Sunday night

Quick post, I am out walking Monk and Cricks. 

This is about the bottom pic. I really tried a formal self-portrait from life and I started it very academically. But tonight I just got sick of trying to paint exactly what I see. I like the loose quality of the under painting. And I think it conveys to the viewer a personal aspect of the subject. 

The upper painting is more of a color study

Sunday August 17? Maybe

So here are two gouache paintings I worked on the last two days. One is done the other is getting covered.

Already Tuesday

 alright. So on Sunday Sam and I took our dogs down to Fort Tilden beach area. We went late because I wasn't feeling well and we thought we would watch the sunset. Needless to say it was beautiful and we all had a nice time. Here is a little painting that I have worked out from our evening out there. Just a small beach scape. It is hard to work so small with the palette knife so I also used brushes. Some areas are more successful than others but I am happy with it for now.

Sat August 10

So I am painting through this older fighting painting. It's getting to a better place. I think some different imagery and paint will be needed tomorrow. I am really not trying to think to much about what I want to come out on the other side 

I also am getting up early tomorrow to start in the studio and will take a decent pic of my two gouache studies. Also spent a few hours drawing for Sam. One more pic then I am going to bed.

Thursday August 7

So I had a big hassle this evening, non-art related but it just has taken over my evening. Super bummed and I am looking at a few weeks of hell. What can you do? 

Anyway I got some emails returned and hope to get my work on a website out of Belgium. Hope it works out with some wider exposure. Got into the studio for a bit. Worked on the acrylic painting and a self portrait that I may change color palette in. Here are some pics.

It actually helps to take small photos of my paintings, it helps me step back a bit and see the overall. 

I think that's all I am going to get done for tonight.

Tuesday August 5

So I delivered a painting today. I gave a portrait away yesterday to my Muay Thai coach, we had it up in our apt for the last few years. 

Sam says my blog posts are very declarative and make me sound like a simpleton. But I really just want to keep it basic and show people pictures. That and I have a big thumb. I type these on my phone and it's slow going. 

I used a clients pet as a subject and they bought the original. Pretty sneaky, huh? 

Actually they have a really cool looking miniature greyhound and I thought it could be a cool painting. Here is a photo. Cool huh? Just adding a black stretcher to the panel and adding a nice varnish just made it a beautiful object. I am really happy with it. 

I also am so close to finishing my gouache study of the wedding feast but need to paint through one of the figures before I post a pic. 

Goodnight.

Monday August 4

So I worked on my acrylic fighting painting tonight. I should take several process photos and I will from now on because it had some huge heads in it and then it was scrubbed and then I lost the original fighter and put in a new one. Anyway it's coming along. 

That's all I actually worked on tonight. I played some guitar because Sam was out. So I deafened myself for a few hours. But I did also send some emails and think I placed a painting. 

Sunday all day

I worked on a bunch of random things today. I made some frames/stretchers for paintings that were flat panels. It makes it easier to hang the paintings and I think it makes them more substantive. I made four frames, the football field, King, an old painting from my friend Steve's farm and a little portrait that I have been planning to give to the subject. 

I also made a few changes to my gouache studies. Really focused on finishing them up. I want to hang one of them and the other is going to be a gift. 

I also made some changes to my acrylic fighting painting. This is going to keep changing until it looks right to me. 

That's all for tonight. I am bushed. A lot of cutting wood and making frames tonight.

Also HomeDepot is a terrible place. At least the one on Woodhaven is.

Day

So today I worked on a few things. I pulled my two recent gouache studies out. I have a little to finish up on the pink, wedding dinner. Both of these studies I want to make into large paintings. The have a single viewer, multiple perspective theme. As if the viewer is the center of everything. The perspective changes as you turn your head side to side. I think most people consider themselves the center of the universe. To a degree we all are the center of our own. I have made drawings like this before.

I guess all my pics will follow the text. 

I also am finishing up a commission cityscape. It is very similar to a painting from last summer. I think it turned out really well. Though I am trying to loosen up my paintings and paint more directly from life or sketches. When I am tied to photographs I lose some gestural quality that makes painting interesting to me.

This little landscape is a little more loosely made and I really like it. I also worked on the landscape today. I really like painting several things at once as it keeps me engaged.

Two or three more photos and then I have to go walk the girls, and call it a night.

I was painting the edges of the commission and used the acrylic to rework a fighting painting that I have been trying to work into something cool.

Sorry for the shine but you get the idea. I really want to move back to painting through things. Instead of being so locked down. I draw and sketch multiple images over the top of each other and juxtaposed with whatever is already on the page. I want my paintings to feel the same way. So here is a cityscape that I am also trying to paint through.

So I edited the pic so they are in the correct order, click on them to see the full image. 

This is what I worked on today. I also went cycling, trained at Evolution and watched some Forensic Files. From now on I am going to just do a daily journal. So you may see a lot of the same things over and over again. Tomorrow I finish my gouache studies and build some frames for paintings that are on flat material, boards and panels. Sam bought us a new saw! 

I will end tonight with a close up of one of my studies (is this the correct pluralization ?)