Memory

Memory (K and S)   oil on canvas   9 x 12 x .5

provides sweetness as we age. The birth of a child is monumental.  And the birth of a granddaughter is right up there as well.  Sometimes the responsibilities are trying.  Time alters situations as quickly they occur.  The heaviness of responsibility turns to the sweetness of memory.  Ah....it seems like just yesterday.

Here's to a new generation of Hutchinsons.  Welcome little S.  We adore you.

Marlowe

Marlowe Looking for Yellow   watercolor and relief ink on paper   13 x 10.5

the clown keeps showing up in my life's rhythm.  First Night Akron.  Mostly Weathervane Playhouse where we both frequent.  I was lucky enough to run into Marlowe (a.k.a. Irv Korman) a month or so ago at the theater where he was selling his two current books (also available through Amazon).  He volunteered to model for our watercolor class at Cuyahoga Valley Art Center.

Painting a clown has some distinct advantages, the most apparent being the dreaded difficulty of painting the human face made a bit easier, I think, by the cariactured features.  Two sessions.  And, in keeping with his clown alter ego, Marlowe broke the seriousness of the sessions every now and again with a bit of whimsy from his clown book of tricks. Most artists chose the full figure.  One creative chose just the splayed legs with the gigantic clown shoes as the focal area.  I chose a portrait.  The portrait was rendered in watercolor.  Although the transparent yellow background was "just fine", I chose to use relief ink in the background finally as I felt it's white chalkiness complemented the white grease paint on the face.

Painting Marlowe the clown.  Serious business.

The teardrops painted on his eye helped with the title "Marlowe Looking for Yellow".

Consideration

Strawberry Basket   oil on canvas   12 x 5.5 x 1.25

needs to be included in the process of painting, I think.  Too often, for myself as well, painting takes on an active role just as one paints a wall, a house.  Cut in the edges.  Use a roller.  Any spots left?  Passive painting includes the time that one spends without a brush in hand in consideration of what needs done, what will improve the work.  The most dreaded question for me in class is, "What do I do next?", for that implies my own sense of aesthetic, rather than the aesthetic of the artist whose work is being considered. 

Strawberry Basket was originally painted from life in my studio in a back-lit situation.  I have never fared well in that situation as the reality of the scene (the play of light) needs to define the work, rather than my own design-based approach.  I am at odds.  Originally this work had a dark background, a kind of old masters take on the subject.  I just couldn't live with it.  After much consideration, the project was reinvented with my own sense of correctness.  I am happy.

We must, in my opinion, hone our own aesthetic sensibility, a personal sense of correctness.  Therein lies our style, that which we are seeking.

The Red Onion Gang

The Red Onion Gang   oil on canvas   5.5 x 5.5 x 1.5

is a small ditty...painted between projects...using the onion left over from a watercolor still life.  I use these small paintings as practice, for combining colors, for switching from a large format to small, and for using smaller tools and less sweeping brushwork.  In essence, I paint these small works to stay in touch with reality, for observation of what is directly in front of my nose.  My larger works tend to spin off from these goals into my create::destroy mode where I create new and larger problems to solve, where an altered reality becomes a desired state.

While never easy, painting sometimes needs to be, for me, just a simple exercise.  Not every meal needs to be gourmet.

Nude Leaning

Nude Leaning   watercolor/mixed   12.25 x 9.5

We hired a life model a couple of weeks ago for class painting.  My painting was fairly regular in its description...but the work lacked pizazz.  First I experimented with painting a loose, mid-value background.  Still pleasing.  Still boring.  I wanted texture to oppose the smoothness of the model's skin.  I wanted opacity to oppose the transparency of the figure.  After cutting a template to cover the figure, I used relief ink to print onto the background area.  The small dots were actually happy accidents....bits of dried ink that stuck to block and prevented total coverage.  What a hoot!

Experimentation doesn't always work out well.  But it always provides a thrill!

Young Man

Young Man   oil on canvas   36 x 24 x 1.5

For years and years, I painted and drew from live models.  As I look back, there are only a few that stirred my soul.  Mostly, I did not know them personally.  Sometimes their attitudes and demeanor did not invite me inward.  I need to be somewhat inspired by the person in front of me in some way....I need to feel a connection of sorts in order to invest my emotions in the work.  And this process is mostly non-verbal.  (I don't need to chat, go for coffee, or even verbally relate.....I just need to be inspired)  In many cases, for me, at least, the take-a-break personality interferes with my investment....breaks the mood.  OK.  So I'm picky.  For me, art is so very pure and my work reflects who I am, so, yes, there is an investment, a collaboration of the genuine.  This was one such model.  The young man.  The laborer.  Perhaps my affection has to do with the fact that I have three sons.  This is their look.  Their uniform.

"Young Man" is currently on exhibit at Group Ten Gallery.  Our opening is tonight in Kent, Ohio and features the work of Jeff Fauser (Reconfigurations) and Jance Lentz (Trees and Barns).  Come on in.

We are what we eat...

Cabbage, Carrots, Garlic and Red Onion   watercolor   9 x 13

and we paint what we are....yes....I believe that to be true.  Every stroke reflects the maker.  Every stroke reflects a decision made by the maker that, in actuality, could probably not be repeated by another.  So, for the most part, my paintings become somewhat predictable in that they reflect my own problem solving skills that repeat themselves over time.  And yet, this one surprised me!  It is tighter than usual.  Normally I paint the background in one or two layers with perceivable strokes.  This time I tried something different....a background comprised of multitudinal washes of transparent hues..rose madder, raw sienna and raw umber...in no particular order except what directional I perceived as a lack.  (it needs to be warmer.....etc......add sienna)  Normally, I am not that patient.  In this case, I feel that the flat reflective background plays against the textural painting of the vegetables and even plays up the power of that element.

I love to eat vegetables.  I love to paint vegetables.  I am satisfied with this work.

And yet....I am surprised!