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Sunday, June 3, 2012

Finding Rain Grays






Rain Forest, underpainting 2.
And establishing a palette. In the process of feeling out the palette by formulating grays, the stuff that holds compositions together, I started drawing with Rubbing Alcohol. This painting will have a striated composition. Alcohol did some nice dribbles. The resulting columns still look too equally spaced, but it was time to give it a rest.  After it dries, I'll be shooting with the hose to make sure all that chemistry is washed away. One wants a clean, sturdy build up of healthy paint layers.

Brutus, our family's new dog.
At this early point, I see "Rain" to be not all that colorful, but rather grays mingling in patterns. So I think now; who know what the painting will dictate later once it takes on a life? I have a desire to use a palette knife. I'm sitting on it at this point. The foerground below the focal point isn't prominant as yet--neither is the focal point.

Our family has a new dog! Brutus. He's part Pit Bull Terrier, part Chesapeake Bay Retriever. He's two years old, past the puppy stage and very sweet. I could kick myself for not having any doggy cookies. Anyway, I tried to catch a sophisticate photo for the album, but all I got was what dogs like to do best.  Phone camera skills: Nil.


18 comments:

  1. Well, no apologies, but I have seen your every post and the small phone makes commenting so tough that I have taken the lazy man's route and simply thrown good wishes your way. I hope you've felt them. I do not like two word comments, and your work merits more than that.

    I love what you are doing. This is such a neat approach - the artist's approach and sensibility. Quite fascinating to watch, actually.

    And the results! The Rainforest underpainting is so neat - I am wondering how you will be using it, and can't wait to see. Clifford Still step aside! The finished "Summer Shade" is masterful and the "Four Seasons" look fine on the red wall! I was also blown away - totally - by your earlier work, "Out of the Closet".

    There - I guess that just about catches me up?

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    1. Well Dan you drop by anytime hear. Your kind words flatter me.
      This one is starting out okay, but you never know do you? I could have an attack of something and %$@# the thing up.

      I never liked Clyfford Still much--his edges are too sharp. His paintings remind me of Bargello, an Italian needlepoint process where the designs are based upon some variation of the flame stitch. Bargello is great for needlepointing yarn designs for dining room chairs and piano benches--which I have done because my MIL was as enthusiast and I wanted her to be a Linda enthusiast as well--but it's boring applied to paintings. That's the challenge here.

      Speaking of commenting. I am having difficulties replying from my iPad--sometimes I can do it, sometimes not. I wish I could. Evening TV is the pits, so it's a good time to see what everybody else is up to. I'll keep trying. Hopefully, it's the nut behind the wheel. When can I expect to see another Dan Kent delightful painting? All work and no play.......is unhealthy.

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  2. Hola Linda. Es interesante el resultado final de tu cuadro. ¡Brutus es encantador! ¡Un abrazo!

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  3. Hi Linda.
    Thanks for your comments, and no, you didn't offend me.
    I can't find any e-mail address to you.

    PS! Are you Swedish since you wrote in Swedish?

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    1. Hi Roger, I don't speak or write Swedish. Google Translates does.
      I chose to write to you in your language because of what I was saying. If you published it, not many folks would know what I said. I was being discreet.

      I went through your oeuvre yesterday, your previous iris paintings are so much better than this one done in what looks like an evolving style. I like the style very much. It's very original. I do think you have to be careful though, not all subjects are suited to it. I happen to be an artist who thinks that subjects determine style,for we respond to different things differently. From what I can tell among the fine artists I've been looking at that's not the way of fine art. Your style is your style is your style seems to be the practice. I might have to succumb, but so far, I haven't been able to.

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  4. Look at the picture, right hand side, one third down at the 'brown bits'. There's a face wearing a crown, that is lit from below. The brown is shoulder length hair. If/when you see it you will see it is complete in every detail!

    Bet I am the only one that can see it!

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  5. Ciao Linda,
    molto bello l'effetto che hai ottenuto! Crea del mistero e un'atmosfera da sogno oltre che da acqua...
    Saluti anche a Bruto!
    Ciao, ciao, Floriana

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    1. Oh Floriana, ho mancato il vostro sito, vergogna su di me! Papaveri è molto bella, ma ho anche notato che amano le profondità e selvaggia del mare. Tu fai splendidi acquerelli, gratuito e facile. Molto piacevole. Il mio è ancora in fase di conoscere. Ho davvero idea di come mi risponderà come la pittura per il.

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  6. I respond emotionally to what you have so far. Maybe it is because it reminds me of looking through the window in a rainy day. Look forward to seeing the progress.

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    1. This still has a sad note attached to it. Rain against a window pane is really quite beautiful. Maybe I can achieve the beauty I see in this subject, maybe not? That's always the case isn't it?

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  7. I LOVE the under-painting. I could hardly take my eyes away. It is so completely mysterious. [That's not quite the word I want.] It just kept drawing me in, pulling me around ... You'll make me a lover of abstract art yet! :)
    And Brutus looks very sweet, poise notwithstanding.

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    1. This isn't abstract art. It has a subject that is recognizable.Trees, nothing but tree, viewed from a window above through a rain whipped pane. I better look at this again.
      I think my tendency to zero in up close to my subjects abstracts it a bit. the foreground of the forest lies at the bottom, the distant background is at the top of the canvas. Now if it stays this way during my "intuitive" process that has a tendency to take off, that remains to be seen. LOL

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  8. Yes, the underpainting is great...almost seems done just as it is. And I do see John's face with the crown. To me it seems like a city, or a castle ---I'll be watching for where you take it next. Brutus is a great looking feller! Congratulations...!

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    1. You guys are seeing things. You good candidates for the Rorschach test. A GF used to say for each Rorschach card she was shown,"It a monkey @#$%^&* an elephant." I used to say "It looks like the urinary tract system." I don't think they give the Rorschach test any more in schools for student evaluations. Teenagers are unreliable. --And look how skilled he is at doing what dogs do best! He's brilliant.

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  9. When I look for faces, I see more than one, not all human.

    I agree that this is beautiful at this stage.

    This seems like it's going to be one of those paintings where one wishes one could display every stage.

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    1. Read above. If there are any faces in the paint, they are not those in my self conscious. I was more interested is in seeing how I could control the paint drips--not easily with a canvas thirty by forty. It can be unwieldy.

      I won't display it all the way through, just periodically. I don't want the world to see the ugly stages my stuff go through.

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Sorry Susan I unintentionally removed your comment. I'm just learn how to reply on the iPad. No images are intentional in this painting. At this stage I'm just feeling my way--trying this,trying that.

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