digital comp

Painting on birch. 2x2'. acrylic, house paint, skill saw, sanding, ink, paper. Painting on birch. 4x4'. acrylic, house paint, paper, ink, saw, sanded, varnish, scratching.

hostas

4'x4' painting on birch. Oil, Ink, Watercolor, Acrylic, Skill Saw, Paper, Glue, Spackle, Pencil

At the suggestion of my mentor I have started looking at Michael Singer, am enjoying looking at his work...big bold and yet gentle in some ways too. http://www.michaelsinger.com/

new stuff

Visited my mentor a couple of weeks back which was excellent. Travelled down to where she lives in beaucolic NY countryside...horse country, lakes and big lovely oak trees, very British I thought. Very peaceful and beautiful. Duston has a great set-up, a barn which she uses as a studio a short walk from her house. She has an assistant, a young art school graduate who helps her with her paintings and organizing. We met for about 5 hours, just getting to know each other a bit, looked at her latest work, she had about 4 paintings that she was working on, and then looked at my work. I had taken everything I had been working on so far, sticks and drawings, a few small paintings and photographs. Talking about it, having it critiqued but also having to explain it to someone who doesn't really know me was helpful but also strange, a bit like having a truncated residency for one! it was actually good to have the 4.5 hour drive home to think through things, and then, for the last two hours to put the radio on loud and not think about things! I have continued to draw, paint and photograph since the crit and have some new directions to go in. We decided that the small drawings on wood (they are really more like paintings- with gesso, ink, scratching and rubbing) would be a good place to start for some paintings. We talked about painting on wood as opposed to canvas and so I have got hold of some 4x4 birch panels and also some 2x2 panels which I have started painting and drawing on. Using the small drawings as starting points and sketches for the larger pieces. The wood is allowing me to play a lot more, get into the physical aspect of painting and using tools to create the textures I am looking for. Started reading Anne Truitt's Daybook and am also going to read Peggy Phelan and write my next thought piece on those readings- both of these are suggestions from Duston. Started teaching again so will take a bit to get into that new routine, though am determined and managing to make room for artmaking and reading.