Interior with pleated space

Tomorrow's the weekend!
I've sketched up the next image for the other pleated canvas this week. This one's an interior and I'm referencing images I've used before - the half built space I sat and drew in, one lunch hour, the people walking past it's windows and some from the mall outside the studio. I'm aiming to try and keep this piece quiet, with soft colours (to emphasise the spaciousness) and smudgy loose figures. Think I'll just keep the folds tonal. I'm looking forward to working on this.

Pleat Street

I came in to work on Monday and looked at this painting a long time. I decided to paint over the faces and accept the loss of the canvas colour through adding paint. It was a happy accident and I like the pentimento effect ! So this week I've been letting it grow on me before I decide what to do next. Sometimes I think I rush into making changes and expect to know what needs to happen to a piece immediately - and then I wreck it. I'm glad to have reclaimed the sense of depth.
A three dimensional canvas is interesting to develop, and it's very different working at this smaller scale.



Ah me !
Here's a pic of the image before I added one last colour... and wished I hadn't. I diffused some of the figures, which is all good but I lost the nice contrasty thing that was happening because the face of the pleats were treated in a more linear style and the recesses in a defined colour range. Now it's just a whole lot busier and less spacious ( and I'm not putting the image up ).
Still, I'm really liking the idea - it has heaps of potential. Why is this the overriding self assessment these days ? - I think I need to put more time into resolving my ideas more thoroughly. ( Bruce Mau say's '...if process drives outcome we may not know where we're going, but we'll know we want to be there' - damn it, getting there is a slow journey sometimes - but it's a lot of fun! )

Pleated space

Following on with the theme of compressed space and the way that people meet and share, I've spent today preparing a couple of canvases. They're pleated italian canvas, sized and unstretched. I love the way the light falls on the folds. and I'm using the raw canvas colour to paint on rather than the gessoed front surface.

This sketch is pretty busy still, and I'll probably moderate this when I paint it, but the images play across the planes and folds. For the first canvas, I want the figures to sit on the raised planes and the space to be described in the folds. On the second canvas I'll see what the scene looks like run across both the folds and planes. Should be fun. I'm thinking this idea will relate more to both the yellow and the red pieces.

Dream conversation

Yesterday I woke with this image very strongly imprinted. This morning I've roughed it as a digital sketch. I'ts pretty ugly ( I haven't used any finesse on this - it's not important, I won't be using this to paint from) but the idea is there. Yes, the cubes were pastel colours - like dolly lollies... but the background - the space the figures were in wasn't clear and would need some resolving.
I think (wishing for italics here) it's about the sharing of ideas and the way that each time we do this we also share fragments of ourselves. How revealing. I might think on it some more and then paint it at some point - or the concept might find itsself interpreted on the folded canvas.

Oubliette

I've had second thoughts about this last piece of work over the remainder of the weekend. I'm not sure about the direction it's taking me - and I suspect I'm not going to be able to express the ideas I want if I continue with this thread. The elongated stylised figures, the lack of depth and dependence on strong line... I know they seem like an obvious progression from the work I've been doing, but I'm not satisfied.

I'm going to take some time this week and review the collection of images so far, look at the ideas I have, and ways to extend them further. I need to experiment some more and I may need to go back to go forward. It's all good. Each piece has given me something to work from and towards - so the learning and exploring continues.
I'll leave this one up - it will be interesting to see what comes next.

At this point I think I need to remind myself of point 4 of Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto:

- Love your experiments (as you woud an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

Burlesque

Not finished (what's with this - the damn things take so long to paint at this size :0) ). But it has potential n'est pas?
The avocado green needs some more work to even it out (and the colour hasn't photographed well, it's richer and less flat looking) - I want brush strokes but without patchiness... I haven't a clue why there's a chorus line in the background - but it seemed to fit with today.

Dancing on canvas

Here's the finished painting, on canvas. I had trouble posting this today, there was something wierd with Blogspot. I removed two previous posts because they seemed to be causing errors, turns out it wasn't me. Ah well.

This piece is a definate progression on the idea of relationships in a space and the way two peope can exclude all else about them.
I'm a bit worried about what's happening to the colours I'm choosing - but the movement's starting to happen. A couple of firsts behind me with this one too.... first canvas since summer school, first one this BIG and first one that's not mixed media.
I think my hand and brain are starting to remember the feel of the canvas. It's been frustrating and hard returning to a surface with texture. I miss the speed of the paint movoing across the smooth surface of paper. I think the post I lost talked about it a bit more. Make friends with it you say Ricky?

Velocity increases with density

Only a matter of time I guess, till the poems that inspire the images make it to this blog. I revisited this one this morning - the title itself is just stunning and the movement in it is undeniable. It's by an American poet called Cole Swensen.

Velocity Increases With Density

A single impression
like you rounding a corner.
Even if I hadn’t been there
the image would have kept on
moving in my mind.
Now, you, in this case,
are an old friend. Built of lines and planes
like anyone, a chest, a false ceiling
of the sky. I write letters to others
in which every word is ride.
Hear the world open its coat
like a man running for a bus.
Someday all windows, by definition,
will be spherical. So as I said,
it was an unnerving moment.
I read in the paper the other day
of a woman who spontaneously combusted.
The world will never end.
This is what I fear
when I stop suddenly, almost reaching you.
You, in this case,
are not answering the phone.
It’s a long white line,
a single dimension of incredible speed.

Turning in space

I don't feel as if I've made much progress this week.
This sketch is based on Ricky's sculpture. It's a view looking down from above. The piece has nice rhythms and negative spaces and I imagine it painted (the sculpture) and perhaps textured too. To me, it's about the exclusivity of 'connected' people (though you might have a different interpretation Ricky). I want to capture lots of movement in my painting of it - as if this couple is turning in space. I painted it on the weekend - but wasn't happy with the results although the composition was interesting (too much colour resulted in a loss of spaciousness and seemed to constrain the figures) I overworked it !
I decided not to post the painting here - I know I can do better and so I'm thinking this is still a work in progress. Ah well... I've primed a canvas (yes!) and I'll paint it as soon as I can extract myself from this load of illustration work.

Dancing lightly

Well, here it is. I'm pleased with the sense of movement, the vibrancy and the lightness. I avoided heavy charcoal to work into the painting this time and I think it's better off. I feel as if I'm finally getting to this idea that's been lurking - and that's great.
As I mentioned, it's about the ways we dance with and around each other.

This dance

... As in 'this dance we do'.

I just can't !
I can't let the line go. It's too hard. So here's an even scribblier sketch.
I've been thinking about other ways to convey the ripples idea, with your feedback in mind Ricky. Less hard edged (that's one of the things I feel strongly about too) and hopefully more amorphous and abstracted. Here's a sketch of a similar idea expressed differently. Still linear but looser and more free. I also want to approach the joy of meetings too. I guess it might be a little hard to read !

I'm going to work on the idea this weekend and probably retain a lot of the line work - but using blended, thicker and more textural paint. I have canvas in mind for this, provided the work on paper is effective.

Creating space

No pictures today, just thoughts on this idea of space.
Trying to capture the spaciousness and air in my images ... this morning I asked myself 'what if the paper was the space?' I've been treating the paper as a canvas to describe a space and occupants. If I let that go, can the paper act as the space and allow me to describe the ripples we make better ? What can I do to the paper to allow the viewer to experience what I want them to ?
I have a sneaky feeling I need to let the line go too. Hmmm. This week I'm going to draw some more.