The Naked Silo

22" x 15", watercolour, 1998, private collection This is my first painting in which the Kodak Duaflex appears, and the only one in which it's being "used" rather than simply being held or appearing on its own. Using colour to highlight the area where the camera appears and making the rest black & white was an experiment; it's kind of interesting and technically pretty good, but I'm not sure if it was altogether necessary. However, I do think the camera itself looks great and is clearly the star of the piece, so maybe the experiment worked after all. You decide. The title refers to my own use of a camera as the umbilical connection between me and the subject which then filters back through me (via the resulting photograph) to the final painting. The word is written using charcoal and done during a brief period when I was writing on my paintings (I haven't done so in years). Previous posts with charcoal writing on the paintings: mad. , w...

22" x 15", watercolour, 1998 This is the painting Easy as Pie is abstracted from. The watercolour paper used for it was 300 lb hot pressed (smooth) and absorbs water differently than my usual, preferred paper, 300 lb cold pressed (rough). The absorption rate of the smoother paper is quicker so you have to be very decisive about the colour you're about to lay down otherwise you've got about only three seconds to tamp it up with some tissues --and using a brush with clear water to try to erase the stroke is futile. This makes blending more difficult, but it keeps you on your toes. Risky paper. The rougher cold pressed paper, especially in the heavier weights, is comparitively more forgiving; tamping up colours, esrasing with clear water, and blending colours is more relaxing with it. I remember how fascinated I was by the stripes in the model's sweater because they really helped to describe contours and shapes, but after doing the arms I felt I was bein...

40" x 30", oil on canvas, 2007, private collection This week is Echoes Week, but I'll be posting in reverse: large oil abstractions first, the figurative watercolours that they're based on after. I've named the all of the Echoes after common idioms to unify them and slightly separate them from their points of origin. Outside of my studio during their creation, this is the first time they'll be presented together. This is my abstract version of my original watercolour painting mad .