Silly

How far can you push something before it starts looking silly?

These are my canvas sketches for the three panel in the Quadtych.  I like these sketches.  I kind of ran away with it, forgetting it will get painted over anyway.  In any case, establishing my major lines is a good thing to do.  I've blundered in the placements of my elements before, for which I noticed the error only after applying layers of paint. It's better to finalize everything at the primer layer.

They are not caricatures.  I've worked my hardest to avoid that while forcing expressions out of these faces.

Apparition

One of my aunts recalled that when she found out she had cancer, at what seemed to be the lowest moment in her life, an apparition appeared - a young boy who approached the foot of her bed.  She stared at the apparition, not knowing what to think or do next.  Eventually, she shooed away the apparition by invoking the name of Jesus; she was "born again" you see.  Eventually, she succumbed to cancer.

My mother, when she was engaged in her last pitched battle with cancer, confronted a male apparition only she could see.  Catholics around her would like to believe it was Jesus, of course.  And of course, I wished it was.

I wonder what my apparition will look like?  I need to know for me to paint a vision of it, and more importantly, for me to work on a highly subjective, mostly non-figurative subject matter.  I would like to work on atmosphere this time around - no more hard edges, except of course the one needed on the gnarled covetous hand of the apparition.

I also have a composition in my head that can be likened to a spatial puzzle of sort.  I'm trying to make a voluptuous woman take the form of an ovoid, while trying to make her gestures a bit more pronounced.  Yes, I have a feeling this composition will sit in my head for a whole lot longer.

Fighting for Every Inch

It feels like I'm fighting for every inch.

Quadtych

Quadtych, I didn't even think that such a word existed.  Apparently, at this day and age, there is always a noun or verb corresponding to everything we can possibly do.  Makes you think, does language confines our actions to a finite set, or does our limited abilities bound the expansion of our language.  Good thing there is imagination which raises us above the physical and mental limitations we have set all around us.  I may not know what to call what I am doing, but I'll be doing this thingamajig anyway.

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I've been wondering how to break free from the two dimensional confines of a canvas, without resorting to the use of relief.  If paintings can speak to the viewer, can't they speak among themselves?  Why not have them interact with each other using real space as a sort of sounding board?

A long time ago, I was fixated with the idea of using triptychs to juxtapose photographs, convey movement, progression and sequences.  Now, I've been contemplating how to use three dimensional space between paintings to convey an idea.

The work in progress above I already have a name for:  Eleksyon Lechon.  The four frames will be tightly displayed with each other, and in the order which I will specify when completed.

Another project I might start working on soon is two vertically oriented figure paintings which are meant to be displayed facing each other in a hall or relatively small room.  One frame depicts a thin woman, while the other frame will depict a heavy set woman who shadows the pose of the other.  Viewers should find themselves  between the gaze of the two paintings.  They should feel torn to choose which side to gravitate towards.