Naomi
Last week of painting: all done
Well, mostly all done. There’s a painting I’m auctioning off for charity that I need to finish, a couple of small paintings, and I need to touch up the sides of some of the paintings I’ve finished – but, the hard work is done. I’m completely overwhelmed by how much I’ve been able to get done and to be able to look at these paintings that have lived in my head for so many years. It’s an amazing gift to be able to make ideas real and it’s a feeling that I’ll always cherish. It’s hard to believe with the new baby, a full time job, and re-launching Dr. Sketchy’s Philly that I was able to get this done. I owe so much to my wife Trish.
Here’s what I had on 1/24
Here’s what I had on 2/28
That’s an amazing feeling.
OK, enough seriousness. Here’s what happened yesterday.
Sunday
Last Week of Painting. Part 1
Last week to paint. I have to use the time in March to varnish all the paintings, photograph them all and promote the show. In addition to painting this week, I also have to write an artist’s statement, a bio, and get a promotional image together. Oh, and I very much want to do three runs of prints.
Anyway, this week is about painting. I’m painting the skin and shadows in first. They look a little creepy without eyes and lips. But you have to paint light to dark in watercolors. We’ll see if I can transform these from Fluid Creepy to Fluid Beauty by the end of the week.
Sunday night:
Monday night:
Tonight I hope to work on two paintings. We’ll see.
Getting it all done in time for the show
I had a bit of a meltdown on January 28th. If you know me personally, you know on the outside my meltdowns aren’t very noticeable. On the inside, I had done the math, and realized with my current pace, and the time remaining until the end of February, divided by the number of remaining paintings I had to do for the show … well I was going to run out of time.
Unsure of what to do, other than doing the math over and over again, I talked to Trish about it and she suggested that I change the way I had been painting. Instead of painting a complete piece, I could use the technique that I had used in 2006 when I did my first series and that I use often when I do my Halloween paintings.
Sunday, January 24th
Inspired by this and running on fear/excitement adrenaline, I started painting. I wasn’t sure exactly what the color scheme was going to be for the next seven paintings, or even the style, but I found myself using an old technique that I wanted to bring back soon and after about a half hour, this was the result:
I put that off to the side, still drying and then did this:
The technique was similar to one I used in late 2008, but I hadn’t tried it with the new watercolors I was learning how to use. This time I put water down, then threw paint down.
I felt very differently after I had painted those two. The plan was to paint every night, for about a half hour to an hour. Just before sleeping. Working on the same type of stage on all seven. Backgrounds, then fabric, then hair, then portraits. While I began to work on these paintings, I also had to prime two 24″ by 48″ canvases with the magic watercolor gesso.
I had planned out five pieces that work work together:
Wednesday, January, 27th
Thursday, January 28th
Friday, January 29th
Sunday, January 31st I drew the images on the two 24″ by 48″ canvases.
Monday, February 1st
Wednesday, February 3rd
Another view
Saturday, February 6th
Monday, February 8th
Tuesday, February 9th
Wednesday, February 10th
Thursday, February 11th
Saturday, February 13th Did this:
and this:
Got some nice feedback on Twitter. That really helps me keep painting.
Sunday, February 14th, I did this:
Then reworked it:
Knowing I had to finish the fabric, I worked on this:
some more
Monday, February 15th, I realized I had to wrap up the next stage, the hair marathon. In order:
You can see it’s getting crowded in the studio.
I hope to finish these seven paintings by 2/28.
I’ll have an update next Monday.
