Publishing's Bleak House

That's the working title of this new painting.
Week before last, I started by blocking in the background (wallpaper in my den) then the drape. I love the drapery, but I have to be patient. Alizarin crimson is transparent and it will be many layers before the darks begin to properly deepen. The background pattern will get hazier and closer in value.


It went in the drying room while I concentrated on Didus and Omen so they'd be done in time for the "Points of View" show at Huff Harrington Fine Art this Friday.

Today I blocked in the books, key, hourglass and the beginning of the oriental rug pattern. Those blank rectangles are falling cards. Working on the tarot cards that make up the house will be like painting little portraits. No doubt it will be painstaking work, and one of my favorite things.
This is the companion - in size and theme - of Prediction: Endangered. I hope to have them both done by June so I can enter them in a juried show.

Omens and Prediction

Worked on the newspapers. When it's really really really dry, I'll take on the lettering.


Blocked in the bird. Resisted the strong temptation to delineate each feather's rows of brown bands. It would just turn the under painting into murk. Who knew you needed as much patience as skill or ability?


I wonder if I can make the April 30 (dry, signed and wired) deadline for the May 8th show?

Progress and a new start

Worked on the papers, the twine, and the dominoes of Omen yesterday.


Today I started on Prediction: Endangered, the painting with the Peregrine falcon - just the background drape and the top of the chest, but I felt like I was covering a lot of ground fast. One of the good things about doing a series is that your hand and eye get more experienced. Your muscles learn.

the twins

Worked on everything except the drape and the feather on Didus Ineptus. The skull and illuminated image took most of the morning, and the bottom book made a great leap forward. The skull is fairly subtle, which I like.

Yesterday I worked on the crystal ball and the dominoes of Omens and Portents (not all the domino spots are in place - they turned out to be slippery little buggers. I'll be getting back to them). I also laid in specific color for the newspapers.
They are both coming into focus at about the same rate. I'm starting to think of them as the twins. The best thing is I've been able to go for a run in the morning, work a bit in the garden, spend the best part of the day painting, and read. It's my ideal life.

I took up my pencil yesterday and worked on the 24x30 Prediction: Endangered canvas. I am trying a darker value of gesso, and it's challenging to draw on because it's much harder to see the pencil lines.
On the other hand, it's the big version of Omens & Portents, with the now familiar elements of newspapers, magazines, dominoes and the crystal ball. My experience starting to paint the smaller version Monday confirmed the importance of a careful underdrawing, so I am not rushing it.
The new elements I am looking forward to attempting are the feathers of the Peregrine falcon and the clear plastic bags some of the papers are in. And this big still life is lit by strong early morning natural light, instead of by studio lighting, so all the colors are subtly different.

This morning I worked on the individual pages of stacked newspapers, while listening to TED talks on the nature of creativity by writers Amy Tan and Elizabeth Gilbert, and artist Vik Muniz. It was a good marriage of left and right brain activity.

Omens & Portents

Another good day in the studio. It's a steady drizzle here, so the light is soft and there is no temptation to go outside.

Didus is too wet to fool with - more likely to smear what I have than make progress - so I turned to the other canvas, Omens & Portents.
Before lunch I mixed paint, then laid in the back ground.


After lunch got the magazines, the top of the chest, the twine and some of the newspapers indicated. You can see the dominoes and crystal ball through the magic of painting negative space, but they are still raw canvas.