My Studio

My studio work pants. Maybe I ought to market these?

My studio floor.

My studio work table.

Surprisingly, I actually cleaned my studio about 2 months ago. No matter how many times I tell myself that I should concentrate on keeping my studio clean, it turns up like this. I'm surprised that I am able to work effectively at all some times. But I do.

I typically work on 3 to 4 paintings at a time, ranging in sizes from 36"x36" to 72"x72" to 48"x96" and all other sizes in between. It takes anywhere from 4 hours to a couple of years, in some cases, to complete a painting. Typically, I'll work on a painting for 2 months before I consider it finished.

At the moment, there are two distinct "styles" or approaches in my work. In the first, as seen in the painting "Bayou" below in my first post, the painting method is strictly alla prima. In my case, with this approach, the painting must be completed in one session typically lasting 4-6 hours. The paint is diluted with a slow dry galkyd medium to a very specific consistency and spread with custom made palette knives on an ultra-smooth white ground which has been coated with a couple of layers of galkyd medium. I apply uniform lightest colors first and then gradually apply analogous darker hues directly atop of the underlying light tones. Once I am satisfied with my coverage, I will mix a split complementary dark tone and apply this sparingly and strategically to set up the intial rythm and balance of the piece in this initial phase. From this point onward, I will carefully blend, smooth, pull and scrape the paint and allow each mark to inform my next, carefully aware that I must allow the painting to develop on its own. Every square inch of the surface must be alive and complimenting each and every other square inch of the surface. I never use any white paint. The "whites" or light you see in the painting is the white surface shining through the scraped transparent pigment. I must be careful not to overwork any area of the painting or I risk muddying the color and upsetting surface uniformity. Usually after a few hours I can ascertain if the painting works as a whole. I will continually ask myself "if I add or subtract anything else will it help or hurt the piece". If I conclude that nothing can be added or subtracted, then I consider the painting finished.

If I cannot decide, or have concerns with its composition or flow, then I will scrape off all of the paint back down to the original bare white surface. Of course, that just cost me close to $100 worth of materials. A lot of that paint can be found on my pants above.

The second approach to my work involves heavily built up surfaces involving very thickly applied impastos, scraping, glazing and scumbling. I'll post images of these paintings soon and discuss my method then.