Process, Work and the Result

I’ve always liked the process of creating artwork. I was first drawn to printmaking when I started to take my work a little more seriously. I wasn’t very confident in my creative talent but I knew I could learn the processes required to make certain types of art, like printmaking, photography and alternative photo processes. I loved printmaking and prints I created were some of the first artwork I ever showed in public. Etching, lithograph, silk screen, colograph, and monoprinting all had there own particular look, and to become really proficient in any of them took, experience and attention to the detail of the process.

Donald Sultan is a well known artist who has created series of fairly simply images that required a great deal of material and construction technique. Below is one of his signature paintings. Materials consist enamel, tar and spackle on tile over masonite. Why would he choose such difficult materials when oil paint, acrylic or watercolors would have produced a similar result? First of all, I guess it’s the artist’s choice. Secondly, I suppose there is a certain amount of poetic irony putting a lot more work than is necessary to develop a simple idea. The amount of work an artist performs does matter! You have to remember, that any piece of art from an accompolished artist, even if it took him 15 mins to create, is the result of years of training, trial and error, skill development and application of knowledge from practice.

I’ve always like working with encaustic medium because of it’s versatility, the tactile experience of melting, coloring, applying and altering the encaustic wax medium. It’s mostly beeswax traditionally, so painting within it smells quite good, and the paintings themselves continue to have that slightly sweet incense fragrance characteristic of beeswax.

My latest piece uses text. the text was planned and laid out on the computer. A stencil was then made from the computer plan by hand. The stencil was then used to spray paint the rows of letter on a black encaustic background. I am now in the process of carving out the painted letters. The final step will be to rub the painting with paint similar to inking an etching plate.

Why do this? It’s going to look like the surface of an etching plate after inking and before printing. Except, apart for the use of the stencil, it has nothing to do with printmaking.

Title Yellows April 12 2008 Work Date 2008 Medium enamel, tar and spackle on tile over masonite Size h: 12 x w: 12 in / h: 30.48 x w: 30.48 cm

Nothing at All (Version 2)

I’ve returned to encaustic. I keep going back to it. I’ve been doing it for so long that I tend to think in encaustic. It’s both versatile and specific. You can do a lot of different things with it, however, each of those things have a specific look. The second piece in which will probably be a trio of works (not a tryptych exactly), is below. White encaustic background, with raised white letters. I rubbed a mixture of black and indigo over the surface, similar to the way that you would ink and wipe an etching plate. The black paint picks up the edges and imperfections on the encaustic surface.

I WISH I COULD BE NOTHING AT ALL

This is a lyric from the Love and Rockets song, Mirror People, a song I have loved for (ahem) decades. They reference zen philosophy a lot in their music which I appreciate. The piece below was somewhat inspired by this song.

The background is encaustic medium tinted with Naples Yellow. The letter have been spray painted on using a stencil. The idea was to carve the letters out with a sharp tool and then rub the indentations with oil paint as one would do with an etching plate. However, having got to this point in the plan, I’m thinking, maybe this done.

I like how it looks but I kind of feel like I didn’t do enough work on it. Process has always been important to me.

February is the Cruelest Month

February is my least favorite month of the year. It’s the deep heart of the winter where color is scarce, unless you consider grey and brown color The whiteness of a snow storm is welcoming as my eye and psyche grow tired and weighed on by the barren brown land and heavy overcast skies.

But all is not dreary and frozen. I always feel encouraged and extremely flattered when someone buys my work. My friend Dolores, wanted my scared hearts so badly she wore me down with negotiations for a lower price…which I was happy to do because of here enthusiasm for the work she bought.

Left to Right, Halloween Heart (Black as Your Soul), Airheart, Burning With Ecstacy)

Sea Nettles

Other artists have criticized me for switching mediums and styles too often. I’ve been told it’s like I’m working off my brand. Look, isn’t one of the essential things about art is that the artist is free to express himself anyway he feels? Off brand? While the monetary rewards of having a ‘Brand’ might be enjoyable, that would ruin art for me. It’s like saying, ‘make something like what we liked before, only a little different…but not much different. Now do that for the rest of your life. ‘

The image below is a sketch I did based on the Live Jellyfish cam from the Monterey Aquarium. You too can watch these alien creatures live their abstract lives.

The link is below:

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-and-exhibits/live-web-cams/jelly-cam

Pastel, colored pencil and acrylic on cotton rag.

The Eye of Providence

Possibly my daughter Julia’s eye, looks like hers. ..except for the blue eye shadow, lol

Progression of Santa Muerte

This piece took about 2 years to complete. I worked on it in Late 2016, put it aside around Feb., 2017, began working on it again in Summer 2017, and finished it about March 2018. Granted, most of that time she sat in a corner, looking at me in frustration with her hollow yet compassionate eyes (well, they would eventually look compassionate), urging me to finish her, sending me a Mother’s guilt. She sits in my living room. Several guests have told me the painting unnerves them. I painted her to look friendly and sympathetic. Or more specifically, she has an amused look because she knows nothing is going to last, so why so serious?

AIR SIGN - FINAL

My focus can be so microscopic when I’m making these pieces that I miss the bigger picture. Mainly that I’ve been showing this piece upside down. Air was Earth and Earth was Air. Here’s the final.