A few blog posts ago I posted 4-5 pictures showing how I start a painting and pull it from abstraction into figuration; this is the final result.

devil in the details...

Still-life 1.4

Corsage/Boutonniere for Self Immmolation

A choreography of self-deceipt. A formal meeting of one's self. Neck cuddle hot horror, dancing towards terror's shadowy corners, and falling through freedom's threshold.

Out of the blue

This one is in a great place right now, I almost don't want to push it into fruition, buuut, I can't resist. Something feminine about the triangle, somehow beautiful, sympathetic, soft. I saw a woman with this horrible facial growth once covering almost the entirety of her face with this rough blackish purple sponge-like form. I could tell she was really gentle and kind and sweet, it was heartbreaking to see such a dichotomy. I suppose life is like this, no?

a sense of urgency

So much time on the road. Existential terror suspended. A still life is a portrait. Fleeting inspiration, momentary epiphany, creeping duldrums, cankersores. Cold and wet, neck bent backwards, road level perspective, no silence. Two bowls of chili, settin' the woods on fire.

Today I took a different approach

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to reverse this order, but above is where I stopped today; I basically have used no white in this process, instead, creating light by removing paint. Once this is dry, I am curious if the forms will appear brighter than if I'd used thick underpainting with lead white.

My goal is to keep the making of forms spontaneous, more free and to allow the oil ground to come through in the end.

It's wonderful to see the scratches and abrasions create their own forms.

This was the beginning. The pigment is a mixture of burnt umber, prussian blue, and raw umber. nice and simple.