I’ve been thinking about the moon at the crucifixion because it’s said that the moon was blood red when it rose that day, presumably because it was eclipsed. I’ve seen a lunar eclipse and it really does go red.
Anyway, it’s been bothering me for ages that there’s no rabbit in my moon, so I think she should get some more lunar landscape detail, then turn red; a total turnaround to what I suggested earlier about adding some blues into the foreground bodies. This makes good sense.
I started drawing The Golden Bowl painting directly onto the canvas which is not my usual practice, but I’m impatient to make stuff! I’m quite excited about the piece. It’s unusually small compared to the rest of my work, but I really like the symbolism embedded in the piece. There will ultimately be five figures in the painting. Here’s the sketch right now, only two people in it so far, and they’re both modeled by the same person!
As I was drawing the piece I realized that there was something familiar about the image, so I did some digging in my alchemical books and found this etching. The female figure with the bowl is nature, holding a vessel containing the maturing lapis. The image is from the R.C. Theophilus Schweighardt’s 1604 work “Speculum Sophicum Rhodostauroticum”, a text almost as significant as the Fama and the Confessio.
No, I don’t have an original copy of the book. Adam McLean has a text only version of it on his site here.
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I was able to get a lot done this morning, having only three dedicated students in my little summer school group. They’re all very involved in what they’re doing, so I can make my own work alongside them with relative ease. Summer school keeps me disciplined to make my own work too, and because I’m already in the studio when class is over I have no good excuse but to keep working. I love it. Terry Spehar Fahey is working in the same space, which is wonderful, because she’s a fantastic painter, always producing work, and that’s great motivation. It’s great to look over a respected painter’s shoulder once in a while to see what she’s up to. Her methods are very different to mine.
I digress. I kept working at the crucifixion, finally painting the acacia tree in its place. In reality I painted the sky a shade grayer and let the shape of the tree remain in the silhouette black. I pushed a rag into the paint to soften the hard edges, because I don’t want the tree to come to the front, which it would if it had hard crisp edges. I took some lighter grey paint to paint the branches in front of the moon so that it would feel as though the light from behind was blowing out the colour a bit.Â
Here’s the detail:Â
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The next layer will be a quick series of highlights on the branches, backlighting them in moonlight. I might bring some blues into the foreground on the edges of the figures to see if that ties the foreground and background together a bit more. I like the spotlight, but I do want the planes of the painting to be in the same place.
I just got back from the fundraising dinner, which was lovely. Lots of candlelight under the California evening sky, a gentle buzz of talking around the courtyard and conversation about art about the table, with some intelligent and interesting new friends, ever-flowing wine and good food.
Michelle (the curator of the gallery at SCIART) told me that a lady visited the “A New Cabinet” installation and was moved to tears by it. Thanks for that beautiful compliment.Â
In Tom Wolfe’s excellent book “The Painted Word” he talks about being able to identify newbie artists by their habit of wearing paint spattered jeans and a tuxedo jacket to dinner parties. Now, I like the bohemian side of being an artist , but there’s not much point in being a bohemian and remaining an outsider forever, so it’s a nice dark suit and tie for me. I want to appear successful so that people invest in my paintings and sculpture as a symbol of success.Â
(Poverty is really not cool – I definitely prefer wealth)
The reason I’m concerned about what to wear is that I’m going to Studio Channel Islands Art Center for a fund raiser this evening, where I expect to enjoy some good food and wine and have a chance to talk about the “New Cabinet” installation there with some of the people who patronize the gallery. Good wine, good company!Â
I’ve posted pictures of some of my paintings onto my new gallery website named “The Gilded Raven Gallery”. I’ll gradually improve the design and the amount of material posted there.
I removed the Luther tattoo I put on yesterday, reworking it completely, and I’m far more satisfied with the results now. I also cleaned up some irritating details: a missing finger here, and poorly executed axe head there. I added a cut on the Centurian’s naked left breast, and a small tattoo on a guy’s neck.
I’m planning to send the painting on a tour of progressive Lutheran Churches in California in Easter of 2009. I think it’s ironic that mainstream churches won’t touch it because of the nude Christ and thieves, yet this is directly out of the biblical account. I haven’t worked out the details yet, but I’m thinking that it will go to a different church each week.
I shot photos this morning for the painting, which actually wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be, because I can make the angle more extreme simply by rotating the image a little. My model Jen did a great job, and posed for another painting that I’ve got in mind holding a red hot bowl. It’s an image based on alchemical calcination, which is the process of reducing organic material to ash. I haven’t entirely figured out the composition yet, but I know the central figure is surrounded by admirers and participants in the transformation.
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Here’s a rough sketch for the painting. Shooting it will be tricky. I’m concerned with the proper lighting, which must come from up high as if its the stars. Then, safety is an issue, particularly how do I help my model to look as though she’s falling without putting her in danger? I’m thinking a rope firmly attached to the ceiling girders will do it, providing her with a firm support to lean into.
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I added two figures into the sketch, feeling out how the image might look with the figure in different places. I like it with all three! I’ll begin painting this pretty soon.Â
On reflection I realized that in the crucifixion painting the tattoo is in the wrong place. It’s too far back  on the arm, in a spot that would be wrong for a presentational piece of ink work. I’ll need to repaint the whole thing tomorrow.
