General art-related update

A devoted acolyte of the gallery wrap, I saw my painting 'The Interval' framed today at Huff Harrington Fine Arts and I'm a convert.

General art-related update
Worked on the Jordaan painting, mostly adding texture to the rug and bolt of velvet. It felt like weaving with paint. Boosted a few highlight areas and deepened some darks. I'm down to the fringe on the rug, the spokes on the bicycle wheel, and the two loose strings on the viola. It seems to be coming to an end very quickly all of a sudden.


I've painted the Rembrant sketch on the Kunsthistoriche sofa, worked a lot on the window view and red sketchbook. More to do on the wooden foot of the sofa and the top half of the marble column.

Robert wired the Palais Lichtenstein library painting for me today and I think I'll be varnishing it this weekend.
I bought a small (10x10) canvas to do a sliced tomato. There is something about painting with multiple vibrant reds and adding the glisten I just have not tired of.
I also took a walk yesterday, that ended up being 3.5 miles round trip, to the photo developing store, to print the initial candidates for my Metamorphosis series. I am spoiled for choice there. It's exciting and a little daunting for me to have so much work in hand.

Progess on the Kunsthistorische

I'm between shows - the next one is this Thursday - and happy to be back in the studio. I laid in the red sketchbook this morning. Last week was all about the bottom half of the marble, the woodgrain and deepening the dark behind it all. Later this week, once things dry a bit, I'll be working on the view outside the window. It needs to be both more substantial and less distinct. Then I'll take a metaphorical deep breath and tackle the sketch of Rembrandt.
I'm also entering a juried show, and applying for a residency at an artist's retreat, which mean asking for three letters of recommendation. Humbling experience, but humility is good for my soul, therefore good for my art.
I'm trying to figure out how to get a hold of certain props for a still life I want to put together. That's an adventure all by itself. Life is good.

Meanwhile, Back at the Kunsthistorische

Some days a change is as good as a rest. I needed some perspective on the library painting, so I switched back to working on the Drawing Rembrandt at Kunsthistorische.
I deepened the cherry and rose velvet colors on the velvet sofa, put the third coat on the sketchbook pages, and worked on the marble behind the sofa and on the bottom of the pillar. Doing marble is very Zen, or maybe a little like doing a topographical map. Then I studied my original drawing of the Rembrandt portrait that will be going on the sketchbook page in the painting.
A good day.

three shows in three months

Since I last posted, I've been working on an unplanned series paintings that have me so juiced up and excited that I hate to waste time sleeping.
Here's what happened-
I made up my mind last week to throw something into the MOCA GA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Georgia) pin-up show that opens tonight. I took a sheet of papyrus paper and gridded it with chalk and did a small oil painting of Rembrandt's staircase. It's all dark earthy reds and honey colored woods rising into the dark, with a thick ship's rope for a handrail. The limit of size for the show is 12x16," I left the edge of the papyrus raw. Working on an unfamiliar surface was really freeing. And it's doing something that's completely from my heart, and which carries three meanings for me - Rembrandt (art), steps (progress) on Papyrus (writing).

Another small works exhibition is going to be at the Dalton Gallery (a local non- profit college museum) and the deadline to submit work is Monday, Nov 24. Up to ten pieces, but nothing larger than 6x6." I bought 6 5x5" panels and am doing a series. These will be tiny, like a pages from a book of prayer. I've painted four and have two more to finish, photoshop, burn to a disc and get over to the gallery by Monday. Exhilarating to work this fast and this hard. No time for doubts or second guessing though, so in some ways it's easier.

Meanwhile my gallery, Huff Harrington Fine Art asked for some 'smalls, ( 8x8") for their December show. I am thinking about a wall of Delft tiles I saw in A'dam of children playing games. I'd like to do a set of four and somehow update the central figures while keeping old cracked and mottled 17th century cream background, and the Delft blue. Most of the fun will be in creating the surface textures of a three hundred year old cracked and chipped tile. Due the end of the month or as soon as I can send them over.
So - that's why I haven't blogged and that's why I'm headed into the studio right now.

Amsterdam

1.People zip out of nowhere on bicycles, often texting on their phones while pedaling at manic speeds. Jump out of the way, or die.
2. Rembrandt. Vermeer. Jan Steen. Hals.
3. It's a young town. About half the people look under forty and 90 percent of the street population looks twenty-ish. The other 10 percent is pregnant.
4. Sausage plus croissant makes a brodje, the national food. Unless you are into raw herring.
5. Staircases are carpeted spirals that go straight up - or down, if you are unwary.
6. You can cross without warning into the red light district. A clue – street level picture windows that feature a metal kitchen chair with a handy stack of towels and bored looking women wearing lingerie. The red neon light overhead was another tip off.
7. The tram conductor that piloted the tram to Central station called out the various stops along the route using different voices and sound effects. At the end he sang a little Frank Sinatra ('My Way'). He was either a man happy in his work, or one who took his break in the local "coffeeshop." Fortunately he didn't have to steer, just stop and start.
8 At a local street market I bought a set of cards, drawings done of the canal row houses. The artist who made and sold them, a big, burly guy with a full beard, wore a lumberjack LL Bean type shirt, tights and a denim skirt.
9. Vermeer's maid pouring milk painting absolutely glows. It is in a room with nothing but masterpieces, including other works by Vermeer, and it is radiant. It shines. You can't take your eyes off it because you don't want to.
10. The Dutch have their own style. Nothing like the sleek, slightly sinister Italian bella figura. More Oilily than Armani. Colorful, cheerful, practical. Good for pedaling bikes and painting. I like it.

Seeing Rembrandt's studio has changed my life. And I'm in love with Breughel.