Test Patterns Update

Indulge me, dear reader, for another Test Pattern update. First up is another recently completed panel piece. Since my last misfire I've decided to scale these down a bit from 12 inches to 8 inches - this latest piece is 8 x 6-1/2 inches.

Here's the original collage that I used as a starting point:


Below is the completed 8 x 6-1/2 in. panel painting. A few differences: The colors are a bit more saturated and less chalky than the original. Also, I slightly altered the composition - I just couldn't get that light green washy vertical band at the bottom center to work so I reduced that area to an emerald green/lemon yellow field, which I then counterbalanced by giving the brownish checkerboard elements at the far right a bit more weight and definition.



I'm also attempting a salvage operation on my previous misfire. I sanded down the entire surface of the piece and then repainted and sanded the upper right corner - that dark green area at the right center kept bugging me so I made it a bit smaller and squared it off. The jury's still out on this piece - I'll keep it around the workroom and see if it grows on me or not. The distressed green surface reminds me of the leaves of our waterlogged tomato plants.

Found Friday 3

inside cover from an 1840's New Testament

More Test Patterns (again)

Here's another larger Test Pattern. I used this piece as a starting point and although the colors and brushwork came out differently, I think I'm happy with the end result- this one is 12 x 12 inches square:




I also did a third 12 x 12 in. piece that just didn't work out - I altered the composition somewhat from the original study, and then couldn't get the colors to match up to my satisfaction. I still had hopes that the piece would pull together when I added the final collage element but nope, it just didn't work - the overall composition was static and just had no "bounce" and the dark green square at the top center was too dominant. Oh, well - time to break out the power tools, sand it down, and start over again:

Found Friday 2

Found Friday 1

More Test Patterns

As I mentioned in an earlier post I've been working on a series of small works partially inspired by color television test patterns - here's another batch that I've recently completed:







I also decided to use one of the small Test Patterns as a starting point for a larger piece. First I glued up and cut out a 8 x 8 x 1-3/8" laminated plywood panel and attached a ground of white bristol board. Then, using the smaller piece as a template I sketched out the composition on the larger panel, doubling the size of all of the elements of the original 4 x 4" piece.




Next I began the process of trying to replicate the various color elements using colored tissue paper, gouache, gesso, acrylic, oil pastel, and ink. This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated - how hard can it be to duplicate a color that's right in front of you? Pretty #*&@% difficult if you can't remember the various layers and combinations of media that you used in the first place.

The image below shows the first step in trying to duplicate the reddish bands that are at the top of the original piece. Once completed each color element was glued to the surface of the panel, pressed to dry, and the excess collaged material trimmed from the edges.


Here's the finished piece - I think I'm happy with how it turned out although I think I prefer the green field at the top and the red field at the bottom.

Yo La Tengo - From a Motel 6

Snowmen

Sometimes you have a fully-formed idea for a project and it's just a matter of putting that idea to paper or canvas until it matches up with what you see in your head. Other times you start with a blank canvas (both literally and figuratively) and you let things play out spontaneously and reactively - you make a mark, you react to it with another mark. Add, subtract, and delete until you have something that works. And sometimes you start out with one idea and you end up with something altogether different.

This group of drawings were done in 1994 shortly before we moved from Philadelphia to Savannah. The plan was to do a series of halo drawings in ink on standard 8-1/2 x 11" graph paper, drawing on one side, then coating the drawn side with shellac to make the paper semi-transparent, and finally repeating the halo forms in ink on the reverse side. Well, I got the first two steps done - halos drawn and paper shellaced - and started working on the reverse side. Although instead of halos I found myself drawing snowmen. Goofy, bouncy, strangely-threatening snowmen. Snowmen juggling and chasing after their own limbs. I'll admit that for some reason these drawings still freak me out a little.

Anyway, here's a sample. I think I did about 30 drawings total with these being some of the more successful ones:












Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians -- Balloon Man