1999 Reviewed

1999 was the year I made the change. I decided wholeheartedly that I would truly become the painter I knew I could be if I just tried. I made a few paintings in 1998 and back into the early 90's, but that was before I knew I had to find myself if I was going to become the painter I knew I could be. I knew if I wanted to succeed that I had to find my own style. I didn't want to be another this or that. I just wanted to be me. It was at this time I asked my Father if he could make me a stretcher for a large painting to be 5.5 X 4 Feet. I figured working on a large surface was the quickest way to find out what you like and what you don't. It's much easier to deal with in the larger work as there is more space for your eye to dance around and see how things fit.

 

Red on White

66" X 48"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas 

First Painting of the year. It was painted during the summer of 1999. Dad had made me this great chassis from wood we had bought at the Depot and he had chopped up and shaped at his job where they had a wood shop. I remember the day he came home with it. He told me to go get it out of the back of his truck. I remember pulling it from the bed and just admiring the size of it, along with that came the questions...what the hell am I gonna do with something this big? Well. I eventually figured that out. But there's about 4-5 other paintings underneath this one. I was very stingy with the texture as it was a new material to me, as was acrylic paint. I had never worked a painting like this before. I actually think this is the second painting of that year, since the first ones are now tossed and one is a survivor, but I don't have a very good photo of it. I didn't know a lot about painting by this time so I was improvising as well as I could. The red is all pigment mixed into water and then dumped on the canvas and then quickly moved around. Which is why the drips stop on the surface. Once I learnt about using mediums to extend the color I never stopped. There are only the two that are like this. It's actually quite difficult to see the texture within this painting.

 

Sept 1999

47.75" X 26.5"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

Second painting after the upper. I recall with this one I learnt about molding paste, but alas I had no teacher to tell me how to use it. It wasn't very highly textural molding paste at the time. It was made from utrecht and really was just the consistency of thick paint. So that became an extra textural medium on this painting as the wood filler was. The red is the same as the painting above and it applied much in the same way.

Blue on Gray
30" X 30"
Acrylic and Wood Filler
On Canvas 

Sixth Painting of that year, you can see the development in my work clearly. By this time I had discovered the wonders of acrylic medium as the thing to make my paints last longer. Mind you I did not have anyone teaching me about paints. I believe I learnt about the mediums from going to my local Blick and talking with a lady painter that worked there. This painting like a lot of my smaller work was finished on my bed, covered with newspapers. I think I even began taping the papers together so they wouldn't drip onto my bed covers. I think that might account for the slight changing of the current of the drying paint as you can see toward the middle lower section of the painting. At this time I was using also quite a bit of latex housepaint on my artworks. It gave the work a very flat look which at the time I thought I liked but these days I don't. In time I came to use acrylic paints solely from utrecht and no more house paint.

 

Gray on White

25 3/8" X 23 3/4"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

Third Painting. I was in a mood and wanted a gray painting. You can see the texture on this painting is quite a difference between this and the first painting you see on this entry. I was really trying to give a more homogeneous surface to paint upon. I still remember this painting was made on a weekday, I made quite a few on days when the parental figures were still in the house. Wasn't long after this that I pretty much only painted when they were gone, or i'd just paint on small works in my bedroom. It was one of my first paintings when I was finished pouring and manipulating the color, I was truly satisfied with what I had composed. I remember as with many many other paintings, that when they were finished, my first job was to go clean myself up, after that I would go back to the garage every 45 or 30 minutes to see how much the painting had dried. I had to make sure the painting was at least movable to a new place so Dad could get his truck back in the garage at night.

Green on Gray
36" X 30"
Acrylic and Wood Filler
On Canvas

Fourth Painting "perhaps" of 1999. This one is quite different as I didn't really know what I was going for but I just wanted to experiment. This is the painting when I finally learnt about mixing paint with mediums to extend the color. The green poured on this is a very glossy green because of that. I remember buying an 8oz container of gloss medium to check out and being wowed when I saw that the green still had the same brilliance as it did out of the tube. This painting was one that was finished in my bedroom. I can't remember what I did with it after it was dried. Maybe I hung it on my wall. I don't remember. Around this time I also began using our old water softener room for my painting closet. I had so many in there at one time my step-mom who was never that thrilled about my work told me to find a new place for it. It wasn't very long after that Dad told me he had fixed a place for me to put my work in the shed in the back yard. It became a nice place to keep the works until after Dad had passed and my Stepmom asked me to get my work. I still remember that day so vividly as it was the day I got poison ivy all over my hands and it took over a year, maybe two before it was fully gone. It was some real stingy stuff. I remember sleeping with gloves to keep myself from scratching. This painting is also quite different as I had decided to use pre made stretchers but didn't have much money or know why I should use thicker stretcher bars, so they are the thin bars that are usually for schools.

 

Yellow on Blue

22" X 20"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

Fifth Painting that also has my trademark knife marks at the bottom which signify my signature at the time. I later got rid of it as it became too noticeable, and I didn't want any one thing to stand out above the rest of the artwork. This was also painted with the same gray that was used on the blue and gray from above. I had a whole quart of the stuff so I was damn sure I was going to use it. You can see the yellow didn't get mixed as well as I had hoped and therefore it has a slightly splotchy look to the poured yellow. But I still dig the way it came forth. This was such a small painting that I had a lot of fun making it. It was easy to pour, but by this time I had learnt to make even more poured color and it ran out all over the paper on the bed. I remember grabbing some paper towels and soaking it up. Thankfully it dried before bed that night but I can't remember what I did with it after. I may have hung it in my bedroom. I didn't have much room in there being that it was 10 X 8 feet. It may have ended up on my closet door. I tended to like hanging work there because it was by the television so when watching, I could easily enjoy my paintings too.

Thanks for reading! More to come...

@jeffreymcollins