Anatomy of a painting.

It's no secret that I haven't been blogging much lately. I've been busy painting.

Yes painting.

Never mind the fact that I have an MFA in painting, before this summer I haven't made a real life honest to Godess painting in maybe 5 years. So when I set myself up with this summer project to make 10 paintings by the end of September I knew it would be an uphill battle at first, but I figured it would be a bit like riding a bike: it all just comes back once you hop on right?

If only that were true.

At the moment I'm working 4 large canvases simultaneously right now in my not-so-large makeshift studio-- and by studio I mean dining room. In it's present state it's hard to imagine how we could have ever entertained guests in this room, but untill I have my private home studio in our new apartment it'll have to do. I figure it will just make me that much more appreciative when I do have my own space.

After a very rough start, I can now say that I'm feeling optimistic about the insanity and ugliness going on in my studio. I love nothing more than a really ugly painting. It seems my love of the "make-over" extends into my art practice.

Anyway---the paintings are weeks away from being finished- finished, but I can give you a sneak peak at the first steps of may process:

Step #1:

Mark up the canvas. I made a simple black grid with a sharpie marker then added some modeling paste and a wash of pink.

Step #2:

Add a few images. In this case an old house, a songbook cover, tree branches, and sheet music of some church songs that I remember from my childhood.

Step #3:

Add some color and form. There is no method to my madness. I just do it and see what takes shape. I add blocks of color and often weird nonsensical marks.

Step #4:

One wash of color to unify all the parts thats have been added. Later I'll add more images and hand-draw some marks onto the canvas. And then I'll let it rest for a few days.

So that's that. The very first hours of one of my paintings.

To be continued...