Today I am thankful that they didn't tear down this skeevy old abandoned Getty station before I had a chance to paint it again. I did a little watercolor sketch back in April and always wanted come back and do a larger oil painting. This what I was able to do in about two hours - the drawing and overall block in.
Today is the birthday of Benoit B Mandelbrot, the pioneering French mathematician who discovered fractals and changed forever the way we think about clouds, coastlines, and screen savers. This vision of self-similar cereal came to me in a dream, from which I awoke LMAO (my hypnopompic brain is easily amused).
Three small plates, of which the bottom two were originally one till I cut it in half, printed together on the new etching press.
They make an enigmatic statement , no?
Just got my new etching press, and pulled a test print using a plate I had started at a workshop last spring. The drawing itself is no great shakes, but the print quality far exceeded my expectations given the number of variables (pressure, paper wetness, ink consistency, etc) any one of which can scuttle the whole operation.
The press is an RLV A3 size (12" x 17") bed, from South Africa. I've been gradually working up to this investment for some time, starting with drypoints on plexiglass printed by rubbing with a spoon or baren and then tiny etchings printed with an Open Press Project press. I need to get or make a few more things to actually etch larger pieces but then I should be turning out prints up to 8" or 9" wide.
I was struck by the bright light on the yellow tree and the cast shadow with hot colors glowing out of it.
I worked on it over two visits to the site in my kayak, Sketchpad*L, with additional touching up at home. I'm calling it done for now - it's at that dangerous stage where I'm tempted to do little tweaks and details that could lead to killing the original feeling. I'll let it marinate for a while and see if there is really anything that needs to be added or subtracted.
Oil on linen panel
6" x 8"
I started this while waiting for a friend and worked on it some more at home. I lost some of the feeling while chasing after the literal details.
"Farmall" won the 2nd place award for graphics in the 5th Annual Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition in Ware, MA. First photo shows the scratchboard in situ; beneath it is a classy metal plaque reading:
Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition
2023
2nd Place Drawing/Graphics
"Farmall"
Also on display is "Sunscreen," hung high on the wall, so I didn't get a good shot over people's heads. There was a great turnout at the opening and lots of good artwork. Stop by if you can.
Show Dates and Times:
September 23rd to October 8th, 2023
Fridays | 4 to 7 pm
Saturdays & Sundays | 1 to 4 pm
Workshop 13
13 Church St
Ware, MA 01082
