Friday, November 9, 2012

New Works

Finally! I've done a ton of experimenting this year, mainly because I didn't have many deadlines. After several months work, I've completed some new paintings that I'm really excited about. As my sometimes curmudgeony photographer commented to me today, "I think you're getting the hang of this."

green city, 36" x 72".
 This painting had very grid-like, urban feel as I was completing it. So of course, I added a map of Vancouver. So far everyone who sees it has tried to find their street. I love the motion of the big colour blocks in this painting.



bikini, 48" x 36"
After I finished this painting, I went home feeling completely satisfied and said, "I did a good day's work today." However my cats were more interested in when I was going to do some cat feeding. I love the detail that shows through the many circles, and the beautiful purple created when the blue and pink resin meet. The yellow flower balances out the composition, in fact there's a lovely balance of many elements here. Sigh.



sunset trip, 36" x 48"
This painting was the most challenging for me. For a long time, it sat on the wall, looking beautiful but incomplete. I hardly ever use black resin, but in this case it added that touch of darkness that so many of my paintings need. In addition, the black is not a deep black, but more like a squid ink black. When wiring it today, I noticed that it worked better on the horizontal, creating a hazy sunset scene. 



tipsy, 36" x 24"
Inspired recycling brought this painting to life. I intend to take a few paintings I'm not happy with and rework them with more layers of resin. This painting was a rather plain one with a little colour and a lot of line, and I added the big black stencil form and then went crazy with the coloured resin. Fun, fun, fun!



upon the shore, 36" x 108"
This painting was the first one to be completed, which means it came together really beautifully (with no agonizing on my part.) It was a direct result of the experimentation I did early in the year, playing with a lot of graffiti elements. I was looking back on my portfolio, and I realized that although I love bright colour, I hadn't ever done anything  neon bright. Now I have, and this painting is so amazing. I can hardly wait to see it hanging in a home, it's the biggest piece I've ever done and a real statement.



vibrant, 24" x 72"
This painting is actually part of a series of three that I worked on a year ago. One sold at the Crawl last year to the loveliest couple. And the third one isn't done yet. This painting has a vibrant, modern look and is also an attempt by me to get as machine-like as possible with three coats of supersmooth resin. It's not perfectly smooth though, I don't think my resin work will ever be. And that's good, since the human touch is what distinguishes original art.

6 comments:

  1. Loving these! Green City, Sunset Trip, Upon the Shore & Vibrant are all my personal faves, though each one is successful in its own way. I'm sure these diptychs & triptychs are even more impressive in person!

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    1. Yes! I love walking into the studio and seeing a whole wall with the triptych on it!

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  2. These are fantastic- they look great as part of your blog and must be even more beautiful "in person". I love Green City too and Vibrant.

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    1. Come by and see them at the Culture Crawl this weekend! Bring a sandwich for me too, thanks!

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  3. i'm surprised that i like the last one. i mean, i know i like simplistic things but it's soo simple compared to the rest of your "ouevre." i think the coolest thing about it though is that it looks like someone ripped off a piece of the top layer to reveal multi layers beneath. kind of like the nasty surprise you get when you pull up wallpaper only to find more underneath!!

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    1. This painting looks simple, but there's actually a lot of process. Multiple paint layers, and multiple resin layers with some painting in-between. But very smooth and unlike most of my work. I think my paintings usually do look like wallpaper torn away, and then attacked by neon graffiti monkeys. If I get a band, that's what I'm calling it: Neon Graffiti Monkeys, and we'll play smooth jazz ballads.

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