't remember if I laid the painting flat to limit the sludge flow. I probably did.

I went through a phase where I really wanted to paint, but did not want to think about what I was painting, or why/if it were important. I just wanted to paint. I would go through old dictionaries looking for simple line illustrations. I'd find something and I'd paint it. This is from that period. At the time I was rejecting all art dialogue, both from the outside and from within.

It's interesting to see art reduced to such conceptually simple terms.

Studio - Two Painting Stations

2011-07-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

It felt so badass to set up two horizontal painting stations in my little 9.5' x 13' studio. I've been using both acrylic and oil in these newer works, and it's a real mental chore to change out the materials. This is much better. I actually "go" to the area to do either acrylic or oil.

Yard Offering - Fourth of July 2011

2011-07-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

"...we are the primary instigators of our own art experience. This also makes us cultural vagrants of sorts."

2011-07-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

My curator's statement for the upcoming show, Asynchronous Salon:

ASYNCHRONOUS SALON
Marsh Gallery
Herron School of Art & Design
Indianapolis, Indiana
August 3 – 26, 2011

Artists Reception: August 26, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Opening Event: August 3, 5:00 - 7:00

Independent artists are creating pockets of meaningful dialogue across the internet. They make art which continues the tradition of individual artistic discovery, and they post their findings on personal art blogs. These artists are quite familiar with current art considerations, and their work and their conversations reflect these broader concerns. They also quite relentlessly follow their own art intrigues. As blog hosts they create 21st century art salons, where they and their guests use new media to find and develop vibrant, interlinking art communities.

Asynchronous Salon brings together one such pocket of blogging artists. I have invited Mary Addison Hackett, Steven LaRose, and Nomi Lubin to join me in this show at my alma mater, Herron School of Art & Design. I have been art blog buddies with each for a few years now, and while we have not all met in person, I felt a deep desire to see our work together. It seems relevant to have this dialogue show at an art institution, where many of us first experienced these supportive relationships with fellow artists, albeit through traditional time and space parameters.

My enthusiasm for the work these artists produce is intertwined with my strong personal affinity towards each as an individual. Our art shares certain similarities, though they tend to reflect parallel coincidences more than direct influence. These often occur as an after-the-fact recognition, or as a vague sense of familiarity. When Nomi pushes round shapes to their most ludicrous physical limits, or when she negotiates coyly with visual logic, I feel kin instincts. I'd like to stage a battle between Steven's halfway-incarnated creatures and my own. I'd also like to adopt his fluid approach to painting. Mary Addison's abstractions are visually complex layerings, which echo a common tendency amongst this group, to steer hard towards the incomprehensible. Her more figurative work poignantly grasps life's transitions. As a group the work is similar formally. The color palettes, object shapes, scale, size, wry wit, and density of surface all cavort within a certain tactile range. This sets up an interesting tension for the show....a battle-dance perhaps.

As our separate artist statements reveal, we each share a strong desire to form or find meaning from unknown places of the imagination; we are the primary instigators of our own art experience. This also makes us cultural vagrants of sorts. The individual artistic meander is often a difficult process to justify; to one's community, and even to oneself. It's very inspiring to encounter artists who make this leap of faith without compromise. I believe these artistic investigations matter. I believe it is an integral part of being human, and must continue, regardless of how our means for making and sharing may change.

Asynchronous Salon is one small group show of art, but it also suggests a possible framework for self-determination within the arts community. We can use our media technologies to find and create intimate environments. We can foster and share our most profound thoughts and discoveries. We can bypass institutionalized arts programming and cultural management, and can instead foster authentic dialogues. We can form communities of individuals who celebrate in each others' freaking amazing discoveries.

- Carla Knopp, curator 6-20-11

In The Studio

2011-06-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

New panels! This group of 18 panels includes five distinctly kidney shaped ones. I'm not really out of painting grounds yet, but the current crop of ongoing work has gone stale and overwrought. They are cowering in a pile in the back.

Virginia Yount

2011-06-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Electric Beach House (for Car Salesmen)

gouache and mixed media on paper

22" x 30"

2010

Miracle Mine (for Non-Believers)

gouache on paper

22" x 30"

2010

Climate Control (for Shut-ins)

gouache and holographic scratch-paper on paper

22" x 30"

2010

Protect what I want from me

Oil on canvas

2007

Words can't describe how exciting I find this work by Virginia Yount. Thanks for the link, Artnicks.

UPDATE: I just had the pleasure of meeting Virginia and viewing one of her paintings in person. Thanks to an unusual chain of events, along the lines of "friend's neighbor's daughter-in-law who happens to be in town this week", we met just five minutes from my house. I got to see the fabulous "Hasta La Vista".

artnicks

2011-06-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

New-to-me blog: "Artnicks is a for-artists, by-artists blog, meant to help people gain exposure and resources for their art practice. Enjoy." It's hosted by Amy Kligman, Misha Kilgman, Brandon Juhasz, and Maria Stenina. Recent posts include artists Anthony Dubovsky and Virginia Yount.

The Artist House - Residency

2011-05-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've accepted a residency this fall, at The Artist House, Saint Mary's College of Maryland. I'm very excited and appreciative of the invitation, and look forward to working on a new body of work.

Henri Art Magazine - "Business and Romanticism"

2011-05-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

From Henri Art Magazine. I swear this was taken from my own thought spiral, fleshed out and edited for clarity:

"Most Postmodern artists like to take the view that the Romantics were a bunch of unbathed ne’er do wells out to rape and pillage innocents while self promoting the prowess of their genitalia. One has but to look at the press following the collapse of the (Media Romantic) 80s art stars to see this kind of anti-Romanticism at work. Even now, smug and content in our post-structural bubble, we still enjoy taking the occasional pot shot at Schnabel, the epitome of the POMO ROMO. When I was young Jules was a hero, and I still have a soft spot for his larger than life existence and hit-or-miss work – Palazzo Chupi or no. OK, I’ll concede that our widely held beliefs about Romantics bring up pictures of Jim Morrison, Prince or Joseph Beuys (go ahead insert your own wild eyed Modern Romantic.) But surely there has to be something redeeming about the idea of life that those personalities embody, something that we pedestrian Postmoderns might connect with?

Our fear (condecension?) for the Romantic brings to mind a scene in Mel Brooks’ movie Young Frankenstein, an OTT parody based on the very Romantic Mary Shelley’s classic tale of genius, morality and responsibility. At one point a local family hears that the Monster is running amok in the countryside once again. The resigned and frightened couple start to batten down the hatches. The husband, as he’s nailing a board across the window, says in a thick Germanic accent to his wife – “Ven monsters ist loose, boards must be tight!” And I think that line pretty much describes the art world at the moment. The whole fuckin’ place has been boarded up against rampaging Romantic Monsters in order to protect delicate POMO sensibilities from any threat of aesthetic carnage." .....continued here

Feedbag blog

2011-05-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

Feedbag is a new blog posting artwork with brief descriptions and links. It is administered by a group of contributors who post an interesting blend of painting, video, illustration (some vintage), comic, and animation. I like many of the artists shown. Oh look, it's me. But seriously, wow, and wow.

Steven LaRose blog post

2011-05-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

Steven LaRose, The Wise Men of Gotham, 2011
Oil on acrylic on wood, 6 x 7 inches

(click here for larger image)

Fish or Cut Bait: Repercussions: "Steven LaRose, The Wise Men of Gotham , 2011 Oil on acrylic on wood, 6 x 7 inches (click on image for a larger view) So there I am. It to..."

Creative Renewal Arts Fellows 2011 - Not One Painter

2011-04-23T09:32:00.001-07:00

None.

"Sill Life" Chad Gallion at Editions Limited

2011-04-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Invention within convention. You have until 3:00 pm today to catch this show at Editions Limited (sorry, I meant to post much sooner). Chad Gallion's still life paintings have a lot of very intriguing spatial and tactile things going on.

He inverts the layering process, so that highlights are created from the earliest and thinnest painted areas. These thinly coated areas glow through, much like in a watercolor, and the unlit areas have a heavier, more opaque buildup. The visual impact is striking, and also a mindtrip. From a distance, one reads these from a conventional mindset, then as you approach, all those nearly bare areas that were saying "I'm real close to you", suddenly break away into abstract shapes that go way back in the painting.

The surface handling also reads differently from various distances. Upclose it reads as a dry, patchy, awkward surface, but then it melds quite beautifully into a lushly lit, cohesive vignette.

These also have bright blue outlines in various areas. Somehow, these charge the images without destroying the representation of a still life. I don't have the best interpretation for how/why these are working. They are still a bit of a mystery to me.

It's always exciting to view intellectually engaged work such as this.

Austin Dickson, Herron Senior Photography Show

2011-04-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Austin Dickson Photo BFA Retrospective 2007-2011

Sharper Image digital keychain

Austin Dickson's piece currently in the Herron Senior Photography Show, at the Indy Indy Artist Colony gallery.

Indy Indie Artist Colony Flower Show & Harrison Center

2011-04-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

"Budding", 8" x 6", oil on wood, 2011

"Alms for Aunt Bea", 10" x 10", oil on wood, 2011

Two recent paintings of mine, each tweaked towards inclusion in the "Flower Show" at the Indy Indie Artist Colony. Opened tonight, April 1. The Herron Senior Photography show next door has some really good pieces.

The Harrison center has some recent work by Susan Hodgins in Gallery 2 which kickboxed butt. "Institutions" by Austin Dickson is in the main gallery. These photographs must be seen in person, they're paradoxically magical and urban-realismy and utopian. He also had a great piece in the Herron Photography show - his entire BFA portfolio on a ______? (some common electronic device with a 1 or 2 inch screen, the name of which escapes me now.....god, I'm so old). Kyle Ragsdale has amped up his imagery into an extreme levitating Rococo thing.....

Spring art has busted loose, at least in the Delaware-Penn corridor. I'll hit a couple more shows on Saturday.

*Update: Austin Dickson's piece, along with materials info (digital keychain....)

Merit Pro, Indeed

2011-03-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

I've lost her again.

visual clue:

Myrna's a trip.

The other cats don't even know there is a fourth floor.

Yard Offering Du Jour

2011-03-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

The lousy timing has me questioning the motives for this offering.

Studio Alienation

2011-03-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

I've not painted for about 3 weeks and it feels like forever. Top piece was painted with the cat toy underfoot, and this connection was noticed a week or so later. I photographed to post here a week after that, and am just now doing it, one week later. I have a to-do list jet stream overhead, countered by this seductive studio undertow.

Getting to know Myrna/After a week of docile sweetness, Myrna lets her freak flag fly

2011-02-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

She digs plants

Hides pretty well

Is explorative

Prods me to fix things. My silverware drawer has been busted for over 5 years.

She's well-balanced

Plays hard

Follows up

(I had to grab pliers and quickly bend back those two nails once I noticed her in there. They were sticking straight out, and I had been reaching in and around them for over 5 years. That goes beyond mere procrastination)

Myrna's a demanding little sweetheart

Asynchronous Salon

2011-02-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Nomi Lubin

Mary Addison Hackett

Carla Knopp

Steven Larose

Asynchronous Salon

Herron School of Art and Design, Marsh Gallery

August 2011

IDADA First In Line

2011-02-24T09:19:00.001-08:00

Stop by IDADA's annual First In Line art exhibition and sale next Friday, March 5, from 6-10 pm. Donated works of art are all on sale, each priced at $100. First come, first served! Proceeds from this event support IDADA's general operating fund. For more info about IDADA. For more on First In Line.

This year's event will be held at the newly renovated Indy Indie Artist Colony, 26 East 14th Street (Northwest corner of 14th and Penn).

If you'd like to donate a work of art or volunteer to help during the event week, please contact me (email on the side bar). Thanks.

The Bowels of My Studio

2011-02-12T19:51:00.001-08:00

So I managed to lose my found kitten overnight. The studio door was breached by one of my other cats, and I could not find the kitten anywhere in the house. After a few hours, I decided she must have found an opening into the walls or under the floor. Luckily my floors have been sliced and diced already, so I just had to unscrew this plywood patch in my studio floor.

Yep, no real crawspace, just a half foot of a subterranean world.

I like to believe it's an unoccupied world.

There's no room for my head, so I place a light down there and angle my camera around.

No kitten here.

No kitten here........what the?

I have no idea. It looked like a bone with a dried rat face on the left.

It just looks like a rock now.

The kitten was just very well hidden in the upper world.

All is well.

The Best Yard Offering Yet

2011-02-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

I found her an hour ago. She was just hunkered down in a snow drift next to the street. It makes no sense that she didn't seek cover at least in my wooded area or under/near a house. She didn't know what to do outside. I picked her up and she smells like she just left a house full of smoke and fried food. Her eyes are beautiful, but she blinked in every shot.

Dreamtoons from the 90s - Eating Dried People

2011-02-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

Feb-Funk 2011

2011-02-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

I'll use this as my official fightin-the-February-funk photo. It's from a mid-summer line clearing a few years ago, but it captures the brutal/futile pretty well. Enjoy.

Artist of the Month: Steve LaRose

2011-01-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

Steven LaRose is featured artist at Bodies in Space, and gives an excellent description of his painting process.

Artist of the Month: Steve LaRose

Yard Offering - Performance Version

2011-01-20T17:43:00.001-08:00

Click on enlarged version for more visual humor.

Yard Offering Jan 2011

2011-01-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

This was flattened in my yard, next to the street. I hadn't received anything so nice in some time. My last notable offering.

Some days are more exciting than others

2011-01-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

All before noon today:

1 - A plan for managing the confusing mix of multiple unrelated projects
2 - A big picture perspective, and plan, for dealing with a current small beans issue
3 - A one-liner rant about a current small beans issue (a different one), that seems funny to me now
4 - A pretty well fleshed-out idea for an exhibition of my work. Includes title and a good start in conceptualizing the idea and the actual language for describing the idea. It's looking more and more like "Spawn" paintings will be re-addressed from a different role of artistic authority.
5 - A pretty well fleshed-out idea for curating a group of work. Includes title and a good start in conceptualizing the idea and the actual language for describing the idea. I also know exactly who and where this show should be shown. It's an idea which I've been trying to distinguish for a few years. It still needs much work, but I now know how to pitch it in a way that preserves the integrity of the idea, and which will be understood by others.

Today I love this little pile of chaos.

Now go get dressed.

Thorazine Thursdays

2011-01-06T06:49:00.001-08:00

From a newly scanned old slide. This is small, about 5" x 7", late 1990s, and has a great title, which I can't remember.

Weird Old Painting Wednesdays II

2010-12-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

Suspects and Victims, Name the Game, each panel about 14" x 22", 1985?

I recently found some old slides, and also fixed my scanner's transparency capability. Expect more oldies.

Weird Old Painting Wednesdays

2010-12-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

"Protagonist", 36" x 48", 1987?

I remember challenging myself to make a cheesy romance-novel type painting. This was not done joyfully. I was punishing art, and myself. The foreground figure shows the loose paint method I used for much of the 1980s. The rest shows me struggling to paint. No idea how it survived long enough to be photographed, but I'm happy to have the image. It really cracks me up.

Studio Turf Wars V

2010-12-16T15:24:00.000-08:00

Paintings everywhere are broadcasting to me. Finished pieces in the front room are begging for dramatic, and surprisingly specific, reworkings. The new body of little shaped paintings are calling. The metallic grounds say to finish up and prep some more. The fantasy birds idea (initially a kids' room idea) want to be made into small paintings for art fairs, under pseudonym? I need to make sales call samples for Indy On-the-Dot. I may move these commercial projects out of there tonight. They're basically done except for drying. I'm tired of stepping over and on things in there.

Kurt Knobelsdorf

2010-12-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks MW Capacity for introducing Kurt Knobelsdorf. Show info here. Be sure to scroll through to the last few images here.

Polly Apfelbaum

2010-12-04T17:06:00.001-08:00

Gun Club, 2002

Last Wednesday, Polly Apfelbaum gave an excellent lecture at Herron School of Art and Design. I had not really examined her work before. She took us through just enough of her process, that the unexplainable stuff fell right into place as well. It was great.

Same Side of the Same Coin

2010-11-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

I made an odd connection recently between two very different ways of seeing oneself, and of working, as an artist. Maintaining a perspective which is independent from the art-world has always been very important to me. I don't shun influence, but I do want to keep one foot in "Rocktown, Indiana" at all times. I'm too easily influenced and so I consciously maintain some insularity from what's going on. It's really just a mental positioning more than anything. An artificial, adopted outsider-ism. Outsider Faux.

It's about making a place from which I have the confidence to make independent, original choices.

As I recently looked at some new work, deciding what to do next, I thought, What choices would I make if I were someone like Dana Schutz? What if I had that sort of place in the art world, not just well known and respected, but revered? I mentally adopted that cloak and it did make a difference in my thinking. It made me make different choices, mostly by going with dumber and bolder choices, unquestioningly.

It made me feel more independent from the art world, just as being an "isolated artist" does.

I'm not talking about ability, but rather about the actual types of decisions I would make, within my own work, under this guise. I'm also not talking about having art world success per se. I'm imagining a position where it's a given that I'm the type of artist who, through her uber-success, is immune from regular art world pressures/influences/thoughts/envies/garbage, and therefore is working more honestly and independently from a personal place.

I want it to be a given that I'm an artist making art. I don't want to have to prove myself this way. It's tedious and counter-productive. I don't want to have to prove my standing, locally or on a wider stage. This does affect one's work; it changes what one makes. I'll do what I must to present myself well, to explain as well as possible. But when I'm in the studio, I'm going to adapt my version of "who" is making the work.

Nozkowski at The Pace Gallery

2010-11-19T18:38:00.000-08:00

Thomas Nozkowski: Recent Work at The Pace Gallery. What can I say? I always end up serial-posting this guy. This link has installation views and pics of some of the work.

This New York Times article goes into the post-painting drawings and their process. It links to this slide show, "Drawing to Cool Down" of paintings with their subsequent drawings.

Nozkowski inspires me for what artists can do, and also for what people can do.

Nozkowski, Interview excerps

2010-11-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

Excerps from Nozkowski's Brooklyn Rail interview with John Yau:

"Conciousness is complicated...."

"Ideas of perfection are usually based on what we have seen in the past, on what we already know. You can give anything a shot, any idea--no matter how odd or impossible seeming."

"...I don't believe success in a project like this can be measured by how easily readable my image is to other people--it is instead measured by how visually rich and complex the painting is. The picture will be of John, but it is really about what I can find in trying to see him."

"Improvisation, however, is essential to my work. I want my ideas to be located at the tip of my brush. I want my materials to talk back to me. I want to be surprised."

"I've talked about how I like painting best when it turns a little homely, turns away from the grandiose and opts for simple desire. To really want to possess something and to be willing to do anything to get it will take you pretty far. That's the reason so much outsider painting looks so great."

"This is the golden age for art-making. Not only do we have permission to paint anything in any way we like, but we also have audiences who are interested in playing the game along with us, willing to try to follow our ideas. In our studio life we are not only free--we are meaningfully free. Make a mark on the canvas. This mark can be said to represent anything I want--no problem. The success or failure of the painting has now shifted over from the subject to the strength and intelligence of the painter's work. This was always true, of course, but now it is self-evident. Keeping honest is the hardest part: If a mark can be anything, why bother grounding it at all?"

"One of the nice things about grounding works in the real world is that you don't need a position--you have a place. Willful eccentricity can be a real problem. It's not a high art crime, but certainly a misdemeanor--tiring stuff."

"Well, you know, there are people who want to understand visual language as something akin to advertising images, stop signs, and stick figures--the most banal graphic communication. This sense of communication is pretty bad, ridiculous conventions that shut off the possibility of really seeing and understanding something. At the best it's common denominator stuff--at worst it's authoritarian."

Links

2010-11-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

Links from MW Capacity:
Thomas Nozkowski at Brooklyn Rail. This excellent interview with John Yau is all the rage amongst the painty bloggers. It's really good.

"Teaching Close Encounters" by Matthew Ballou When I want them to think about the tension between intuition and skill, the psychology of the creative mind, or the value of actively negotiating materials (as opposed to the preciousnous and creative constipation they so often exhibit), I break out Close Encounters.

Kim Dorland: New Material at Mike Weiss - good comment thread at MW Cap.

Serendipity

2010-11-05T19:39:00.001-07:00

The Texan Love Hovels painting is now in Texas. Thanks for the purchase, you know who. I'm just stupidly proud that I built a crate entirely from existing "on hand" supplies. Okay, I did go and purchase the handle, but I do have two such handles around here somewhere, so I'm not counting that misplacement.

Grassroots Voter Disenfranchisement

2010-11-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

My polling spot has been in the same school for about 10 years. It stayed there even after the districts were condensed in 2007. This year it was moved to a public works building a few blocks away. The sign posted on the school forwards voters to a different place, which is over 3 miles away. The sign is wrong and multiple calls by different people to various officials failed to correct this.

After I went to the erroneous spot, a Painters Union building, they were extremely helpful. They were aware of the problem, had made calls, could not get any help fixing it. One person even had gone over and hung a correct sign over the wrong one, but this was torn down (could have been by someone who thought the correct sign was a trick). At one point, a poll worker looked me straight in the eye and said "they don't want you to vote".

I went to the correct polling place, and asked them about the incorrect sign. Several workers muttered various things under their breath, I couldn't catch the specifics, but it was clear that they were very frustrated by the situation. They did say they had called everyone, all the way up to the commissioner.

I went home and made all sorts of calls. The sign stayed incorrect all day. I went over and hung out for a few hours at the end of the day, and directed people to the correct site. The people who showed up at the old site were a very different demographic from those who I saw at the correct site (when I voted). (I did entertain the thought of selectively informing people of the error. But I had already decided I couldn't do that, and then it was not an issue, since those who appeared to be from the other party were not showing up at the old site [someone got the memo]).

At the very least this was sloppy, careless, and disrespectful of the voting process. At worst.....

Confession

2010-10-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

The byline in my Rocktown, Indiana should read "Life and Art in Mystical Middle America". I accidently typed "mythical". It's a pretty big difference, and yet I've never corrected it.

Google Earth and Titles

2010-10-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

I've greatly improved my Google Earth method for titleing (titling? that can't be right) paintings. With the Love Hovels (a series which I have yet to really flesh out [so to speak {and I love an excuse to use multiple bracketing (stop me!!)}]), I roamed Google Earth from various starting points. I had a vague idea of where a specific 'love hovel' could possibly be located, I went there via Google Earth, and then I tried to hover over a spot with fairly rounded off coordinates.

So I had exciting titles like "46N, 123W", and "38N, 91W". Very tedious and confusing.

With the '"land markers" I did imagine a place for each one and 'went' there, I then zoomed in, switched into map mode, and scoured both the street names and landmarks for something that struck a chord. This worked really well. I love that these titles reference real places, but intuitively and anonomously. I sometimes changed or added 'road', 'lane', etc. I don't think these references are traceable through google, though I haven't tried.

Without further ado (because this post has plenty 'ado' thus far [surely no one is still reading this post {which clearly earns the 'entertaining myself' label}]), I give you these new titles:

Rothboden Place
McJunkin Road
Upena Cove
Obofia Forest
Pump Station Bend

The best part is, I know exactly which painting each is, and even remember where on earth I have placed it.

Lane Markers

2010-10-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

Tea Plantation Road

Pump Station Bend

Obofia Forest

Upena Cove

All are 9" x 14", oil on linen.

*10-29-10 Updated with Titling :-)

Todd Matus "Mounts" review

2010-10-23T19:44:00.001-07:00

Todd Matus wrote this thoughtful review of my Four Star Gallery show last fall. Thanks so much for so generously addressing my work.

Carla Knopp Mounts 3

Dan Coats' Lobbying

2010-10-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

Regardless of where one stands on these issues, Coats is among the most blatantly self-serving and cynical 'public servants'.

"Here are the facts about Dan Coats lobbying history. Dan Coats got rich by supporting the very same policies he rails against on the campaign trail: the TARP bailout, the economic stimulus bill, the job-killing energy tax, and more."

The Case for Obama | Rolling Stone Politics

2010-10-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

A very favorable overview of Obama's presidency, thus far. Still, it's a reasonable assessment, and it's pretty impressive.

The Case for Obama Rolling Stone Politics

Henri Art Magazine Studio Series

2010-10-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

I'm so pleased to participate in Henri Art Magazine's current Artist Studio Series. My photo essay was just posted here. Read Paul Corio's essay here, June O. Underwood here, and Hans Heiner Buhr here.

Writing about my studio was more revealing than I expected. I still flip between loving and hating this place, but I think overall I'm becoming more objective about it.

Link Branch

2010-10-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ken Kewley, Chocolate Cake with Orange Slices, 2000, 8" x 10", oil on panel

Ken Kewley - writing on color - posted on Painting Perception blog. Re-posted and brought to my attention by MW Capacity, where it was commented on by Undercover Painter. Undercover Painter blog has the finest running sequence of artwork postings I've seen in some time, including Norbert Prangenberg. More work by Norbert from show at Betty Cuningham Gallery.

Norbert Prangenberg, FUR CASPAR (01.07.09) 2009

Audience

2010-10-04T11:58:00.001-07:00

I don't think we should make art based on where, or who, is our audience. We spend ridiculous amounts of time and attention engaged in the artistic process. This is where its value lies; in what cool new comprehensions we can sometimes, if we're lucky, bring forth into existence. This is the value of artistic exploration.

We've all had those things materialize, which we doubt anyone else will respond to. They are too obscure and too situational to extend beyond our own audience of one. These experiences have value. It does not matter that I, Carla Knopp, experienced it, but it does matter that some human did. It matters that it happened.

This is purely belief.

It comes down to "does life matter?" or does it need justification. If life does matter, without justification, then a single artist painting in the woods matters. It is enough. This is why it is such a great bonus when the work clicks with others as well. If you're reaching into barely comprehensible places, then it is just amazing when others can and will peek into that realm with you. I find this more exciting and meaningful, for everyone, than crafting my boundaries to engage a particular audience.

...handed to me on a plate

2010-10-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

"Peak" paintings by Julia Kuhl courtesy of frosch & portmann gallery........

"Mount" paintings by Carla Knopp.

Julia's are so beautifully distilled to the essence of their painted imagery.

Mine seem self-indulgent and lacking the confidence to be simple. ....or to simply be.

Lately I've been pondering the honesty of my work. It seems I'm still overly influenced by external considerations. I really do best when I go hyper-insular. That's where the beautiful shit is, and it's my job to go find it. It is not my job to make sure everyone appreciates it. It's not my job to limit my findings to that which can be easily consumed by a mildly engaged audience. It's not my job to devise social constructs under the guise of art.

Go see all of Julia's work. I really like it and it deserves to be presented as its own post. But it's also such a weirdly direct lesson for me, that I had to compare. It's both devasting and exciting.

Graphic Style Jungle Nursery

2010-10-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

A really simple scheme, with nice dense colors, filling the entire room. My favorite approach for a nursery. This graphic style actually takes as long to paint as a more realistic style. The flat areas of color need two coats to look good. With more realistic work, I can often use glazes and washes and brushy strokes.

These are Cool

2010-09-23T18:16:00.001-07:00

"Autumn Joy" Sedum

2010-09-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

High-jinks

2010-09-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I designed a stencil and paint scheme for these three adjoining offices. I just saw it again this week and shot some photos.

It cracked me up. I thought the motif was more integrated into the design.

I could see doing an entire line of designs which play off of this historical paint scheme look. I think it would be so cool for kid's rooms, or nurseries...with a more appropriate motif. Wish I had added a 1/4" line on that frieze.

Iggy Pop and the Stooges - Mike Watts tour blog

2010-09-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ha! I found this tour blog posted by bassist Mike Watts, who just now finished touring with Iggy Pop and the Stooges. He's been performing in a full leg soft cast, hobbling up and down from stage on crutches. Here's an excerp about the show I saw last Sunday at the Riviera in Chicago. To see the entire post go here, and then scroll down to August 29, Riviera.

Lane Marker

2010-09-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

21" x 31"

Some very unexpected imagery today. It blew my mind for most of the day, and now seems more ordinary, so I should just call it a quicky (two sessions) and hide it somewhere.

Latest "Lane Marker"

2010-08-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

31" x 47"

This is the largest of the "Lane Markers" group. I would have expected to work on and finish it after the smaller ones. My fascination with/fear of, insular cultures is showing.

CK Art Company web site

2010-08-27T14:26:00.001-07:00

I've updated my business web site: www.ckartco.com , and added some services. I'm open to suggestions regarding the names of these new sevices. Really, I'm not that attached to the names "Ding Doctor" and "Spangles". I will have a service "Project Tutor", where you just hire me as needed, to help with your d-i-y project. I'm also going to develop workshops which are geared for the do-it-yourselfer.

I need to get the business geared back up, and am excited about these new options.

Even the Spiders are Badasses Around Here

2010-08-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

I love how cocky (and nihilistic) the spiders become this time of year. They've spent all Summer bulking up, and they're just not gonna take any more shit. They weave webs right across my regular walking routes. I got in my truck yesterday, and a huge angular spider had claimed my mirror to door area. I tried to knock it to the ground, but it bunkered down in my side mirror. "It's your funeral, dude". I drive to the post office, and the spider immediately comes out, as I'm driving, to finish killing and eating the prey it had just webbed. "Dude, it's your funeral". I drive and watch as it gobbles. Finally the wind blows it down the side. I park and it's managed to hole up in the groove between my cab and truck bed. It immediately comes out and continues munching away on its meal. I drive home and it's still hanging in there.

Then this web is built overnight near my door. Just how ambitious is this spider???

An Unexpected Turn

2010-08-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

I was torn between stick arms and these quasi-whatever ones, but it didn't seem to matter that much. I'll add "fingers" once those areas dry. Maybe a face?....maybe not. I see lots of figures in my future.

Lane Markers - so much for delicacy and refinement

2010-08-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

31" x 47", in progress

Most definately I'll go with #2. These are so hard to see in person. The color was so harsh in this one, a high keyed green over the metallic. I tried glazing it down with burnt umber and alizarin, but then segued into apocolyptic imagery, with the disintegrating flags/banners/?

Studio Buzz

2010-08-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

I've not painted for a few weeks, and have lost momentum with the metallic ground paintings. I decided to go ahead a start another group of small shaped pieces. My plan is to work within a much more narrow and focussed area, using a limited palette (although the red-purplish "comma" shape just screamed to be different) and a really simple, central shape/object. This one keeps haunting me, and making me want to zero in with a more narrow focus.

Meanwhile, I'm pulling out paintings from around 2005 and reworking them. Above is the reworked version. I'll be brave and show the earlier piece below. Title was "Conscription of Venus", may or may not keep. The above could well fall into the "Lane Marker" series, and it has me thinking of these markers with a broader subjective vista in mind.

So, with the metallic paintings, which I do plan to continue working on, and another pair of paintings (for now, a secret project), I have four distinctly different groups of paintings going. I really like this a lot. I can move deeply into the process and then back out to a broader perspective.

Rachel Draws a Lot

2010-08-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

A delightful blog I found linked to on Steven LaRose's blog.
Rachel Draws a Lot.

Mary Addison Hackett in Nashville, TN

2010-08-10T17:55:00.001-07:00

I had a wonderful visit with artist Mary Addison Hackett last weekend, and she's posted a great photo essay of the trip on her blog, Process. MAH recently moved to Nashville, TN from L.A., and we so we went gallery hopping on their artwalk night. I also had the pleasure of seeing her paintings in person.

Great Things are a Stirrin'

2010-08-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

A meaningful review of an excellent show.

Brenda Goodman Work 1990-2010 at John Davis Gallery.

Ed Sanders Photo Shoot

2010-07-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who helped with this photo shoot. Extra, ultra thank-you to photographer Wilbur Montgomery for donating his time, skills, and studio. We shot about 80 of Ed Sander's paintings last Saturday, all re-grouped from various collections around the city. We are in the very early stages of organizing a book and exhibition of his work. More background here.

I found it personally satisfying to see so much of Ed's work again, and to work with others on this project. The ridiculous 105 degree heat index seemed weirdly appropriate to the task at hand.

Nomi Lubin Pompom Jive

2010-07-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

Nomi Lubin, 3 1/2" x 6"

Old & New Exhibit closes this week

2010-07-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

"Mother", 24" x 30"

Cambrian Sea Goddess, 24" x 18"

Two of the three paintings recently pulled out and spruced up for this group show.

Bird Bath B-day Gift

2010-07-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Bear with me, I need to try something

2010-07-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

I had a moment where this was on my computer screen, and I briefly thought I was looking into a painting of mine. I just wanted to see it next to my header painting. Go back to whatever you were doing.

Studio Turf Wars IIII

2010-07-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

The "Lane Markers" are moving forward. I'm itching to work on them again.

Summer Daze

2010-06-27T20:29:00.001-07:00

I have no hierarchical order or focus. Rubbing the cat's belly seems as important as anything else, or impulsively driving to Trader Joe's, just as a huge thunderstorm comes in...I was out of raw almonds.

Old & New group show

2010-06-25T18:29:00.001-07:00

Texan Love Hovels, 18" x 30" oil on wood, 2004

I'll be represented "old" in the upcoming Old & New group show, at Harrison Gallery in Indianapolis. I'll have three paintings total in the show, which is curated by Sofie Kofodimos.

I have several paintings from 2004-2007 which have never been exhibited, and it was great to pull them out and re-examine them from a fresh perspective. Many of them hit on some great thematic ideas, and I'm planning on reworking them. While I once insisted on letting everything happen simultaneously within the process, subject and form formulating together and fairly intuitively, I've been having some good results when I go ahead and rework the paintings. It feels like a developmental thing, where I'm just less rigid about the process, and also can muddle more without totally destroying existing imagery.

Anyway, if you're in town, the show's Friday, July 2, 6-9 pm. I'll post the other two paintings after the opening.

Rules

2010-06-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

"Rules are for amateurs", declared my garden guru, Mary Yeager. This was years ago, and as is often the case upon hearing a vocalized Yeagerism, I found myself laughing without fully knowing why. It's so true, in the garden and in life.

I have always cut my herbaceous hydrangeas back, like we're supposed to. Last year, after my second burglary, and while the ruffians at 1659 Kildare were creating daily havoc, I just gave up and let it go. I did not cut back my hydrangeas. I noticed other neighbors were staying inside too. Anyhoo, the freakin hydrandea is the best it's ever been! Makes me wonder what more I could/should be neglecting in my life. Or at the very least, chilling out on a bit more.