Week 12

So I'm not sure why I insist on reinventing the wheel every week. I feel these are 2 subjects that were successful and I wanted to explore them a bit more. The 3 above are in various stages and deal with flocking birds.  I think it's fascinating that we are not sure how or why these birds are doing this. The two shots below are in progress and they are pond reflections. They go in the series, and I am hoping to come to the June residence with at least 12 of these done that form a loose mural.

Week 11

I realized this week that I found a few things that I think we're working for me and for some reason I feel the need to go rediscover the wheel every week. Not sure why. I really concentrated on going deeper on a few of these subjects.  This is the first of 3 that will explore the flocking bird idea from earlier in the semester. I'm excited to do them and not sure why I didn't do this sooner.

These 3 are obviously smaller and go with that UFO series. They are close to 8 inches by 6 or so. I think these are working well and I will have to see where these go.

Another pond one. It's frozen and the white are air bubbles, but they start to feel a bit like galaxies which I like even better! 

This week also had me visiting the Burnett Gallery in Minneapolis. Chris Larson has exhibited in Germany and New york with his shot gun art. Also stopped over to Gallery 13 to look at regional work of Jim Burpee.

Weeks 9 & 10

Weeks 9 & 10 had me finishing up these two large paintings. Worked closely with my mentor on these ones. Trying to make sure they followed the formula he set out for me: grace, minimal, unusual, and timing. Those 4 things need to be working together for me to pull off this style. The small white birds in the top one don't necessarily read as birds, but they could be stars, or ashes and I like that as well. Likewise, there is a large piece of flowing plastic sheet on the bottom one, that may read a bit as water.

This is a new one. The colors are much too bright. Need to tone down and also add the foreground figure. Not sure who or what that is today.

These last 2 pond images are almost done. They are sort of a dark traditional kind of piece. I think the reality/perspective in these ones will set up the shots of jet contrails and ice in the other ones.

Week 8

2 New smaller ones from my "pond" series. The first one will be the only one with a real horizon line. A bit of abstraction. A bit of realism. I also like the photo-like quality of the shots. These are fun.

This is another one that starts with a piece of photo. It is an assignment from my mentor. The small photo at the center is my grandfather in his Naval Uniform before shipping off to the pacific in WWII. 

I'm fairly happy with this one. It is doing a lot while doing a little. It's a different perspective, looking up. I am also finishing up my report on Peter Doig, April Gornik, and Verne Dawson. I talk in my paper about "the other" and how these artists move between worlds. I'm using a bit of narrative to make the viewer ask questions. The large unearthly plant at the center is called "Adam's Needle," and while it is a real plant, it can seem quite surreal to a first time viewer. I also think I endowed it and personified it a bit.

The storm one I'm working on is inspired by April Gornik. Trying to bring a lot of emotion to some storm clouds. Hers is an inner landscape of emotion.

Week 7

This week found me visiting Oklahoma University. Went through the museum there on campus. Interesting collection with a lot more older European works than I would have imagined. This first one (above) is another one in my pond series. I'm not as excited to keep working on these for whatever reason, but to quote Tony Apesos, "If it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing!"

This is revisiting one of my mentor's projects. I had to redo most of this one and I will need to start another one soon. 

Trying to do a dramatic one with the vertical format. 

I am very excited about these last two. Playing with the space a lot. Deep space in the beach one on the bottom, abrupt cut-off space in the first. Alien objects will be coming soon. These successfully capture my mentor's idea of all my works: Graceful, Sparse, unusual, timing. We agreed these were the 4 items I needed to incorporate to pull off a successful painting. Also working on my second paper, a study of the works of Doig, Gornik, and Dawson.

Week 6

Finished this small UFO one. Had a great meeting with my mentor this week. He responded to this one very well. I think I will do a few more in the series. They're small and fun.

Finished up this one. It's small, but the Weinermobile is parked in the lower right. Sort of a group 2 assignment. Speaking of my group, Jeffrey and I went to Open studio night at the Northrup King Building. I will also be in Dallas some time next week, so I will be sure to check out the local art offering there.

This one is done. 

Mentor and I both really liked how this assignment turned out. 

We also both agreed that this one didn't work as well. I'm going to go back in and try and "fix" it.  Stay tuned.

Week 5

This one is a bit back to my "regular" style, but I'm doing a few things. My mentors comments were that the horizontal pieces were stronger than the vertical ones. He wanted me to play with canvas sizes a bit. He also said the "weird detail" that shows up in my work happens at 25 ft. This one will work with both of those ideas.

This is the second project from my mentor. Started the first one last week. There are pieces of photograph in the center and the upper right of this one. Playing with starting the painting around those two photos.

This is # 6 in my "pond" series. These are slow, but there's a lot of wet on wet. They are a bit more abstract/real. And almost no horizon lines. They will make more sense when they are all together on the wall at AIB. 

Seagull is coming along. Just letting this one happen. I'm not thinking about anything anyone has said or recommended. It's an elegy for my grandpa so it just needs to happen. Might not bring to AIB in June.

Back to these small UFO paintings. Wasn't sure what to do with them. Really liked the Elizabeth Peyton show at the Walker. She has re-inspired this series. I want them small, slick, populist subject, shiny. Sort of a guilty pleasure.