The Secret Life of the Artist -- Part 9

So.....here we have it -- the secret life of the artist or it could be called "Things you do as an artist that you never thought you'd be doing" as an artist. The funny thing is: I don't even remember the project I was working on when I did the South America map. I think it went to a filmstrip project ("filmstrip" what's that? Most people now have no idea what that was.) The South America map was done with acrylics on an illustration board. Acrylics, I hate thee, let me count the ways. Did I ever mention how much I hate acrylic paints? Now I even teach painting with them ---- see? another instance of "things you do as an artist that you never thought you'd be doing." This may have been for a series of educational films on the explorers of the New World.

The second map -- Europe -- I did for a film about Acid Rain. That was a big subject in the 1980s before Global Warming took the stage. This was an animated scene where I had to devise a cloud blowing over the earth carrying acids to drop over the land mass below. Animation --- another "things you do as an artist that you never thought you'd be doing." I could easily segue into a series of that along with the Secret Life of the Artist. What comes after that? -- you ask. After that I was a Waldorf teacher who had to do maps of all the continents and islands and states of the US. I did them teaching geography to the students. I used chalk on a large blackboard, which the students drew in their lesson books. Then they were erased --- yes, erased and I have no pictures of them (sadly)....and by the way....the South America was photographed top lit. The Europe map was shot bottom lit, which gives it a luminous quality kind of like a slide --- the difference between them is like the difference between a photographic print and a slide.

Autumn on Route 12

This is a little (10" X 18") oil I did of a farmhouse along the road in Walworth County Wisconsin. I'm still not sure I like it --- yes, I painted it faithfully, it's drawn accurately and painted pretty well and the colors are done well on the house (which was difficult), but still it's not a top of the list painting --- with, as they call it, the "wow" factor. Maybe I should just paint and not be a critic, after all painting is all I've ever wanted --- I don't want to be a critic and I don't want to run a gallery. It actually was difficult mixing the color of that house - a warm color in the shade -- not always easy. This is a farmhouse in a nice setting along Route 12 west of Fort Atkinson, if I remember correctly. On to the next one.

Old Repin copy and a completed street scene

While moving things around in the "studio", I found an old copy I did of a Repin painting -- the Actress Strepetova. Without measuring, I think it's an 11 X 14" painting done on masonite board. It had a lot of dust on it and cleaned up pretty well. As I said before, this is a good way of pushing yourself and exploring another artist's way of painting and using color. Secondly is the final version of the Chicago street scene I started a short time ago. I did a bit of repainting and adding some tree details but decided to not fuss too much. This was quite a diversion for me and I did not feel that I needed to finish in the same way I do with other paintings. The final version will be put onto 14 X 20" stretcher bars. I was watching the Jackson Pollock movie a couple days ago and really liked his work and approach to his work as portrayed by Ed Harris. I've never been an abstract painter, but certainly appreciate some of it.

The Music Store - unfinished Chicago street scene

This is another canvas I painted mounted on a board. The advantage?...you can use really good canvas and then stretch on stretcher bars later if you are satisfied with the result. I use a really nice, heavy cotton canvas which I prime with gesso giving it some texture as I go along. I do have an oil primed linen, but I find the priming too slick. I like a matte surface with texture. So...about the painting ---- I will stretch this 14 X 20" (that is, if I like the final result). I have a number of paintings which I have sitting around which I don't like for some reason or another which will never see the light of day outside this studio. The location of this is about two miles from me in an older neighborhood which still has storefronts which are original. There's a lot of remodeling going on which takes away the original 1920s kind of look that these stores retain. I like the three bullseye porcelain decorations at the top and the recessed entryways. I used a lot of knifework to get straight lines, but you won't see the knifework (I just don't like knife paintings -- you know what I mean -- people who have decided to paint the whole painting with a knife, because their work with mixing color and painting with a brush is terrible -- I've heard that, "I'm a knifepainter" -- sorry that doesn't make you special). I will be cutting off about half the street and keeping all of the sky. I did not draw this in with a pencil first -- I just used thinned paint and did all the measuring with the brush, made things square by checking with a T-square. I did not slavishly copy everything -- I don't like photorealism. The last thing about the painting is the influence. I have always wanted to do a painting like this, but while I was working on it, I thought -- this reminds me of an Edward Hopper painting. I had to look up Hopper's paintings to find "Early Sunday Morning" which has a group of storefronts. I saw the Hopper show at the Art Institute of Chicago some years ago --- so what happened? Did the image of Hopper's painting put this in my head or did my painting make me recall Hopper's painting? Since I've never done a painting like this I can't say Hopper has ever been an influence, but I do like his work. I will post the finished version when it's done.

Field at Mineral Point

It looks a lot better in person. Sometimes you get a nice image from the camera, but I just don't think this is the best one. That said, the painting is done and since it is 36" X 48" it is impressive for size alone. It took about a month to complete: plenty of time to paint it, but also plenty of time to carry an image through one's thinking. By that I mean that a painter is thinking of the next step and (shall I call it meditating?) how it will be painted; does what I painted look alright to me now and next morning. Sometimes there are more hours thinking after the day's work is done -- thinking while watching tv or eating dinner. I remember when I was working on other jobs not art related and thinking/wishing that I was painting. So all of you painters working at non-art related work, you can still carry out your art in your thought life.

Old Sawmill

This is the old sawmill which is no longer in use at the John C. Campbell Folk School at Brasstown, North Carolina. It was the tin roof all rusted and colorful that attracted me to painting this. I took away a utility pole and converted it into a tree and added a tree where there wasn't one. If you look at the second picture you can see that I painted this on a picec of canvas taped to a piece of cardboard rather than put on stretcher bars. I thought I would try something new (to me), something I have seen other artists do. I found it to have a nice feel and it allowed me to just do the painting without worrying about fitting it onto a certain size stretched canvas. When it's dry I will take it off and stretch it to 10" X 16" stretchers and have to have a custom made frame. After working on a 36" X 48" canvas over the last month it was a relief to finish one in about two days.

Mineral Point painting

This is another stage in the painting I've been working on for the last several weeks. I've gone down the right hand side and center putting in the weeds, reeds, rocks and snow. Right now I am in the midst of working on the left hand side (will post that soon) and making adjustments as needed. You just can't "complete" one piece of the painting without making changes to what you thought was finished elsewhere. My plan is to enter this in the Farms and Barns show this fall. If the painting does not sell there I will offer it on the Xanadu Gallery website -- I am one of their "Studio" artists. I have about ten of my paintings for sale on their website at any one time.