the wip (work-in-progress): self criticism/self doubt

it is still on the easel, right outside our front door, on the deck.  the oil paints, brushes, still in place.  it is setting up.  it won't leave me alone, sitting one step beyond my comfort zone.  potential, possibilities.  i think of my artist friend howard kline in Cambria Califonia building and painting/drawing lobster boats endlessly, joyfully, exhuberantly!  hello howard!  these boats don't come easy. 

i'm interested in the underlying structure of this painting.  perhaps that is why i decided to leave it until today.  this morning david said 'don't throw it away.  leave it.'  so, i look again.  i see a small square 'painting-within-a-painting' in the upper left hand corner that has some possibility.  when i see the whole painting based on this design, i think of jaser johns' flag series with a question:  can the rest of the picture plane be organized into 'strips' of the landscape, with an underlying reference to a flag.  the answer is yes.  ok, other options:

scrape the acid green, get further or closer away from the boats.

or i can try to 'kill the painting'.  paintings do not die easily, and i have already made that one step into beyond known boundaries.  pink.  that is what i keep feeling needs to happen.  how to do it without making the painting 'sweet', and how to make the work unto itself and whole.

for now, i will draw.

best,

deb


ps:  i have had many responses with preferences for the varied states of this painting.  the dry state getting a nod twice for like, one for not.  three yes on the way it is.  and i just started to scrape it.  i worry about the panel being poorly constructed.  i have already gouged into the masonite support.

The Trapper John, signed

It must be done; I signed it yesterday and put the painting in the stacks.
"The Trapper John" 30x32"
copyright debbie clarke 2008
egg tempera, chalk and metal leaf on canvas.

Progress Report: The Trapper John and The Dog & I drawing

This drawing is done. needs to be sealed. then the final light will be applied. stay tuned.
"Trapper John and The Dog & I" 30x32" copyright debbie clarke 2008, gloucester ma. chalk, aluminum leaf, wax, sharpie on canvas.

Trapper John, work in progress, as of 9/01/2008

Work in Progress:minus Dog&I and Trapper John

Two views, same painting.
The egg wash and chalk drawing is completely covered in 1-3 layers of aluminum leaf, adhered with gelatin slurry . I am in the process of burnishing the surface with cotton wool to reveal the images beneath the aluminum leaf.

There is a tradition of devotional art in which the sacred is visited through repitious acts, such as tending the altar every day. I have seen Shiva altars in which layer upon layer of silver or gold leaf is encrusted inches thick on the yoni/linga. This painting reminds me of the practice. The aluminum leaf will continue to be added until the Dog&I and the Trapper John become iconic. Sometimes the light hits this canvas and I am momentarily blinded by the brilliance.

Can you see what I see?

Trapper John, work in progress

The Trapper John minus Dog & I. still drawing, constructing the picture plane. media: chalk, egg yolk, gelatin slurry, aluminum leaf. it changes with the light.

"Dog and I" work in progress

This is the view. The tide comes in, the tide goes out, the boats come in, the boats go out, the boats rise and fall below the pier.

This is the first new work from my new nest. It is chalk, egg yolk, gelatin, aluminum leaf. 30x32inches on acrylic primed cotton duck.

Dog and I detail: The Dog and I (it will be yellow with green)

Dog and I detail: The Trapper John.

Sort of academic with a twist, a painterly drawing? some compositional dynamics to work out, then onto the next.