I have, for so long, shared daily in progress videos on the social sites as well as working in The Studio for 7 Days a week / from 3 am - 8 pm.
I have forgotten how it is to take a moment, and share photos and / or video of works in progress with commentary and verbalizing the internal dialogue from the week as I had once done prior to the advent of attention spans less than 2 seconds, of which I often fear, this plague has also infected me... but then I realize that each day , I simply care less and less of watching just about anything.
Although, video montages of working in The Studio ~ or whatever ~ will still be posted to The Socials, for in depth, proper and current works in progress, I am bringing that all back here to The Stream.
The modern day iterations of the internet have some aspects that have truly been interesting and helpful - but - I fear - especially for the arts, fine art, painting and sculpting in particular - The Social Sites have in a way destroyed the presentation aspect... and lost the ability of one to be able to open a dialogue for pieces in progress. So.... back to the old days of Blogging and Critique Flogging
( HA ! )
The last several weeks I have been taking it :
s l o w l y
s l o w l y .
&
letting go of many many things these last few months. But that's another story, for another time... perhaps never to be uttered into physical existence.
Why?
For a brief moment I had considered that the feared ' Burn Out ' was creeping into the minds cape - however after a few days of deep meditative inner searching , I realized, that no, it was not burn out that pushed me to slow down... as, really I have not slowed down at all. Working on the 'Office' side of The Studio, and in these current days, working on making a buck preoccupies so much of my time - add in projects and commissions that require a lot of digital work... and, then, finally, sprinkle on top, the need to conserve, and remain conscious of supplies on hand and the expenses they incur, led me to slow down on painting.
And Also, the slow approach is essentially what began 'The UNTITLED Collection'. It was hope in the begging phases of the series I constructed the worlds and figures and narratives emerged from the weeks long process of glazing in the backgrounds and taking the time to really stare into the abyss of each panel...
Which is why, now in these current days, I refer to The Panels of UNTITLED as " Portals into The Realm"... as, rightly so, each panel is a window in this world that has subsequently been created.
There are of course other reasons too, but with everyone also going on about mental health, and how trendy all that has become.... I dare not speak it any more.
So.
Then.
This Week in The Studio:
Initiated a series of panels continuing the narrative of figures of whom gravity has seemingly forgotten. Was looking for a bit of a change to the format within ' ... Succession of Nows' , which are usually presented on 8 x 10 or 5 x7 (as well as one large 18 x 24 ) Wood Panel(s), so I decided to go with a size that worked extremely well with 'The Teleportation' pieces, a 6 x 12 Inch panel. The horizontal format and length add a very nice space for dimension and more room to explore working with small figurative gestures in brush and knife.
I am enjoying this format quite a lot, actually and already it has brought a new , deeper narrative into this obscure idea of beings floating and disintegrating in the atmosphere. Will most likely be adding a few more in this dimension to explore further.
Though, in the meanwhile:
An order I placed last week arrived yesterday of a new large format wood panel - this one measuring in at 12 x 36 Inches. I am eagerly and somewhat timidly looking forward to getting this piece started and really expounding the narrative of ' A Succession of Nows' by introducing a full fledged scene. There is so much space to explore in this panel, it will be easy to fill up quickly but also, so many ideas on the many narrative already within '....Nows' that can be all displayed with in one grande portal.... Figures drifting with the jet streams while others break free of gravitational attachments.... Other beings that roam endlessly while others follow like sheep... While others still, where we can begin to introduce new narratives of beings at war with one another ~ perhaps one sect of beings preventing another from shacking off the nuisance of gravity. ...
Really, ... so many possibilities. Will most likely put an order in for four more of this size... to have the freedom to fully explore these concepts to their absolute.
Though , of course, the main creed of The UNTITLED Collection when I started it last year was to have a massive series of well executed Oil Paintings small in size and Affordable to collect , Panels at this dimension, of course will not be affordable to many, but the temptation already broke my will, when I began panels at 18 x 24 and 16 x 20.
But, I think it is nice to have 'statement' pieces within this series. Centerpieces that the smaller Panels can surround.
A new Chapter has apparently creeped its way into The Collection.
Tentatively Titled :
" Garden of Shadows".
This is the first piece that had no way to really fit into the '... Nows', and this being a new experiment with a. classical, minimal palette, it has a completely different feel.
Darker.
But,
also,
as it unfolds we can play on this on going new Chapter.
Always too, the first piece of any chapter - or, series of mine, is that it always has definitely chaotic feel - and then as the idea becomes more complete and the puzzle pieces of flowing reality come into place, the works take drastic changes or evolutions entirely.
Other new additions to ' ... Nows' also, slowly being layered together.
Looking into new perspectives to bring to the ongoing narrative of '...Nows.'
The concept of the chapter of UNTITLED, " A Succession of Nows " was originally - and mostly still is keeping one basic element continuous throughout the series, being that the environment is the protagonist.
Meaning, in my way of understanding, that however the backdrop / the landscape / the environmental element of the piece may end ups whether it is the mood of the colors, the feeling of moment, etc, this is generally what then dictates the role the figures reside on the panel... even the expressions emoted.
In these new pieces, the environment is very simplistic yet offers a very powerful setup for the role in which the narratives will spin their webs.
In these new panels I'm also attempting to further, or , I suppose one could say , push my self in the technical aspects of painting , ie, perspectives, brush work,... color... all of these sorts of things.
Finishing this weekly round up of work from The Studio.
The first layers of gesso primer on the new large panel of UNTITLED.
Very hopeful to begin this piece in the coming week.
Until the Next Saturday in time:
~m