Friday, May 27, 2011

The constant gardener is brushing away the painter!

I thought the neighbours had played a joke on me when I saw one of our decorative trees completely uprooted this morning...


Apparently, the decorative tree had become too large for its rooting system. A positive outcome, we're back to the minimalist approach of a Zen garden, which is the way the Buddha wanted it in the first place! We've had rainy weather lately, and everything is growing like crazy, like the green terror...

My next painting: "Pipe dream"...

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The jock take II .. I lost the running shoe, so the new title will be "bedtime story"!

I took some time this morning to finalize this second attempt based on my previous "failure". I didn't dare to part from my usual approach with raw cotton/linen though...


... I guess, the appeal of the canvas texture was just to much for me!


A couple of coats of varnish will improve color saturation.

It is possible though to achieve a better balance between thick paint and transparency working with a larger format. This was the case with a few of my previous paintings using raw cotton/linen as support. I personally prefer a better balance. Ce n'est que partie remise!

For now though, I want to pursue my experiments on regular raw canvas which has a tighter knit thus forcing me to use more paint. An example is the painting used as the header in this blog. In a nutshell, I'm still preoccupied with textural effects, but without using paint by the gallon... at least for now!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Gardening, a different type of art.... but an art nonetheless!

At last, the first real summery day of this year so far. After a miserable week weather-wise, we had to play catch up big time on the garderning side of things...


... but after a hard day's work, the "Muse" and I are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel... and we may very well have a summer this year! Next step, planting flowers!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Fiddling around... Take II of the previous painting on raw canvas, and rambling on my future direction!

Getting towards the end of our renovation project in the master bedroom, I'm left with little energy or desire to paint. For the sake of discipline, I took a 22 X 28 piece of loose canvas this afternoon to test the fluo pink on raw canvas...


I may stretch this one on stretcher bars and see how far I can go with it...

The last few paintings are leading me to take stock and figure out what I'm gonna to do next. Over the last year and a half or so, my general painting philosophy has been large formats, abstract in a close-up and figurative from a distance. Some of my last paintings from last year reflected that fairly well. Recently, I've been clashing abstraction with pure figuration (deconstruction). Abstraction in design has also made an appearance in a few of my paintings on raw canvas (ultimate fighters), which is an interesting development. In terms of abstraction though, there is still a lot that I need to accomplish, especially with the human face or figure.

This year, the appeal of raw canvas has sent me in a slightly different path, which I felt was conducive to developing a more personal style or look while remaining true to my painting philosophy.  However, I now realize that my rendering has progressively gotten tighter on that support (my flocks of birds are an exception), perhaps an unconscious effort to play it safe. Evidently, this is a departure from my usual painting philosophy. More recently, a more narrative approach to painting caught my attention (e.g., the painting above), but that also is not aligned to what I really wanted to accomplish.

I still have a fair amount of regular raw canvas to experiment with. My instinct tells me that I should build on what I have accomplished thus far on regular canvas, and go at it with gusto, using the palette knife and the brush simultaneously. It's when I loosen up that the real me emerges! However, I still want to maintain a painting stream characterized by a more fluid approach with metallic paint and fluo pink.

At the same time as following this game plan, I still want to develop further the contemporary look that made it's appearance in a few of my latest paintings. Time will tell where this is going to lead me!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The jock final... Had to abdicate!

Overworked and grey, this piece rapidly became a dead horse...


 ... that was not worth flogging anymore. Every now and then, I get a reminder that I still have some work to do technically!

Note: Ironically, the first color pass had a lot going for it in terms of color nuances...

Monday, May 16, 2011

The jock - step III... Caught off balance!

The third pass revealed a certain difficulty in getting the results I wanted with the semi-transparent impasto paint I usually use...

 
 ... certain colors seemed to behave differently. My first attempt with this new type of canvas was with purely transparent colors (previous painting), and results were pretty much as anticipated.

I'll keep working on this one as an experiment...

Note: The previous shadow had to go, as I found it way too distracting...

Note to self: " I should reserve this canvas for metallic paint or transparent colors with very special effects in mind. Otherwise, I'm brought back to a rather conventional way of painting. I like the textured look I developed with raw canvas or the combined use of the brush and the palette knife on regular canvas".

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The jock - step II... Getting my hands on any leftover fluid colors I could find!

This one was threatening to become a monochromatic painting from the start... so I decided to use this second pass to change direction...


I basically used any colors I had on my palette including some pre-mixed fluid colors I kept in jars. I've managed to retain a fair amount of transparency... but I'm totally surprised by the smoothness and the unusual behaviour of this canvas. It reminds me of hot pressed watercolor paper... paint seems to sit there afloat.

I'd like to put some fire in that painting... now that I have a glimpse of what could be!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The jock - step I... Trying another one with the new super smooth primed canvas...

Having some withdrawal symptoms from not painting for more than a week, I started a new one with a transparent approach in mind, at least in the initial phase...

My plan is to gradually introduce opaque colors wherever needed. I'm timidly starting to put some ideas on canvas these days, so technique is taking a back seat for now. In a way, I'd like to always paint the same way, letting the support dictate the final look...

Note: This is another one of my "smart ass title" painting, where the "jock" is represented by a cast shadow and a running shoe!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Montreal art contest... Thinking about my painting submissions.

Not much time to paint this week, as we continue our renovation project in the master bedroom. I've been thinking about the paintings I will submit for the upcoming Montreal art contest...

The one on the right is highly experimental while the one on the left is rather conceptual and fairly conservative. In my range of portraits over the last 3 years, they represent two extremes, and as such are fairly reflective of my current artistic preoccupation in this area. I may be able to initiate another painting on Thursday.

Note: I've been thinking about a new title for the painting on the left, "Don't cry over spilled milk" which seems to relate to the graphic design better. As for the one on the right, I will settle for "metamorphosis". My selection has to take into consideration the largest format allowed, i.e., 24 X 30 (most of my works are 36 X 36)...