Ideation: studio sketchbook notes
Below is yesterday’s notes. I cleaned the edges of pieces and signed them, lint rolled and oiled down a few others from dust that are unvarnished because I always seem convinced I’ll come back and add more to them, and began writing a game plan for the summer.
a to do list and a page about a study of hands because I struggled painting hands in the last piece I did.
a page of thumbnail sketches of general ideas I have
a page on the self portrait from last year mentioned that I may rework
on value using a candle as an example, and then the first page of a free write
It’s like 6am right now, and for some reason that’s been the time my body clock has been waking me up naturally with no alarm so why not make my time before work useful and sit and write with some coffee?
My ideas are always subject to change, but there are three things I’m looking to do this summer:
1) continue refining the style of which I paint, I’ve got all the technical frameworks down, now I just have to keep refining and making adjustments and trying new stuff to clean it up more.
2) think about liminality in terms of composition, and atmosphere. Liminal space is one of the key descriptors that come to mind for the direction I want my work to go so I have to continue defining what it means for me. I want to stick to figure and portrait painting, so my ideation with liminal space heavily lays on the question: Can bodies be liminal? Or is it the space by which I place them?
When I think of the figure as the liminal space, I think about dissociation, isolation, and distortion; reality coming undone. Liminal space is defined as the In Between. I also think about disconnection of the body, where a body is yours but doesn’t feel like yours. An artist who comes to mind instantaneously for bodies as liminal space is Zdiszslaw Beksinski, the man who painted his nightmares.
one of my favorite paintings by beksinski. The glowing atmosphere, the macabre. The viewer wants to know what this space is. Is it death? What is the tiny figure exploring? I’m also so obsessed with the ratio between the tiny figure and the giant towering hooded figures. Are they conversing with each other? What is going to befall our tiny friend?
3) explore different surfaces, I have recently discovered that I dislike the texture of canvas showing in finished pieces, it shows that the paint layers are very thin and it can be annoying as someone trying to work thick. I woodwork a lot as of recently and I feel comfortable enough to cut, sand, prep, seal, and gesso a nice piece of plywood to paint on so I am going to try that out this summer. Maybe I’ll try out cutting non-traditional shapes in my wood.
I also am going to be working on my commissions and old works I’ve abandoned. There’s a self portrait I finished in white and raw umber that I never began adding color to from last April/May. At the time, I had a tailbone injury and just had finals before I hit the worst academic burnout so makes sense why it’s just been hiding unfinished. But now my body and my mind are in much different spaces, I pulled it out and did a Caravaggio: rapid fire write down all the issues I see with it. Overall, proportionally, it’s ok with a couple minor mistakes (I put my mouth a little low, hairline’s off and the hair is way too structured and unnatural looking) but the hand was where I had given up, it’s so odd looking (painting hands really is very difficult). I made a game plan to rework it and finish the color layers, I’m excited. Hands have been a nemesis to paint, so besides this piece, I’m also starting a quick little hand study. Drawing hands for me? so easy, painting hands? Holy shit it is so hard. But the only way we get better is by doing it. There’s been time’s I’ve repainted a hand 12 times. Yet people think I am just naturally talented, if only they knew I repaint stuff a lot. On the bright side I’ve noticed my drawing layers go much faster. I used to repaint my drawing layers ~5 times, to the point of my professor being like “dude just use a projector until you’re good at this”. I went back to drawing my own stuff during the fall last year after using the projector to draw for a bit, and I usually finish it the first try now, can you believe it?! Not repainting a drawing 5 times has cut my process time down A LOT.
I gotta keep this one short today because I do actually need to get ready for another day of grinding and sanding big pieces at work. I’ll see you in the studio stranger!
