Uncle

A short while ago I shared some history about my being Uncle Dotty to two of my nephews.

I have a different uncle story today.

My studio (which is also a guest room):



Its new, work-in-progress door:



The new, work-in-progress door to the bathroom adjacent to my studio:



The interior of the bathroom:

     

The guest room adjacent to the other side of the bathroom:

  

For the reasons above plus others, my painting life will take a different shape from usual this week—and perhaps for a few weeks! Not sure what that will mean, but I did some five-minute speed-painting sessions over the weekend which I'll post one by one, and I have two prepared-last-week posts that I'll share on Thursday and Friday.

UNCLE! I cry UNCLE!

Fast and Furious Redux

My intentions for the day were unrealistic to begin with, a story for a different day.

Then, each undertaking to which I turned my attention took longer than expected, in one case way longer.

But, I had to paint, just couldn't not scratch that itch.

So today, vs. yesterday, I did paint quickly.

I took Betty Krause as my telementor. She starts paintings with quick intuitive scribbles and marks. Really quick. No thought or design in mind. Just scribbles and marks: GO!

Thank you, Betty, for sparking me today.

I bumped into a pad of unstretched canvas, tore off a sheet.

Scribbled and marked with a PaperMate pencil, a grease pencil, pastel pencils, and a graphite crayon.

first marks, three minutes

Added marks with a graphite crayon dipped in water. Disappointing, too light, not soluble enough.

second marks, 90 seconds

Found an applicator bottle with some India ink in it. Much more fun. 

third marks, 30 seconds

Done for today. 

Stopped because I have to make phone calls, gather financial data, do some handwork with needle and thread, research a gift idea. 

Stopped because I love this start and want to enjoy it for a day before I add layers.

Fast and Furious

You know how some folks do five-minute paintings?

Or 20-second paintings, for Pete's sake?

Those folks?

They would not be I.

---

Parallel play continues here: bathroom mess increases by the minute, studio is barely recognizable.

FEMA may be called in.

---

Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,



to this 4x5" quadrant,



to this coverup,



to a completed painting.

Allowing for Accident
4x5"; acrylic, pen, collage, pencil, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2017
$25

Tissue and Print

Rainy day. Wind, tossing the trees.

Replacement studio door installed, adjacent replacement bathroom door now in process.

Mess in my studio up to Category 3.

Grab another quadrant from one of my Takodah-inquiry starts.

Paint with tissue and print. Work still in process there, too.

work in progress
4x5"

Namaste

Having a yoga practice helps me bow to myself when I paint, helps me tap the divine spark located in my heart chakra.

Gathered up a little prana today and finished the piece I worked on yesterday, part of my inquiry into painting negative space. I think this piece is the seventh in my series.

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Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,

to this 4x5" quadrant, 

to this coverup, 

to a completed painting.

Holding Vrksasana, Finding My Edge
4x5"; acrylic, ink, collage, and pastels on paper
abstract
2017
SOLD

Mise en Place

You know the term mise en place, the French culinary phrase that means 'put in place' or 'everything in its place'?

Well, everything is in a place in my studio today, but it certainly isn't in its place.

Dave is installing a new door in an old house. Yup, our old house. Yup, my studio. Nothing about the undertaking is straightforward. There are tools, nails, wood shavings, installation instructions, work gloves, a whisk broom, and hardware scattered in the vicinity of the door.

I am short on time and painting quickly this afternoon. My mess includes matte medium, a tooling stylus, paintbrushes, tubes of paint, a wet rag, scraps of torn paper, and a paint palette, each of which gets put down with no thought as I reach for the next item to move forward the creative idea of the moment.

Where door installation ends and painting begins? Hard to tell, hard to tell.

Great fun, though.

Tomorrow I will mise a few finishing touches en place in this painting and call it complete.

Oh, and maybe set my studio to rights, too.

work in progress
4x5"

Shaping Up

I went to my studio with a sense that free canvas #1 might be in the market for some left brain refinement.

And my left brain did get a little studio time today.

But not as much as expected.

Something in me was still hankering to go bold, go experimental, go exploratory.

I'm all shaped up for tomorrow's adventures.

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress