The Daily Doodle

Strolling shirtless across the crosswalk at a snail's pace, his muscles glistening in the sun and swollen from his probable recent discovery of steroid injections, it was clear this guy was holding up traffic on purpose. The people in their vehicles waited patiently for him to pass, but he twisted and flexed his torso with every mini-step he took.

I was standing across the street amused. For a moment I felt kinda sad for the guy, but then I figured he brought it upon himself. So then I doodled this and posted it on the internet!

Doodle of the Day

Gathering, organizing, lifting and loading; cleaning, scrubbing, sweeping and vacuuming -- this is how I spent my entire weekend, moving from one apartment to the other. I approached it thinking it wouldn't take very long because I don't have too much stuff. Boy, was I wrong! Stuff kept appearing -- old paintings, art supplies, hockey cards, fishing gear, boxes of books, and miscellaneous junk -- melting together into one GIANT MONSTER!

Moving sure aint fun. It can be downright scary! I felt like a preyed-upon character from the Pixar film, Monster's Inc.

A Critique of Peter Doig

A contemporary artist alive today influencing me with his paintings is Peter Doig. A reason why his work is influential is because he incorporates the abstract with representational subjects, often referencing established artists in history such as Klimt and Mondrian, and putting the emphasis on color and HOW each work is painted, not why it was made or what the subject matter is. For example, the painting above is a dark picture of green-faced men in costumes, yet it is the way the picture was made, i.e, rich blotches and colors dripping with an "unfinished" quality, a ghost-like tree, and contrasting yellow-orange against a midnight blue with an accent from a lavender stone, that makes it interesting. It is peculiar why these men are standing in the field in the evening, their faces green, in front of a rock wall -- aspects remain ambiguous, capturing the viewer's attention by prompting questions.

Born in 1959 in Edinburgh, UK, Doig lived in Canada (nice!) for a good portion of his early years, and it is probably from this experience that directed him to create many paintings referencing the outdoors and derived from landscapes. Art critics have sometimes criticized or given him criticism for representing nature with abnormal colors, such as painting deer red. But his appoach to representing simple subjects is unique. The picture below is a simple subject which appears to be a person perhaps skating on a frozen pond in winter. We don't really know much about this person other than he is alone. And even though the scene is a white winter, the painting nevertheless teems with color through reflections and splotches.

Should Mr. Doig ever read this blog post, critique, or whatever you call it, I declare to him that I shall one day have a painting of mine on the same wall as his, for viewers to decide which one they like better!

Doodle of the day

This is a doodle of the weird guy at the coffee shop this morning. He looked funny with his funny-looking mutt. Squeezing his pooch close to his breast, it appeared as though the dog was ordering the coffee. This little scene, if you would even call it that, was just a fraction of my day -- it occurred in a flash, like the random appearance of a bird in the sky, and then he was gone and I was on my way. But the image stuck in my head and morphed into characters not unlike those in Family Guy, The Simpsons, or The Far Side.

Later during my lunch break, the image still lingering, I scribbled this doodle. It was created using a standard No. 2 pencil and a bic pen.

Glazing an Oil Painting

A favorite oil painting technique that I use is known as glazing. It has been a technique used since oil painting was first invented, yet it seems many contemporary artists have abandoned it. The glazing effect can be likened to placing thin pieces of colored glass on top of each other. So in painting terms, it is the process of stacking up thin layers of translucent color.

The glazing technique has several advantages, one my favorites being that it creates a glass-like plane while creating the illusion that the surface is further away. This works well, for example, when I want the color brown to have a luster rather than the simple flat brown created by mixing opaque colors from the tube. While glazing can be accomplished with any pigment, I prefer some more than others -- colors that are inherently translucent as opposed to those which are opaque. For example, translucent colors include burnt sienna, veridian, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, and payne's gray; opaque colors include titanium white, cadmium red, and yellow ochre.

Once the pigment is selected, it is important to then dilute it with a medium. Typically, I use one of two different methods: 1) my "trade-secret" mix of galkyd, linseed oil, and [secret]; or 2) straight liquin. Once the correct viscosity is mixed, the pigment can be applied to the canvas in various ways using different types of brushes, such as those for scumbling, wiping, or detail. And, once the layer dries, it may be ready for another "pane of glass"!

Examples of glazing can be seen in my pictures below where paint is applied over text -- this allows the text to be readable underneath different colors. However, more complex examples can be seen in the work of Jan Vermeer here.

Affirmative Action

It is true that I sometimes anguish at painting, finding myself staring at my "progress" with my thoughts mired in tribulations, knowing that hundreds of greater pictures are sitting in museums not too far away, created by artists some younger than me. It is also true that I question why I spend so much of my time at it. But I tell myself to push forward with the work because that's what we do as people, as survivors -- we continue to till the land so we can eat. Although sometimes I am duped by a mirage, sometimes I am nourished by a flash of what I seek, and for a moment I understand the necessity of art and its connection to something bigger than life.

Affirmative Action, 28" x 36", oil, vintage paper and book cover on wood panel, 2011.

Some details of the painting:

Alaska Inspiration

Discovery, 16" x 36", oil on canvas with rope and driftwood, 2011.

Following my recent adventure in Alaska, I find that the magnificence of the expansive wilderness cannot be adequately explained in this little blog.
Everything there is big: The glaciers are huge and imposing. The sudden appearance of a whale while kayaking in the sea shakes your soul -- the power of its breath forces you to imagine the enormity of its body below the surface. The black bears are abundant and the grizzlies are iconic, and the shoulders of a moose were higher than my head. Bald eagles perch along the rivers everywhere as the salmon are the center of the ecosystem.

Hiking above the treeline in the foggy mountains, and camping on top of mossy lichen where mountain sheep pass, it is clear that years are needed to explore the state and discover the unexpected.

Here are some photographs: