Saturday Sketch

Charcoal doodle of Sasha.

Matisse

Henri Matisse, Young Girl in White on a Red Background, 1944, Private Collection

Still thinking about Matisse; his stripped down  use of line and color, the "just do it" bravado of a painting like this. (See this painting in better detail here.)

Freedom and Hope

So here I am, trying bravely to get used to these water soluble oils and I come across this in the book I am reading. The author is describing the primary character's feelings as he walks into the art studio after dark:

"He loved the quiet, the sense that he was safe is some embryonic way, and he loved the exotic smells of the turpentine and the paints, which forever would fill him with a sense of freedom and hope." From Lisa Grunwald's "The Irresistible Henry House". 

Sigh. These new oils, they are easier on the environment and on me, but I doubt anyone will ever get that Proustian moment from them. Last complaining post about them, though.  I think I am painting more because of them and I am beginning to think that it is the act of painting, not the smell of the materials, that fills me with that sense of freedom and hope. 

Wondering Glee

 

Henri Matisse, Olga Merson, 1911, Museum of Fine Arts Houston

 It seems that I only read Peter Schjeldahl once a year.  Or maybe he only strikes a chord once a year. Or maybe I am so distracted I only remember what I read once a year.

In any case, in the 26 July New Yorker he reviews the Matisse show at MOMA. It's a good review but this is the best sentence: "I'm just in a mood- enhanced now, by the thought of the inexplicable inchoately thrilling arc of black paint that slashes Matisse's "Portrait of Olga Merson" (1911) from chin to left thigh- to insist on a hierarchy of sensations that favor the experience of being tripped cleanly out of ourselves and into wondering glee." 

How great is that? " trip us out of ourselves and into wondering glee."

Sterling

Water soluble oil on canvas. I guess it is time to stop complaining about these paints.

Dogscape

What a funny style this is for me.

Skye 2

Water soluble oil on clayboard. The clayboard really soaks up the paint- I probably should gesso before I start painting seriously.This is a small sketch, landscape, not sure if I am interested enough in the geometry to keep at it.

Fling

This is not one of my dogs, but a dog from one of Beanie's and my favorite sites, 

Secret Schnoodle. They are not boys we know, but we are big fans.

A good thing about water-oils is that they make it easier to sketch- no big clean up involved, no ventilation required. It's easier to fool around, makes painting feel like less of a commitment and more of a fling.

Fling. Catch it?

Clayboard Landscape

 
I love working on Clayboard.(I feel as though somewhere in my past I actually learned how to make my own, but it involved lots of lead grinding and maybe even a dead bunny skin or two. Or maybe I am misremembering.) Anyway, small clayboard 5 x 5, my favorite theme, that Edinburgh landscape again.

Did I mention my great love of De Stael?

 

Nicolas De Stael, Rue Gauguet, 1949, Museum of Fine Ats, Boston

Oil on Plywood. No kidding - I didn't realize it til now.

Smocked

 
I have learned to accept the fact that I am a paint slob. I have tried it all- aprons, men's shirts- and don't like anything. Too hot, too much time to get on and off, no pockets -  so I always go back to wiping my hands on my shirt and then cursing myself for the mess.

But while shopping in my favorite store  I found this- a cooks jacket for $5. Who knew the painting smock of my dreams could be found at Odd Lot?

Man in Cove

 
Begrudging acceptance of water based oils. Small, 8 x 10 maybe? Dog in landscape -  my two favorite subjects combined. A style so unlike me I wonder how long it will take before I scrape it away.


The plus of water based oils- clean up is  easy and there is zero toxic smell. I like the Holbein more than the Winsor Newton- consistency is better and color seems more authentic. Down side? Ungodly expensive, unusual color names and everything on the tube is written in Japanese. 

First Wash

 
My first attempt at painting with water based oils. I used Winsor Newton water soluble oils. I hate them.

Ok, I need to give this a chance. It is great to clean brushes in water and there is no odor. But the texture, the colors, the "paint-iness" of the paints- I don't know, it's all lacking somehow. On the bright side, they don't have the plastic quality of acrylics.


I went to Utrecht's to whine and left with some Holbein paints. The heavily pierced young man assured me that I will like them more than the Winsor Newton paints ( the worst, he agreed.) He tells me "green" art materials are becoming more popular and are bound to get better.

Green art materials. Maybe I should switch to photography.

The Air of Art

I love the smell of turpentine. It has the same effect on me that cinnamon and apples has on other people. One whiff and I can feel  those chemicals releasing relaxation, calm and focusing in my brain.

But much as I love it,  I have to face the fact that turp is a toxin . For me and the environment. Reed Kay was right. The air of art is poisoned. 

So I am saying goodbye to turpentine and pure oil paints.

I have done this before and the break up is never pretty. I am cranky, dissatisfied and pissy.