Today, I made a new model that will serve a dual purpose. The first being the light box structure for a model transit shelter and the second as a general door/window of frosted glass along the line of the gallery store fronts I recently painted. It is made of corrugated board, glass and frosted glass aerosol, the first two items were scrap, so it was a fairly inexpensive project.
I’ve been thinking about making some paintings that expand beyond the subject—also in black and white—while still keeping it out of a location or real space. I have a few working images where the transit shelters are in front of glass storefronts. The image above, a quick mockup from an older painting, is sort of a take on this.
A simple video involving two still images. The picture are from the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, SD, CA.
I was recently telling someone about my plan to paint flowers at night and how I never collected enough images to really start the paintings. The person mentioned it should only be white flowers, though I don’t remember why now. So, yesterday when I was out and about I stopped by a florist and bought this Calla Lily and shot it in front of some black plexiglass. Under natural light is not what I want, but it should be easy to bring it down to something I want—the yellow-orange of a monochrome street.
Some recent pictures of the benches at the Hammer Museum.
Just back from a little trip. Above is a picture of one of the fountains at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano.
But seriously, here are some new drawings. They’re each 12 X 8.5 inches, black and white pencil on black paper.
As posted a few days ago, I went to San Francisco on Friday. I had a couple of plans while there: taking pictures of a model in a cafe situation, get some oil paint and trade some books at Moe’s—I ended up making a little money (about gas money) because I only got 2 books (I got rid of some Derrida and got some Michel Foucault and Kenneth Koch). I felt pretty productive as I easily navigated all the tasks. I also figured out how I am going to make the gas station models that will become oil paintings. Basically keeping everything as simple as possible. While it is fun to make semi-accurate models, ultimately it is better to leave everything as blocks.
I also went to see a show of Gordon Cook’s (1927-1985) at George Krevsky. It was pretty nice. There were a few watercolors and a pencil drawing that were a little different than the work I was familiar with, which I found interesting. I took them for what they were and don’t know where they fit into his oeuvre.
This sign once rotated and lit up. Maybe it still does—it looks like it is still in good shape—but not yesterday while I was in Berkeley hoping it would. Or, upon noticing it for the ___ time decided to take a picture of it, and just drove around the block, parked and snapped a few pictures. I guess I could have gone in an asked if it still works. Next time, next time.
This still needs some adjustments, but it is getting closer.