Fog

Sometimes you see clearer through a fog.You know the way 'black and white' can narrow things down, simplifying the hues in between and creating a clean cut shape of things. You might miss a few details but sometimes they are mere distraction. A gem shines brightly, you'll know it. I have been feeling my way through a fog of late. Literally and not so literally. Physically (Winter in a Valley) and emotionally (just putting down some roots) as always, the footprint of 'life' has been showing up in my paintings.

The Fog

My palette is quieter than late 2014's high energy, bold works (a time of great momentum and energy in daily life during this period) and the techniques have been based around a palette knife and not a brush. (Much easier for cleaning...bonus!)

Palette Knife

I have felt lighter in spirit, so whites were added. Zinc and Titanium, at different times, creating different layers of warmth and cold. I was feeling a little of that energy wise too. I was on or I was off. High energy or incubation. Those months were full of change, punctuated with adaption and chance. It fueled my creativity. I took risks with my overpainting in these works. For many layers some of the 'bits' didn't seem right but I didn't paint over them and now, some many layers more, it all reads together, as though that was always there just waiting to be discovered.

Detail of texture and overpainting.

A sculptural quality in my hands. Guided to remove or add in trust of what is building on the canvas. Feeling your way, noticing what beckons you to mark or stain or wipe away in some fashion. I'm always learning something. I've been 'feeling my way' through the Valley too. It gets mighty thick some mornings. Romantic but also in a way, 'eery', it's denser than I would have thought and the world around here is kinda damp right now. Which is good and nature is green as a result but it does change what you can actually see! It is also quite instinctive to hibernate.

A sweet young critic of mine recently commented this series represented the fog. I have to admit, it does and in so many ways. I painted them from the onset, with a 'do what you want to do for yourself' feeling and I did what I wanted to do, just because I wanted to do it just to please myself, no other agenda or theme for a show. It worked, they do please me. The more I digested of the world around me, the more I shared those feelings with the canvas in front of me. I think they read beautifully together. The colors reflect a lighter heart.

'Beauty in the fog' 24" x 36" Oil and pastel on canvas

'The fog is lifting' 24" x 36" Oil and pastel on canvas

The calligraphic movement is coming back in my wrist, making marks  of dance along the way, some staying visible, others  highlighted with further applications of white paint with a palette knife. Revealing and concealing over time. I worked through my emotions and saw  reflected exactly where I needed to stretch and grow. It's not always comfortable and it's not always pretty, but it sure is always worth it. The paintings are like my diary. I see them chronologically capturing the emotion of the period of time in which they were created. The series, 'Fog' was a time of sitting still and reflecting, being open and resisting judgement where possible and lots of letting go. I didn't always succeed but I feel I gave it a good shot. There is still at least one more canvas yet to be completed in the series Fog. There may be more.

2015- Happy New Year!

This is the perfect time to introduce a new style of sharing. I have been soul searching for a better feeling connect with writing my blog and feel it is time to share more of myself in the process. In the past I have tried to keep the blog about just the process of making the art or what is happening in terms of showing it but something always felt lacking. I didn't really think people would want to know about me as much as my work. Turns out I am wrong. I have felt some form of vulnerability in exposing more of myself and frankly didn't know that it would be of any interest but after conversations with collectors over the past couple of weeks, I have realized it was the missing element for me and perhaps my audience...I love this type of opportunity for growth and hope you will like it too.

A few months ago, I began filming my sessions in the studio with a time lapse camera. I put this off for a long time as I thought perhaps it would put me off getting into the flow and effect my work but I was wrong. In truth after I turned it on and began working, I completely forgot about the camera. The hour or two sessions are condensed into 20-30 second video's...time is precious and probably only painter's love watching paint dry. (I must admit it is one of my favorite things, to watch as gravity effects different area's of paint on the canvas and magic takes place in front of my eyes, I may make a slower video at some point to share these moments too though as they are delicious to witness) I hope you enjoy seeing the paintings come to life in these clips as I do when they are flowing through me.

IMG_4425 The feedback I received from sharing this footage is that a lot of people were surprised at how physical painting can be. Stretching up and down to stroke a canvas and running between palette and canvas and even multiple canvases in one session. Of course every artist works in their own way and space requirement is dependent on the size of canvas you are working on but I have never worked on a tabletop, always an easel of a canvas flat on the floor. I love having to move around the canvas in order to reach different parts of it and it allows different perspectives as you move. I am working on these 3 canvases at present. My new work for the beginning of 2015. It is lighter in palette and combines a number of techniques I have used in paintings preceding these but not usually all together like this. I am loving exploring the outcomes. Here is another video from October...I'm heading back into the studio now! IMG_3823

'The Beat Goes On' now hanging at Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery!

This is the last week to see this work hanging @ Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery in Lafayette CA These paintings went through many 'finished' phases but they kept drawing me in for more layering until the final glazes of UltraMarine and Alizarin Crimson went down! I love the transparency in these paintings. The layers of color can be read through one another with a strong visual history of mark making below. They continue the theme I have been working in for a while, layers that build a fabric of identity. Like a patchwork quilt that slowly comes together, so do these works, layer by layer often only making sense to me in the final layers that unite. The title was born from the song by Sonny and Cher 'The Beat Goes On' as it played over in my head as I worked. Apt as this diptych kept calling for more...la de da de de, la de da de da.

'Fall Forward'

'Fall Forward' Show @ Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery Lafayette. CA

The show was about taking leaps, trusting process and moving forward. I feel it met that on so many levels; from Jennifer's curation of 6 Bay Area artists working in different mediums, to the idea that each of the artists is also taking leaps, trusting process and moving forward in their art.

http://jenniferperlmuttergallery.com/2014/10/fall-forward-taking-leaps-trusting-process-moving-forward/

I think the show was perfectly titled  'Fall Forward'. It takes courage to share your work. Sharing helps an artist identify themselves with their work on a level that can be taken for granted everyday in the studio, usually alone. It's a moment to stop and assess, enquire and address what one is doing and why.

Real engagement with artwork requires courage, looking with an open mind and a receptivity to how it makes you feel. Art is a language not spoken with words. It is color and lyrical brush strokes that speak in painting. Vibration that moves you, opens you to feeling something. It is a beautiful moment when viewer and painting find themselves a match.

It's been wonderful to be included. I've met some  awesomely  talented people and couldn't have asked for a better welcome to the neighborhood! We toasted the night with 'New Age' -effervescent wine with lime over ice! Delicious!

Here are some pics from the opening reception:

@'Fall Forward'

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'New Age' Sparkling Wine -over Lime and Ice.

'Fall Forward' Group Show

I am pleased to announce I have been invited to participate in the 'Fall Forward' group show @ the Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery here in the East Bay. The show opens on Thursday the 6th of November 2014 Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery 6.30-8.30pm- reception 3620 Mt Diablo Blvd, Lafayette CA (925) 284 1485

http://www.jenniferperlmuttergallery.com

The Exhibit features 6 East Bay artists presenting a variety of medium. Artists: Jeffrey Sully- Sculpture Lisa Carroll- Paper Allen Wittert- Acrylic Jon Larsen- Pastel Jennifer Perlmutter- Mixed Media and myself, Deborah Rhee- Oil

It's interesting to note the draw different mediums have on artists. How is it we are drawn to a particular form of expression? How do our materials convey a deeper understanding of our own personalities and points of view?

I have always worked in Oil- Oil and layers of Glaze. There is something that brings to mind the history of painting when using these materials that makes me feel part of something larger than myself. I love their buttery texture, the fact their longer drying time affords me the luxury of returning to rework an area over many times, adding and subtracting until I am happy with the result. I delight in playing with the consistency by adding glazing mediums of various viscosity and watching in turn how that affects the outcome of the application, in itself and how it affects already existing layers of color. Building layers of transparency and opacity, creating world to explore in what I see presenting on the canvas. I consider my work a true collaboration with my materials. The techniques I use bring a certain element of surprise as I work, with gravity playing an important part in the finished product. Where and how my drips run or collide and where washes pool and rivulet, all adding to the scape building before my eyes. Honestly, I get lost looking at the smaller detail of these actions. It's mesmerizing to me, like cloud gazing. I lose myself. Time disappears. A blue wash will run over a section of yellow already applied and a small hint of green will appear. There is an innocence in my participation. Guided by intuition and discovery rather than following a preconceived plan of something I am trying to create. I let the materials show me what we are creating together.

This show of mixed mediums has made me consider more deeply my choice of material. What exactly my choice of material says about me is not yet clear but I am happy to be entertaining the question.

I look forward to learning more about the other 5 artists contributing to 'Fall Forward' and the story behind their choice of expression. Hope to see you at the show!

settling in as the paint flows....

Finally after a number of weeks settling in to a new neighborhood and getting comfortable with a new school routine for my youngest, I am back in the studio doing what I love. It has been a long Summer of change and although it's funny to admit, but I was wary of picking up my brush after such a long absence, fearing the ability to paint may have left me.

I suppose it is something creatives share, a little doubt creeps in here and there but I had not had such a long hiatus before and almost felt as though my work may have felt abandoned in some way and maybe punish me for leaving....I am sure there is some long psychoanalysis that could link that to some Freudian thought but in truth creating is a muscle of sorts...it needs to be flexed to retain it's strength. I know drawing is like that, when I drew nightly, I could draw quite well but after a long period of not drawing I can no longer say that, it isn't true. With much gratitude, I can say it is not the case with painting, at least not for me. It came flooding back in the same fashion it always has. How welcome a feeling too!

I have decided to create a new body of work that builds on the pieces I was still working on in Dallas before we left. I did the same when we moved from Melbourne, Australia to Dallas some 4 years ago. I left little windows in the new works to show the journey from the original start point I had begun in Australia. I felt they were my bridging works. Bridging old to new, familiar to exploring. The works spoke of this too. I had been painting in veils of color, almost a wash and then worked over those paintings in a highly texturized almost sculpting fashion.

So, as my surroundings changed so did my technique and the way in which I was working. I am yet to see the full development of what changes will appear on canvas as a result of the changes I have made in my life recently but I like the idea of continuing the unfinished canvases again. It's quite cathartic to 'bring them' into the new and yet honor the foundations of how they began. A subtle integration of past and present. Much like the process one undergoes when moving to a new place to live. You are still the same person but there are subtle changes and a lot to digest and assimilate.

I love that my work can provide me a haven for playing with these thoughts and come to terms with all that is while creating a painting that speaks to me of the process I am undergoing. I am sure the colors of the landscape and the feel of the people I am meeting all effect the choices made in the studio as much as my internal reflections. I am very excited to be back at work, letting the brush sweep across the canvas and the colors melt into one another to show me something new. I have rediscovered a wrist based action which comes across as almost a language of sorts. I have enjoyed that movement for many years, not in all my work but often present even if sometimes deeply overpainted.

One of the new developments is the desire to let that language speak again and perhaps more loudly. My wrist enjoys the fast and flickering action on the canvas, not much thought but a lot of flow. I shall continue incorporating this technique for as long as it feels good to do so.

My Studio is being housed in the garage for now, with plans to build a dedicated space once we are able. The garage has it's benefits. I am not worried about making a mess, which is freeing and the lighting is good, although not natural lighting but canned on tracking, so I can highlight a point to paint if I wish. In truth, I still mainly paint in the evening anyway, so my fantasy of natural lighting in the studio is a bit ahead of me actually working in the hours I would have light available. I do think I will be painting more in daylight hours as time goes on as i no longer need to wait until the children are sleeping, which is where my night time practice originated. Still, habits die hard and it is so still and quiet at night. There is something very conducive to creativity in those hours.

Anyway, it has been some time since I have updated my journey and thought it time to share what has been going on...we have begun...there are many layers down on a number of different sized works and I will post them as I complete them with their stories. Meanwhile, here is a peek at the Studio (garage) and my temporary set up! It feels good to be in California!

'I'm back'

I haven't posted in a while due to our families move across state from Dallas, Texas to the Bay Area in CA. Life has held a frantic pace with wrapping up life as knew it and heading off to an unknown to me but reputedly loved by all who have been there...San Francisco, California.

So far, so good, although It hasn't been without it's challenges, arriving after a 6 day, cross country trip across 5 States of America with loaded car and small child. All my art supplies packed in a truck, headed towards our new home with all our treasure's, just hours ahead of our own departure. I often looked, on the days we travelled, at the names on the sides of the 1,000's of long distance moving trucks we passed on our journey wondering; was it ours?

I don't like forgoing my studio time, especially for long periods as involved in a move, where packing up the studio, then transporting and in this case, again waiting 3 months to access the materials, means making do with other artistic pursuits to quench my thirst for paint and brush.

I paint on a larger scale that requires some space to move and slosh paint around without too much mindfulness. A furnished rental is not the place to play with messy paint. I'll be honest, with preparing a house for sale and packing up all your belongings to researching your new surrounds for homes beginning with good school districts, there isn't a lot of time for work, moving like this is a full time job.

Today, i couldn't take the lack of my mediums. I have been expressing my creativity in other ways of late but still, the need to paint bubbles up daily and I have to tell myself "soon". Well, we have been here a total of 3 and a bit weeks and 'soon' won't cut it i couln't wait for my studio to begin working.

I have purchased a mini kit of everything i need to express until i have my new studio. Thank you to my husband for noticing the 'Dick Blick' out of the corner of his eye in Berkeley at 5.45pm on a Sunday, when they close at 6pm and thank you 'Dick Blicks' for your 20% sale I wasn't expecting!

I am now at the kitchen table working on 10"X8"s. It feels good to be back!

'Friendship'

 

This is one of my recent works in a smaller scale that was created as part of a triptych to celebrate friendship. In my triptych 'Deeper', I stayed within the family of Blue's, wanting to create depth without distraction. This was my next adventure and I wanted to explore multiple colors and textures in a small scale work. I used many of the different techniques I use in my larger scale work to see if they would translate. I feel they did. I love the energy and warmth in this work. It speaks of friendship and the many layers that contribute to it's fabric. Friendships are often complex and simple at the same time. It is wonderful when they reach a maturity where these qualities can co-exist harmoniously, as they do in a completed work of art. It too, is in the home of a dear friend.

Ultramarine...one of my favorite colors.

This is one panel of a triptych I painted recently to explore size. I have been working on larger scale canvases for the best part of a year and felt the urge to scale down and see if I could achieve the same type of depth with a smaller canvas. I think i did. I love this painting and it is going to live with a special friend, which is a blessing as I will get to see it again whenever I visit. It speaks of depth. The deeper thoughts we have, the probing of ourselves to better understand our motivations and our desires. Not something for the faint hearted at times but definitely rewarding and a way of being that creates a rich and layered life. The reward for being brave enough to face oneself and acknowledge the mysterious depths inside, also the courage to face oneself in the light of that honesty and make adjustments when necessary. Not everyone lives that way but the owner of this painting does. I am proud to have it hang in her home.

'Lightness of Being' has founds it's new home here in Dallas!

This painting is rich in layering and is best shown, like most works of art, with good lighting. The original layers are still visible to read through the surface which is one of my favorite ways of working. I remember when I began painting  more than 15 years ago, one of my goals was to layer color in a way that still enabled the colors underneath to show through. Each layer effects the previous in some way (adding a blue over a yellow creates a green and so on) but by using glaze I was able to find a technique to enable the individual colors to still shine through. I marvel at great artists like Rothko and Reinhardt who have made of career of such pursuit. There is something amazing that happens when you lose yourself in a painting and it reveals it's inner being to you while you sit with it. I guess that is part of the allure of Abstract art for me. The painting requires you to stop and actually 'be' with it for it to reveal it's full self. The reveal is the reward for the viewers patience. I am pleased this painting will live on in the home of a good friend and hope it provides their family as much pleasure as it did for me with it's creation!

'Listening' has found it's new home here in Dallas!

'Listening' Oil/ Glaze on Canvas 36" x 48" 2013

This work was a wonderful lesson in listening, hence it's title. Many times I brought it out to continue working on it as it is only a few layers deep and a lot of my work is quite dense in layering. Each time I went to work on it, it literally spoke to me and said it was complete. I battled with this for a while as I loved the composition as it is but there are usually many 'stopping points' along the way in my work and I keep going with the layering to discover more. I often lose a work for a time and then it returns somewhere along the way, I have come to expect it as part of the process. There are nights when I leave the studio sure a painting is complete and then in the light of day decide to continue exploring and building, revealing, concealing until another stopping point arises. It is knowing which stopping point signals true completion that is interesting. This work spoke of completion well before my normal process would. I am so pleased I listened and resisted the temptation to build some more. It has an ethereal beauty and calmness in the energy it exudes. It is now hanging in a music studio here in Dallas and the title and the lesson it taught me seems so apt for a room dedicated to the purpose of creation. I hope it inspires many a beautiful song.

'Light Being' has been delivered to it's new home!

36" x 24" Oil/Glaze on Canvas

I delivered this painting to my fabulous hair stylist this morning. We have a deal between us that I love, he does my families hair (like the artist that he is) and I dress his walls! I love it when a painting goes home with a friend. Not only do I have a chance to see it again when I visit but I know the vibration I am leaving with them is like being there in some way. Friendship is such a special part of life. It is the key to so much happiness. I hope this painting reminds you Robert, of the wonderful 'Light Being' you are! I know that somehow you manage to imbue a special magic when you sculpt my hair. I feel like my mojo is back and I can do anything. I guess that is the power of beauty, for some it's hair styling, for some it's painting but anyway beauty is expressed with passion, a magic remains! Thank You!

Letting go.

This year's theme has been- 'letting go'.On so many different levels, run the same theme of 'letting go'. Personally and along side in my studio practice, I have really begun to let go. I am no longer trying to foresee how any of the paintings relate, until I see that they do. When they do, you really do know.  There's a pull to stop. Choosing to stop is another matter. In fact there are really many 'stopping points' along the way of a deeply layered painting. The lighter the painting, the less layers in I decided to stop and allow it to remain in it's semi completeness. That's rare for me to do. I usually opt to explore and risk what is, to see what that exploration add's to the next layer. I've done that many times  to where the painting resembles a monochrome but with layers of color underneath because I have just kept going, layering and layering. They are wonderful viewed with great lighting and also powerful alone in the dark. :) This year though, I have allowed an earlier 'letting go' of a canvas with fewer layers, just occasionally. They are simpler but still carry an energy and a message unique to their making. I have found many of my works are coming out in pairs, Diptychs as they are known. It is exciting to work on two similar or even joined canvases at one time. I often have multiple work underway , due to required drying time for oils, but to work with a vision that runs across 2 or 3 panels at once is rather grande. I am really enjoying it. They are diverse in palette and in style to themselves but carry all the commonalities in my work. They are very distinct vibrations. I'm 'letting go' of trying to articulate what they meant to me as they were my gift in the making, but when they move on to their new homes, they have their own purpose. For me, I had the lusciousness of participating, a real collaboration with my materials. Waiting for drips to run and images to appear in front of my eyes as I watched the interactivity of colors and glaze among each other. Rivulets forming and pools gathering, organically with gravity, watching as they grew. Stemming them, encouraging them. Little mark makings that felt splendid in my wrist and joyous in their burst of expression that gave me such fun. Painting is discovery and patience, trust and impulse, witnessing creation as much as intending it. The paintings are all related in sequence of their making. Literally. It is one extensive series.

Meanwhile here's a photo from the studio of what was happening this week.

meraki....

This wall post was sent to me by a good friend who has a number of my works in her home. Thank you Elizabeth! I had to share it, this is a such a beautiful word with a beautiful meaning and describes what I feel is so important in an artwork.

To some, it may be the style, the techniques, the palette or the imagery that pulls you into an artwork and engages you.

To me it is more about feeling, the essence of the person infused in the creation of the work to be shared that fascinates me. This is what I respond to. This is what I feel most when engaging with a work of art. It is possibly the subconscious reason I am drawn to the abstract forms of art over representational. Neither have more importance and there is no right or wrong, just what each person responds to.

There is an energy that remains long after a work is made that emits a signal  unique to the artist. In the same way their techniques, subject matter or palette helps you recognise their work, this energy is recognisable.

I believe when you resonate at a similar frequency, the work engages you wholly, not just in an intellectual capacity through your eyes and your mind, but in a way that you feel in your heart, in your body. One of the components I love about sharing art is hearing how someone else views it, what it makes them feel. Often there is a match between what I was thinking or feeling when making a painting that a viewer picks up on, without imagery to guide those thoughts/feelings. To me that is pure magic.

The invisible communication that is enmeshed inside the strokes, the color, the design of a piece of art. It is the connection between artist, art and the viewer that speaks without words. Art has a language all of it's own. A language that connects souls. I love that there is a word to describe that essence. The word 'meraki' is music to my ears.

So...off I went, into the woods....

Hmmm, it's been a while since I have sat to write.Life has been a roller coaster in action lately but the high points, have been worth the altitude! I disappeared a little into the realm of social media. I discovered a wealth of cool art people to speak with and share. I developed relationships and understanding of a large group of people, mainly woman, at once. It was a whirlwind and invigorating and is now informative and I am learning how to flow with it. It takes time but adds dimension. I've felt, like I have had company in my studio when I paint my current serries, akin to a party. All my new friends there in spirit. It's cool, something someone said in the forum comes to you, to influence while your working. even just the fact of knowing 'other's' are doing the same activity with the same passion, in another location. is invigorating to me. It's strengthening.

It's also a learning curve to navigate and boundaries to set, terrain to explore. I am expanding on many levels at present, literally and it's expressing in my paintings. It's a  24/7 pace, but it is such a good feeling, it hasn't been too hard to maintain. Imminent growth and a new mix of palette's to boot. Once again, a mix of the old and the new and yet it is a new vibration. Bright and radiant from with in. There are techniques and textures apparent through all panels, in different degree's.

I am waiting to photograph the paintings properly, to share. Meanwhile I am Happy to share studio shots, a taste of what is to come....

:)

Reaching out to other artists through social media.

I have just joined a newly formed 'closed' group for artists on a social network. It is like pigging out at a buffet after dieting for years! There are many different groups and I am a member of a couple. They all have their own flavour and I appreciate the friendships I have made and the inspiration and motivation I have received from other members, mostly artists too. It is an interesting time in history to be an artist well, just to be alive but in terms of art making, which is often a solitary pursuit in a studio environment by oneself (at least for me) I have found this medium of social networking an amazing boon to my self discovery and confidence. The groups I belong to are not just about posting your work hoping to get likes, in fact one of the groups doesn't allow posting except on a given day and only one share each, they are about opening up and sharing of oneself to get to know yourself better and to share with others on other levels. These groups enable us to share things we have learnt that may be helpful to others, whether it be practical advice on technique or marketing or how to build your website to better suit your needs, even just to  share a block in creativity in search of a way out of it. The best thing is the groups are focussed on positivity. Helping one another become bigger and better at what we do. Helping us to find our authentic voice. It takes time and like everything, has to be weighed up in terms of how much one allocates to it. I am still painting despite having discovered 300+ new 'friends' in one week that I wish to get to know better. I haven't vacuumed my house or mopped my floor but I have still fed my family. So it is about prioritization. Sometimes the world does have to stop for a moment. We do need to jump in the deep end and immerse ourselves in the experience at hand. Learning when you are hungry to learn works up an insatiable appetite. Sharing with other people who are passionate and likeminded is such good soul food it is worth having a dirty floor! So, to all those who may be afraid to join a network of new people I am here to say 'don't be', take a risk, give it a go. You might find in sharing yourself, you find a little bit of you  that you hadn't really noticed before. It may be you as a reflection from someone else or it may be in the way you find you interact with another or answer the questions they ask. What's the worst case scenario, you join , don't like the experience and leave the group? The best scenario is that you learn and grow and share. I have some wonderful friends I am truly grateful for and one day I hope to meet in person.

Meanwhile, I have a few paintings on the go in the studio. They are not yet complete but here is a studio shot of what is in the midst of creation.

'The Birds' Triptych found their new home for Christmas!

I began this work in 2011. It changed numerous times until mid 2013 when I chose to do some line work on two of the panels. That began as an exercise to free me up again with the brush. I had become blocked and things were not flowing as I would like. I decided to paint lines across two panels just to see what it looked like and because the movement felt good to my hand. After that layer had dried I applied Indigo abstractly with a palette knife for effect. The Birds were born and in flight!

I love it when an experimental technique works so well for a final finish. The outcome was NOT the purpose, the PROCESS was the goal and yet, here it is...complete. Another example to me of trusting each moment as it unfolds, not needing to know the destination, while remaining open to what reveals itself along the way.

I am happy to announce this Triptych has found it's new home here in Dallas in time for Christmas. It is in a beautiful new home with a lot of character and fabulous people. It joins other paintings in the collection with some reference to flight. I am so pleased all 3 panels are back together again! It took a few years to come together but it did!

Completed after months of layering...

Finally, after many months of play, this work is complete!Each layer requiring some days to dry before the next layers can go down.

I was asked by a client to document the process of layers going down on the canvas. I don't usually show work in stages but thought I would for this one, in the name of sharing. There are often many possible 'stopping points' along the way of constructing a work, some that would have held their own but often I am propelled to keep painting more layers just for the discovery of what might be.

This is one of those paintings. I know there were a couple of points I could have stopped but the intricacy of all these layers can't be reached in a short period of time and once the journey has begun it is so tempting to continue.

I may lose a couple of paintings in the process but a depth of layers can only be reached by continuing and for me, it is often just the play of dark and light that keeps me exploring. Each application bringing with it a new resonance that affects the way all the existing colors read off one another.

Here are some of the stages of the making of this work.

As you can see the orientation of a work can change throughout it's making.

There are a couple of stages I didn't capture along the way, but I hope this gives you a feeling of the trust process involved in each stage leading to the next. The final outcome isn't the product of a vision from the outset as rather a culmination of the footprint of the journey.

"The Woods" - Finally complete after months of indecision!

Last night I finished the final layers on 'The Woods'.

I have been working on this painting over the course of many months. I have a system of moving 'finished' paintings into the hallway for a month or two before I move them into the sunroom, (the viewing room). This time gives me a chance to evaluate whether they do infact need anything more or are truly complete.

Many times I feel a work is complete, only to change my mind a little while later. This 'resting' phase has become an important stage in the paintings life. It either moves forward into the sunroom, where it can be seen by people coming to have a look at what is new from the studio, or it gets reworked and added to in some way that hopefully enriches it.

Sometimes, I have overworked paintings and 'lost' them after deciding they needed something more but that is just part of the process of creating. If it feels like it needs something else and I didn't take it back in for a rework I would feel unsatisfied moving it to the sunroom.

It is worth the possibility of losing the painting along the way in order to feel it is truly complete. It takes walking past them on the way to the studio door and looking at them over time from different perspectives on different days, to know for sure.

This painting sat in the hall for some months. I would take it out into the sunroom, only to bring it back into the hall again. I am glad I did. The extra couple of layers really added to the mood and I now feel satisfied with the finish.

So, out to the sunroom she goes, ready for someone to find it a new home in theirs!

An experiment - A resurrection

I am undertaking a course on marketing for Artists at the moment and am learning many things. Not all of them are sitting comfortably, as those of you who are familiar with my work would know I am an intuitive painter. What that means is I don't have a preconceived notion of what I am going to paint before I pick up the brush and begin. I like it that way. It is very much a part of the journey of creating for me.

The idea of being marketable, at least from most Galleries perspective from what I am learning is producing quality and quantity of easily recognisable work, among other reasons I am sure. It is an interesting topic.

I understand from a business point of view it makes sense, if you invest in promotion and help build a brand to have the expectation that there is a continuity to draw on and build a loyalty to that brand and style. Then the consumer knows what to expect from a specific artist and the gallery can promote a certain aesthetic with confidence.

It works for many artists, I know it does, I have seen their work and yes there is a continuity of theme or style that one learns to expect from them. It means you might recognize their work before reading a signature and if you like their style, you may return for further purchases or be confident in recommending their work to others.

I also feel it has the possibility of making a studio into a production line based on the idea of sales rather than pure artistic exploration, which is fine too unless, like me, creating art is an exploration of self through my materials, as much as it is a means to create a painting of aesthetic value.

There are artists who managed to engage in a specific subject matter they wish to explore continuously and with passion without a production line tendency. Robert Ryman,  with his White Paintings for example. His approach to his subject was not the identification with color or image, rather the act of painting itself and the exploration of what various strokes, techniques and additives meant to the paint. The very fact he explored the physicality of painting itself produced a body of recognisable work with a recognisable theme of investigation into his materials. (See my blog post below, from May 13th 2011)

I consider my work to be a collaboration with my materials and what the paint teaches me along the way to a resolved piece IS the point to my time spent in the studio, it is the joy in the very act of painting that makes being a painter so fulfilling to me. A discovery of my personal qualities along with the qualities of my materials and how they interact.

A gallery perspective may be that it is 'safe' to change a style once a brand loyalty is established as long as there are underlying principles that run through the different variations, again making the work identifiable at a glance or at least having enough brand loyalty to inspire investigation into the new style of work. I really do understand this concept. Finding a way to achieve this with my own work is more challenging.

I experiment with layers of Glaze and Pigment, techniques to produce different outcomes and palettes that resonate over the build for a satisfying outcome. The colors differ widely depending on my mood at the time, often more colorful when I am feeling energetic and more neutral or earthy tones when I am seeking calm. I definitely feel affected emotionally and energetically by the color choices I make and consider my time in the studio a sort of 'life therapy' as much as an investigation into the properties of paint. The idea of even pre-planning the palette rests uncomfortably.

So where does this new approach to making art (in terms of a Gallery relationship) leave me in regard to my arts practice? The same place I was before I suppose but with a better understanding of why they do what they do and why I do what I do. Finding a compatible Gallery may not be as easy as it might be if I was to focus in on a particular style, if I stay true to my experimenting and intuitive approach but I am sure I will find one who relates to my work in the way I do.

Meanwhile, I have interpreted this dilemma- perhaps literally and over the past weeks of losing sleep and my creative urge in order to explore how I could apply this new found knowledge to what I do, I collected a couple of paintings from the studio, cut them up into little inch squares and cement glued them on top of another painting. This was a way of working through the thoughts about this topic while remaining creative but not committing brush to canvas in any chosen style. It was extremely cathartic and an enjoyable process. Each tile carries with it the vibration of it's origin and contributes to the new work comprising of many pieces coming together as a whole.

I am happy to say I like the end result as well, which is a bonus and I am choosing to explore it a little further in the process of repeating the process with varying sized tile and different styles of my work selected to deconstruct and reconstruct. I am going to call the series 'Resurrection'!

It's a metaphor for the resurrection of my faith in my own intuitive, creative process as much as it is in the resurrection of deconstructed works into something new. On with the journey!

Blog post May 13th 2011: http://www.deborahrhee.com/robert-ryman/