new direction......

I am working with small pieces of paper, trying to find some new ideas here...........I think later today I will go with a larger sheet and see what I come up with.  I think the image with the border has potential as something to explore......as you can see the left side kind of bled out from the general rectangular form which I can explore as a motif as well.

Two faces

Two faces this morning...........

When things get very small

When things get very small

I held a child in the palm of my hand
Turning over and over......seeking shelter beneath the ochre leaf

Sand runs between the risk and the danger
Tangible refuge to the desires of others

He sits with a mirror at his chest
Turned inward as if in contemplation

Sliding down a smooth surface
Many years later

Holding a trophy aloft
Different paths unfold

Cells divide
Maintain integrety

Seeking shelter
In the arms of another......

Alternate histories.........

So I did not approach
Now have regrets
Too many excuses
Again and again.

Home alone wondering why I hesitated
Consideration of those who cannot be identified

Instead diverted energy
into solace and envy
replacing experience
With a fortune of remorse

And so I seek redemption
Alternate histories.

Balance point.

 These are the new prints from this mornings run... I am thinking about making a video showing the process........shooting underneath the plexiglass to show a bit of the decision making.  The top one is many layers.......could not seem to get it right.  These are on a warm japanese paper about 16x20 inches

This is the first color layer of the painting I am using on facebook as the site picture.  It was a long grind.......lots of thinking that I should be doing something else.....like making money, like this is a total waste of time........that the whole process of painting is just a self indulgent ego trip......all that stuff and still trying to figure out which color and where.
I did want the top area to move back, and contrast that space with the bottom right figure which I rendered in cool colors.......at least part of it.  I am looking to use color to create some tension in the work in terms of where the balance point is.

Balance.

Struggled a bit this morning.........a lot of ideas that start out get removed as they look like something I had done before..........also I think there is a balance between living and creating.......when that gets out of whack.........it is easy to get down and stuck in a rut.

The bottom print was made on a Japanese paper which has a slightly warm tint.......very strong and holds the ink really well..........

Dawn at the rain forest inn.........

Two prints for April 24th, 2013......

 These 2 images show the underpainting and the first layer of color applied as transparent glazes. 

The layering process is a bit slow, I have to wait for this layer to set up before going in with another layer of glaze.  I did enhance dark areas, which tend to flatten out with the glaze.

This is usually where I decide what is coming forward and what will be set back......and then figure out which method to achieve that......

todays print

suffering from dimentia
he holds the door open, letting in some light
into the folds of her dress
lying in a pile on the walnut veneer flooring

he put down when he was lucid

crows remind us that somehow everything ends in dust
compounded by relentless self doubt
feverishly complicating an already darwinian situation
she is looking at him in wonder

who is this man at the door

inside the casing are questions and answers
fit within a decaying artifact to organic development
yearning for an artificial embellishment
to hold fast the past memories

close the door it is getting cold..........

On the seas of time.

Primordial Serpent

Riding high on the back of an interstellar device
Nascent star guiding through the time differential
Aspiring to the introduction within the cosmic sea
Signpost to the direction towards home

Ripost to an attack within the ranks
Shatters illusions of unity and equinamity
Protests as the ship turns suddenly
Anticipating the storm ahead

We grow restless, awaiting a return to nature
Seeking land for shelter to wait out the deluge
Far cries in the distance
Not alone in this terror

The seas of our home
Seas of a distant solar system
Reaching out to find our destinies
On the primordial seas.

Minimal space

Todays prints........the first one I thought of just leaving this minimal composition, I have been trying to break from the routine prints.......simplified sense of space.
The second print is 2 layers......I used a warm transparent layer of the initial idea to unify things a bit.

On the barrier

On the barrier

sitting on the edge of the island
holding to the last remnants of land
the creature remembers its birth
and its death

back to sea it wants more
to go back and revisit its home
touch the golden leaf
embrace a melancholy dawn

gates fill with water
preventing a return
ominous shapes in translucent shadows
in the shallows of the sea

This is a print from yesterday that I did not post........a new paper a bit larger, and a lot less expensive so I will work with this stuff for a while.

This is the painting I have on the easel right now........I will do the first layer of color and post it in a couple of days.  I have been pulling all the works that are half done and trying to get through them before starting anything new.

End of the week.......

Todays print first........a study in contrasts. 
Below is a painting I had been working on this week.  I finished the first layer of color glazing.  I think it is almost done, one or two areas will be brought up after this layer drys.....

Not much else going on.  I have been busy with the photo business, keeping up with the editing and fixing of photos, which takes up a lot of time.  No work next weekend, I will try to sell some prints on the street if the weather is ok......

Twisting in the wind.

Today's print........I went with a single figure in a twisting motion......I stuck with a very narrow palate, not sure if I should have added more contrast........

I finished the black and white layer of this piece last night.  it is a pretty large painting, around 4 foot square....

 

pastels

I went with a soft palate today...........finally back to the studio after a couple of days editing photos for work........

Classic Identities

Dark Shadows

Emily rates her friends by how much compassion
She holds all the cards in a thimble facing west

Mesmerized by the moment, she reaches for the sun
Holds it in her hand for a moment.

Rich soil yields yesterdays promise
For which all men will be in her debt

So rises the infatuation with myth and diversity
Sheltered by the failure to identify with any recourse
Mated to structures imperiled by destiny
Contorted to conform with classic identities.

Competetion

Thinking about why it is so important to support the arts.  Art is our hopes, dreams, and inspiration.  Without hope, love, idealism, we are just surviving and reverting to our survival apparatus.

A long weekend of work, my body racked all night by terrible cramps in my legs......literally weeping in pain, and for what?  Not sure really but I am fairly certain my body is trying to tell me something.

So how can we conceive of an alternate way to live.  This is about social constructs and contracts for how to live together I think.  And the role of the value of the individual within the context of a complex and very competitive world........

Drawing in.......

A bit of a new direction with the monoprints.......this one started with a loose drawing on the yellow ochre ground and I worked from there.  I think this process works well as a way to make a loose composition before adding color.

A rainy Friday....

Two new ones this morning.  Yesterday had the closing party for the show in the city, the work comes down next week. 
I did not get accepted to a show in NY that was about painting screens which people use to protect their stores at night.  There were to be 14 artists participating and there was an open call.  Turns out 13 were already allocated and they were just choosing one from the masses.......no sour grapes, just putting this out there.

Finger paints

I have a bit of a problem with my computer.........these are images from yesterday. I used smaller paper 11x15 and messed around with finger painting a bit.....

I painted this on Tuesday night at a live art painting event.  It is an improvisation based on the music being performed at the time.

7 veils

Dance of the 7 veils................

Two for Monday.

Two for Monday.........this Thursday April 11 is the closing party for the show in the city........please stop by to say hello if you like.

 Started this a couple of days ago.........These pieces are tipping in fairly quickly, the next canvas is on the easel ready to go......

These 2 were done yesterday at a "live" art event on Long Island.  I am working with acrylics here, and am considering going over them with glazes of oils to give the image more richness and bring up the contrast a bit.

Live painting today.

 This is the first and last state of today's print.  This afternoon I am participating at a live art event in Westbury at
www.fashionartandmusic.com........1pm at Mirelles, 170 Post Ave, Westbury, NY. 
I will bring the print materials.....depends on the space allocation.

This is a new painting I started yesterday.  I guess I will go along with this method of creating the composition and brush stroke for now.  They feel looser than the ones I created with the drawing completed first.

Bhagdad

I had bought 3 sheets of the larger paper.......30x40......I think this is the most successful one of the 3. 

The show in the city is winding down......there will be a closing reception on April 11th from 7 to 9 if anyone would like to stop by.  Tomorrow April 7th I will be painting live at Mirelles restaurant in Westbury from 1pm .......the event.....www.fashionartandmusic.com.

Markers

Markers

As everything dissolves
Hidden passages reroute the thoughts of the young
Daggers pierce peace to get a reaction
From those less fortunate than you and I

Spatial relationships like a couple out for the evening
Only to discover their incompatability
After so many years of trying
They part with mutual longing.

Certainty walks along the boulevard
Seeing reawakening who has gone off to a foreign land
Certainly aware of the hole left
In the aspirations of her small circle of friends

Along the path there are a series of markers
Where we have been, where we are going
Made of rough hune stone
Fading into time and disrepair

I place a new image
Beside the ones whose questions were answered
Whose answers are forgotten
Lost never held, impressions held tightly.