portrait finished - new project started

I just finished this piece

This is the third and final portrait in a series of three siblings.

It feels good to have been working on a portrait because my next project will include 6 of them. If you read the blog you know I think about food quite a bit; this project is about food. More precisely, our presumptions re: people and their relationship with food. I have quite a ways to go. I finished this one this morning

These 6 x 6 inch oil on canvas portraits are half of the project - I'll share the other half as it develops.

new forestscapes

Here are a couple of the new landscapes. I'm enjoying the search for fall color that avoids some of the over used "autumn pallets" that end up looking like the artificial foliage aisle at the craft store.

I enjoy the horizontal lines that fir and pine trees add. This interplay of lines has been keeping my landscapes in the woods lately. When you're still in the woods, you become aware of the mesh around you - the property of self similarity bringing together the elements of the forest. I enjoy seeing this in the work without loosing the immediacy of a painterly approach.

I will be transitioning into some larger pieces next.

Older work from the same series:

view more work at rosemarymarkowski.com

new landscape in progress

Ahhh, it feels so goo to be working on a landscape again. The last time I was working on my Wissahickon series, they were all small works; I'm starting off with a 36 x 48 this time. Today I put in the basic composition and made some decisions about the pallet. Can't wait to get back to it tomorrow.

finished double portrait

Here's the finished portrait.

I was kept away from it for a while since the last step and as I eyeballed it in passing I got rather fond of its looseness. When I went back to wrap it up, I wasn't feeling the detail I was adding - I stopped myself and will let it be.

When I'm working I'm fed by the magic moment, not necessarily the moments of absolute control. I enjoy the amazement of how one loose gesture can create the wrinkle around a lip that gives away the secret of a concealed smile more than a couple days of glazing would. At the same time I greatly enjoy the work of those who feel fulfilled by a different process, which illustrates a wonderful thing about art - art is witnessing someone's understanding -- how wonderful is that??

Now - Dinner/dishes, a walk to get water ice with the kids, reading, tucking in and then back to the easel. Deadlines approaching for three new pieces.

You can read more here, here, and here,

waiting for paint to dry, next step in the 20x20 oil on panel double portrait

I've been busy working on the house with A while he's been home the past couple days, that and plenty of Summer playdates, playdates, playdates. I just now finished up a couple hours in the studio - A took the kids with him to Lowes.

I went into that door I was dreading - that kind of french scroll work is not my bag. I had the option of changing it, but find it such an identifying characteristic of the row houses in our neighborhood that I want to keep it in this portrait of the girls. I need to go in and chisel away at it and get to the details of the hands. It will nag me to look at it like this while I wait for the paint to dry enough, but I thought I'd share anyway and not edit my annoyances out of the process.

You can see the rest of the process here, here, and here

20 x 20 oil on panel double portrait for (w)holon show

And we're almost there.

I don't think I want to work the faces much more. I will evaluate how the highlights settle in tomorrow.

There's an intricate iron door behind them on our left, I've been thinking about how to approach this - I don't want it to get fussy.

Previous steps are here and here

20 x 20 double portrait - next step

I found a little time to work on the 20 x 20 oil on panel double portrait today. The previous steps can be found here. I've been holding off giving much detail to the face yet until I bring the background up. I hope to finish by next week.

More to come.

next work in progress (20 x 20 for (w)holon show)

I found some studio time this evening and got started on my 20 x 20 piece for the upcoming show. If you haven't, please see the previous post with the 4 x 4 squares which are also part of the (w)holon show. This will give you a definition of a holon and some insight into the show.

I went into the studio about an hour ago and this is where I'm at tonight. The piece is a portrait of my two girls on the front steps in oil, on panel. I'm not going to over think this, I'm just going to post what I'm doing as I go along until the piece is finished. As you can see, I'm going right in with the paint - drawing in washes and continuing to evaluate with each stroke. Sometimes a painting starts and the entire process is like a dance - it's elegant and each step is satisfying. There are also the paintings that I wrestle with, the ones that I consider taking to the curb on trash day a few times. Sometimes these paintings come together in a surprising and satisfying way - sometimes they are put to rest.

I hope to post more tomorrow.

the portrait in progress

I work in private, and unlike my papier mache and acrylic paintings, I am not in a habit of giving classes, or step by step demonstrations of my oil portraits. Tonight I thought I'd go ahead and show some of the steps leading up to my most recent finished portrait.

As you can see I do not work to fill in a detailed drawing, but rather draw with washes and continue the drawing and evaluating with each stroke of paint. If I'm missing a step in the pictures, it would probably be the single color wash - usually burnt umber or purple. Next time I will not get carried away forget to pick up the camera.

glitter and artistic frustration

Painting is my passion - it is also my job and brings with it deadlines, budgeting of time/money, and stresses like any other. Even if I weren't involving a business aspect with what I do, I would never say that painting is a stress reliever; there are paintings that keep me up at night and bring me down to the studio to work bleary eyed in my pajamas. That said, the euphoria of having it all come together is worth all of this. Like all the other things that bring purpose to our life, this is a complex relationship and part of the sweetness is in the drive and the struggle.

Here are some quotes that I have collected on the subject:

"I am very depressed and deeply disgusted with painting. It is really a continual torture."

- Claude Monet

"There are about five people in my life to whom I really listen. They may not always be right, but they know what I'm trying to do."

- Emily Mann

"You feel like a prisoner if you don't create. You're jailed up inside yourself."

- Edie Brickell

Every day is different, every work is a journey, but when too much time goes by without glimmers of accomplishment (which, by the way, only you can be the judge of) it can become maddening...I will now refer to those as "Claude moments"

So, about the glitter - for me it is a stress relief. I like covering things in glitter to relive pent up artistic frustrations. I find a little chatski, or old plastic toy, and cover it with garish silver glitter. The instant transformation and harmony that the various little animals take on when they are unified with the little light reflecting particles is very pleasing. In a way I think I'm priming my mind for a sense of accomplishment that will fuel my pressing on with a more weighty subject in the studio arena.

Martha Stewart isn't the only glitter queen.

paintings - the holon project

I have been working on some little 4 x 4 inch panels for a group show. The theme of the installation is, holons - something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. Read more about holons here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holon_(philosophy)

The members of Mamacita http://mamacitaarts.com/ a mother's cooperative in the arts, will be contributing small panels to make up a larger group piece. I happen to be working on some oil portrait commissions right now, so I thought I would stick with that medium and make my 4 x 4 panels miniature oil portraits. My holon is the individual - introversion and placement in community.

These guys are tiny, and they look a little strange to me blown up. Painting portraits this small is definitely something new, many of my pieces are near life size.

You can view more of my portraits here - http://www.rosemarymarkowski.com/