Quote of the day, Oct 29, 2009

Today's quote I just found from Agnes Martins writings book. This woman has such amazing insights into the world of painting.

BTW, If you ever get the chance, check out the documentary on Agnes. It's fantastic.



"When we go to Museums we do not just look, we make a definite response to the work. As we look at it we are happier or more sad, at peace or more depressed. A work may stimulate yearning, helplessness, belligerence, or remorse.

The cause of the response is not traceable in the work. An artist cannot and does not prepare for a certain response. He does not consider the response but simply follows his inspiration.

Works of art are not to be purposely conceived. The response depends upon the condition of the observer."



Enjoy.

Oil Sticks and flattened out wood pulp...

Lately on top of my working on my paintings. I have been focusing again on my oil stick on paper drawings. If you could call them drawings. As they are definitely not recognizable forms. Though the first oil stick drawings I have done were using your basic shapes, squares, rectangles, etc. This has become one particular thing I have liked what it was and wanted to develop it more.

Color is the primary focus of these works, and the ways I approach the materials is a physical mannerism, which helps make the drawing turn out the way it does.



The works here were done on 80LB unsealed paper, within the most recent of drawings, of which I have yet to take pics of. I have begun working on 180LB Primed cold pressed watercolor paper.

For archives sake.









All oil sticks were Windsor and Newton Oil Bars. Very wonderfully workable oil sticks with gorgeous color.

More to come...

David Novros...almost, all your questions answered.

I've been quite intrigued by David Novros these last few days. Not to say that I haven't been a fan of his paintings for years now. But last night I did some serious searching for interviews of him online and here's all the nuggets of interviews and info on the elusive painter that you might wanna know about. There is even a great video of him at the Getty Center in LA speaking about the conservation of two of his paintings that were at MOMA and the Menil Collection.

Here's a video on his new show at Paula Cooper Gallery in NYC from James Kalm.

http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=1551731224&share_id=154505921270&ref=nf#/video/video.php?v=122822958231&ref=share



Here's a great interview in three parts from White Hot Magazine with Thomas Butter.

http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/with-david-novros-part-1/1927

Part 2

http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/with-david-novros-part-2/1931

Part 3

http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/with-david-novros-part-3/1934



Here is another great interview with Novros and Phong Bui.

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/06/art/chuck-close-with-phong-bui-june-08

This is not really an interview, but it's still a great read with Novros in it.

http://onthelam.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/sevilla-by-john-j-healey/

And a piece about Novros from artnet.

http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/brennan/brennan6-9-98.asp

Here's that video on conservation with a panel speaking about two of Novros' paintings that are now in MOMA and the Menil Collection.

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications/videos/object_in_transition_day2.html#2

You'll find this particular video I speak of in the Session Three section.

Here's a very interesting letter Novros wrote to Paula Cooper, you will understand more about him through this reading.

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/searchimages/images/image_8072_21124.htm

I hope you enjoy these readings and videos. For there is a lot to learn about this tremendous painter.

Have a great week. Jeffrey

Rothko and uses of materials.

After visiting the National Gallery in DC last year, and taking a number of photos. Most of which didn't come out the way I had hoped because these new cameras pretty much always need a tripod, if you aren't using the flash.

I was visiting the section with all the Rothko's and Newman's, one thing really hit me about the one particular painting from the Seagram Mural job he did. How crappily it had been painted.

As you can see in these pics. The one painting from the Seagram murals has got some pretty crappy paint that Rothko used in these paintings. I don't know what the hell kind of paint he had used on these paintings. But it sure wasn't artists grade oil or acrylic paint.

I've heard many stories about how he was always using cheap materials in his paintings. Which is not what one should be doing when you are a serious painter as he was. You can look in these pics and see where one section of paint has bled through the rest of the paint on top of it. It almost looks as if someone had taken a torch to that section to make the other paint seep through the top coat.

Seeing this really bothered me, as I really try to take as good care of my paintings as I possibly can. As do my other painter friends. Only in my very first paintings were I not using high grade artist acrylic paint.

Thinking about this painting and it's bad aging, leads me to think of the Rothko Chapel in Houston where he has his largest paintings. Which from his uses of materials, and his being stingy with the cash flow he had been given for the set of paintings. We today will never be able to see the paintings as they were when they left his studio. I know they have been "restored" but in cases of restoration, it never turns out the same way as the original had been the day it was finished. If you want to learn a bit about how restorers can be, just read the book "I was Vermeer"...it'll tell you about a number of ways restorers over the years have screwed up painting after painting.









Here's where you can really see some of the results of using inferior materials. Thankfully he didn't do this on all of his paintings.

So in lieu of the above. Please let me say to all of you painters out there who wish to be selling paintings like crazy. Give a thought to the future and how you would want these paintings to look after 50 years, 100 years, and then ask yourself...is this house paint really something I should be using on this canvas. Think about the people who will become your patrons, spending their well earned money on a painting of yours only to have it fall apart after 15-20 years. And go to your local artist supply store and put down some money on the good stuff. You'll feel a lot better about it in the future, when you can look at your paintings and they still look as good as the day you finished them.

I have also seen a number of older Twombly's where they are now under glass, as the paint has literally fallen off the weave of the canvas.



Oh it's so sad to see great paintings go bad.

A Rookie Mistake

Yesterday. I reverted myself to an earlier state of being, when I realized that I had thinned down the paint mixture a bit too much, while finishing up a painting. Why didn't I simply work with the paint the way it had originally been in it's nice plastic can. Doing the directions I normally use for creating the pouring on my painting. I remembered back to how thin and gorgeous some of my earlier paintings had been and wanted to attempt to produce something akin to that feeling again. I guess back then I must have really been on the edge of pigment destruction, for all those pourings came out in a very matte manner. While the paintings I make today have much more of a gloss surface. Through my attempts and successes at glazing, I might have went a bit far in that manner also which didn't allow more paint to stick to it...but I don't think that was the problem. I simply got overzealous and mixed far too much water into the containers I use for this particular stage of my painting.

Even before I began work that day. I knew something was a miss. When I went to mix the colors with the end of my paintbrush. I noted that the paint seemed to really wanna come off the brush when I pulled it from the can full of color. It's always the little things that you should REALLY take note of and make sure that when you see little hints, you take them into consideration. Had I done that yesterday, I might be sitting here looking at a newly finished painting. Alas, I now sit here looking at the results and remains of the mistake I made yesterday. A wonderful yellow painting with errie, ugly, dirty looking paint caked upon many parts of the surface. Sections of the wood filler that I could not get the wasted paint from.

Not to worry too much about it. I will begin from stage 4 and will rectify this into a beautiful painting, of small scale but large in heart.

Not About Alan Ebnother

I could probably write a thousand words on how much my life has been touched by the personality and painting of Alan Ebnother...but I won't. I'll leave that for my archives.

One thing I can gladly tell you is how I got to know Alan and his painting. We met in July 2004 when I made my first trip to NYC to visit our mutual friend Joseph Marioni. I originally thought that while sitting in my crowded and smelling greyhound seat for around 11 hours, which I didn't sleep at all through it. That I would simply be meeting Joe and hanging with him through my visit. Not so. After meeting Joe in the bus terminal and making my way down the street with my arms feeling like jello, and trying to take in the situations I was in. I'm a 29 year old guy, visiting the biggest city in the world for the first time. Going to visit and hang with my favorite painter. Trying to take in all the sites at once during that first stroll down 8th Avenue.

Skipping ahead a bit. We met Alan at Joes, and proceeded to hit up the Hells Kitchen Diner for breakfast. Awesome place with great food. Heading out to Chelsea to see the galleries, and hearing Joe and Alan speak about the different spaces, I felt for the first time like a real artist, hanging out with other real painters. Trying to soak in as much as I could, and writing this. Realizing I can remember a LOT more than I give myself credit for.



Since that day, it took me awhile to get back in touch with Alan, but I knew it was something that I really wanted to do. You know how sometimes you feel compelled to wanna meet someone. You feel that maybe they have something that you are supposed to learn from that person, and you wanna find out what it is.

It wasn't till about a few years ago...I think. That I finally met Alan again online. Thank God for Myspace and it's technology which helps you to get to meet and learn about other people. This was before everyone jumped on the FB bandwagon, which I have found far more interest in.

Alan is always on FB, sharing new photos of his new paintings and him mixing his own paints. He's given me countless ideas about painting and about life.



And I just realized that i've said too much. The rest is between the two of us, and all of our friends on Facebook. HEHEHEHE.



So go add him as a friend and get to know Alan and his wonderful paintings. The rest is up to you. You'll just have to wait for the Biography to learn more.

Cheers and have a wonderful week! J

Two New Paintings...and a dream.

It's been awhile since I last updated my blog. I've been doing quite a few things. Trying to plan for a book, trying to make some $$, researching painting techniques I have yet to try. Here are the results of my journey into more colors and more depth in my colors within the painting.

Both are painted within a month of each other. And are both the same size. 

24" W X 25.13" H.

07-23-2009



Within this painting, I was focusing more on creating color I have yet to use. I wanted a nice creamy color to try out. I feel it is a success and will be working more in these creamy types of colors in the near future.



I have begun to take my photographs of my paintings differently. In the hopes of giving the viewer more of a sense of the scale of the painting, and of the subtleties of the color and texture.

I was speaking with a painter friend who noted that when we cut the painting out of the background, we take away from the scale of looking at the painting where it belongs, on the wall. And therefore it makes our viewing of the painting unrealistic. So he suggested taking pics of the painting in three sections. First, to take a full image of the painting with it's background and the views of the shadows on the wall. Second, to take an image with more items around the painting, which gives more of a sense of scale. Just how big the actual painting really is. As it is in relation to other items. Third, take an image of the painting from it's side, as taking a photo from the side gives more a sense of depth in the painting, as it also gives you a sense of the texture within/on the painting.

I have been following this method and I feel it truly is making the imagery you see on this computer screen, just a little bit more like being there in reality.





The color got a bit away from me in Photoshop with this detail image, but from the previous images, you can see it's true color.
_______________________________________

In this set of images on this painting. I was experimenting with pearl colors. These are colors that have a slightly glittery look to them. Some people think of it as a gimmick, alas, others find it adds much depth to a color. I will not hazard to tell you my thoughts on it, as of right now I still have yet to form a concise view on the subject of pearls in color.

Using a great green for the ground and a paynes gray for the poured color. It creates a very deep sense of darkness within color. I haven't worked very much in dark colors in the past, so I'm still finding my way around with many many colors. There is much work still to do. Thank God!

07-02-2009

Hope you are enjoying your day. 

Jeffrey