New piece continuing the use of cheesecloth to add texture

I've been playing with covering the painting substrate with cheesecloth from the grocery store.  It adds texture obviously but it also changes how you paint.  Some things are easier and others harder.  For example, instead of using a brush I might use paint straight from the tube or scrape it on with a plastic hotel "key".

Karen picked up some decorative wood wall hangings from Club Nova thrift shop in Carrboro.  I covered one with cheesecloth attached with gesso.  Started painting, added some copper, some black, some red and this face appeared.  For me that is often how it works (when it works).  No plan, just paint.

Watch Your Step.  Acrylics and oil pastel on wood covered with cheesecloth.  14 x 18

A good day

I never know whether I will ultimately like something I've just done.  But today, no matter what, I had a good day.  I did some collages as wrapping paper and also the two pieces below.  This first one was typical serendipity.   I found some lines and he appeared.  I'm not sure what happens with the background yet.

 Untitled.   Ink, acrylics, oil sticks on canvas.  18 x 24?

This one is based on old Indian (Southeast Asian) cave drawing.  He's supposed to be angry and menacing but I haven't gotten the expression yet.

Untitled.  Oil pastels on black sandpaper.

Update to the website

I'm updated my website with a new design.  It's a bit simpler and hopefully easier to look at.  Let me know what you think.  Here's a new featured piece:

Shakori Night.  Mixed media on canvas

Quick post before my flight

I'm off to ATL for a few days but I finished something this weekend.  So before I head out...

Jacqueline (based on a Man Ray photo.)    Pencil, charcoal, conte pencil, acrylic on watercolor paper

A couple more....

These are two that are long in coming.



The first is actually a painting on top of another painting with parts of another painting collaged in. The vertical stripe in the middle is about the only thing left -- well maybe some of the other blue too. It was originally a landscape of a storm we watched in Cape Breton last summer. Another canvas, that I destroyed with a knife in a fit of pique, was cut and pasted in. The white is really just gesso, not paint.

"The Dance" Mixed media, acrylic, gesso, ink? on canvas. 16 x 24 ??



The second continues my experiment with stain and wash ala Frankenthaler and Morris. It's a smaller piece on unprimed canvas using a number of washes over a month or two. A little dark but I think I like it.

"Head in Hand" Acrylic on unprimed canvas. Small, I'll check

The Snake Charmer

I started a canvas about, oh, six months ago. I created an interesting green background with some gold but then I couldn't figure out what to do next. I came back from the Color Field exhibit with inspiration.

The inspiration stank and I figured I had ruined something that had potential. I started working with it and nothing seemed to work much. Finally I pulled out some paper and started to use collage. It gradually began to make sense. Then some blue lines became snakes before my eyes and viola! inspiration, move me brightly.

Snake Charmer. Acrylics and collage on canvas. 24 x 30

Ode To Robert Rauschenberg

I was first discovering art back in 2006 and one of those artists I discovered was Robert Rauschenberg. I had some interesting found pieces, a Taiwanese Buddhist text, pottery shards from Steven's yard, and an old decaying Persian rug. I had great fun making this and nearly two years later, it may not be finished. The title? "The International Flag of Depression". Go figure.

Mixed media on plywood. Old Oriental rug, acrylics, ink, pieces of china, leaf prints, and cutouts from a Tawainese book on Buddhism.

Two now finished

There are a couple of pieces in earlier posts that were incomplete. These two are finished (I think; until you, the consumer, buys them there is always a chance they'll change).

This first one continues in the "it's really easy to sit on the couch and paint with my fancy crayons" series -- otherwise known as the Lazy Suite.

Two faces. Oil pastels on watercolor paper. 11 x 13



Second is the big, evil mixed media piece called Satyr. The eyes are Luis Bunuel's.

Satyr. Mixed media, acrylics, ink, cardboard, paper, oil pastel, birch bark from Cape Breton and the kitchen sink. 24 x 30 ??

An old new one and trying something

First here's an old new one. By that I mean a piece that was started long ago and has morphed several times. There's a good bit of paint underneath what you can see.

Unnamed. Acrylics, ink and who knows what else on mat board. 15" x 21"



Something new....I thought it would be interesting to track how a piece changes as I work on it. Okay, so maybe only interesting to me. This may end up at the wrong end of a cul de sac (I made that expression up). I'll show you the good and the bad as I work on this.

I start with the original -- another Man Ray photo, this time T.S. Eliot. So far T.S. is just pencil on watercolor paper.

Yes I really have been painting

My wonderful niece Becca noted that this blog was pretty damn stale. (Actually she was much nicer about it than that, but I can read between the lines.)

I have actually been painting with even an occasional modicum of success. I'm going to post a bunch of things today without much comment just to prove that I'm not just sitting around watching TV, eating chips and burping on the couch.

The second one is my 2007 holiday card. If you don't get one of the cards it's because I don't know you or I don't have your address. The Satyr (top right)is in flux but he really is a bad man.

The rest are either good or bad, small or large, finished or unfinished, acrylics, oil pastels or mixed media, on canvas, plywood, mat board or paper. Nearly none of them have names. Go figure.

Have a wonderful holiday!

It's complete

Down below in a post titled "I've started a new piece" there is a photo taken through the famous window at the top of the stairs. The painting based on the photo is finished now and will be making its way to Louisiana as a Mother's Day present.

It was fun to make and turned out reasonably well. The photo is, as usual, not very good; the bricks are much too red, the blue isn't dark enough and its crooked and poorly cropped but it's the best I could do. I'll try for a few more shots tomorrow before I go to UPS and see if I can do better.

It's a big piece 48" x 60" or so on one of the 2" deep canvases.

Haw River Night. Mixed medium, acrylics and collage on canvas. 48" x 60"

Holiday card

I decided to send out a holiday card this year for the first time in years. I figured I might as well make it myself.

Gauguin's Madonna

Mixed Media, oil pastels, conte pencils, collage and ink.

New pieces at Carrboro Town Hall

I got four new pieces up at my show.

One is to the right.

"Phantom"

Acrylics on paper

Two others are below in the "Doubt" posting from Friday November 17th. I've edited that post to tell you about them.

The last is a new collage and I framed it before I took a photo. Oops! With the glass I couldn't get a pic worth posting.

Doubt

Sometimes a painting comes together as if by magic.

Other times the magic isn't there and I believe that I have no talent, no ability. I don't create anything, it's only the lucky times when the muse takes over that art results.

Tonight is a "no talent, no ability" time. I am empty.......

These two are now up at my show. On the top left is "City Life"

Paper, Mixed Media, acrylics, pen and ink

On the right and below is a new collage called "Queen".

Paper, Tibetan rice paper, mixed media, acrylics, collage

Show Eve

Tomorrow is the big day, the grand reception for my first show. Stop by and have a glass of wine and say hello if you are in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area.

6-9 Friday November 10 during the monthly 2nd Friday Art Walk
Carrboro Town Hall

Here are two new pieces that I plan to hang before the opening.

This first collage is called "Red Dress" (Maggi berates me for naming things Collage #2).

Mixed media on paper, rice paper, acrylics, ink, collage


Come on Chris, a name, a name....Okay, "Photosynthesis"!

Mixed media on paper, acrylics, collage

The invite to my art opening...

Two more...

Two pieces related to my depression.

The first of these is from a very bad night, August 8th I think. I sat in my backyard crying and began writing using black ink and a nib. I wrote quickly and sloppily and tore out the pages as I finished. I'm not sure how much you can read but it represents the worst night of my depression. Before you try to have me committed understand that my therapist thought the writings were fairly normal and nothing to worry about. He was concerned that the words reflect a good deal of self loathing. Duh!

Mixed media on canvas. Pen, ink and paper, acrylics, collage.

The second takes me back to Robert Rauschenberg. I had great fun making this and it may not be finished yet. I kept looking at it hoping it would tell me what it was. Finally it said "The International Flag of Depression". Go figure.

Mixed media on plywood. Old Oriental rug, acrylics, ink, pieces of china, leaf prints, and cutouts from a Tawainese book on Buddhism.