Another month, another painting. For a while now I have been working on some representational studies inspired by my artist book, Bluewater Shore. These acrylic studies are not large, about 16 x 16″ on rag paper. After a break of almost twenty years from painting, I find that getting my brush stokes, layering and color-mixing skills back up to par might be best with some very representational and figurative subjects. I have developing this Bluewater Shore series off and on for the past couple of years and was recently inspired by my book review of Regina Anzenberger’s Shifting Roots to get my butt back into active gear.
Similar to Anzenberger, I use a black and white archival pigment print as my foundation, aka the under-painting. I have also tried to paint a color pigment print but found that I was trying to make an exact duplicate of the subject’s mass, line and color. That was a bit too literal and tight for me at this time; thus working with a black and white base under-painting is allowing me to more freely interpret what I want to convey. The nice thing about working with my family’s black and white archive photographs; I don’t have a color reference to follow, which free’s up my imagination.
At some point, I plan to up-size these paintings, but not sure how big. Probably do at least one of these at 24 x 24″ on rag paper, then try one at 44 x 44″ on canvas, which is a bit of a different medium in how the acrylic paint interacts with the canvas. Meanwhile I have at least four more of these smaller studies to complete for Bluewater Shore, which at my current pace will take me out to the end of the year. That provides me a chance to figure out how to reconfigure my ground-floor studio area to permit me to work on a 44 x 44″ canvas. Fun, fun, fun!
Cheers & stay safe,
Doug
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My coming exhibition and workshop:
Medium Photo 2020 Workshop: Developing a Creative Book workshop, which will now be virtual safe-at-home workshop that I will be leading, is now rescheduled to start at the end of September 2020. More details to follow.
January 16th – February 13th; a two-person exhibition that will feature my Memory Pods series in a gallery located in north San Diego county (CA); more details very soon.
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Featured artwork; Ferry Crossing (Bluewater Shore), copyright 2020, Douglas Stockdale
Singular Images 