Above, see a pic of the work in progress “Summer Clearance” that I have been spending a lot of time on over the past few days.
I am definitely not sure about “Summer Clearance” as a title— but it is better than just keeping “work in progress” up in the subject line every time. This is my first big painting in a while, and I am loving it. There is something different about working on one of these larger works that is more engrossing. While I like the works on paper, and the smaller items, the larger works just dominate the studio while they are in progress.
Have been doing more and more thinking and research into catalogs and marketing over the past few days as I wonder about the series that seems to be ready to take off. One of the strangest things I hadn’t even thought of in connection with catalogs is the idea of “Mail-Order Brides,” which kept coming up on google in searches.
How weird to live in a world with mail order brides! I had this image of every person having their own marketing brochure in the future that you just hand to someone when they meet you. Like a Myspace page times ten, or an advanced personal ad. I checked out a few of the sites that have the mail order brides, and they are pretty advanced— video greetings, interview questions, etc.
Maybe we will all have marketing sites some day. I always liked the idea of dumping out a woman’s purse on the first date, or when a girl asks to go through your wallet. Somehow I am not sure that Ingrid from Siberia is always genuine about her responses. Whereas a wallet, or purse, excavation mission is bound to unearth the ugly truth.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I wasn’t lured into making a call to 1-800-marry-me by any slick catalog offers.
But, on the mid-range of catalogs and using this type of layout as a device for exploring color, line and shape— alongside depth against texture and flatness— the catalog seems like a great universal concept that will allow for some exploration.
Interesting that as I work on this piece I have been reading the Matisse bio by Spurling, I am just to the part where Matisse travels to Tahiti. Gauguin is mentioned, of course, and here I am painting women in beach-like poses with tropical water behind them that look very flat in some respects and heavy and truly taking up space on the canvas in others. The woman in the top left had already been looking very Gauguin-esque to me, and then I stumbled upon this spot in the book.
I guess I had always associated some of what was going on with Lichtenstein (he is behind a few other projects I have in the works to some extent, I think— or trying to build on him is), and with the heavy line, the popular culture references, and the colors, I was more associating with him. In fact, there is a light blue, yellow combination on the woman on the right that when I laid it down reminded me completely of him.
And then, suddenly, I felt ambushed by this Gauguin reference. Maybe that is the key to the great painters, they truly are universal.
It also was more of a surprise attack since I am not the biggest Gauguin fan in the world. I might lead blog readers to investigate my poem “The Reason I Hate Gauguin.”
But, the painting, Summer Clearance, is getting along well. I spend lots of time looking, and lots of time painting and being with the canvas lately.
I am definitely not sure about “Summer Clearance” as a title— but it is better than just keeping “work in progress” up in the subject line every time. This is my first big painting in a while, and I am loving it. There is something different about working on one of these larger works that is more engrossing. While I like the works on paper, and the smaller items, the larger works just dominate the studio while they are in progress.
Have been doing more and more thinking and research into catalogs and marketing over the past few days as I wonder about the series that seems to be ready to take off. One of the strangest things I hadn’t even thought of in connection with catalogs is the idea of “Mail-Order Brides,” which kept coming up on google in searches.
How weird to live in a world with mail order brides! I had this image of every person having their own marketing brochure in the future that you just hand to someone when they meet you. Like a Myspace page times ten, or an advanced personal ad. I checked out a few of the sites that have the mail order brides, and they are pretty advanced— video greetings, interview questions, etc.
Maybe we will all have marketing sites some day. I always liked the idea of dumping out a woman’s purse on the first date, or when a girl asks to go through your wallet. Somehow I am not sure that Ingrid from Siberia is always genuine about her responses. Whereas a wallet, or purse, excavation mission is bound to unearth the ugly truth.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I wasn’t lured into making a call to 1-800-marry-me by any slick catalog offers.
But, on the mid-range of catalogs and using this type of layout as a device for exploring color, line and shape— alongside depth against texture and flatness— the catalog seems like a great universal concept that will allow for some exploration.
Interesting that as I work on this piece I have been reading the Matisse bio by Spurling, I am just to the part where Matisse travels to Tahiti. Gauguin is mentioned, of course, and here I am painting women in beach-like poses with tropical water behind them that look very flat in some respects and heavy and truly taking up space on the canvas in others. The woman in the top left had already been looking very Gauguin-esque to me, and then I stumbled upon this spot in the book.
I guess I had always associated some of what was going on with Lichtenstein (he is behind a few other projects I have in the works to some extent, I think— or trying to build on him is), and with the heavy line, the popular culture references, and the colors, I was more associating with him. In fact, there is a light blue, yellow combination on the woman on the right that when I laid it down reminded me completely of him.
And then, suddenly, I felt ambushed by this Gauguin reference. Maybe that is the key to the great painters, they truly are universal.
It also was more of a surprise attack since I am not the biggest Gauguin fan in the world. I might lead blog readers to investigate my poem “The Reason I Hate Gauguin.”
But, the painting, Summer Clearance, is getting along well. I spend lots of time looking, and lots of time painting and being with the canvas lately.
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