This is the view from my window (there has been a bit of snow here):
I liked my studio in the Wolf Kahn building, so I requested to be in the same building again and I am in the studio right next door to where I was last time. And this is how it looked on Monday as I was getting settled in:
The bridge is being rebuilt so it's a bit of a mess out there right now, but this is the view from my studio windows:
And I also have a good view of the Red Mill which is where the gallery, resident's lounge and dining hall is:
So on Monday I did these four underpaintings:
All are on 22x30 watercolor paper that has been gessoed and taped onto a board. They are part of the abstract series, but I have backed up a bit and am keeping a few landscape elements, most notably the horizon line. Don't ask me why I am going back a bit, I have no good reason other than I just feel like I should. I am also adding a border to some of them which is an indication of a window, of looking outside. I am quite excited about this direction! And tomorrow I will be doing the color on them.
Yesterday I did the underpaintings for two portraits for the 'People You Know' series. I am hoping to do at least ten more while I am here, but they are pretty intense and I can only do a few of the underpaintings at a time.
These are 14x18 and are on birch panel.
Today I did five black paintings and again (also on the gessoed paper), backed up a little bit and decided to include the barn like structures. I intended for them to be more abstract than they turned out to be, but luckily I have a lot of paper and can try again. I actually like these though and think they are a good starting point to somehow express the images that I have in my head.
This is my drawing table, which unlike the one I have at home, I am actually using. I have been making sketches of the images of what I would like to paint, which is also not something that I normally do. Not sure if making sketches is affecting the paintings here one way or the other, but I certainly am enjoying the process of making the sketches. I do not draw with a pencil near enough anymore.
And this is my studio tonight:
I am quite settled in and am heartily wishing for vertical walls to miraculously be in installed in my attic studio while I am gone. Heh.
More soon!
21 comments:
liking those black barns! eery and ominous!
Thank you for keeping us updated about your residency. The second black barn seems very abstract. I like the white zone on the right. Seems like a strong design.
looks like things are cooking! excellent! i'm really liking those black barns too.
Have you seen J.T. there?
Ditto for me. The black barns are just great
So good to see where you are. Great starts....love the black barn series.
My art prof suggested I lose the horizon line. I could never do it successfully. And why?
Thanks for posting your progress in pictures. Will be following! Enjoy.
I love the beginnings of all of these paintings, especially those black barns. I'm excited to see what will become of the ones with the borders -- that does seem quite different for you. Those people you know are quite intriguing already. I really want to know what their stories are.
Love the black barns also. You jumped right into being super productive - that's great!
Thanks for the look into your world! I've never really known what an artist's residency entails, so I look with great interest.
Love seeing all the new works in their infancy, but I hope you don't see going back to previous styles/techniques as a step backwards. Even when I'm pushing myself to grow and develop, I think it's natural to start with what you like and are comfortable with, and then veer off in many directions. I know my development has not been in a straight line.
Again, thanks for sharing with us how your ideas cook and simmer!
Nothing beats a Laura Ashley lampshade together with Caribbean blue walls!
Put another tally mark in the "love the black barns" column. Thanks for giving us our Tracy art fix!
The bed photo looks like you're channeling Tracey Emin - just a first impression.
I am smacked at the rate of production/creation you have going. Wow! All of your work, especially (IMO) the people you know series, are growing by bounds.
Wow. Just wow. You are in the groove, and I also loved the look around. Looks like the WK studio/building has fabulous light, too.
Living vicariously through you and your blog posts. Thanks for sharing.
Like the others, I can't wait to see what's in the black barns. But the bordered ones feel the best to me. Great vicarious adventure!
Tracy looks like your getting a good start. Nothing "backwards" about revisitng a series in my book. I do it all the time! I see a big red barn like structure in your future.
The black barns are ghostlike. I love that! Can't wait to see more. I really like your portraits too. I've enjoyed watching you branch into that here.
Thanks for sharing all of this with us!
Wow! Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement, and especially for the comments about the black barns. I feel like I need to work on them some more and would like to make them a bit less 'correct' somehow, but can't quite see how to do that yet:) Will keep you all posted!
And Chris, have I seen JT yet?????? blahahahahaha!! Only everyday at breakfast lunch and dinner and in our studios and all the time! We are BFF now!!!! (i think he thinks I am silly and frivolous and he has also given me some good feedback on my work, nice guy)
You hadn't met J.T. before? I forget these things sometimes.
Yes, J.T. is a great guy. A little serious and a little intellectual. The two of you would make a great art couple. You provide the emotional wackiness and he can be the steady half in a collaboration.
Chris, I had not met JT before, but have bean reading his blog off and on over the years, and yeah he certainly is a little serious and just a little intellectual too;))
Oh, VSC! Sigh....
So glad to hear it's been a productive residency so far. I hope there are some great folks there this month.
Eat some goat cheese and drink some cider for me. Say "hey" to Sierra if she's still there. And have a wonderful time!
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