For those of you who have been following me you may have noticed a general dissatisfaction I ‘ve had with my recent work. I think I’m going to take a break and regroup. I’ve not been happy with the last few paintings and I think its time to pause. Practical matters like getting a bigger easel and working bigger as well as my imagery are just some of the reasons why. I want to go back to a more gestural, textural method like what I was doing in grad school. Ha! when I got out of school I went right back to doing figurative work. But I think I’ve exhausted that. I’ve done human figures, classical Greek sculpture, a few animals etc. I’ve been teasing at non objective work with the Pathways, but my technique was a flat application of paint, devoid of any energy or emotion { except for some color expression}. It is time to go back to the messy, gestural application of paint, I think. It may be that I incorporate some figurative suggestion, don’t know yet. I plan to work a bit with my pastels, “research” easels, think about where I want to go next. I was never attracted to social or political art or landscapes. Its not that I don’t like that art. I love Anselm Kieffer’s work and Guernica, as well. Casper David Friedrich, wonderful. There are many others. It was always about the process, what makes good art, breaking it down into the basics for me. And never about a particular style. I didn’t/don’t want to limit myself. And….. I’d like to go to Italy.
Two new paintings
March 29, 2021 — Jan
Monolith 7. It is an improvement over the last one but I still don’t like it. The colors are better but too many grey areas, looks primitive, child like. On the other hand I had a started painting I had set aside and now finished and I am happy with it. I used the colors from the Monolith painting. It is small; I see it in a much larger scale. It is a Poetry painting titled “Sunlight and Wind” from a poem by Yeats: Those Images. 16″ x 12″ or 45 x 30.48 cm
almost a painting
March 25, 2021 — Jan
This is the finished painting Monolith 6. almost. As you can see there is a black shape lower middle right. I was not happy with the smaller shapes in front of the middle monolith. I also don’t like the colors, too saturated, too bright. I do like the back right shapes and colors: blue green, lilac, yellow green. There does seems to be a suggestion of space with the lighter colors in the upper third. I also like the curvilinear [sp?] shapes mixed in with the rectilinear shapes. I hesitated to even put this on here but there is enough here I DO like. Not all paintings are successful but can be learned from. 18″ x 24″ or app. 45.72 x 61 cm.
back to the new?
March 19, 2021 — JanI painted another Artemis and hated it so I decided to go back to my geometric/monolith/shapes. I’m posting an early image on here because it seems to me there is a bit of space created by the shapes. I wanted to see if it translates to a photo and to remind me of it. Depending on the colors, it may flatten out[or not]. I didn’t crop it so you can see how it relates as an object. 18″ x 24″ or app. 45cm x 61cm
NOTE to myself: I just realized that my painting is slightly crooked on the easel. I always wondered why I couldn’t crop the photos exactly square. I think now I know ! Too funny[she shakes her head and rolls her eyes at herself]
new work, old image
March 7, 2021 — JanI sold one of my Artemis paintings and thought I’d use that as a stepping off point. Was going thru some old photos [before digital!] I took of sculpture in the Louvre way back when. This is an image I used primarily in prints and drawings. I like it enough to maybe paint another 2 or so.
The weather here is warming and daffodils are blooming. Fertilized the blueberries and am working on raised bed. I’m thinking of putting tomatoes and peppers in containers and planting flowers in the bed. The vegetables didn’t do that well last year so I thought I’d try the containers and see. I go tomorrow to get my first covid shot.
jancschindler 