Well, okay

This is the first painting I'm working on (okay, I'm working on them simultaneously, so by first, I mean the first idea I developed).

The image I posted the other day, and have reposted here, is Francisco Goya's etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. It shows the artist sleeping on his desk, while menacing monsters emerge and converge on him. Reason and empirical thought, one of the many modern things we take for granted, were upheld as man's greatest acheivement during the Enlightenment (which some scholars say is the beginning of the "modern" period, others say it began with the Rennaissance). While many painters upheld the new advancements of the modern period, others resisted, fearing what would be lost. Goya is one of those who suggests that progress may not be all its cracked up to be. While the title might initially make you think, "without reason we get monsters? better stick with reason," Goya instead felt that the monsters were a necessary part of the human experience, which he was willing to battle for the sake of his artmaking.

Recently I've come to question the modernism I once loved. The problem isn't that all the advancements are bad (I certainly drive a car and use electricity, and I can't even begin to imagine how to not think empirically), but the problem is that we have become removed from their newness. We expect that things should be this way, and begrudge change. For example, the use of fossil fuels brought a lot of good things, but today we see that they also come with some problems, namely pollution and a finite supply. However, Karl Marx suggested that the problems become clear when the solutions become possible - and today, we see alternatives in solar and other green energy. Why do we resist change so much, when our present lives are the result of radical change?

So in these art works I'm trying to look at history, hopefully not selectively, to better understand where I am. And this seems to involve every aspect of life: everything I take for granted (or at least the things I am aware of taking for granted), I want to reevaluate.

My second painting is also an appropriation of Goya's subjects and composition, but the other two will be biblical narratives.

The watercolor is just a study, so their may be some changes - for one the canvas is slightly wider than the watercolor. I'm open to other suggestions. (and don't you just love my really sleek and modern ergonomical chair?)

Report: Week One

I've been pretty productive so far, and I'm excited about continuing these new paintings. Here's the run down on what I've accomplished so far.

Tuesday: I stretched two canvases on stretchers (the wooden supports for the canvas) that I am reusing.

Wednesday: I composed and photographed two of my compositions at home with a self-timer. I developed ideas for the next two. (I'm going to be working on four paintings right now.)

Thursday: At sunrise, John helped me compose and photograph the next two compositions. I took all these images to school and completed the arrangements in photoshop, then printed out several copies increasing the darks and lights to use as value guides. In my sculpture class, while my students carved styrofoam, I built three more stretchers. At home, I completed the first prepatory drawing for the first composition.

Friday: In the morning I returned to the studio to pick up the finished stretchers and built two more. (I had already prepared the wood at home over the Christmas break, so really I just assembled them.) I also got out the hide glue, which has to soak overnight, that I am using as the sizing.

Saturday: A busy day. I stretched two more canvases. Then I finished heating the hide glue and sized all four canvases in the living room floor. They need to dry for eight hours. While I waited i began and completed the prepatory watercolor for the first composition. (I think this is valuable because it helps me select what colors I will be using, and get accustomed to painting slowly and thinly. Planning is very important when using layers, something I don't normally do.) I also prepared the ground, so in the evening, when the hide glue was dry, I primed my canvases with flake white and linseed oil. These now need to dry for 3 days, or whenever it's dry to the touch.

Sunday: I completed a prepatory drawing for a second composition, and "stretched" (wet and taped down) watercolor paper for it.


I intend to finish all four prep drawings by tuesday, so that when the ground is dried I can transfer all the drawings, and do the first layer (the Imprimatura). I'm going to take my time with the watercolors though, since I'll have seven weeks between the imprimatura and the next layer. I am wondering now if I'll be able to wait seven weeks. I think that will be the hardest part for me - I'm so used to slapping wet paint together, letting the layers dry feels very foreign.

I'm debating whether or not to put images of the watercolors up - I'd hate to get a lot of criticism and then have to paint the image for the next year.

Valentines Day

We've had a busy couple of weeks, so we decided a good Valentine's Day would be to stay in and eat Romanian Fried Goat Cheese. Yes, fried goat cheese.

John had some 10 years or so ago when in Romania, and so we thought we'd see if we could do it. It turned out pretty well actually - and it is very filling.

Now for those of you in disgust that we ate fried cheese for dinner... We didn't eat it all, and we also had all these delicious vegetables with homemade vegetable dip and organic peanut butter.

We intended to have strawberries with chocolate and Thai tea (which we've been intending to make for a year) for dessert, but we were too full. We'll have those tonight.

Fun times in the snow

We made a balding old snowman and slid down the hill a few times on Saturday. Yes, the snow was lots of fun, until last night when our pilot light went out...

animals

Here are more cute photos of Willem... He had to stay under the hamper for a little while when we first brought him home, until Daisy got used to him.

We had a big (well, big for us) snow this weekend too, so this last picture was taken when our outside dog came in and met Willem. I tried to get everybody in the picture.

Hey John, can you post some of the ones with the kitties and chickens outside?

Our Old House

Hey, this is our house, or more correctly, Joe's house taken a couple of decades ago.  Joe's house is a beautiful historic old home, and ours is the old slave house with a log cabin in the back.

The garden is in the same place our garden is. But they have all this open area around the yard, we have woods bordering the house now.

Willem

We got a new kitty last week (inconveniently just before my family came for a visit). Willem is four months old, and very easy going. Daisy is still getting used to the idea of having another cat around.

Oh the Last Bumper Sticker

So, as I mentioned, our last bumper sticker gave us away. Here are some of the variations we considered. John made all of these; however I made him go with the one you see first because I was afraid the others would make Warren realize it was us. I guess I didn't worry enough.

Warren cut off the tip of his pointer finger in his food processor a year or so ago. (He's actually a really good cook, and has lots of fancy kitchen gadgets such as this apparently sharp food processor.) The irony is that he regularly teaches wood shop safety to art students. (I think Chara can relate to sticking her finger into a kitchen appliance.)

We had some other ideas, but I'm not sure we'll use them now...

Terri Jones

Terri Jones did an installation in our little gallery here. She's a memphis artist who has shown internationally, and everyone in Memphis gushes over her. I met her while she was working on the installation, and she really is that great. She was so approachable; John and I thought she was like Polly Jones.

Anyway, her talk was last thursday. I was in charge of taking photos - no I wasn't trying to be artsy, the lighting was low, and without a tripod i just couldn't get any good photos.

She showed some examples of other work she's done. Her work is often about a line. An article about her (by Cory Dugan in the Commercial Appeal) said, "Logic and mathematics teach us that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. but that's true only if the two points are on a flat plane. On a sphere the line would be an arc. If the two points exist in time (and supposing one could actually draw a line in four dimensions), the line might take a circuitous and somewhat organic path."

Her work in the past (the Power House show) deals with the idea of a line, but also about space, how we function in space, and our awareness of space. So, often she draws/makes lines that are created by the space they are in, or influenced by space.

Her work is really beautiful and clean. One thing she spoke about that I especially like was the desire in artmaking to reuse things rather than putting together more junk to fill up space - a sentiment I share in life, though I'm not sure my art follows.

Social

John and I were social this weekend.

Rachel came to town for a visit, so we spent friday evening with her. On Saturday, Rachel, John and I, and Stefanie went out to eat together, and then we went to Malone's (that craft store in town that's been going out of business for about 6 years). We spent the evening playing balderdash and drinking coffee. Then Rachel went home late Saturday night.

And Sunday was house church - at Warren's house, where it was terribly overcrowded with people. A good thing, but usually something that makes John and I leave early. Nevertheless, we were the LAST ONES to leave. Anyway, what an odd but fun weekend.

OH! And speaking of Warren... There was another bumper sticker addition this past week. "I (v) my food processor" with a fifties style hand gesturing towards a food processor. Unfortunately, our love of jokes about Warren's lost finger (in the food processor) gave us away. He figured us out. But he seemed to enjoy it. I'll post pics of the last bumper sticker soon.