Wednesday, November 15, 2006

My studio environments

As an artist in Minneapolis, I have built or converted seven spaces into live-in art studios.  I refuse to waste money and pay for a rental studio surrounded by an undisclosed number of other studios with other artists energy and work habits.  If I wanted that boxed life, I would have become a graphic designer and worked in a cubical.  The money saved on studio rental is money that I have used on needed and expensive professional-grade supplies instead. 

I have always obligated to be moments away from my work.  I used to keep an easel by my bedside, so when I would wake, my current work I was contemplating would be right there, my first thought, and imprinted into my mind for the rest of the day.  I was then able to keep my paintings in my mind, making compositional choices as I went about my day.  When I returned home to the studio, my contemplation was over and I immediately could start working. 

I have always constructed my studios toward my needs as a painter, which are truly the needs of my relationship with my chosen medium...oil paint.  All relationships demand a certain level of yearning obligation, and oil painting is the most demanding mistress.  Per her request, I prefer to have the walls of my studio painted to be the bluest white possible.  Cold, malleable, and unnatural so I can set the tones with filters on lighting.  I use cheap unnatural florescent lighting and have always needed to balance out the yellow quality of that lighting.  Studios are what they are: work spaces, and each artist will know what they need.  What I use is vastly different than what another will.  Working with oils paint requires a certain kind of studio.  If my current series of oil paintings is about contrast, my studio reflects that; if my work is about calm, my studio is calm.  
     
I keep my working environment just as a stage in theater, set up conceptually.  That way I can have the total experience of my concepts.  Sounds silly, fake, or just too much?  Maybe, but it is how I do it and it works for me.  I can be playful, but when it comes to my work, which I consider my life's work, I am serious.
Over the course of nine or so posts, I am going to tell the stories of my 7 past studio spaces, most of which are interesting tales.  The Studios of my past have always been exactly what I need.  

Check back soon...
...something interesting is coming. 

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Form studies from 1998

1998 was a year of exploration and experimentation for me.  I was developing my current compositional philosophy, and trying everything I thought of regardless of how strong or weak each concept was.

These are all Cray-Pas oil pastel improvisations that I am sure were completed in an evening. 






















Thanks for reading...
...more nonsense from my past to come soon.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Artwork of the month by Grant Wood

This is one of the paintings on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts that I simply enjoy.  It is humorous and although lewd, the painting retains its importance historically.  Do you see what I see?

Grant Wood
American, 1892-1942
"The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Branch Iowa"
1931, oil on masonite.


"I had to go to France to appreciate Iowa."
-Grant Wood.