Caricatures Count Too and Audre Lorde

Institutional rejection of difference is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which neeeds outsiders as surplus people. 
   As members of such an economy, we have all been programmmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think iti is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate.
    But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals.  As a result, those differences have been misnamed and misused in the service of separation and confusion.  

AUDRE LORDE,
Sister Outsider (1984)

Instead of trying to paint, I decided to do this sketch.  A caricature of Obama.
I was inspired by the artist Jason Seiler, who is pretty much OFF THE CHARTS with his illustrations.  I'm hoping this will kickstart my productivity.    As for the quote above,  I've been reading Race Matters by Cornell West.  The above quote was used in the book.  This stood out for me because I agree that differences in people are often misnamed and misused in the service of separation and confusion.   I have heard people refer to the president (still) as a Muslim because of his name.  (And as if being a Muslim connects one with terrorism).  Regardless of what one thinks about the presidents ideas and policies, it is fundamentally wrong to judge someone in such a simplistic and stereotypical way. 

Obama sketch

I shamefully admit that I haven't read AUDRE LORDE's book, or for that matter any of her poetry other than what I was able to google recently.  All I know is that she is a Black Lesbian Feminist, so that is enough for me to disregard everything about her.  Wow this separation and confusion stuff really works.  (BTW, that was sarcasm for anyone not hearing it through the print)
Here's another interesting quote.

“Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.”
― Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Not a lot to say...

It must sound (or look) like I just cut and paste the same comment every time I post something these days, but I still feel the need to make the excuse...
I have been working so many hours lately that this small painting sat on my desk for weeks before I did a few more things to it and decided to post it.  I'm not quite finished with it.  I just got tired of feeling like it should be done.  Initially it was going to be a quick impressionistic study, and it is for the most part, but  I ended up having to do more with it than I intended. 
   Things are not all work, however.  I was able to take a long weekend trip to the coast with my wife last week and we had a fantastic time.  And of course I have squeezed in some golf...
I have found that if I don't start working on a painting in the morning, the distractions of the day seem to prevent me from doing anything at all.  

Latest News: Self Portrait

I felt compelled to post something new today because I got tired of seeing the same post day after day.  It's a reminder to me that I've done nothing since then.  I drew the outline for a self portrait over the weekend.  I've been intending to get a self portrait in my portfolio for awhile and after taking several dozen pictures, decided it was time to at least try one.  This is the first stage of a large one I started this morning. So far, so good, but when I snapped the photo the reflection of the water that hadn't dried created an effect that wont be there later, so the nose actually looks better than it is at this point.  But as I said, I needed to get something in a post.  My intention is to create a fair amount of texture in the shadows to make the painting interesting. It's important to let the watercolor do it's thing.  Just need to nudge it in the right direction.

Lately my work schedule is not conducive to painting (or sleeping for that matter), but I've found time to golf so there really is no excuse not to paint as well. 

Library sketch

I did this on some cold pressed Arches. There is a significant difference in how I can work with this paper. It has more of a traditional watercolor feel to it. Allowing layers to build, but no removal of color once it's applied.  Requires a more deliberate execution and I believe this is what makes some shy away from attempting watercolor.  Once it's there, it is there.

Foster Apartment sketch

A little sketch (5"X7") of those apartments behind the Art Supply store.  I'm trying to work a little more raw and gestural so that I can get more paintings done in a smaller amount of time.

Birch Tree final answer....

At some point early in the week, I decided that the effort I put into the (first) Birch Tree painting was insufficient.  Though I rarely do this I started it over.  The reason I rarely do a painting again is I feel that if I don't succeed, I will have wasted twice as much time on one thing.  Time doesn't allow me to waste time on one try, much less two tries.  But I felt strongly about this project.  There were elements in the first one that showed possibilities.   I took the reference photo at Gabriel Park last winter and had thought about it quite a few times.
To be honest, it's hard to go wrong with birch trees in the sense that the white bark makes it  immediately recognizable.  The angle looking up is appealing to the eye, and....it's a tree.  No one can accuse you of putting a branch in the wrong place.  Speaking of which, I found it a challenge to get the branch coming in from the right side of the painting to look right.  It followed the angle of the branch behind it, which made it look too symmetrical to the branch behind it.....If you want to read the boring details there's more below. 

Warehouse finished

I tried to strengthen the color a little to convey the strong sunlight against this yellow building.

I worked on the Warehouse to correct some of the lines.  I believe I can do a little better next time around if I choose to do a more refined painting.  But I was satisfied with the over all look of this one. I would like to try some wet on wet for the sky, even though I don't really mind the somewhat textured look in this one.  There are some areas in this one that I really liked.  Specifically the shadow of the tree on the right side and the loose brushstrokes in the tree.  I also liked the contrast of the yellow building and the shadows

Oregon State: Jordan Poyer

The slightly corrected version from  the early  Sunday post.

Note:  I am trying the new feature for Google + that links my blog with google plus accounts. These links have a + sign in front of them.
+Oregon State University .  Congratulations to +Jordan Poyer .  Defensive All American.
 I decided to do this watercolor of Jordan Poyer of OSU as a gift for my sister and her husband who are huge OSU fans.  I was hoping to post this watercolor before the game yesterday, but I wasn't where I wanted to be with it.  Then I watched in disbelief as OSU lost the +Alamo Bowl  to that Texas team which shall remain unnamed. This is definitely a painting that I want to make into a slideshow  (my next project today).  At times I felt like I was painting a landscape on a pinhead.    It started to become tedious and I had to back away several times to try  to loosen it up.   I'm trying not to nitpick it to death.  It will never be perfect, I just want to be able to look at it (hopefully years from now) and not regret fixing something. It took me the most part of two days to get it to this point.
My impatience almost hurt me, because I started out with NO Orange on my palette.  I had to mix the Orange about 300 times ( felt like it) as I went along and as you can see, this is an Orange dominated painting.
There were times where I couldn't find my little mixtures of blue for the subtle shadows. My palette started to look like a color hoarder's, with about 14 little puddles of paint mixtures hanging around the main colors
The challenge of getting a painting like this to look loose enough without being sloppy is considerable, because practically everything has to be in proper proportion.  I was working in an 11" X 15"  inch window.  I found out that the brushes I have are not small enough for this, and I was alternating between a stiff #1 (A Grumbacher that I've had for over 20years), and 2 way-too-soft liners.   That tiny Grumbacher saved me, because I had to remove paint in tiny spots several times, and nothing else I have will do that.

This is the slideshow I made to track my progress on this painting.  The software didn't allow me to comment on each slide.  Something I need to do to track my steps.  You will notice about halfway thru I had to wipe out the face and completely overhaul the helmet angle. The funny thing is, that was a huge mistake on the most focal part of the painting.  I remember not having a clear look at the detail of the face.  I had to go back and magnify the face to get a better idea what I needed to do.

Happy Birthday to Adrianne!

Not much to say here.  I liked the photo my daughter took of her and her new adopted dog.  The challenge was trying to get the close up view of the dog to look identifiable.  A lot of pencil strokes later...  In fact many more than I anticipated having to do I got the look I was after, but I might have to tinker once I study it for a bit.  I just finished this and you know how it is.  I'll see something that isn't right and need to go back in.

It's been bothering me that I haven't done a finished watercolor yet.  I want to get that done today, but time isn't on my side.

Chuck Close; Inspiration is for amatuers

I'm keeping this short because Chuck Close has told me to get off the computer and get to work.  But I have to share this link for his words of wisdom, and yes, inspiration. 

Across the Street

This is a clearer picture of the sketch I originally posted

Woodstock Park Series

Tuesday:I'm not done with this one yet, but I think I need to put it away for a few days so I can figure out where I want to go with it.  When I started it, I had the intention of cropping the painting to make it work, but I think that lack of focus hurt me when I went to paint it.  More about this later....
And it is later: Wed.   So after looking at the painting I knew that I liked the sky, but wasn't sure about the building (school) on the left.  Then something struck me.  I think this painting would really work if more of the sky was featured in the top half.  Too much foreground and not enough back ground. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I realize the sky could have really brought this to life.  Lesson noted

Woodstock Park early evening

Woodstock Evening.  6.5" X 8"  Watercolor . SOLD
Once again it was difficult to photograph this painting without distorting the colors.  It's not this dark, but the other option made it look too washed out and blotchy. One day I will either get a better camera, or learn the proper way to photograph my work.  If you stand back about 30 feet you might get the overall effect.  Anyway, I stopped working on it .  I think it's time to move on. 

As I learn more about representing lights at night with watercolor, I feel confident that I will one day have an approach that isn't as hit and miss.  I had a couple of moments where I thought I had ruined it, then turned it around. Finally, I figured that I should take the lessons learned here and move on. Though you can barely see it I liked how the reddish brown around the foreground lights gave the slight glow needed.  Pulling the tree trunks from the dark background was useful, and adding the texture of the ground in the left foreground was also a positive move.  Letting the trees in the top left form from the drips added one of the elements I was looking for in a night painting.  I couldn't get the foreground to produce the same effect.  I don't mind the tactile look of these types of paintngs, but I know I have to be careful where and how much I allow that to happen.

Zach. More drawings

Still didn't get much of a better shot, but this shows pretty much the whole drawing.

This Blog is difficult to work with at times.  I wanted to enter this post quickly because I have to go to work.  My usual process is to enter the Title, upload the photo, go to Post Settings and attach labels for the search engines, and then type  my Blog.  I will add a caption in the photo as I think about it.  However, I've noticed that when I enter a caption for the photo before I blog, It won't allow me to exit the caption mode and type in the Composition field.  That is what happened today.  I had to re-post this whole thing.  Now that I'm out of time, I can only say this about the actual drawing.  I did this for my buddy Zach for winning the Season Championship in the Golf Club we belong to. (Sounds expensive, but its just a club that allows you to play around the NW with other golfers).  It started as a sketch, but turned into a rather successful drawing.  I spent some time with the shading, building layers with the 2H, HB, 2B and 4B pencils, but the paper and my patience weren't quite adequate to achieve more of a seamless, 3 dimensional quality.  I will take a better photo of the drawing, and re-post this when I get a chance.  Part of the drawing was cut off in my haste to get this done today.
Overall, I'm very happy with the drawing, but eventually, I want to work with Graphite and better paper to get more of what I'm after.  More later...

Adlai Sketch

First and second stage of the drawing

Click here to Enlarge Drawing

I decided to stop here on this sketch.  It became apparent that I was not going to capture the likeness entirely so it's time to move on to the next thing.  I'm happy with this as it is, but somehow he looks heavier in the drawing than he really is.

Adlai

I woke up early to get something done this morning.  I was able to start this sketch of my friend Adlai Alexander playing guitar at one of his concerts.

Hospital Parking Lot Study

First let me say that this picture is from a movie scene.  I was not imposing on someones private moment.  I saw this scene in Junebug, and wanted to capture the intensity of the moment.  In my rush to get it on paper, I ignored the obvious compositional challenges.  Had I been more deliberate I would have printed out the picture from my camera and composed it before proceeding. Instead I used the digital frame to paint from, and couldn't get my lines correct.  

And now I realize that I've just confessed to taking someone Else's idea.  This solves the question of whether I should try another more finished painting of this scene.  If I were to succeed in bringing this to the paper it would never be completely my own.  So I will probably move on and take what I learned from this.  I think it works in segments but not as a cohesive piece. At least as a study.  Lastly, I'm relieved that I found some time to get something done.  I had to get up at 2:30 AM to do it...but I did it.

Study

By the way, I have yet to  watch the entire movie, but it looked good. About an Art dealer trying to sign an eccentric painter from the south.

Acrylic Abstract

Abstract Acrylic

Detail: I pasted a photo with glaze and painted around it.

I realized today that I hadn't posted this Acrylic abstract I composed last year. I hadn't worked in acrylics for decades, so I took a little course on acrylic painting and enjoyed this little experiment to test the different textures and effects one can achieve by using the different paints and glazes available.  I used about every one in this little 6 X 6. Although I was encouraged by this result, I decided to continue with my watercolor focus.  I figured I shouldn't  divide my focus, given the limited time I have to paint.  Also, investing in a bunch of acrylic products is kind of expensive if you don't plan on spending considerable time on it. If I decide to go into acrylics, I will shift my focus primarily on that.
    On the subject of focus,  I find myself feeling a strong pull toward at least a few large canvas paintings.  I have some general ideas in mind.  It's hard to go day after day feeling that there are paintings in me that need to be done, but I don't have the time to produce them.  Until that time I'll have to continue to work toward that end by choosing subjects in watercolor that will get me closer to it. 

Watercolor Sketch

Abstract Egg

Water Study

This water "study" has been sitting on my table for weeks.  I finally got it to the point that I thought would be okay to post.  The idea was to generate a believable representation of someone in water.  I got close, though, the actual picture was taken from a brochure for "Aesthetic Medicine", and was more "aesthetic" in presentation.