ARRIVING

                                                                

     AFTER A YEAR AND HALF IN THE NEWLY BUILT STUDIO ON MY PROPERTY AT HOME,  I HAVE REALIZED A SENSE OF BELONGING TO THIS SPACE AND THE FUTURE YEARS OF AUTHORSHIP TO WHAT TRANSPIRES ON CANVAS AND PAPER

     PRESENTLY MY WORK HAS EVOLVED INTO THREE STATIONS OF PRODUCTION.

          -INK GESTURES ON PAPER CREATED FROM REHEARSAL NOTES OF DIFFERENT 

              DANCE COMPANIES I ATTEND.

          -FIGURATIVE PAINTINGS ON CANVAS

          -A CONTINUATION OF ANIMAL PAINTINGS TO SELL ON LINE.

     THE BLOGS THAT FOLLOW WILL BE THE VICTORIES AND DEFEATS OF ERASEL 

ATTEMPTS NOW THAT I AM FINALLY ONE WITH THESE WALLS. THANK YOU FOR CHECKING IN. M

Activating and updating studio happenings

Moving the studio from a downtown warehouse location to a garage for storing and then finally into a newly built structure at home became a tremendous journey. For those thinking about doing this I encourage you to plan carefully and have a temp location to set up in while what was supposed to be 2 months of construction becomes almost a year.

However the end result is fantastic and my work is showing what additional hours can do as well as  having a room of my own:)

All this to say I can update this blog now and get on with some thoughts about art making:)

GOING , GOING, GONE!

It seems the figure I was working on evolved right off the canvas. Many times! It took two days of push and pull to get myself warmed up to letting go of calculations and pestering questions about right and wrong. This morning I walked in painted off the old efforts and simply put down the lines that do not carry a burden of pre conceived ideas. Tomorrow looks promising.

In her book "The Creative Habit", Twyla Tharp says; "There's an emotional lie to over planning; it creates a security blanket that lets you assume you have things under control, that you are further along than you really are, that you're home free when you haven't even walked out the door yet."

FROM THE SKETCH TO THE PAINT

I would be curious what other painters feel as they are about to take on the canvas with brush in hand. For me it's often like standing on a very high diving platform. Stalling by fussing about before taking that deep breath.

Today I dove. This figure will evolve over the next weeks or few days with the hope I do not take away the movement in the gesture and bind her up with paint. Instead, she needs to soar.

WAKING UP THIS BLOG

Since last fall I have been collecting notes for this series of large canvases that focus on similar movements found in dance and sport.

Sketches are still happening since the football, soccer and volleyball practices observed last fall. Lately my subjects have been PSU women's basketball and Oregon Ballet Theatre rehearsals.

This 48"x72" canvas has just been started. The posted gesture popped up in both my PSU sketches as well as those from the dance floor at OBT. My self imposed project is turning out to be fun and full of wonderful challenges. I am at the wonderful mercy of what happens in front of me whether it be at practices and rehearsals or on canvas.

ENTER THE SPORTS WORLD

After sending requests to sketch the Oregon State Uni. football practice I received a quick response and was able to witness two hours of outstanding athleticism.

My heart be still! As in dance, these beautiful body forms give 150% of what they are there to do. I was the only one in the stands for much of the time and sketched non-stop taking away notes I am proud to say are refreshing and seem like potential painting subject matter. No one cared that I was there and that provides an excellent climate for drawing to meet my needs. Drove home loaded with smiles and the sound of the band practice echoing in my head. A reminder Ohio State years.

Don't know where this is all going but

USEFUL SKETCHING NOTES

The update on my project for combining sports movement gestures and dance gestures is still in the stage of making use of the wonderful works at North West Dance Project and trying to get field time with University of Portland women's soccer and Oregon State University football. I have e-mails explaining the the project, my request for field time and some paintings as examples. Perhaps I need to go to the athletic departments with a brief portfolio. Their time and schedule must be quite precious right now.

Meanwhile I am prepping canvases in anticipation of what's ahead.

DANCE OR SPORT?

Seems like it has taken years for me to come to the exciting project of painting a series of canvases that have to do with the idea that dance and sport have similar gestures and come under the concept of movement as being composed of force, time, space and flow.

My first task at hand is to line up opportunities for getting on the playing fields of football,volleyball, soccer and tennis during practice to sketch as close as I do in the dance rehearsals I'm attending now. Eventually I would accumulate notes and experiences that will nurture this project for however it last.

It will be enjoyable to report into this blog as a journal for this endeavor.

PAIR ON THE RUN

After the gallery that I had these gestures exhibited closed last spring I decided to circulate some of this work in local venues. It has become a refreshing lift after losing the original home for this inventory.

The owners of a wine bar named BARILE' here in Portland have agreed to hang 10 of these gestures. Their interest and enthusiasm breathes new air into the work.

AND THEN AGAIN

Canvas work can be so luring. I don't have to settle for any line, color or shape unless I want to. So this canvas haunts me even in the grocery store and will do so until I find what it is I am looking for.

The female figure is more convincing then the last attempt.

Dance is conversation with the body. This canvas needs to offer that.

The male figure at the top right needs company.

NEW LINES ON OLD PAINTING CAN BE FUN

I have been pestered by a canvas I started over a year ago. The painting is from notes taken from James Canfield 's choreography last summer.

Actually it is several blogs back from this one. The gesture of the female figure on the left did not work in this composition .

On a studio errand yesterday the image of the figure that I needed came to me. When back in the studio she went down onto the canvas in a matter of seconds.

What fun to have resolved that part of this process called painting. Maybe I should repeat that same errand tomorrow before adding color and features to hopefully move her and the viewer.

CELEBRATION TIME COME ON!

What better way to announce I am back from a year sabbatical than flowers in season.

This year long sabbatical has provided the time needed to convalesce from surgery and creative fatigue.

The Northwest Dance Project NWDP, has provided me with notes to launch new works. They are one of the main dance attractions in Portland during the summer and I am grateful for the opportunity to prop on their floor and draw. It's great to be back.

BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND

The more I read as I flip through resource material the more my heart goes out to this often misunderstood animal. This began to show at the easel yesterday. Painting definately does not happen from the elbow down when dealing with the wolf. this animal represents a life form and that has stood the test of time at the whim of humans who have worshiped them and needlessly slaughtered them and that is still going on today.
"If we could live like wolves,

we would never hate our brothers

and sisters just for being of different colors.

We would live together in harmony,

knowing that the well-being of the others

would be the basis of our own well-being.

We wold care for each other

no matter whether young or old or healthy or sick.

We would look after nature

because we would understand

that we need Her to survive.

and we would kill for one reason only-for food.

What a perfect place earth could be,

if only we could be like wolves."

-Anonymous

"Wolves A PHOTOGRAPHIC CELEBRATION"

edited by amber rose

THE OTHER STUDIO PROJECT

The other studio project has been to develop an animal series that I can sell on line. This category of painting has always been there to play with as additional entertainment in the studio and i am beginning to accumulate a nice selection of finished work.

Hopefully, I can have a website of just animal paintings and drawings up and running by the end of this sumer.

When painting a specific animal I spend time reading about it and then find as many images as possible to simply observe closely. After getting acquainted there is the fun project of painting what I studied.The wolf is a complicated creature. Intelligent and resourceful. This painted has just begun to look for that.

"There is no question that the wolf is hampered by the worst press in all the animal kingdom."_Robt H. Busch

NOW THE FUN PART

Today was one of those times when you walk into the studio and the composition has already been activated in your mind. Maybe it happened when counting out corn at a fresh veg. stand or walking the dog. The important thing is that it feels like a gift of the gods. so many times the painter strives for days to click into the "right" lines, or find that you are too tight to make quality marks that day.

I haven't worked in combinations of figures in a long time. If this still looks promising tomorrow, i'll dive in and begin painting .

 FROM SKETCHES TO CANVAS

     After selecting the images from the sketches in the slide show below, I begin diving into the project of a painting. This will be a 4' x 4' composition. 

     When preparing a background , my preference is to create a setting that is not narrative and rather abstract. I want it to have an energy and direction that can hold up to that of the moving figure.

     This process is ongoing even as the figure(s) are worked onto the canvas.

    

RE ENTRY INTO STUDIO WORK

There is nothing like a dear friend and fellow artist to pull you back on track.

Choreographer James Canfield is rehearsing in town with Sarah Slipper's NorthWest Dance Project.

It feels like old home week. James invited me into his rehearsals nine years ago and I haven't stopped drawing movement since.

After leaving Oregon Ballet Theatre, James is now Artistic Director of the Nevada Ballet.

His dynamic floor work provides wonderful notes that have me racing into the paint studio again.

The slide show attached is a selection of notes sketched over the last few weeks.

THE SIMPLICITY OF FUN

Brush and ink have given me sweet sessions of peace this week. I must remember to keep these supplies out and ready at all times.

"If doing artwork is too relaxing, you may need something to make you tense. Try swimming."

     K. Tanahashi

MORE CORVID CREATIONS

This could be an on- going past time and refreshing easel break.  Another quote from Brush Mind;  "One stroke painting leaves little room for thinking; the moment it's started, it's already done."

ANOTHER CROW DAY

The parade of shinny clever crows are still catching my eye. Yesterday I sat outside with Sumi ink, brush and paper and captured gestures much like being in the ballet studios . What fun. Especially after having read Kazuaki Tanahashi who wrote Brush Mind and I quote: "The quality of the line is what matters most-how deep, strong, or honest it is. It doesn't matter how good or unusual it looks".