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.

Guiting-Guiting

Guiting-Guiting
66 x 27 in
Oil on canvas

There is nothing more I can do to this painting.  I am sufficiently satisfied to put this behind me.  I was meaning to come up with 2 more paintings for the series, but after this, I've decided to paint one more and leave it to rest.

Perhaps I'm just exhausted and cannot think of anything more to say about this piece, other than I felt liberated working on it.  Things just happened and that led me to explore details and highlights as I went along.  I really did felt free.

After I return from Benguet, I will try to complete the roofscape painting before the end of the month. I will also begin work on the Jowein set.  I might be able to manage to begin work on a particular piece that is really personally relevant to me, but as of now I can't get myself to begin.  I don't know.  We'll see.

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This is a bit embarrassing, but I actually gone back to this and painted in a few things.  It's been bugging me for months.  So I actually finished this painting today, 18 October 2011.  I don't think I can do anything for this piece anymore.  I know I said it before but, I'm now sufficiently satisfied with this to finally put it behind me.

Clouds are meant to be fleeting, not confusing

It's not finished yet, though the more difficult parts are almost done.  That large space to the right is confusing to work on because there is no obvious reference to know where I'm laying my brush.  There's no tree, crest, line or obvious visual reference.  Another thing gnawing at my attention would be all that mental note I have on what to adjust, what to add, what to remove, that are strewn all across the frame.  I've fought the temptation to use Post-It to keep tabs of them all!  Other than those mentioned, it should be smooth sailing with this piece from here on end.

Though it is not the largest canvas I've worked on, it is the widest.  This canvas has given me more confidence to tackle more complex works, I'm happy to say.  I believe I've broken that paralyzing apprehension I've been getting whenever I look at the unfinished Kubol piece.  We'll get there, soon enough. 

This will look good in the master's bedroom.  I've made the painting to fit  the dimension of the wall facing the bed.  When I wake up, this will be the first thing that will greet me.  All I need now is a low and shallow book shelf, a small sound system, and some trinkets and bookends to complement that space under this painting.

After this - maybe a week or two more, I'll begin the last half of the roof scape painting I've put on hold a few weeks back.  I need references to keep on going with that piece.

Light as Clouds

I shouldn't take these paintings too seriously.  I should just learn to enjoy the moment and not bother about consequences.

The lighter I feel about working on these canvasses, the more likely I would be returning to them.

Yes, I should just make my strokes and smudges, oblivious of nighttime noises, listening to Mraz and whatever song shuffling will lead me to.

Gone Stupid with the Details

I usually paint at night.  I often lose touch of time when I start dabbing in the paint.  I'd blow past three hours and 4 cups of coffee and think I've only been working on a canvas for 30 minutes.  It's a great way to pass the time, and a darn efficient way to escape everything else in life.  Which reminds me, I have other important things to attend to outside of art!

In any case, I was contemplating last night how to resolve two conflicting aims I was having with regards this rooftop painting.  I needed to satisfy this impulse to paint in details.  Usually, if you want to focus on something, you paint in details.  If you want the eyes to flow across briefly but not focus on an area, you just make suggestive strokes, or lighten the tone, or as they say in Photography, just bring it out of focus.  These usually are not friendly to the eyes and a viewer will instinctively move his eyes away from these areas where the brain cannot satiate it's need for hard edged details.  But as what I have said, I was going crazy over the details.

I was wondering whether cluttering everything will force the eyes to move to the foreground where things are not as cluttered as the background because of perspective - where things are of course larger and therefore may seem not as cluttered as the back.

Or then again, I can always use heavy lines and frame a small section where the eyes and mind should focus on.  

Ah yes...and there goes the plan once again.

Humans or No Humans

This painting is coming along well.  It's not quite done yet.  The intended fluffiness and ephemeral quality of the 3 kinds of clouds depicted  has not been applied yet.  Frankly, I only have an inkling on how to execute it and i suspect it will take a number of layers to get the translucent effect I'm aiming for.  Good luck with that.

Because almost everything  is suggested given the freedom I allowed myself on the brush strokes, the viewer's eyes will wander aimlessly across the frame.  I needed an anchor of sorts where the eyes can begin and launch off towards the horizon, then follow a path back to a comfortable point of focus.  I'm torn between putting in a person, or just rendering with more details the light green grassy foreground on the lower left of the frame.  Either one, it will serve a good anchor.  But, choosing either one will alter the philosophy underpinning the painting.

I always maintain that nature cares not for man or our fate.  In fact, nature is not conscious of how she looks like, of how barren or verdant she might be.  Nature just exist and we are a complication in this grand scheme of just being.

I just want us to be out of the frame.  To be able to see and comprehend, but never covet, infect or destroy.

But without the manifestation of man within the frame, it is conceptually a lightweight anchor.  Humans are exasperatingly self-conscious and egomaniacal.  We are obsessed with our own kind and naturally gravitate towards another biped.  A human figure 1/10th the size of the frame is as heavy as the mountain - if not heavier.  We explore the figure not only with our eyes, but also with our minds.

So what will it be?