Mountain sides and Moochie

Worked on El Cap Swing - entirely on the right hand side of the canvas, punching up the darks and adding texture, plus another layer of paint on the climber.


If you remember the Sanctuary painting, I made one final change to it - added Moochie, sitting on the chair/throne.

Here's a detail. The eyes aren't finished, but the rest is.

I have my own reasons as to why I did this, but I think I'll let the painting speak for itself.

Gripland, the c-stand and sandbag jungle

Back to Gripland today. Mostly worked on cleaning up the set wall on the left hand side, mottling the floor, and adding shadows to C-stands. More c-stand edges plus artificial tree leaves tomorrow, then starting on the heaps of electrical cords.

I've pretty much decided this is what I want on my October solo show card, so the pressure is on to have it finished and photographed by mid-August.

Storm debris and strands of hair.

Worked on Tornado yesterday while Gripland was drying. Re-did the darks, and added lots of debris, especially on the slate path. Pretty soon it will be time to tackle the pine needles, and they are legion.

Also worked on the self portrait. Lots of cussing. Some hair pulling out over painting individual strands of hair. Not unlike painting pine needles, now that I think about it.
The rose patches on the back of the coat, the paint brush, and the texture on the edge of the mirror frame went well.

Self portrait x 3

I worked on the self portrait today.

Here's a detail of the face - It's too wet to put in all the fine lines, but the shapes are there.

Except for a few more key sags and wrinkles, I am going to use great restraint and not polish this. If I get the urge, I'll work on the mirror frame. heh.
The hand and brush need another few rounds, and I'll and clean up the sleeves and the edges where the hair lies over the coat.
The solemn expression? The curse of an overbite -  I didn't want to paint teeth and I can't smile without them showing.
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Adding figures, while chanting 'NOT a portrait NOT a portrait NOT a portrait'

I spent the afternoon laying in the two figures and adding some paint to the brick lattice. Somewhat daunted by the amount of hours I'm going to have to put in to get this where it needs to be.
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I had my OMG moment of realizing how much work it's going to take to cover this much canvas with leaves, pine needles, and bricks.
I got past it with the idea that sometimes all you need is boldness and bigger brushes.

Down in Gripland again

Today it was Gripland's turn at bat. 




I placed the raw lumber back of the set wall on the right, darkened the ceiling, started filling in the floor, indicated some of the leaves on the various silk trees, and did a few of the c-stands on the right. Also threw another layer of white on the glowy scrims. My eyes are ready to roll up in my head. It's a tad...complex. It's a matter of patiently working my way across. I'm saving the ladder and the male figure on the lower left side for desert.
Time to clean the brushes and make dinner.

Tornado Aftermath

Here's the start of Tornado Aftermath.
Yesterday I painted in the main tree trunks and broken limbs, and parts of the garage, brick lattice and the house wall. The tree crashed into the roof over our bedroom during a tornado. It's a good visual metaphor for the tornado that was Emily as a teenager, roaring through the home.

Today I worked on the shapes indicating sky, branches, and pine needles. Below; adding fallen limbs, greens that will become the pine needles, the walkway to the house and the coiled water hose that hangs on the side of the house. Worked on the raw ends of wood here and there and the dark in between the brick lattice.Yet to come are the figures of Emily and I on the right - she's standing next to me and holding an apple, looking at the camera with this pleased little smirk.

Emily dropped by, and said that, as usual, this is her favorite stage of my work. She loves it semi-painted, with part of the grid and drawing visible.

Gripland begins, triple self portrait gets a mirror and easel

Here's the beginning of Gripland. I spent several days on the drawing; a forest of C-stands, behind a tv series set wall, with a small figure of a naked man walking through it. It's the literal behind-the-scenes jungle where the film techs live. It's monochromatic in a glowy way, mostly variation on burnt umber and ocher.


I revisited the triple self portrait, adding a silver frame mirror on an aluminum easel.

I still need to invent some kind of shimmer to signal the mirror's surface, and to refine the painted portrait without losing the 'in progress' look of it.