Upcoming Exhibition in Pittsburgh PA

I have a piece in a show that opens March 3rd (6pm) at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. The show is juried and is part of a NSAL competition. There are some pretty sweet cash prizes to be had and I've put forth a watercolor effort I'm quite proud of. There is a cropped preview of the painting above. Please come to the show if you are available, I will be in Pittsburgh and would love to see you.

The work is entitled "The Point at Which the Stream Emerges" and depicts the Nine Mile Run culvert opening at the Braddock Avenue entrance to Frick Park. The site is a significant focal point of interest in Pittsburgh at the moment. The Nine Mile Run Watershed Association is actively designing a forward thinking demonstration project at this location, one that considers and improves upon the existing nature and culture relationships.

I painted this, in part, in an attempt to preserve and crystalize this particular moment. The image acts as a dual symbol; one reflecting upon the past decisions and policies that lead to such a state, and the other symbolizing the catalyst that moved people to dream and actively change the world that we live in. I hope that the painting can serve as point of departure for dialogue, some will still see it as a sewer and some will be passionately engaged with what it is "becoming."

I also am scratching the surface on a concept I'd like to call the politics of space. When painting charged "landscapes" - it seems as if the issues in that space are embedded in the physical structure in a way that can be read like a text. More on that as it develops.

Update to the Artworks section of the site

Just a quick note to point out that I've update the artworks section with long overdue navigation improvement. You can now view my artwork in 4 separate galleries; paintings, drawings, works on paper, and
collages. And I put little arrows above each work that advances the image gallery.

No more web mazes to navigate just to see some of my work! Feedback is always appreciated.

Another Painting Progress Report

This one is a portrait of Samantha. The first image is from 1/19/2007. In it, you can see that my colors are a bit muddy, but the expression of the brush stroke is interesting, most notably reflected in the face. The placement is also a bit murky and I am working it out in a sculpting type way. The blue underpainting is something that persists into later versions. Underneath this painting is a failed attempt at painting Samantha sleeping. I rarely end up giving up completely on a painting. It was interesting to paint over the image completely, without even taking a photograph. Stepping stones, so they say.


On 1/25/2007, I've refined the light a bit on top of the skeleton defined from the previous image. The mouth is wrong, as well as the jaw line. The eyes show potential, but a probably wrong since the rest of the painting is still shifting. The atmosphere of the room starts to open up. The timidness of the body expression is taking away from the impact I am after.



On 1/27/2007, the painting looks like this. I begin to clarify the colors and light a bit more. The right side of the painting is starting to gel, most notably the back of the room. The placement of Sam is still a little wishy washy. I have been avoiding the neck and collar bone area, which is an integral part of the body expression. I've clarifyed her mouth a bit more, but until the neck is sorted out, no real conclusions can be made. I believe if you click on the images, it takes you to my flickr account where larger versions can be seen.

Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Painting Progression #1 A Forest Grove.

I remember seeing a movie about 10 years ago or so, where a film crew focused on a picasso painting as he worked on it over however many hours. It was amazing to watch the animated changes play out across the canvas. It also brought a layer of transparency to painting that I thought was curious. You could follow the decision making process. I thought, it would be good to try something like that with my paintings. Digital imaging is cheap, and looking at the images in succession seems like a way to learn something.

This first image was from the 19th of January. I had several sessions on the work already, having first laid down an acrylic underpainting. I believe this was the first time that most of the acrylic ground had been covered by oils.

What I like at this point:

• The odd colors that are bubbling up. Most notably the blue in the upper right section, and the red along the tree in the middle. The red vibrates off of the leafy greens, and the blue gives an atmospheric, sunlight exposure.
  
• The "fractured" look. It's a bit of a variant on what I have been chasing lately, but shares the dominant characteristic. Frustratingly enough, I have not been able to put words to exactly what it is. At best, think of frost on a window... the surface structure that provides a cohesiveness for the frost... I feel like that shows up in areas of my paintings. I haven't been able to get that sense across a whole canvas yet, (with maybe the exception of the lyrical brownfield paintings) but want to get to it. The look has primarily been more organic than fractured before this painting. I was intruiged.
  

The next day, the 20th, the painting looked like this. The main work done here seems to be on the grass ground. Moving things into place, and trying to get the intricate shadow patterns. Some nice things:

• The green core in the shadow on the 3rd tree from right. Almost serves to bring that physical space closer to you, the kind of intimacy of a show on grass in bright sunlight.
• Also- between the center two trees, I started to get the atmospheric purple effect of distance. Purple mountains majesty and whatnot.
• The upper left- an effort to chase the more familar "swirly organic" version of the previous "frost fracture." Maybe this blog will help me clarify how to explain exactly what I'm getting at there.
  

The 23rd.

Bringing the sun out. Took it straight through that previously mentioned blue in the upper right, and now the remnant blue peeking out starts to work nicely. Keeping a bit of the fracture, but still working to "set up" everything in place. After setting up comes refinement. But at this point I am starting to recognize a problem with the 3rd tree from the right. Check back for the next update to see if I fixed it well. Next week will probably be some progress paintings of a Sycamore Tree I am working on.