Thursday 31 October 2013

The journey towards a book: Part2



The journey towards a book: Part 2

Now having all the key pieces I had to begin to edit down the almost 300 photos of the artwork into a more concise and fluid number. Along with this came the writing of the narrative itself and the sorting of both the poetry and the journal pages. It was a very intense next 6 months of development.

Early on I realized that this was another art piece unto itself. So I approached it this way. Complex in finding a rhythm, in finding a flow that would hopefully draw the reader to want to uncover the story just as much as looking at the paintings and drawings.

I continued to edit and narrow down choices and realized, once again, that this was in some ways harder than creating a painting. With a painting, if someone didn’t follow at all my thoughts or concepts that went into the piece they could at least enjoy the surfaces, the light, the movement itself that makes up a painting. But in laying out this project I was laying out my deepest thoughts, exposing how I process the work, how I think about paintings in a very specific way: the philosophy that is the structure onto which I lay the paint.

In other words: I was exposing myself with nothing to hide behind.




Tuesday 29 October 2013

The journey towards a book: Part 1


The journey towards a book: Part 1

Last year I began to put together the elements for a book about my work and life that had been in the back of my mind for over ten years. During that time I had repeatedly been asked by some of my collectors if I would ever be more forthwith with my process.

So I began by assembling 8x10 photographs of my artwork by decades without editing. This became an ever-expanding binder that then incorporated my poems that correlated with specific pieces. Once that was laid out I began to figure out the narrative, the threads that linger throughout my studio experience and quickly saw that if this was to be truthful and rich it had to have excerpts from my journals.

The other key was space: The building of my three studios over these 40 years. So I began to collect photos all the way back to 1977 and inserting them into the pages. The binder grew, once again.

                            


                         

Wednesday 23 October 2013

October 23, 2013

I am back in the studio in Chicago after an intense 5 months painting and working on a book about the past 40 years of my life as an artist. As I am now posting directly to this blog I wanted to first thank Rebecca Astrop for the wonderful writing she did this past year. I also would be remiss if I didn't post the finished painting from the series she wrote about my working on the painting in Montana.

The title is: "Reflections Glimmer in Unwavering Need" 59"x 83 1/2", oil on canvas 2013