Monday, July 25, 2011

Reference Journal









Various pages from my reference journal / image log / study archive.
Print-outs, type samples, photoshop compositions, notes and various types of tape.

So at some point I started keeping a reference book. It's a hefty red-covered volume of gridded pages containing various source images and studies, culled from books, family albums or worked out in photoshop. I try not to do much drawing; it's intended to be a kind of un-edited flow of imagery that for whatever reason I find exciting, interesting or useful. There aren't any rules about what I put in the book and not everything makes it to a painting, but it is selective. The idea is to keep track of my aesthetic preferences so I can better understand where decisions come from. Of course, anyone could do this because everyone has aesthetic interests. I think these particular interests come from certain larger (perhaps sub-conscious) roots. In less convoluted terms, what we find attractive or interesting visually, stems from our unique, personal worldview. It can't be said that everything in the book has a psychological underpinning, but that's part of why it's interesting- you see patterns start to emerge. And images that don't seem related at first, might find echoes a few pages later. The idea of a visual log isn't really anything new to practicing art and I'm willing to bet that almost all artists keep some kind of log, in some form. I think it is an increasingly important practice, though, as our image-saturated world seems to sometimes be at the tipping point. (Google image search, camera phones w/filters, design everywhere) It can be hard to focus. And by keeping very literal tabs on what applies to my work at present and past, I can learn to ignore everything that doesn't. Until it does.

A progression:
Body of images----------> Body of work -----------------> An idea
(broad, but specific) (focused, but progressive) (singular concern)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Some trees



"most everything does" 2011
oil on two paper-mounted panels, each 7" x 4.25"
hanging option 1


Same piece, hanging option 2

Again, taking advantage of the playful possibilities inherent in the diptych format. This also continues some of my recent interest in slightly skewed images. I enjoy the surprise of the compositional shift and hope it hints at something related to memory.
All of this is very much in the early stages, more to come.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Comet Hyakutake



"Hyakutake" 2011
Oil and enamel on paper-mounted panel.
Each panel 8.75" x 8"

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Roost




"Roost" 2011
oil and PVA on two paper-mounted panels
3" x 3.5" each
diptych to be displayed in two possible arrangements.


Ideas about shelter, co-habitation, domestic geometry, etc.
I like the possibility of two different hanging options, each with slightly
different connotations. Composition can drive the psychology of the image.