Thursday, September 19, 2013

And I Thought This Project Was Dead

Its been too long since I've posted on a regular basis. I was on a run where I was posting 3 or 4 nights a week. I stopped because I was working on a project for someone, and was not at liberty to share the progress of the work like I had done with past paintings.

Painting has become a necessary part of my income, and I predict changes. Not changes for good or bad, but changes akin to the path cut by a meandering stream. Painting has a new sense of purpose for me, and the effect on my work will be noticeable. This is not something to fret over, but rather something to embrace as a new chapter begins in my life.

Because of timing being what it is and because of what I'll call "budget restraints," I'm forced to go back into my photo library and grab images from 2009 and 2010. It looks like this Meadowlands project is back in a weird way, not as a continued exploration, but backtracking into previously overlooked images that I feel will make great paintings.

New ideas and new projects will have to be shelved for now. There was an opportunity for a possible new project along the southern Delaware Bay shore in New Jersey, but my subject matter is scheduled to meet up with the wrecking ball in the next few weeks. I had thoughts about exploring South Kearny, an area that is pretty much dominated by roads and truck depots, but being 2 hrs away and requiring film, etc, I'm afraid that will be pinched out of this month's budget.

The 3 photos below will be the next 3 paintings. The first 2 are from January 2009 taken from behind the Vince Lombardi Service Area on the New Jersey Turnpike, and was the tail end of my first attempt at a proper photo study of the Meadowlands. The next one is from January 2010 and was taken along the Hackensack River behind Snake Hill. On that trip I had slightly more focus and better planning, which resulted in some pretty spectacular photos.

In my head the paintings are already finished. That's not such a dangerous statement to make, considering that I almost always feel that way when beginning a painting, and considering that the tendency during a painting's natural evolutionary journey is for it to look absolutely nothing like what I originally pictured. I've learned to not only accept this but to enjoy the ride into the unpredictable.

Soak these in, because months from now I will post 3 paintings that may or may not resemble what you see here.






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