Five & Six

I haven't not been doing art....

Painting is still not flowing off my brushes, but I've been photographing.

Sunday Morning, China Camp, California.

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Fan II, acrylic on canvas, 20"x 20"

Went back to the image of my grandfather's fan. 

Started with the idea of making a black and white painting but some warm tones snuck in. 

I might have another go at this next week.

Scissors II, acrylic on paper

Also worked with an old image of scissors.

First repainted a canvas version I did years ago that was a little still, it stayed a little stiff, 

I think it'll be a bag soon... and then did this version on paper, which I like better.

Speaking of bags:

Twin Peaks bag, front and back. I like what's happening in the back!

I spend a lot of time teaching photography to young students, mostly 3rd through 5th graders.

I don't tell them what to photograph, I figure it's their world, they can show me what they see. 

We work a lot on how to take photographs in focus, 

and then sometimes that rule gets broken brilliantly:

Week Four

Is it really week four? I don't even know anymore. 

For the past few weeks I have had to pull back and regroup. Painting has not been going very well, painful in fact, and repainting wasn't working either. Both of which put me in a funk. 

This was a new painting.... after trying to figure out what I really would paint if I could paint anything, I thought BIG black and white paintings... went to the basement and pulled out a large gessoed piece of un-stretched canvas and painted a crow. It was terrible.

 The next morning it was still terrible.

So I made into this bag. 

It works as a bag! 

I started to pull old work off stretcher bars and sew. 

A couple I thought needed repainting to make a better bag, 

but then after repainting, I think I now like them as paintings.

 I'll have to live with them for a while before I decide what they'll end up as.

Can't let go of the process of painting, so I am limping along for now. 

This is a transistor radio I bought at a flea market just to paint:

Transistor Radio, acrylic on board, 8" x 10"

I don't know why I am being drawn to objects with a lot of detail, but that's how it is right now.

I was talking about this project the other day with a parent 

and we were both remarking on how these are often our favorite kid's art projects,

 simple objects drawn with charcoal and white pastel, mounted together.