Working My Way Through

I've been working hard on my Matrix III painting, and while I'm happy with the experience up close to the work, when I step back I feel that it falls apart. The experience is "flat". I've been frustrated with trying to figure out what's not working, and realizing it takes 40 hours to make a "move" and the clock is ticking for the January residency.

So yesterday I took a break from painting. I met Rebecca Moran Brine and we went to AIB to see Tony Apesos artist talk. We ran into Melissa Kulig, Percy Fortini-Wright and Gregory Kitterle there (which was fun). Rebecca came to my studio afterward and she was kind enough to spend a good 45-minutes talking about my work. Then my good friend Jess came by after and gave me her response to the work. After she left, I printed out a bunch of small sized copies of the painting to my desktop printer and started marking them up with pencil and magic markers. After a bunch of sketches I figured out how I want to try and resolve what isn't working. So now I hope to spend the weekend working on this new idea and see how it goes.

And God forbid, I don't finish a layer of color before trying this new direction. I've had it in my head that I have to finish a color before starting the next. It's a bit limiting, I understand that I do it that way because I really can't see the impact of the color/marks until it's covered the entire painting, but it would be nice to be building it a little more dynamically than that...so I'll see how "loosening the reigns" a little bit goes this weekend.

In the meantime, here are a few detail shots of it currently (crappy photos)...

Red Layer Done!

Whew. This one took 38.75 hours to complete (but who's counting!?)

Clearly, I'm going to need professional help photographing these large pieces. I just don't have the equipment or room to get a decent full-size shot...Here's what I was able to get this morning (the detail shots are obviously much better).

Now I'm off to start the next layer. Yippee.

30 Hours Not Enough

I've been painting for 30 hours this past week (despite being horribly sick) and I don't think it's going to be enough to finish these two paintings for January. I had estimated about 20-hours per layer/color and that 30 hours per week would allow me to just finish them both in time. But the last two layers/colors have both taken over 30 hours to complete. In fact, this red layer on Matrix III is only three-quarter's done and I've already spent over 33 hours on it! I've probably got another eight still to go... Not sure I can swing 40 hours a week and be able to keep up my day job to pay my bills... I guess time will tell, I'm doing the best I can, I really just want these done in time.

Matrix IV, Layer 3 (start of Layer 5, Matrix III)

It took a full 30 hours to paint in the third (yellow) layer. Here are some really poor snapshots I took in the studio (hand held the camera, no lights...)



Here's a couple of details...





Started the fifth (maroon/red) layer on Matrix III (lower left corner)...



And a detail...

Next Big Piece "Matrix IV" Started

Here is the first two layers of the next big piece, Matrix IV, 110" wide x 55" high, acrylic on paper



I will be working on this piece concurrently with Matrix III (below). I will do a layer on one, then a layer on the second, and back and forth until they are both finished. I'm estimating that I need to paint 30-hours per week consistently between now and January 1st to have these both ready for the January residency.

I'll post images as each layer is completed. That should be one per week from now until the end of the year...

4th Layer of "Matrix III" Finished

Here is the fourth layer finished on Matrix III...



Here's a detail...