This whole secretive thing about Model Consumer— and me holding back works in progress so I don’t influence any contest entries— is really screwing me up. I was so in practice of taking pictures all along the way while I was working on something, and now I am completely miserable at it.
All of that is a long introduction to the above picture. It is a work on paper— 18” x 24” titled “July, August & September.” Per the intro, I was working on this and a Model Consumer pieces as well, and failed to take some pics while in process. But I am pleased with the results. While it doesn’t use the same layering concepts I have been employing lately, it gave me a great chance to combine techniques (linear and painterly styles) and allowed me to further play with complex colors.
As it seems like I have said over and over by now, seeing the Hopper show really inspired me to play with some nuances and tones of color. While I don’t feel like this will be effective on some of my larger canvases with the collage elements (due to the necessity of flat colors played against the depth of layered content) it works well here. And when I have the opportunity I love experimenting with color tones and how they draw the eye and back forth across a picture.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this new work. I will try and get better again at taking pictures as they progress.
As a side note. I had a great meeting today on presenting an upcoming show here in Boston next spring. I went to walk the space, and was very, very impressed. Looks like it is a go, in a high-visibility site, and I will let everyone know more details about the space and the show as things get solidified.
The other pieces I have in the works right now include a larger collage piece that I have been using the working title “Spring Training” for which will include baseball cards as some of the collage elements. Above, see my trusty old shoebox stuffed with baseball cards.
As I was going through and picking out ones I might want to use, I was struck by how American the process of flipping through baseball cards is. The feel of them slipping by in your hands as you scan to see what you have— if there is anything good in there, etc.
I already know there is not much here. For one, I sold my valuable baseball card sets to help sponsor a 60’s-esque road trip in the days of way back. Second, baseball cards— when I was collecting anyhow— aren’t really worth that much anymore.
In the 80’s, baseball cards became big business— which flooded the market. Thus, they are not rare anymore. Back then it seemed like you were always hearing a story of someone finding a box of baseball cards in their attic worth a hundred kabillion dollars. Or someone throwing out a box in an attic that was filled with baseball cards that must have been worth double that. Now everyone has a baseball card collection. A Barry Bonds rookie on eBay is worth like 5 bucks.
But it was definitely a time machine to flip through the cards. It was also nice to remember the names of the utility players— guys I hadn’t thought of in so long. Guys like Tony Pena, who was a catcher for the Red Sox for a while— he must have hit into a double-play every time he was up at bat one season. Or Sparky Anderson— the longtime Manager of Detroit. How is it that he looked old enough to drop dead always? For twenty years I thought “man, that guy looks old.” Or a baseball card of Rusty Kuntz— to a twelve-year old collecting baseball cards, just his name made the whole thing worthwhile. How many times did my friends and I repeat his name over and over again, giggling?
My favorite find was the picture of Pittsburgh Pirates catcher, Steve Nicosia, blowing a huge bubble of bubblegum— hand on hip. Cool.
I will say, while baseball cards were big business then, baseball wasn’t. The guys all look like they are having a lot more fun in the pictures then they do now.
That may be the other thing that was so magical about the Red Sox season in 2004. The guys genuinely looked like they were having fun. Baseball hadn’t seen that in a while— or since in the same way. Maybe that was a fitting achievement for the Sox who needed that World Series for so long. They were the last of a golden age.
As I flipped through the cards, I could hear someone’s voice in my head complaining about a catcher who posed with their bat rather than their catching gear. What a wuss! The tough guys wanted to be known for their defense.
Conversations over flipping through cards were serious business. Who was a good player? Who would be a good player? Whose card was worth something? Which baseball card company made the best products?
Looking back, it seems now like there was a lesson. Either, 1) be a baseball player, or 2) be rich. Working hard at baseball would make you awesome. Working hard to not ruin your baseball cards (don’t touch them too much, don’t store them in a shoebox, keep them in plastic) might make you rich.
There was something contradictory there too. Baseball was hard work. Practice, practice, practice. But the guys on the cards were blowing bubblegum bubbles, laughing, posing dramatically as if about to burst into laughter after the flashbulb popped. They didn’t look like they had a hard day of work in their lives.
And the baseball cards were supposed to be fun. Some of us even had our parents fooled. But behind closed doors we were like a Ben Affleck scene in the movie “Boiler Room.” Have fun/don’t have fun. Be rich/be lazy.
Baseball cards were my introduction to capitalism. Supply and demand. How to trade for something you wanted without giving up too much. Major lessons in economics around bad bubble gum.
I have done a lot of exploring about identity and image around female figures. These baseball cards, and using them for collage elements, will be one piece of a new project. It will tie in loosely with Model Consumer as well— as I have a few related images planned that are related in approach but not entirely in main subject matter.
While comic books and entertainment; Barbie dolls and clothing ads are one way we are taught image, these baseball cards are huge as well. I won’t go so far as to say that one was influential to men the other to women, but these things that we look at— and the often conflicting messages, are of course integral to what I paint.
And this one is even more fascinating, as it combines texture as well. So much of what we see now is purely visual— TV, internet, etc. While the act of flipping through the baseball cards and feeling them pass over thumbs and fingers is an entry way into a whole other set of sensations, and memories.
All that said, I am now working on a smaller work on paper (another 18” x 24”) loosely related to the “Spring Training” project and the baseball card themes. The larger piece will be on canvas and will use paper collage glued down— this smaller one I am just starting work on will be pen and ink and watercolor/water-based acrylic.
The larger piece will likely be in-progress for a bit, as I juggle some writing projects and some other painting projects. But, again, I will work at taking pics in progress.
All of that is a long introduction to the above picture. It is a work on paper— 18” x 24” titled “July, August & September.” Per the intro, I was working on this and a Model Consumer pieces as well, and failed to take some pics while in process. But I am pleased with the results. While it doesn’t use the same layering concepts I have been employing lately, it gave me a great chance to combine techniques (linear and painterly styles) and allowed me to further play with complex colors.
As it seems like I have said over and over by now, seeing the Hopper show really inspired me to play with some nuances and tones of color. While I don’t feel like this will be effective on some of my larger canvases with the collage elements (due to the necessity of flat colors played against the depth of layered content) it works well here. And when I have the opportunity I love experimenting with color tones and how they draw the eye and back forth across a picture.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this new work. I will try and get better again at taking pictures as they progress.
As a side note. I had a great meeting today on presenting an upcoming show here in Boston next spring. I went to walk the space, and was very, very impressed. Looks like it is a go, in a high-visibility site, and I will let everyone know more details about the space and the show as things get solidified.
The other pieces I have in the works right now include a larger collage piece that I have been using the working title “Spring Training” for which will include baseball cards as some of the collage elements. Above, see my trusty old shoebox stuffed with baseball cards.
As I was going through and picking out ones I might want to use, I was struck by how American the process of flipping through baseball cards is. The feel of them slipping by in your hands as you scan to see what you have— if there is anything good in there, etc.
I already know there is not much here. For one, I sold my valuable baseball card sets to help sponsor a 60’s-esque road trip in the days of way back. Second, baseball cards— when I was collecting anyhow— aren’t really worth that much anymore.
In the 80’s, baseball cards became big business— which flooded the market. Thus, they are not rare anymore. Back then it seemed like you were always hearing a story of someone finding a box of baseball cards in their attic worth a hundred kabillion dollars. Or someone throwing out a box in an attic that was filled with baseball cards that must have been worth double that. Now everyone has a baseball card collection. A Barry Bonds rookie on eBay is worth like 5 bucks.
But it was definitely a time machine to flip through the cards. It was also nice to remember the names of the utility players— guys I hadn’t thought of in so long. Guys like Tony Pena, who was a catcher for the Red Sox for a while— he must have hit into a double-play every time he was up at bat one season. Or Sparky Anderson— the longtime Manager of Detroit. How is it that he looked old enough to drop dead always? For twenty years I thought “man, that guy looks old.” Or a baseball card of Rusty Kuntz— to a twelve-year old collecting baseball cards, just his name made the whole thing worthwhile. How many times did my friends and I repeat his name over and over again, giggling?
My favorite find was the picture of Pittsburgh Pirates catcher, Steve Nicosia, blowing a huge bubble of bubblegum— hand on hip. Cool.
I will say, while baseball cards were big business then, baseball wasn’t. The guys all look like they are having a lot more fun in the pictures then they do now.
That may be the other thing that was so magical about the Red Sox season in 2004. The guys genuinely looked like they were having fun. Baseball hadn’t seen that in a while— or since in the same way. Maybe that was a fitting achievement for the Sox who needed that World Series for so long. They were the last of a golden age.
As I flipped through the cards, I could hear someone’s voice in my head complaining about a catcher who posed with their bat rather than their catching gear. What a wuss! The tough guys wanted to be known for their defense.
Conversations over flipping through cards were serious business. Who was a good player? Who would be a good player? Whose card was worth something? Which baseball card company made the best products?
Looking back, it seems now like there was a lesson. Either, 1) be a baseball player, or 2) be rich. Working hard at baseball would make you awesome. Working hard to not ruin your baseball cards (don’t touch them too much, don’t store them in a shoebox, keep them in plastic) might make you rich.
There was something contradictory there too. Baseball was hard work. Practice, practice, practice. But the guys on the cards were blowing bubblegum bubbles, laughing, posing dramatically as if about to burst into laughter after the flashbulb popped. They didn’t look like they had a hard day of work in their lives.
And the baseball cards were supposed to be fun. Some of us even had our parents fooled. But behind closed doors we were like a Ben Affleck scene in the movie “Boiler Room.” Have fun/don’t have fun. Be rich/be lazy.
Baseball cards were my introduction to capitalism. Supply and demand. How to trade for something you wanted without giving up too much. Major lessons in economics around bad bubble gum.
I have done a lot of exploring about identity and image around female figures. These baseball cards, and using them for collage elements, will be one piece of a new project. It will tie in loosely with Model Consumer as well— as I have a few related images planned that are related in approach but not entirely in main subject matter.
While comic books and entertainment; Barbie dolls and clothing ads are one way we are taught image, these baseball cards are huge as well. I won’t go so far as to say that one was influential to men the other to women, but these things that we look at— and the often conflicting messages, are of course integral to what I paint.
And this one is even more fascinating, as it combines texture as well. So much of what we see now is purely visual— TV, internet, etc. While the act of flipping through the baseball cards and feeling them pass over thumbs and fingers is an entry way into a whole other set of sensations, and memories.
All that said, I am now working on a smaller work on paper (another 18” x 24”) loosely related to the “Spring Training” project and the baseball card themes. The larger piece will be on canvas and will use paper collage glued down— this smaller one I am just starting work on will be pen and ink and watercolor/water-based acrylic.
The larger piece will likely be in-progress for a bit, as I juggle some writing projects and some other painting projects. But, again, I will work at taking pics in progress.
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