Paintings. Drawings. Arithmetic.: chair

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The Chair

The Chair. I'm reminded a bit of Joseph Kosuth, but only slightly.

This particular chair is often occupied. At this particular moment, it is not. What you're seeing is the middle of the first session of a portrait, during one of our breaks.

Welcome to New York. Thanks to Lyndsey for agreeing to take a turn as a subject. Painting the portrait of a photographer is pleasant evening.

This first stage was an exercise in proportion and composition. Stage two is scheduled for this week, where we'll hopefully settle in on local color.

Two Chairs in Camden

Two Chairs in Camden.

January, 2008. Warm by the fire at The World's End. Pen on Paper. A drawing of two chairs. From the Warm Blanket sketchbook.

Girl on the Chair with Hand

Girl on the Chair with Hand. She's sitting on a wooden chair, with her right hand leaning across the top. This was a warm-up sketch with two pencils.

The Empty Chair. Camden. A coffee shop. An empty chair. Lucy. A watercolor sketch for a painting. Or, a watercolour sketch for a painting. Geometry of the form. The form in geometry.

As I was painting, a well-meaning woman came over and started asking me questions. About my watercolors. About my watercolours. About my pens. About my drawings. And it was a bit annoying. A bit rude. And she should have waited for me to take a break. Lucy was posing hard.

Note to people: it's better to not to disturb artists engaged in the act of creating. Wait until they take a break. Otherwise, you only get one word answers. Had she waited, I would have loved to talk. But,...

Coffee and Complicated Thoughts in a Red Chair

Coffee and Complicated Thoughts in a Red Chair. Lesson #6: Composition and Shape.

Downstairs in a London coffee shop, the chairs were especially comfortable. Chain coffee or independent coffee, I don't really mind as long as there are comfortable chairs. Especially during the long London winter, coffee shops are some of my favorite places to draw.

This is a picture of me from last week, complete with my adventure pack. Pen in hand, I was drawing a quick sketch of Meral. At the same time, I was explaining the importance of shape (particularly implied shape) in composition.

Meral seemed to understand, but thought that the picture made her look fat. Which is when I began another rant on the beauty of shape in form.

In this case, I was particularly fond of the three-dimensionality of the drawing (and the shapes found within).

Sometimes it's better for me not to talk too much.

Meral, Discontent in Green Jacket at Brighton

Meral, Discontent in Green Jacket at Brighton. I'm supposed to be at the Camden Crawl right now. My red glitter bracelet is still on from last night, thankfully. Somehow. So, I'll keep this short.

Meral and I went to Brighton this past Tuesday. No clouds, only sun. Brighton sure made herself beautiful for my first visit. A bit cold, maybe, but by spreading out on the beach, we could lay beneath wind-level.

Still, cold enough for coffee... Except that we decided to sit outside. And the place didn't serve coffee (hence the discontentment).

A Cardboard Painting of a Woman

A Cardboard Painting of a Woman. Lesson #5: Preparing the Ground.

Last week, Meral painted the cardboard white. We were using time wisely while waiting for the basecoat to dry on her official portrait.

Then. We worked on the couch pose a bit more before putting a coat of blue on the cardboard for good luck.

Last night, I needed to warm-up before putting in the next stage of color on the portrait.

So, I used the cardboard to make a quick sketch of Meral. It was a nice way to reintroduce myself to my pallete. At first, she hated it. But, then I fixed the drawing. Now she likes it more than the "real" picture.

You may recognize my red chair. While painting last night, I realized how beautiful Meral's portrait was turning out. Which is when I fell through the seat....

The Red Chair and Its Shadow

The Red Chair and Its' Shadow. You may recognize this chair as the one that I found in an alley (the one behind my studio-in-progress). However, I have since painted it red.

I found another chair on Thursday, one hand-crafted and with an elegantly curved back. I can't believe how lucky I've been with finding chairs! This new find has me thinking blue....

Self Portrait in Dining Room Mirror

Self Portrait in Dining Room Mirror. What can I say? It's me in the mirror, the mirror in the back of the dining room cabinet. A self-portrait, me and the chair. Drawn two weeks ago, I no longer look like this. A barber cut my hair last Thursday.

Amy in a Chair

Amy in a Chair. As many of you know, I've been going through the pages of the Lost Summer sketchbook. Well, there's loads more of those pages left, but I'm tired of putting them up. This painting is from the Women I Don't Know series.

After Amy graciously agreed to pose for four sittings, I proposed to finish when I found the perfect yellow (see the upper-right corner). Started in October 2007, I still have yet to find that perfect yellow. Which is disappointing indeed, since Amy is patiently awaiting the delivery of this very portrait. I hate to disappoint.

Check out a drawing from the Amy sessions.

Seated Nude (in a Chair)

Seated Nude (in a Chair). Although this looks like a preparatory sketch, it was painted after the oil painting, which was painted after a rather large thumbnail sketch... Part of the "Women I Don't Know" series, I used the oil painting as a reference so that I might amplify the geometry of the form. I'm going to make prints of this drawing, mostly because I like it so much. My favorite part is Amy's hair, composed of rectangles which approximate the "curve" of her head. I had just started teaching some basic principles of calculus and approximations of curves were in the forefront of my thoughts...

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part III)

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part III). I kept this idea... In a hostel, who typically stays in a private double room? Couples. So, I went with something which alluded to the idea of a relationship, without being cliche. The biggest bottles I've ever painted... 130cm tall...

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part II)

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part II). Another in the series of posts documenting my first mural assignment (for a hostel near London Bridge) Actually, these two sketches were never realized... the top sketch features a drawing I had done of a Henry Moore sculpture in the Hirshorn (Washington DC)... appropriate since I'm an American artist living in London.... get it? The bottom sketch is a recursive view of the window. The window featured such beautiful woodwork... ..and an amazing view of a really nice building across the street. Essentially, it's a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture... (Recursion is when the definition of something refers to itself). I'm also a mathematician living in London... get it? Anyway, due to the finite limitation of time, I had to cut out these two walls... (not literally).

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part I)

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (Part I). I spent all day yesterday (Saturday) getting a feel for the room and the people who come to stay in the London Bridge hostel. These drawings are loosely to scale... My thought is to produce some kind of serial, a story told in a succession of frames, a love story without the sappiness.

It's really important to me not to make the room too sterile. Although, part of me really wants to make huge drawings of a Hypodermic needle on the big wall by the door, a Scalpel on top of the bed, and a bunch of drawings of Gauze and Band-Aids on the big wall by the bed. I think it's the lighting in the now empty room...

Table and Chairs

Table and Chairs. The London winter paints everything black and white; in the hibernation of the sun, colors disappear. In February 2007, I was wandering lost and lonely through dark streets and empty tables. It was a particularly desolate time and the wasteland of existence seemed barren and bleak.

Still Life with Guitar

Still Life with Guitar. A classic. One of my favorite paintings... no real ideas, just my guitar on a chair. Painted in the undergraduate painting studio at William & Mary in the Spring of 1999, I was taking an overload in credits so that I could continue my painting instruction while undergoing student teaching in mathematics. I'm particularly fascinated with the color of this oil painting.

Paintings. Drawings. Arithmetic.