Construction Day

I went through all the casts I've been making lately and found which ones matched up with which sketches. I had all the pieces for "Bereft" and the twin paintings of "Distant Sharing", so those are the ones I'm working on while others are curing. The dimensions of the paintings are based on the size of the cast, so to match the sketch, the frame for Bereft is almost 4' wide x 7.5' tall. I'm still scraping up enough lumber for cross-braces before I stretch the canvas. I like the idea that the frame is considerably smaller than the casts and the intended sculpting. It lends a limiting, restricted feeling to the piece. The idea behind Bereft is basically just that, the essence of having nothing left to offer.

Each painting for Distant Sharing is going to be just shy of 2' wide and about 3.75' high. I matched up arm casts from Karry Brothers with head casts from Daniel Garretson and Peter Mitchell. Eventually they'll have a mix of wood slats and molding materials. The idea behind this one is that people who share a close connection can share emotions in very abstract terms even when they're apart. Elements of the feelings of the first person are present in the second, but through the filter of their own experience.


I've also finally finished the sculpting phase of a painting I started two years ago. I was always unhappy with it and kept building and building the sculpting until it caught the feeling I was after. I'd been struggling with a title that caught the essence, but once I had the sculpting done, the title "Shitstorm" popped up. It covers it entirely - the aftermath of a falling out with someone you thought you knew. I just know I probably won't be able to hang it in public spaces with that title. Oh well, it's a small one.

Busy, busy

Hello. This is a very active period of creating art for me. I have lots of people interested in modeling and a backlog of new and older images that I feel an urgent need to work on. Finding good deals on materials lately is just adding fuel to the fire. The last few weeks have been dedicated to making casts for upcoming work.

I've recently found several people who are willing to do some of the larger casts that are central to many of the images I want to work on right now. As I contemplate and work on these sketches, the concepts are starting to fall into a few separate categories.

States of Being
These works are reflective of everyday events - the mental, emotional and spiritual reverberations of common interactions. It may be as simple as a restless night's sleep or as complicated as a power struggle in the professional world. Some of the images in this category also depict the interaction of spirit guides and helpers, whether or not the physically incarnate person in the image is aware of their presence.


Mastering Power
These images are more direct in their depiction of working with subtle energies, learning to control and direct where the energies will flow and with what intent. The presence of spirit guides and others on higher planes is often consciously perceived by the subject in the painting.

Although I'll probably end up with enough of each category to have them in separate shows, they've been developing concurrently. In the paintings already finished, Well In Hand and Controlled Release fall squarely into the Mastering Power category, where Laf it Off and Breakaway are more in the States of Being camp.

There are also works I'm planning in conjunction with my friend Helen Wassell for a show about her journey through a serious battle with cancer. We're planning the slow development of a multi-media installation project called "Fear Gone".

With so many works in progress, I'm actively seeking locations for shows and gallery representation and the finished paintings are definitely for sale through my online gallery site.

Sketches for other plannned works:

Casting away!

It's been a busy week of making plaster casts for upcoming paintings. There are more sessions coming later this week and even more as soon as I get a new case of plaster bandage in. Many of these are in preparation for some upcoming shows.

I have a solo show slated for July/August at Zeitgeist gallery in Pittsfield and Helen Wassell and I have two joint shows planned there - Facing 50 and Fear Gone.

My own show is going to be a continuation of the current Passages collection (I've yet to think of a show title). I want to show a wider range of interactions and situations of an everyday level, and then work the series toward progressively transcendent themes.

Facing 50 is Helen's concept, basically showing cultural influences she's experienced in her 50 years of life so far. She at least wanted a few casts of her face, one for each era of her life, but now we're tossing around the idea of 50 faces, one for each year.

Fear Gone is a more involved installation / art combo show, chronicling her experiences with esophageal cancer.

So far this week, I've made casts of my partner, Wendy, my parents and Helen.


Wendy getting plastered.


Mom, Sophia Wessel.

Modeling Day

After letting it sit for almost two years, I was happy to find my modeling material in prime condition. I mix up shredded paper and sawdust in latex paint and let it sit until it's a clay-like goo. Normally I'll wait a month, but life intervened and this batch sat for 21 months. I mixed up a new batch today to use in about a month.

I got the sculpting done for the new painting that I think I'm calling "Guide Transmutes Effluence of a Sickened Heart". It's structured around the top character, showing a controlled and organized set of layers of energy and an upsurge of the energy pulled from the lower character transformed and harmonized. At the same time, the lower character is nearly drowning in cloud-like forms emanating from the heart center, with agitated lines showing the resistance of its present state of mind to the ordered calmness of the guide. Chaos doesn't often like to surrender.

Color is definitely going to play a big role in holding up the structure of the upper portion of the painting. I did no sketches for this one, but have held the image in my mind for a long time, so even though I was sculpting in grey, I was thinking in color.
The cloud-form area is very thick and may take a couple of months to dry thoroughly. For now it needs to lay flat.


I also put a finish coat on "Forming and Shedding of Allegiances". I thinned down the molding material to let the texture of the cigarette butts show through. It's just a hint of the worm-like quality in an otherwise stucco-like finish. After the under layers cured for about a year, they were razor-sharp and I ended up cutting up my hands. Finally had to use an improvised foam squeegee to get the thin layer I wanted. It's showing a point where a decision is made and acted upon, so the energy is more fluid than some other images. This one will probably be ready to prime for painting in a week or so.


A new tub of modeling goo.

Another painting I took up was an old one that stalled about three years ago. I couldn't get it right then, but it clicked now. The concept behind it needed to evolve. It's called "The Tribulation of Silence". Originally, it was meant to address the difficulties of being censored, but has evolved to also embrace the harm caused by the silence of others. It's a smaller work, about 2x2 ft. There are two very thick areas of modeling goo on this one as well, and drying might take a month or so.

It was stormy and fairly dark today, so pictures of the progress will need to wait until I get more lights in my work area again. I'll post them soon.

Attachment

Today I stretched the canvas and stitched the casts to the canvas. The next step, pictured mid-way here, is smoothing out the transition from cast to canvas with extra strips of plaster gauze. Next I have to see if the latex-paper mix I made up the last time I worked on paintings is still ok.

If I need to make more, it's a matter of taking shredded paper and submerging it in ceiling white latex paint. Once it soaks in, it becomes a very malleable molding material. It takes several days to really soak in; the longer, the softer it becomes.

I'm also reworking the gallery site. It's a little overdone for my taste and there are several glitches from when I had to change web hosts. It's a large undertaking, not sure when I'll get it done, but it's time.
Main Gallery Site

Assembly stage

Started working on assembling the new painting. When I made the casts of my father's hands, I had to do the insides of his palms separately so he could get out. Now I had to put them together with extra gauze. It looks like the painting will do best at about 2 x 4 ft. I just happened to have a piece of canvas about that size and it was easy to do a trial layout of the pieces since that's also the size of my work table.

The lower entity is actually a cast of my own face and represents someone seeking guidance. The upper one (a cast of my dad) represents a guiding spirit. I've made the stretcher and will let the glue harden overnight.

In the meantime, I worked a little more on the painting with FL's cast. Since it's about letting go of past allegiances for those that are more suitable, it needed the face of the one being let go. It's a highly modified cast of my own face that I'd removed from the original version of Stellar Flame. I had padded the cheeks and nose of that one to create a slightly different face, but these remnants work well for that purpose.

I also have the sculpting stage of Joy Shared to finish. Need lots more faces for that one.

It's pretty cold down in the basement with the weather so cold outside. Even with the wood stove going, it only gets up to about 50°. It slows down the drying process. So I'll let things sit overnight.

Main Gallery Site

Rethinking Opening

Although the work schedule has prevented me from going ahead with the new painting I did casts for, I have spent some time thinking about this one - "Opening".

Although I'm happy with the sculpture side of it, I can't stand the painted aspect. I've exhibited it this way, but was really disappointed with how it looks. The colors are muddy, the linseed mix is uneven ... it's just not "there".

I'm definitely going to repaint it. Ideally, I'd chop it up into three separate pieces as well, but I'm not sure how well they'd survive coming off the stretcher and being re-stretched. It may be a total rebuild around the casts. At 4 x 9 ft., it's really unwieldy and people generally had a confused response to the same person appearing on the canvas three times.

I just can't do anything with this image. I don't want to show it, I can't get myself to make products from the image - posters, mugs, cards, etc. It's just not formed. It's probably better to risk losing it than let it continue in this malformed state.

On a side note, I saw a wonderful program on yoga yesterday. It reminded me so much of the roots of my work, that I'm thinking of looking into learning the proper practice of it. I've had Buddhist and Hindu leanings my whole life. It's time to look into the paths laid by other and see what's there.

Main Gallery Site