More Details!!

Another from the same 'Royals' series.  The hustle and bustle of the season is slowing down personal art time, but here's some of the latest ....

Details, Please!

Part of me likes the nondescript, generalized rendition of the 'details' in my paintings: the 'placeholder' brushstrokes used to indicate hair, or accessories, or clothing which I start out with and paint over with more and more accuracy as I go on.  Another part of me feels impelled to continually add more realism each time I sit back down to paint more.

The need to show this increased detail may come from somewhat of a lack of confidence on my part, as well as a need to see if I can render certain parts more realistically so that I will not be judged as someone less skilled than I might otherwise be assessed.  I'm generally less comfortable showing my 'looser' work without explanation - - that it's somehow intentional, and that while I am capable of painting more realistically, ["better" ?] I just happen to prefer this particular work the way I have it ["unskilled" ?].  I hope that will go away in time, both the lack of confidence, and the fear of simplicity.

Above are details of a recent painting (which I showed in a sepia version in the last post).  I'm not done with the jewelry, I have much more to do.  See the sepia version for a general sense of how it looked before.

Recent Works in Sepia

 From my Stepchildren Series

 From a new series, The Royals (WIP)

Recent Polaroid scan from this past summer.

Re-covery

I have three Polaroid SX-70 cameras, the original, the Alpha, and Model 2.  All are in varying states of distress, but the Alpha, which was the first one I owned, had a leatherette covering which was so dried and crumbly that it caused anything it came into contact with to be stained with a rusty brown filthy dust.  I had to carry it in a plastic bag, and as I often go withs several cameras on my shoots, not being able to just sling the long strap over my shoulder was a pain.  So this summer I said no more.   I took a heavy rasp and sandpaper, and tried to remove as much of the cover as possible, and then commenced with a variety of duct and electrical tapes.  The whole thing is eyeballed, and not perfect, but it's so great to be able to pick it up without getting dirty hands.  :))

First Pinhole Polaroid of the Season

10 second exposure on a lovely summer day by the Hudson River in a little park between Soho and Tribeca in NYC.

Taken with this camera: The Arunas Cigar Box Pinhole with Polaroid back....

Redhead in Blue

Continuing with my 'Stepchildren' series....

Summer Fruit

Scanning Polaroids.  Finally all caught up with them, so ready to move on to the roll film negatives.

'Big Apple', sx-70 Alpha camera, sx-70 film, expired 2007

'3 Fruits', sx-70 Alpha camera, sx-70 film, expired 2007

Sticker Sightings

It's a secret thrill to come upon something I made on the streets of NYC.  I don't always have a camera with me, but when I do....

Monster Photo Gestalt Exhibit

I'll be in this show which opens tomorrow at bG Gallery in Santa Monica, CA tomorrow.  (Would love to hear from anyone out there able to attend.)

This is what will be in the show.  

Titled: Hand me down to the soft Earth and let me start from scratch.

Sales and inquiries can be directed to the gallery:

T: 310-906-4211

info@bgartdealings.com

I cut and put my mats together myself.

The biggest stressor for me while framing for galleries is removal of all dust particles from between the art and the acrylic.  I don't know what it is, but no matter what I do... antistatic cloth, clearing the work area, brushes, and careful attention, there's always that one little speck which stands out like a sore thumb after I close everything up.  Then I have to open it up and start all over again.

I Made the Huffington Post!

In all the excitement, I forgot to mention here that I was featured there on March 10.  The only reason I even found out about it is because the gallery where I'm currently showing this piece sent me the link.  Pretty cool.  Here's a screenshot:

The article starts out... "Technology can only get you so far.  No matter how many clear-as-day DSLR shots you take, no matter how many Valencia filters you lovingly apply to your iPhone photo of brunch, you can't fake pure photographic genius."

Then, there's my cigar box pinhole shot on old Polaroid film of sand paths taken at dusk in the summertime.  I'm so honored!

Patti Smith's Polaroid Exhibit

The Robert Miller Gallery at 524 W. 26th Street in Chelsea is having a show of Patti Smith's Polaroids.  Some I liked very much.  There were a lot of beds.  And table and chair shots.  She also does this thing where she writes on the photo and/or the mats they are in, and it's quite beautiful - her handwriting is art; the shapes and patterns it forms.  Like an accessory.  I didn't have a camera with me that day, so borrowed an iPhone to snap these.

Thursday's Screenshot

Work on my 'Stepchildren' series continues.  I start with a scanned sketch, paint in Adobe Photoshop, all on separate layers.  When a file gets to be a certain number of layers, say, 15 or so, I save a flattened version, rename it with a numerical suffix, and continue to the next 15 layers, and so on.  The face and features change a lot during this process.   And as you can see, I often have a few windows open at the same time.  The redhead on the left is the preview in Adobe Bridge of another painting I've done.

Krappy Kamera 2016

So I'm in this year's Krappy Kamera show at the Soho Photo Gallery in Tribeca.  Though it's not my first time to be selected,  it's always an honor to take part.  The show opened yesterday, with the reception happening two nights ago.  When I arrived, I was one of three asked to make a speech about my camera and my photography - nerve-wracking, to say the least.  My photo, taken with my Cigar Box Pinhole camera with a Polaroid back, titled "Summer Dusk", took the People's Choice Award!

Afterwards, I went with friends to a nearby local bar/bistro which has been in business since the 1800's.  It's one of those warmly lit places with dark wood interior, and tin walls and ceilings.  They set out crayons on the butcher paper covered tables, and of course, I had to draw my 'Devil Boy' character.  By the end of the night, our table top was covered in art.

Next, we walked home to Soho, (it's right next to Tribeca) and stopped after dining hours at a favorite place of mine.  It wasn't until the next morning that I opened my People's Choice Award.   I still can't believe it, and was thrilled to find a lovely red and white Lomography "Meg" camera with ring flash, a little hardback book about Diana cameras (and Diana clones), as well as three rolls of film.  It will be fun to see what I do with this one.  

'The Stepchildren' Series

I'm currently working on a series of redheads, all painted digitally with my Wacom tablet.  In the end, I'll compile them into a small book or maybe even a 'zine' called "The Stepchildren".  

First Snowstorm of the Winter

I prefer the seasons to behave accordingly.  Winter should be cold, blustery, with lots of snowstorms. I do not like lame winters, so this recent storm gave me joy.  More please.  Here are some pictures from Saturday night on my neighborhood walk.  Soho is generally last on the list of places which get plowed.  But this time, even the Avenues were blocked with snow, and I took a walk over to Holland Tunnel, and it, too, was blocked!

Park benches.

Looks like a little gingerbread house scene!

No Holland Tunnel traffic!

Loved all the whites at this loading dock area.

The landlord of this building had a snowblower.  Saw the owner of this car digging out the next day. 

See, no plowing in Soho!  It was a total fairyland!

Reflected light from all the snow showcased this graffiti nicely.

A Soho snowman.  I called him Smiley.  :)