Given it is the Lenten season it might be appropriate that there is sooty charcoal all over my face and hands . But not so much a result of extreme penitence but instead a day of working with charcoal and graphite . This post is a sampling of today’s progress.
I am taking a life drawing course with the excellent artist Jim Morphesis and in just a few weeks my drawings have become more confident . Plus I’m just relishing drawing and my productivity is up.
So thanks Jim!
Herakles, detail of a larger composition in progress.
Nearly two years (January 24th specifically ) I started this small panel painting. Having been introduced to the saint through the Welsh artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins’ depictions of the holy man, I was then inspired by the late Seamus Heaney’s incredible poem of the saint and his feathered visitor ( Link : http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/st-kevin-and-blackbird). But for some reason the inspiration waned and I stashed this little panel away until only recently, picking it up again last December. I believe he is now complete.
St. Kevin and the Blackbird
2016
oil on panel
12 by 12″
When I started this painting a few years back I also carved a plate of the saint from which this painting is inspired. I believe it is the first of what is now becoming a dual practice, making a painting then a print (or the reverse).
I will now get back to a few other unfinished paintings; I always have far too many unfinished works, doodles and sketches of paintings I would like to make. Daunting at times. I am now enrolled in a life drawing class with the painter Jim Morphesis an artist I admire very much. Jim had awarded me a prize last summer for my painting Genesis and I was eager to thank him AND crash his course. Happy to say I have been added. So I am looking forward to that experience, a model at every class , always a luxury. Until next time, be well.
The Proposition (red)
2016
relief print on paper, 10 by 14″
series of eight
$300.00
I am rather pleased with this print, once again utilizing the pochoir technique in addition to a cut plate.The alignment is pretty good and I feel it has a satisfying composition of color and line that I admire in German Expressionist prints ( and film). I am also enjoying taking a painting and making a print of it ( or the other way around).
As the year comes closer to an end I have tried to finish up a few unfinished projects and reflect upon what I have accomplished and what has gone unexpressed . My intention was to at least finish up a small panel of St.Kevin but then the last of my monarch caterpillar went off to seek their fate and my heart was heavy with worry. So to channel that worry I went to work on a drawing , this is the result .
The Apparition of the Great Sphinx of the Night
2015
Graphite on paper, approximately 18 by 24″
In 1940 Andre Breton sponsored an exhibition in Mexico City called the International Exhibition of Surrealism; Isabel Marín was dressed in white with a giant butterfly gracing her fine head . It seemed a fitting theme to riff upon while fretting over our dear caterpillars. May the gods watch over them and may they flourish.
Merry Christmas and a most fulfilling new year!
As tomorrow is the feast day Our Lady I thought I would repost this 2014 print. I haven’t yet made a new print for her this year, but there is still time.
Happy feast day.
Last week I ran a proof for a new print inspired by the Sir Gawain and Green Knight narrative. Initially the print was going to be a multi plate affair, a technique I thought I had mastered somewhat. But after multiple runs I became increasingly dissatisfied with the results ; The Green Knight proofs were consistent only in their inconsistency: the colors were not aligning , the ink was spotty and “snow-flaked”. I strive to achieve consistency when I run a series, something that was drilled into by my instructor Jim. So I decided to turn to a technique that Jim was less than enthusiastic about, pochoir, or more simply , stenciling . Jim felt it not quite printmaking in some way, and I can understand his resistance. Yet, with this technique I was able to accomplish what I was searching for , color, color that was within the defining lines of the image. A certain degree of wonkiness in printmaking can be desirable but what I was producing just looked like I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. This is the final artist’s proof of The Green Knight. He seems particularly suited to the winter holidays.
The Green Knight
2015
pochoir-relief print on paper, artist’s proof
image size 8 by10″
The misalignment that frustrated me is apparent in this image.
I had far preferred the simple black and white print, yet he is the Green knight.
The pochoir process is satisfyingly craft oriented, I was able to utilize techniques and tools from my decorative painting career.
To now have a desk full of proofs is satisfying, I will run a series in the new year, brightening the green and using the darker buff. I am also going to utilize the pochoir technique when I run my recent print The Proposition. I hope to produce prints that are more vibrant AND aligned in the future . At the same time cutting back on production headaches as cutting stencils is far easier than cutting lino. My only new year resolution is to actually make and hopefully sell some prints, pochoir-relief prints may be the answer. Until next time, be well.
After some time away (nearly two years) from this painting of St. Kevin , neglected and relegated to closets and storage boxes , I have at last returned to it. And it seems to be painting itself. I’m calling it a night as the beasties are getting restless, but this is why I paint, those rare moments of paint gliding across the surface and all is well with the world.
I look forward to returning to this painting, I hope the magic continues.
Good night.
detail
St Kevin & the Blackbird
oil on panel
Happy Krampusing!
Just made what is most likely the final cuts to this plate for a new print The Green Knight. It will be a two color print, green of course , but for now, a satisfying image. Now off to tend to the beasties.
Boondocks Babylon 