Usually it is only years later when I look at my work and try to comprehend what happens in the works....my process is to create primarily through composition form and color.  This morning this work led me to a work by Goya ane Wikipedia with the quote " the conflict between youth and old age, time as the devourer of all things" .  Not sure about this, I see this as the head of the figure at left being a mask, removed by the figures on the right....revealing the spirituality of the blue clad figure.

This one I see as a room of children's toys.  I think this would make a nice sculpture....literally a box of soft sculptures the viewer can play with and create their own stories.

Dec30, 2012

 Dec 20,2012

I pulled these 3 prints this morning...........

 This is a piece of linoleum which I have done the drawing on for the most part.  I will start cutting this piece this week.......I am planning to do this as a reduction lino cut print......as I do the stages I will post the progress.

This project has been something I have been thinking
about for a while now.  The painting is created on aluminum to start.  The idea is to make the painting vibrate as the viewer approaches the piece on the wall.

My friend Josh Weitman, a fine woodworker, helped me design the case, which holds the painting in place with springs on either side of the piece.

This is the back of this contraption.  I have mounted vibrating motors to the back of the aluminum and am running it off of AA batteries. 

OK, so far the thing is not vibrating like I had envisioned. I will contact the engineer on the project, Mr Evert Smith, to reconsider how the image is held in place to see if there is a way to do this......or perhaps start over. 

Any ideas from viewers would of course be appreciated!

Dec 29' 2012

 Today I pulled two very different prints, these shown here......

 Last night I had a great and enlightening conversation with a young artist from Uruguay named Andrea De Souza Rocha. It was fascinating to learn of her influences, Russian Constructivism as well as number theory and how it translates to her work. 

 Fibonacci sequences can be seen all over the work and act as a metaphor for compositional relationships.  Her references to this were pretty cool in that the artist Thea Lanzisero was also influenced by these progressions.

 The influence of Russian Constructivism was really interesting to me, in the US it seems we are more into Pop or Dada influences in most well known art.  Also she has the idea of using what seems to be a mostly male conceptual framework and use it to express her own personal story.

 You can see her work on facebook......she will be doing a multi city exhibition in Europe this spring.

Vector drawing on the computer..

These are computer drawings which I have redrawn from one program into vector images.  This is the second stage in the process.........next is to do the shading in Photoshop.

This is what the image looks like on the computer as I am working on it.  The outline is done in painter, the objects are done in illustrator.

This image is the linework done in illustrator without the color fill.  Each object has to be drawn, and placed in front or behind the previous object to appear in the final image.

OK.......it is 4pm and I have reworked the monoprint from this morning..........the bottom image is the result.  I think this is an interesting transformation, it is the first time I reworked a monoprint using the rollers and thick application of the mono print inks. 

For sure this surface is great for reworking, this is the synthetic paper and it acts like a plastic surface, smooth and allows the rollers to do their thing.  It has a nice painterly quality which I will explore further.......

Mixed results

Worked with the synthetic paper today.......these prints are 36"x48".  I think the one on top is OK......I am concerned that there is not enough contrast..........

The second one is a bit of a disaster.  Thought I would include it, as an example of something that got away from me.  I was really unhappy with the original print, and chose to paint over the printed image.  This entailed mashing up a bit of what was there, then adding color over the print.  I started with black, then yellow, then red.  Still not happy I started blending everything in......which made a kind of muddy color.  I still might go into it and try to bring the forms out.........there is something there I think............

Dec 26.....

 Today I went with a format of having an arc or part of a circle in the images.  They are 15"x!5" printed on the synthetic paper, which keeps the ink on the surface and creates that capillary action seen on earlier works.

 I am finding that a simple theme to start with gives the session more focus as the other works were
repeating themselves a bit. 

I think this was the most successful in that it portrays a sense of freedom, breaking free.

I see this one as a figure.......the blue area is the face in profile looking to the right.  The yellow sweeping form looks like an arm to me.  The figure is reaching out to something off the picture plane....it is a gesture of compassion I feel.

Happy Holidays

Printed these this morning, started a painting and worked a bit on a digital drawing.  I have 3 or more styles going at the same time these days......

Thought I would ask you, dear viewer, to post on comments what you might see or not see in the imagery I am posting........perhaps as if you were titling or captioning the images.....what do you think?

painting process.

 Thought I would show the studio this morning and talk a bit about the painting process.  Currently on this painting I am creating the first stages of the "underpainting".  I am working with 3 tones, 3 colors at this point.  Yellow oxide, blue oxide and white.  I am using venetian medium to thin the colors.

 The first step is to create the forms....I will do this with either oil pencil or a thin wash of paint.  Then I use the yellow oxide to lay in the forms....using a rag to wipe out the highlights. The next step is the darks to establish light direction and volume. 

Finally at this stage I will recreate the highlights using white without the medium.  As you can see from this image the areas to the right have not been touched at all.  I try to do all these stages complete before moving onto the next stage to keep things more organized. 

Once I get this done the next stage is to lay in thin glazes of color meant to unify the central areas as well as create a sense of space.

Today I started with the idea of rendering a human spinal column.........something I was thinking about last evening...... I was considering a series, where the form would bisect the page and repeat this form over several images........

The second image came out of the ghost image from the first......this is usually how the process goes.

Second post for today.............December 21, 2012

I am attempting to port the imagery from the prints to paintings........I tried the roller and wound up using a palate knife instead...........these are the first tries...........

Today I chose to work a bit smaller than usual......these pieces are 15"x11" (1/4 of a sheet of paper).
I have been thinking of the utility of 2 dimensional works.  If someone has a work in their home, how is it presented/preserved?  The work functions as an element in space, it must work within the context of the living environment.
Does it function as an altar, something reverential?  Or is the work integrated into the daily living experience? 

STOP. Consider your body in space. Right now consciousness is within you and everything around you is not you. Invert this in your mind.......your consciousness is everything but what is your body..........
OK, you don't have to do this.......just thought it was kind of a cool idea to consider..........

Sincere misconception

Retaliation for unseen attacks
Wretched dwellings piled with misery

Dressed in finest attire
She enters expecting to be adored

Shame results in hollow indignation
Stagnant markets lead to worry and dread

Amphetamines capitulate to hollow advances
Blond tresses disguise disgust and remorse

Out here in the fields
Where nothing is real

We better get moving
Not getting any younger............

Dec 19, 2012

 Still trying to find a minimal equivalent to this process.........

 This print shows both the original pull from the plate at left and a "ghost" image.  The ghost is created by making a print from ink left on the plate after the print was made.  This is the central area of the plate, inverted.

 I think this one reminds me of sunspots......the thousands of years it takes for photons to emerge from the sun to reach us in minutes.........staggering to consider........

This one reminds me of Donny Darko, a great movie by the way..........

These are 3 new ones from today, December 17th, 2012.  I again printed on the synthetic paper but am having second thoughts about it.  The ink sits nicely on the surface, but I get this capillary action which is fine sometimes but hard to mitigate.

Today I started using a synthetic paper called Yupo, which a friend of mine recommended the other day.  It has interesting properties......it is almost like plastic on the surface and the ink does not seem to absorb much.  The result is the colors are more vibrant and a bit less chalky.  On the down side the paper has a tendency to move as you lay it down, which gives a cool texture on the surface which is
hard to see in the photos I think.