Sometimes a cigar...

New paper is bliss.
Here's one of the sketches from Wednesdays scribble session, I'm looking forward to capturing some more on the weekend.

En plein air

I know this is a log of my work, and it's looking suspiciously like I haven't done much for a while.
I have been incredibly busy,(I know, poor excuse) but I've also taken the space I needed to think evaluate and to plan.
Ricky and I have also begun to work together on ideas for the next phase of our collaboration which will be a series of feature pieces for the exhibition we're working towards.

Our vision is for the viewer to wonder where the two dimensional paintings begin and the sculptures end, as they experience our work. To look into and through the work, stand amongst it, walk around it or to kneel beside it. We want the viewer to understand that we're playing with a range of concepts like scale and perspective - like foreground and background (where do they begin and end?), or with the qualities of space and with the marrying of two and three dimensional forms of expression.
Sounds exciting eh ? It is.

To that end we've been sketching outdoors to build a common vocabulary and a collective understanding of the figure in space. It's slightly mad (and strangely addictive), rather cold but fun catching the gestures of people as they walk purposefully into the wind, going about their business.

I'll post some of my scribbles this week - for that's what they are... and I hope to work some of them up as working drawings (in paint and pastel) towards our joint work, this weekend.

Sometimes it's going to seem a bit quiet in here over the next couple of months, we're taking the time we need to over this, and given that the work we make will be ours - not mine... it may not appear here. Or perhaps my working paintings and explorations will feature instead as well as these musings. I still want to follow up on that interstitial space idea and I'm looking forward to that.

Invisible Birds

I've had a few more thoughts about this collaboration I'm a part of, and I think as well as going deeper we need to look at the commonalities between our ideas, our two mediums (sculpture and painting) - to identify what it is that we're saying is one thing, to share a vision is another...to converge on these so that what we make is unified has surely got to be magic. I think there's a bit of talking and working together on ideas that we need to do for this next phase. I'm looking forward to mappng a few of them and to encouraging the invisible birds (lovely metaphor)to rest a while.

Breathing in and out

No images to post this weekend. I needed to take some time to just be with my thoughts about this project. I'm hoping writing this might help to clarify some of them.

The work I've done so far has been varied and broad. I've played with different applications and styles, and I chose to experiment with many of the concepts around this project. I think it's time to focus on just one aspect and look at it in more depth. I'm thinking I need to be disciplined and go deeper into an idea, to explore and work with it a while before committing it to canvas or paint. Nut out how best to express the ideas I have rather than settle on the first because I'm spontaneous. I find that quite hard because part of that exploration for me involves paint and immediate ideas.

I'm frustrated that the pleated work, although innovative, has lost a great deal of spontenaety in the application of the ideas... and though I love this three dimensional canvas thing, if I can't regain that gestural mark and lightness of touch, I'm going to be dissatisfied with the results. I also think some pieces don't necessarily scale up - and these ideas are more suited to a smaller scale. If I continue down that track I'm going to keep them small.

There are things I love about the angry painting I did last week, some parts I want to change that may (or not) improve it, and some things that disappoint me. Although it says what I was wanting to say, it feels heavy and solid in the expression - like a Nigel Brown work... and so I probably won't paint a second one in this style or chose to revisit it.
I don't think I want to be so descriptive about the figures in these pieces.

I'm drawn towards the idea of interstitial spaces - that's the spaces between spaces, the moments between moments. The breathing space. I'm not sure yet what this looks like or how to describe it, but I want to return to a feeling of light and lightness. This might be a good place to start.

Fish bones

In at the studio today and working on the composition about negatively charged space. It's coming along well - loose and fairly expressive. I need to give the painting time to rest before I do anything more to it, though it's working well. I might add some draw threads to the sides to secure the folds in place around the figures. Stylistically it's an interesting one - I'm not sure if it relates particularly well to the others, I'm going to work back into the piece (with care) to encourage that relationship.
When I look at all the work I've done so far, I worry a bit about the style discrepancies. I'm not sure if I should get hung up on this or not... they come out how they do, and I don't want to staunch the flow of ideas by imposing limits on the experimentation or how the images 'should' look.
I wish Bruce Mau had written a piece about 'should'. Sometimes I think I'm ruled by that concept far too much !

There and back

Today's post is a drawing of the small dancing sculpture that Ricky made.
It began as a figure in one of my paintings (This Dance) - the yellow one I posted earlier, a month or so ago. Now there's a small plaster sculpture on my desk, soft bronze and blue coloured. This is a series of sketches in graphite pencil (coloured graphite too, that makes a wash with water - delicious!) of that piece. I guess this idea has gone back and forth 4 times now since initially it relates to the ripples we make in space and how we dance around each other.

Negatively charged space

This sketch originates from the idea of negatively and positively charged spaces, how we affect a space by our presence our moods and words (that spillover thing).
I want to make two images - and this is the first one. Sometimes I find it easier to access the negative images first (like writing sad songs I guess). The pleats will run horizontally on this piece - and it's going to be important to plan them so that they fall at mouth, eye and forehead level so that the idea of miscommunication is really evident. I've bought a 700 mm length of canvas because I want this piece to be quite big. Yippee, looking forward to painting this soooo much! ( I missed my studio time this weekend).

The next piece is bubbling up too - there's a Denis Glover poem (NZ poet) that I'm thinking of, that captures the bright way that some people affect the space they inhabit. I'll post it later.

Oh, It just occurred to me to mention to new visitors who might be cruising around my blog, that if you click on an image, a larger view comes up so you can read any small notes (like this image contains). You'll need to use the 'back' button on your browser to get back to the main blog window OK?

Persistence of presence perhaps?

Here's the painting of the interior space rendered on the last piece of my prepared pleated canvas.
It's not quiet, (nice aim, but a while off yet - or maybe a whole separate project!) but it IS evocative of the persistence of presence.
This is an idea I've been trying to nail for a while now and is about the intangibles we leave behind us as we pass through a space, whether that's an essence of ourselves, a change in the electron charge within the room, or a memory of our presence held by those who remain.
I've worked back into the piece with oil pastels and graphite pencil ...I wanted to rough it up a bit and the italian canvas was somehow a little too polite (but smoooth as!).
I've attached a thin piece of balsa to the back top edge to constrain the folds. Logistically, it all holds together a lot better now.
I'm going to continue to explore this idea a bit more as well as paint the sketch of this last piece as a 2D work - on paper, for the pleasure of it.

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.