New Image Diptychs/ "Fossils" and "Prize"

Here are 2 new diptychs (or 4 new paintings) made in the last 4 weeks... These will probably be the last new ones in this 50s series, at least during my MFA studies. They need a few weeks to dry and should be good for January, but we'll see. These are larger paintings- "Fossils" is 42" x 18" and "Prize" is 16" x 28". I've been having a difficult time capturing the accurate color of my paintings with the camera, which is making things tough now that I'm preparing an artist presentation and those images will be projected large for all to see... I may have to reshoot pretty much everything. We'll see and if I can get good color I'll post them. These are close but still pretty off... about as close as I can get them with the little color adjustment feature on iPhoto.

New Image- "Driver".

Here's another new image that has been done for some time but never posted here... Each panel is 12" square and it may be configured in the opposite way- it works both ways.

A Huge Milestone Reached....

Tonight I finished the final draft of my thesis, and after 5 months of continuous work on this one document I cannot describe how surreal it feels to finally be done with it- wow. I've also been working my tail off the last 3 weeks on a batch of new paintings, all being done at more or less the same time. We'll see if these end up coming with me to Boston in January- My mentor really wants to see new work in December and it has been lots of fun to get away from the late night computer head and neck aches and back into the studio. I have missed it and it will be so great to have that be the 1 thing I can give my time to. Next I send off the thesis to AIB and start turning the entire thing into a 15 minute artist talk with images... I will post some new images soon, hopefully sooner than a month. Sorry about that.

Updates

-Here's a new one called "Cowboys".

These last few weeks have been pretty frustrating- Images were due for the graduate catalog a week ago and I've hit a little bit of a creative valley as of late. I never sleep anymore- maybe that has something to do with it..... Thesis writing has also been tough. I'm in between drafts 2 and 3, and have felt stumped, mainly because its tough for me to see problems with ideas and flow after having worked so much on it. Anyway, I pushed through and finished the work for the catalog and had high quality pics taken last weekend, so that's done and feels great. I also sent out multiple copies of my writing to trusted friends for positive criticism and that has really inspired me to tackle the thesis this week. I'm making major changes to it now, and can see it really coming together. I'm tired and beat, but I'm starting to sense the end coming....

I also polished my working artist statement- Here it is (comments appreciated):

My paintings navigate and comment on the historical space of 1950s America as seen in discarded snapshots and slides. Paint and brush become the tools for possessing a photograph and the memories of people and places. The camera captures a moment of frozen time, but by slowly remaking the photographic image into a painting the viewer is compelled to reconsider what is depicted and to search for its inherent meaning. In my work, the discarded snapshot is manipulated and given new life in a new context in order to comment on the ever-changing American identity. 1950s images possess a stylistic look bound to a specific and recognizable place in history, a time in our collective American past that made us who we are today.

It is the glimpses of the everyday- the shape of a chrome bumper, the stylized design of kitchen objects and period fashion, or the odd positioning of figures in personal snapshots- that remain connections to real people and speak to a collective national identity born in post-war America. In many ways they are icons; instantly recognized representations of the decade’s ideological connotations. I am actively exploring this ideology as both American history and pedigree. Through painting, archival images of the everyday become a means to explore the mystery of the past and its implications for the present.

Moving Right Along...

We progress. Things are absolutely nutty right now, but coming along. I'm nearly done with draft 2 of my thesis, which is markedly better than draft 1. I also have 5 paintings done for the grad show and 2 or 3 in various stages of completion. I'll be working hard on those the next 2 weeks so for the late September image deadline for the exhibition catalogue. Here's the only other one completely finished since the last post- another diptych and a reworking of images from last semester's grid. It's 8" x 16". I'm calling it "Mixer/Prescriptions".

New Work/Update

For those who do check this, sorry it's been a while since the last update- I've been working my tail off this summer to finish as much work as possible before resuming my teaching and my time is stretched. Deadlines are looming for finished work in a month or so, and I'm waiting to hear some feedback on the first draft of my thesis which I sent in a week or 2 ago. I spent most of July working on that as if it was a full time job. August has been all about painting which has been much more fun than writing but no less time consuming. For the graduate show in January I'm remaking some of the grid pieces into diptychs and triptychs. I've been working on about 12 paintings at the same time, and these are the only finished ones so far-

These paintings have been about re-developing a palette that looks and feels vintage. I'm pretty pleased with them. I've also been working really hard on the flesh, which is my biggest learning area. These low-res photos don't show much, but I'm pretty pleased and feel I've made progress. These are both small diptychs at 8" x 16". I'm working on some twice that size too. I should have those done soon. We march on........

The Grid

My friend Bill Melville was nice enough to take a high quality pic of my grid at the residency.... much better than my little update photos. enjoy

in other news, I am already working my tail off on my thesis for the first draft due in a few weeks- I will do my best to post updates when I can but no promises- things are crazy busy right about now.