The Oak Tree

Stumbled upon this kick-ass painting by RB Kitaj while in search of some good images of trees. It just may have to go into my favorites bar soon...

roland peterson - b. 1926

WHEW - we made it through our studio sale! Thanks to all who came by to rescue us from our mountain of hoarded "supplies". AND thanks to you, I can now go and purchace a new easle, one that is NOT a tripod easle.

Todd Kerr stopped by Saturday for a bargain and a chat and brought up a painter named Roland Peterson. He was puzzled as to why he wasn't in the Bay Area Figurative Art book, which is in fact a catalogue for the SFMOMA exhibition in 89, and the first publication that officially recognized the movement.

So of course I had to do an image search for Roland Peterson:







Peterson is a disciple of Richard Deibenkorn, and while he may have been overlooked for the 1989 Bay Area Figurative Art exhibition, he certainly fits the bill in a loose sense, but perhaps not in a strict sense. The way I differentiate him from the rest of the first generationers and even second generationers, is in that his work is tighter and strays even farther away from any sense of abstract expressionism, or "flatness" with that pure focus on paint handling itself as the anchor for the movement. His landscape is clearly defined, the composition focused on a vanishing point, and the use of light is, for lack of a better term, "literal" impressionistic, somewhere along the lines of Wayne Theibaud. This is more apparent in the middle painting, "Two Women and Tree", while the top and the bottom ones are my personal selections and are a deviation from his signature style. But clearly there IS a large contigency of B.A.F.esque painters, who to this day remain loyal to their art practice and the purity of modernist painting. Either way, I'm happy, and of course, this opinion of mine is based solely on my web findings.

You can view lots more jpgs of his work at the Hackett-Freedman Gallery website, in addition to some of our more popular figurative painters: David Park, Hans Hoffman and Milton Avery. SWEET! looks like a trip to H-F is in the works!

michele ramirez

Here is a few samples of work from one of my favorite painters, Michele Ramirez of Oakland. I can't help but be influenced by her work, after all, I did inherit her studio at 332 40th Street, we did show her at Rowan Morrison, and she does continue to blow me away. It's True!

"Lot for Sale", Oil on Panel, 12 x 10"

"Behind the Bins", Gouache on Paper, 7.5 x 6"

"Studio Still Life", Charcoal on Paper, 42x34"
All images courtesy of the artist

I wish I had time to write more about her, or showcase more of her work on the blog, but I'll continue to make additions it grows, never you fear.

Painting 101, University of New Mexico Art Department

I *think* this guy was my teacher:

Professor Michael Cook of Painting 101

Meh...

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

This is just a little bit of how I feel this week:


It's been one of surreal lows and super-lows, anxiety, stress and panic, and alot of needless bullshit. With the Oakland Art Murmur card near completion (hello, 12 plus hours VOLUNTEERED time), everyone decided to come up in arms over this and that, and well, it'll probably have to be redone - by me.

And today my hairstylist and friend had a meltdown while cutting my hair - ending up with me leaving mid-cut (picture that), and spending the rest of my day wondering what the fuck just happened.

Boundaries are something I'm starting to "get". But they are not always something other people "get" and you can wind up in a mess. That was today. And yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and the month before, and the year before...

The good side is that we have Francis Bacon to relish in when we're feeling shitty.

having a studio sale

got-ta get rid of some of this crap!

painting-a-days

The steps towards being a skilled artist and draftsman often come from the discipline of a regular practice, but recently I have discovered a rather bustling trend towards "painting-a-day", in which artists do one painting or drawing a day, publish it on his/her blog, post it up for bidding on Ebay, then email and bulletin everyone in his/her myspace about how they just posted their drawing - and then get a Gold Star. Just do a Google search, and you'll start to get the idea...

Don't get me wrong, my beef isn't with painting every day, nor is it with sketching or practicing, or even sharing your work with a community. If anything I am one of the biggest advocates of experimentation with different styles and mediums, sketching and painting, doodling, making three-dimensional works, etc. Whatever gets your juices flowing.

Let's differentiate painting every day from a-painting-a-day right here and now, and especially for the sake of my arguments posed. Aside from my annoyance with all the narcissists out there who make it out to be some kind of amazing feat that the world must be alerted to at once, my argument against painting-a-day isn't as venomous as you readers are starting to think....

When one sets out to a painting a day, they have already acquiesed to the fact that they are neither prolific, nor are they disciplined so in order to overcome their insecurities with their past artistic endeavors they put themselves through some sort of self-imposed artist's boot camp.

But it is flawed in that I've rarely encountered any one individual, who after taking on this boot camp, has followed through for the entire year, and more importantly who has gotten any better with their draftsmanship. It is unrealistic to hope that your are going to come out of this endeavor and be better off than you were before you started, and so, it all just comes down to time wasted. It has diluted your chances for actually producing interesting and ambitious projects. You come home from work, reluctantly work for ten or twenty minutes on your daily painting or drawing, which is probably small, and you veg for the rest of the day. And after a hundred days or so you burn out from the practice all together, taking months to recuperate, only to feel defeated and insecure about your art practice all over again.

So my response and rebellion to the painting-a-day trend is to take an approach much like that of Weight Watchers:

1. Remember that there are no short cuts to success, no magical marathons, no rough and tough boot camps to "shape me up", just genuine effort and interest.

2. Be happy in my own skin. I know my inclinations and I trust that I will follow them.

3. Incorporate artistic practice into my whole life, and realize that without it, I could not be fullfilled as a person.

4. As I realized that I must exercise regularly for the REST OF MY LIFE, I realize that I must make art for the rest of my life if I want to be happy. And when I think about it in that long term way, I let go of any panic or need to accomplish everything in one year.

5. Customize my routine. I personally, do better with a few long days in the studio every week, as opposed to some little time every day, so that's what I do. I will fit figure drawing sessions in when I can, and I won't punish myself for not making it.

and lastly

6. If I paint every day, that's what I do, but I don't have to label it as painting-a-day.

and now I leave you with one of my sketches from my website: