Sketchy Number

Click image to enlarge.
Size: 16 x 20
Medium: Digital Pigment Print
Date: 6/17/2011



There is an ongoing discussion I have with one particular artist-friend.  He likes art that derives meaning from its narrative.  Paintings need to include people and personal struggles.    On the other hand,  although I appreciate that type of art, I really am more drawn to paintings that are non-narrative in nature.  The more direction the artist gives, the less drawn in I am.  That's one reason I am so attracted to very abstract art.  What do you think?

But then, I also like pop art which often focuses on ordinary, everyday objects.   In the case of this old telephone, we can only imagine the narrative.  Is someone coming to the phone?  Is it a friendly call, good news, bad news?  Or is it off the hook because, well, any number of reasons?  A narrative is left to the viewer.

Update

I started two new pieces this week and hoped to get them finished and posted.  As you can see  I didn't make it.  Seems I spent more time on marketing and listings than on painting.  That happens. 

Saturday night I stopped in at the SDAI Summer C-Note opening, where I had 4 paintings.  I was told the buyer of A Day in the Park 2, had been waiting in line for the doors to open so she could be the first to get to the painting!  For C-Note shows, buying is on a first-come, first-served basis.  It makes for a lively and energetic show.  Loft 13 also sold, but I missed that one too.  They were both gone by the time I arrived.  The other two I submitted were A Day in the Park 1 and Toward the Light.  The show runs through June 19, so I hope they too will be sold!

Yesterday I had lunch with an artist-friend at the Contemporary Museum of Art La Jolla, cafe and visited 5 contemporary art galleries, including the Tasende, which I had never visited.  He sold 5 paintings of La Jolla at a recent solo show.  That's the way to do it!

Pomegranates #3

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Size: 7x5
Medium: Digital
Date: 3/11/2002

This week I am resurrecting my first digital art piece.  As nearly as I could tell from my computer files it dates back to at least 3/11/2002.   This means I drew it on my old laptop, using a center track pad.  I remember when the idea came to try a little digital sketch.  At the time I did not know whether anyone had done this yet.  (I'm sure MANY had)    I was surprised at how much I liked it and it has remained a favorite, with its sketchy looks.

Typewriter V2 #2

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Medium: Digital
Size: 8x10
Date: 5/24/2011

More printing problems.  Last week I wrote about how the company that prints my larger Giclee paintings had moved farther away.  Since then I have been listing more of the smaller-sized digital pieces so that I can handle the orders on my own printer.  But alas, my old (by today's standards) printer chugged out its last two prints before throwing up its hands and quitting.  I sent them to the customer whose shipment arrived damaged a few days earlier.  And guess what.  The replacements arrived damaged as well.  SO, my new printer arrives today and I will reprint and resend again.  USPS, what has happened to you?

Remember the blue Typewriter? (August 2010)   It has been my most popular digital piece. It was carefully modeled on a 1960's Montgomery Ward typewriter.   I thought it would be fun to do it up in some new, Mid Century Modern colors.   Here it is dressed in Harvest Gold and Yellow.

Toward the Light

Click image to enlarge.  Click Title for more information and views.
Size: 24 x 30 x 1.5
Medium: Oils on Acrylic
Date:  5/11/2011

Ending the week with a bang.  My printer for the Giclee pieces has closed his shop in nearby North Park and is now working further away in Tierrasanta.  A casualty of the times I think.  And I received word today that a small,  framed issue  of Beach  24 I shipped a few days ago arrived shattered.  This is the second time in as many months that a Priority Mail shipment has met with disaster.   Thankfully they were insured,  but it is a great inconvenience for the buyers.   The alternative is the more expensive UPS.  

A Day in the Park 2-SOLD

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Size: 24x30x1.5
Medium: Oils over Acrylics
Dated:  4/22/2011

The second of the 2 canvases I bought at the Aaron Brothers sale.  My right arm/shoulder has enjoyed about a one week break and I am hoping it's about ready to go to work on a new piece for next week.

A friend invited me to a paste paper class Tuesday.  We mixed acrylic paint into a mixture of wheat and rice flour, gelatin and Joy detergent and then brushed it onto paper.  It was interesting and we worked in a spontaneous fashion, in which one doesn't plan nor wait for inspiration to come.  On the wall was a sign attributed to Henri Matisse that read  "Don't wait for inspiration; it comes while working." 

Loft #13-SOLD

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Medium: Acrylics
Size: 24"x30"x1.5" multi-directional.

Title: Loft #13 

Dated: 4/19/2011 

It is difficult to believe that it has been two years since I painted the last Loft painting, #12!  But Aaron Brothers had a canvas sale so...This is the first Loft in all acrylics. Usually acrylics are in the under layer, but then it's all oils.


Yesterday I went with an artist-friend to see the Patricia Patterson retrospective at the Escondido Center for the Arts.   Even though he drove, you would think I had agreed to go halfway across the country.  And to think I used to happily go all the way to Los Angeles or San Francisco to see art! 

It was well worth the trip to this museum "complex".  Patterson's landscapes of the Aaron Islands were my favorites of her works.  But I could not find an example of those to post here for you.  I noted many of  her pieces were courtesy of Quint Contemporary Art of La Jolla, our own quite fine and well-respected small, local gallery.

Artist Howard Hodgkin

Still no painting to post.  It looks promising for next week though.  Meanwhile, I thought you might like to see a couple links to an artist called Howard Hodgkin.  The San Diego Museum of Art has his first ever show on the West Coast. Tuesday I rode my bike over to the Balboa Park museum to see it.   And it was a real treat. 

His work is at once sophisticated and childlike.   Hodgkin seems to use few brush strokes, in simple compositions and yet communicates a high-impact result.  This type of art always intrigues me.  These paintings are on wood panels, mostly very large.  Many are framed in wide, rustic wood frames, onto which the paintings often spill.   He was interviewed at the museum too.  Below is a painting from the Howard Hodgkin website:
Hello
2004 - 2008
11 ⅜ x 13 ⅜", 28.9
Painting
PA476
Oil on wood

By the Sea #2

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Size: 8x6
Medium: Giclee
Date: 4/7/2011

This may be a sketch for an acrylic painting.   Or I may decide to keep it as is.  The scene is of one of my fantasies:  Tiny house.  Pocket neighborhood.  By the sea.  Of course if I were not considering what makes a good composition for a painting, and were designing an actual little community to live in, there would be more privacy between them; each house would have its own little garden and a fence and they would have more architectural detail.  That being said, I could be happy living in one these!

Primordial # 3 SOLD

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Size: in frame: 16 x 20
Dated: 3/25/2011 ( # 1 & 2)
Dated: 8/29/2011 (#3) with slight changes
Medium: Giclee 
Open edition
 

Simple, organic forms appeal to me.  This one is similar to one I posted July 1, 2010.  Have you noticed I seem to explore a theme for awhile and then move on to something else?  I have!