2002 Reviewed

2002 was a year of change. My grounds became more intense, the colors became more transparent and I had a lot of fun making these.

Untitled Triptych

25.5" X 72"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas

The Triptych was the painting I was in the process of making during the change of year. Each pouring was done at my friends basement since it was winter and they had the only way I could make these without reverting back to painting on the bed. Not something I wanted to keep doing after the few close calls where paint almost got all over my bed and floor.

Each time you make a multipanel painting, you must make sure your quality control is on high alert. Your wood needs to be super straight and you need to make sure your connections between paintings are good and sturdy. I had to make a connecting cleat to bring all three panels together, it worked but not as well as I would have liked. I am sure in the future it will have a more mechanical connection which will also allow for the paintings to be disconnected and moved.

Understanding

48" X 36"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

I was really happy with the way this painting came out. The white was where the real challenge was, working with white and trying to get it transparent is a learning moment, 

06-02-2002

25.5" X 24.13"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

The blue really brought the whole painting together.

06-08-2002

36" X 72"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas

I bought enough stretchers to make two 3X6 foot paintings, or one nice 6ft square diptych. I later figured it would be best if they were two separate paintings. They were originally meant to be paintings that looked as if they were made around the same time, it didn't turn out that way.

06-16-2002

36" X 72"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

The colors and manner of painting on this is much more wild than the previous painting. But it only really gets you in person.

Untitled (Blue)

60" X 50"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

Still one of my favorites from 2002. I remember painting the ground in my 10X8Foot bedroom at my Fathers. I had to pin a sheet of canvas to the wall behind the canvas so it would catch all the dripping paint and hopefully not let much get on the floor or wall. It did anyway, just not as bad as if the sheet hadn't been there. The blue was poured on the weekend when my Father and his wife were on their summer vacations. 

07-30-2002

25.5" X 24.13"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas

Private Collection

The Private Collection moniker for this painting is a bit odd, I have no idea where this painting is today, as it was originally accepted by Klaus Kertess. I had been in a small dialog with him about my works which he was pushing me to make more and move to NYC since as he said "I can't do anything for you in Ohio". I had a wild idea one night and sent him this painting, he emailed me a few weeks later to tell me he had received the painting, almost sent it back to me without looking, but couldn't after he pulled it from it's box. This was a painting (that from 2002 until the day I sent it to him), that was hanging on front of my closet door. I always liked putting small works on the door since it was the closest place I could hang a painting where it would easily be seen in reference to my television. Therefore showing me what I was working toward as I was also not doing what I should have been.

08-31-2002 (River of

Dying Dreams)

60" X 44"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

By far one of my heaviest paintings. I must have put three or four quarts of wood filler on the canvas of this painting, and that's before all the paint. My Father used to tell me I should try to make the wood filler in the shape of a person so I could make my own wild portraits, I don't do portraits. SO he would then tell me to just cake the filler onto the canvas as much as possible. That idea wasn't one I wanted in my work so I never did any of his paintings. But I did use a hell of a lot of texture within this and it really has a hell of a presence for a painting. You just gotta see it in person.

Disruption

50" X 38"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

Private Collection

This painting was made as a commission for a new collector.

Thanks for viewing. Please click on the images to see larger views of them. If you have any interest in one of these for yourself, please get in touch here and we can discuss it.

Testers in white

Since 2017 I began making what I refer to as TESTERS. SInce I made the first group I have been excited to make more, as some of you know, I've never been one for smaller artworks. I used to never think I would be able to make small paintings. Especially when I was making my poured paintings, I simply couldn't envision works like these. But now since I have created such a tremendous body of work in these smaller paintings, I am more than ever wanting to make more and more. One thing that has really come forth is how to experiment and develop my future paintings. I like many others get a lot of my ideas from artists of the past, but with these I have been able to bring some of those ideas into my own work. I won't tell you whom inspired this or that. Let's have fun and you tell me in person. 

The first one of these I made was originally going to be 9 X 6 Inches, but I had a brain fart while cutting the first boards for the chassis and made the chassis 9.5 Inches instead. Lots of us call them "Happy Accidents"(Thanks Bob!). I do too since I later realized I liked the odd measurement and how it related to the shape and kept it.

Each is 9.5 X 6 Inches and 1.5" thick. These are named after their number of making...17-18-19. I name each Tester by how many I've made. Looking forward to seeing what #100 looks like. Might get there by 2022. 

Zoom in and check out even more details by clicking on the image. Right click and you can see them even larger.

Thanks for viewing. 

Jeffrey Collins

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

2001 Reviewed

2001 was a big year for me in my development of my painting. I mostly made larger work in this year. Pretty much didn't stray from the 48 X 36 IN painting size, which is my personal favorite. It's small enough to move around, but large enough to take up a good sized wall to itself along with giving much visual candy for the viewer. I always like to talk about my work the way I see it. I use words like Visual Candy and Eye Candy to give you a peek into how much I enjoy making my own paintings.

Zoom in and enjoy. These are not super high definition photos like I shoot for these days. I haven't been able to photo them again but in time they will.

 

Untitled (Yellow and Green

On White)

60" X 40"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

This painting was made around the end of the year. I remember the first pouring of green I was able to pick up a forced air heater for the garage, I also brought out my vaporizer to help add more steam to the cold room. The temp got good enough to allow the green to dry. Once the green was down, I knew it was going to need another color, I made the yellow and poured it, but that time I only used the vaporizer to warm up the room, it did a good enough job and I think it even helped the yellow to have a wonderful transparent look to it. You can see some of the knifework for the texture is not as heavy or compressed as other paintings. It ended up really allowing the yellow to veil out on the green under color. 

Untitled (Yellow on Violet)

60" X 40"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas

Private Collection 

First painting I sold. Funny thing is I made it and the collectors who got it are from my new town I presently live in, Reynoldsburg, Ohio. The colors of the local high school teams are Yellow and Purple. Kinda funny that they chose this painting. They in time bought another too. I was definitely going for a different type of making in my texture with this painting. It's much more shaped like a person scratching at a prison wall.

Untitled (For Pollock)

48" X 36"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas 

Here's a red painting I made. I was in the process of making intricately glazed backgrounds with this painting and a few that became in the future.

Untitled

48" X 36"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

Private Collection 

I wasn't going for a super thick surface with this one as you can tell in the reproduction. This is one of the few mixed pour colored paintings I made around this time. I only made a couple more after I had some bad choices in colors since the colors mix so much on the surface after the manipulation. Who knows what paintings like this have in store for future work. This painting was included in my first solo at Studio ASH Gallery in Columbus Ohio. It was more of a place for the owners graphic design business, but he and his wife wanted to show work they thought was great. I was honored they chose me for a show with them. We eventually worked out a trade for webwork and server updates they got this painting. I'm glad they have it in their home.

Untitled

66" X 48"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas 

I remember painting this in spring I believe, my Father was around for the original pouring of blue over the yellow. This was one that was primed white and the sealed over the texture in white. This was another when it was finished I knew right away that it was complete. Just the right balance of things occurring within.

Untitled

48" X 36"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

This painting was thought of once as a silver painting. Once the silver was down, it was too opaque so I began to look into what color would go right with the two on it already. I would love to make this again and one day will do so. You can see the movement of the texture is much more free and sweeping compared to older paintings which were much less free in gesture.

Untitled

50" X 38"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

on Canvas  

This painting is an exercise in size. I was wondering what I could do with a slightly bigger format to my favorite. I later learned it wouldn't travel as well as the 4ft, since 4ft is the biggest you can fit in the floorboards of the back seat of many sedans. I really wanted to try some clashing colors to see how I could make them work. I was also becoming much more in tune with the texture I was using which is called Wood Filler. It's basically made for filling in small holes in wood projects. At this time I didn't know there was Light Molding paste made by a few companies that would eventually become my material. During the 2000 year, I learned to make the material last longer and do more for me, as you can see here the movement of the texture is much more prominent here, much bigger strokes and movement. Once the texture was dried for 24 hours, I would seal it with acrylic medium, and then begin my pouring and manipulations.

November Painting

48" X 36"

Acrylic and Wood Filler

On Canvas

When I put this painting in it's only exhibition it's been in, a fan was talking with me about it and we were discussing music that one listens to while working. He asked and I told him I was listening to Metallica. Most likely my favorite album of theirs which funny enough is all cover songs. If you don't know, go look it up.

I used to really enjoy painting to music. The last time I was able to do that was when I was living in Tamaqua. I usually just paint with the tv on some kind of art show or documentary. For the longest time that video was PAINTERS PAINTING. Now it's moved onto many others which I have on all my favorite painters.

Thanks for viewing. More to come. @jeffreymcollins

January Memories 2

The thing is that particular painting was NOT my first choice. This one was...

The problem that happened was it was too big to send out. I had it boxed up and taped, address on it and everything. Then I tried putting it in our car to take it to the USPS. Not gonna work, car was too small. I can fit a 48" X 36" painting in the car, but it can only be that size. Since this was with a box, that wasn't going to happen. Thankfully my neighbor was around and he helped bring the painting to the Post Office. Funny thing is he works for the PO but couldn't tell me what the ladies at the store were going to say. It turned out it was too big to go through their standard shipping routes. So deflated as I was, I was about to get more deflated, since our neighbor had left when the box was at the store. We still had to figure a way to get it home. What I did was I sat in the back seat with the painting hanging out the back and me using all my pressure to keep the painting INSIDE the car on the trip back home. We live not that far away from the USPS store. Maybe 3/4 Mile maybe.

Once the painting was back home. I began looking for it's replacement. I found the painting I did send, we packed it up, much easier than before. And this time it did fit in the car. A few days later it was at SIDESHOW GALLERY, and I was officially an artist that was about to exhibit in New York City for the first time.

Jeffrey

01-03-2019

Journey from white painting to white painting. Funny how at the beginning of 2019 I was making this one and now a year later I am working on a larger white painting. That one is 72 X 52 IN which is a favorite size of mine. I have always found the 60IN wide to be just too much for that typical size. I found the 52" size has more in common with my favorite size chassis of 48 X 36IN. Which in turn makes the painting a bit more tall and just looks better to my eye.

This painting in particular has garnered many wonderful compliments. It was by far one of the most viewed in my recent Solo Exhibition in Dayton curated by Jeffrey Cortland Jones at his and Heather Jones' DIVISIBLE Gallery. It is a continuation of the large Blue painting that was in my first Solo Exhibition in NYC at 60 Greene St (REGINATO STUDIO). Using thicker ropes and later combining them with the acrylic yarn which brings new levels of texture into my work. You can see it in the details. Click on the image to see it larger. Or save as... to see the even larger version of the digital file.

01-03-2019
48 X 36 IN
Acrylic on Acrylic Yarn and Poly Rope on Painted Wood Chassis 
Available now at Saatchi Art

https://www.instagram.com/jeffreymcollins/

This is How the Wind Shifts

It's been almost a year since I have updated this website. Here's the new one!

I got a message in a late August evening from my Colleague and Friend Jeffrey Cortland Jones, cool thing is he was asking me if I wanted to be in a show to open the season at his Curatorial project he's been working on for years in Dayton Ohio called DIVISIBLE.

https://www.instagram.com/divisible.fs/
Here's the best way to find the gallery online.

Naturally I accepted and began wondering which works were going to be included. I knew I wanted the three new mid-large sized paintings I recently finished this year, along with some smaller works I found a great balance of paintings that I felt would make a strong showing to the public.

Friday I sat forth in the car with the two largest 48X36" before the back seat and the rest fit just perfect in the trunk. Everytime I set forth in a car with an exhibition full of artwork I am reminded of the stories I would hear from other painters before me, where they painted a certain scale simply out of necessity to how to move and store them. I never wanted to be one of those painters. I used to really like it the best when I could use my Fathers truck, since you could easily fit a 6foot by 5 foot painting in the bed, actually you could fit more like 5 of that size if they aren't super textural. Been wanting to get a truck again for a long time.

Once the paintings were moved into the gallery, Jeffrey sat about hanging the show and did so within ten minutes, the guy knows how to hang an exhibition and he doesn't mess around with unneeded things. We changed one painting wall for another since the Green and Blue (07-04-2019) painting was originally on the wall of the red paintings.

The evening was tremendous. Loads of people to talk with all evening. Lots of great questions and happy faces. Was very nice to meet you and laugh with you.

Thanks to Jeffrey Cortland Jones and Heather Jones for the opportunity.

CONNECT

 

Photo by: Jeffrey Cortland Jones