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.

Sketch for Biba II

Sketch for Biba II. Another sketch in oil from the same night.

Next week we'll start on the formal painting.

I wonder what that will look like?

Painting Gabriela on the Couch with Pillows

Painting Gabriela on the Couch with Pillows.

Video. Look closely, and you can see the black and white sketch (in oil) leaning against the wall.

Ewelina in a Chair

Ewelina in a Chair.

Black and white pencil drawing on paper. Oxford Street. June, 2008.

A Wrench Beside A Bottle Perpendicular to the Ground

A Wrench Beside A Bottle Perpendicular to the Ground. Get it? The bottle is parallel to the floor, but perpendicular to the ground (the canvas).

The Long Dark sketchbook begins with drawings from the night of August 13th, 2006. The last drawings I made in Richmond, realised the day before my original departure (I later decided to move my ticket back a week).

Notice the connection? You may also notice the flipside of my self-portrait, drawn on the same night).

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 Band Studio

The Band Studio. Richmond. Virginia. Detroit Transit Railroad. Music.

The boys are recording a new album this spring. Is it an even trade, this London thing? Somehow, I don't think so... hmmm. the album I didn't play on...

You can listen to our first album here ( or, from iTunes).

You can see loads of my paintings on the walls. There's even one of my sculptures (from 1996)...

If the walls of that studio could speak....

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.

Happy Mother's Day, Here are Some Flowers

Happy Mothers Day, Here are Some Flowers. My junior year in college (1998) saw me with access to a painting studio. And what better way to say Happy Mothers Day than a beautiful painting of flowers that will never wilt? There was a shell yellow Asian vase, intended as a gift to my girlfriend, and a collection of yellow, green, and purple petals and leaves. I took this picture over the winter holidays at the tail end of 2007. Home for a few days, for the first time in 18 months, I was impressed with myself for leaving so many beautiful paintings. Many, I saw for the first time...

The Dream A Train Dreams When It's Dreaming of Itself

The Dream A Train Dreams When It's Dreaming of Itself.

Painted on the wall outside of Detroit Transit Railroad's studio (my rock band).

Trains seem to have such a self-inflated opinion of themselves.

But, don't we all dream in self-personification?

This is the entrance to DTR's studio.

Portrait of Sari

Portrait of Sari. From Japan, Sari traded me two books of pictures from famous Japanese

artists for this oil painting. One of them even opens backwards... really, really cool and well worth it. She also connected me with a Japanese Manga artist who's illustrating the G.E.T.'s adventures (my current hyper dimensional music project). Actually, Sari is doing all the translating because Calvet-san doesn't really speak English. Thanks again Sari!!!!!

Day I
Day II

Sari

Sari. The first of three sittings...

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (video)

Murals for St. Christopher's Inn (video). A brief approximation of the experience of rotating slowly in the center of the room while standing with one leg planted solidly on the ground. The other leg? That's the one contorted in a dire need-to-maintain-balance position, in choreographed slow-motion tiptoe between bed, bedpost, and floor. "peaceful" was the word most often heard as a description to the room once I had finished. Funny, given that my use of aerosol varnish set off the fire alarm. The entire room was thick with haze and post aerosol fume, but I didn't get it until several dirty looks and one really loud alarm later. But, I digress... Eventually, I had to cut open two onions, leaving one piece in each corner of the room, to get rid of the tremendous smell...

Sketch for Kristin's Back

Sketch for Kristin's Back. Before I paint, I always make a sketch of what it is that I intend to paint. In some cases, I'll sketch directly onto the canvas or board. For this painting, I drew a thumbnail sketch onto graph paper, eventually using a grid to transfer some basic proportions to the board. If you compare the sketch with the painting, you'll notice that the dimensions of the board are in a different ratio to the dimensions of the thumbnail sketch.

I don't always use a grid to enlarge a sketch, but at the time I was planning a larger project and was practicing....

Back of a Woman (Kristin)

Back of a Woman (Kristin). Painted yesterday, Sunday in Peckham (South of the Thames). Nice. A classic pose, the back of a woman is an elegant indication of her true beauty. There's an undeniable geometric foundation to her form that is both subtle and constructive...

A Vase With Three Flowers

A Vase With Three Flowers. An atari-like composition, I must admit... Superimposing a gigantic grid over the complex reality of a vase and three beautiful flowers, I still smile thinking of this painting. Now, it sits on a wall in an office, shining a cheerful light. beep. beep. and it was all according to a plan

Still Life wth Pan

Still Life with Pan. Well, I was researching the grid. It was an independent study, during which I began to develop certain ideas which have served as the fundamental basis for much of my artwork. In this painting, the plane is divided into four quadrants. Fascinated as I am with geometry, it seems that each object begins to allude to certain basic shapes.

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.

Apples and Bananas

Apples and Bananas. Painted as one of my last still life paintings of 2006. I was sitting at a brown wooden table. It was a summer night, calm, and damp in silence...

This particular series incorporates pseudo-dynamic elements to invoke relative notions of our own ultimately geometric composition. The same series also alludes to the particle-based structure by which reality is composed. I'll tell you more about it if you ask nicely...

Girl on Couch (Isabel): Painting

Girl on Couch (Isabel): Painting. I changed palettes for this one. Not because I wanted to, but because the colors made sense, and perhaps because it is so similar to the color of the drawings that I've been working on for the past year. Finally, a good painting...

The drawing was nice too.

Again, July transformed me. I had no idea where I would land, and suspect that I have not yet landed...