A Painting Rag

Studio Wall XIV

2007-11-16T22:18:00.001-05:00

Peaks no.23

2007-11-16T20:32:00.000-05:00

Thur. November 15, 2007
11:30am

It began pouring, hailing almost, a half hour into starting this painting. i tried to work thru it, but heta tried crawling under my paintbox and legs for refuge. i decided i would stop and get in my car and try and finish at home. A first.

Finishing this inside, I tried to hold onto the memory of the rain and wind and rain. As it is the essence of being on the spot, translating that essence into the paint. The rocks are less developed as the layers of their color were not as vivid in my memory as the whiteness of the waves and foam washing over them closer to shore. it was hard to capture the rocks being overtaken by this whiteness as it had been the most wonderful part of the image i was looking at as the rain drenched us. i may have to go back into the rocks and add more depth and color.

Peak no.22

2007-11-14T16:35:00.001-05:00

Wed Nov. 14, 2007
10:30am

Unsure of the knife marks to the left of the rocks. Composition is more pleasing than the last couple of paintings.

Studio Wall Installment XIII

2007-11-14T14:42:00.001-05:00

Peaks no.21

2007-11-14T14:39:00.001-05:00

Mon Nov. 12, 2007
11:30am

Resembles a blob that rocks are trying to emerge from at a birds-eye perspective. Colors are possibly pleasing to those who like fall colors. Colors abnormal in comparison to this entire body of work on Peaks.

Studio Wall Installment XII

2007-11-07T22:15:00.000-05:00

Peaks no.20

2007-11-07T22:12:00.001-05:00

Wednesday Nov 7, 2007
1pm

The darkest darks give this piece the shape, direction and depth it lacks otherwise.

Studio Wall Installment XI

2007-11-05T21:08:00.000-05:00

Peaks no.19

2007-11-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

Monday Nov. 5, 2007
11am

Have been trying to capture an earlier light which shines brightly before noon. It shimmers on the water and between rocks and then dies into a calm blue color later in the day.

Studio Wall Installment X

2007-11-05T20:39:00.000-05:00

Peaks no. 18

2007-11-05T20:32:00.000-05:00

Monday Oct.29, 2007
2pm

Studio Wall Installment IX

2007-10-24T15:13:00.001-04:00

Peaks no.17

2007-10-24T15:10:00.000-04:00

Wed. October 24, 2007
1pm

Studio Wall Installment VIII

2007-10-17T15:28:00.001-04:00

Peaks no.16

2007-10-17T15:20:00.000-04:00

Wed. October 17, 2007
12:45pm

The dark blue of this record of the day would have been augmented by the brightness of the normal underpaintings showing through at places. However, this image was painted over an older painting. Although that gives it an extra layer of thickness, it does little without the a sharp color contrast of a red, orange, or yellow to draw the viewer in.

Studio Wall Installment VII

2007-10-05T14:49:00.001-04:00

Peaks no.15

2007-10-05T14:46:00.000-04:00

Fri. October 5, 2007
11:45am

In contrast to the rocks in tumultuous water and fog (peaks14), here is the complimentary rocks at a calm midday. It was beautiful out and my new tube of white paint came into good use. i had finished off the dutch white in the fog. good riddance, it was so much harder to mix. i had broken a knife using the end of it.

Studio Wall Installment VI

2007-10-03T17:46:00.000-04:00

Peaks no.14

2007-10-03T17:31:00.000-04:00

Wed. October 3, 2007
4:30pm

It was a foooggy day. I almost didn't go out to paint. I'm glad i did. There's something quite fantastic when the water and sky are nearly the same shade of white. The rocks seem to be swimming in everything, not just the water. I need to start keeping better track of my tendencies to paint better paintings on crappy days. Days when you have to make things work. Someone says in reference to music and stage presense "it works if you work it". This, i think, is a good result of working low visibility.

Studio Wall Installment V

2007-10-03T13:03:00.001-04:00

Peaks no.13

2007-10-03T12:48:00.000-04:00

Tue. October 2, 2007
2:45pm

This is the first occurance of painting two paintings in the same sitting. I was so pleased at the results of the previous painting, and had enough time to start another since i was moving along so quickly, that i decided to paint this one. I had a failed painting in my car that i had done the beginning of September that i had been wanting to paint over. I am not as pleased with the results of this second painting. Perhaps, it was not a good idea to rush and paint another. The colors are dreary, as was the day, but it looks muddy and i don't know if the atmosphere of the day is as present as the lack of shape and good color. I am considering painting this one over too, once it dries.

Studio Wall Installment IV

2007-10-03T12:45:00.000-04:00

Peaks no.12

2007-10-03T12:32:00.001-04:00

Tue. October 2, 2007
1:30pm

I was anxious to get out and paint today. Yesterday was a bust and i couldn't make it out of the house with too many uneventful things to tend to. Today i went to the same area where i painted Peaks no.5 ( www.jessicageorgeart.com). There was not a lot of sun today and it was dreary, to say the least. These rocks were in the shadow of bigger ones and were painted quite quickly with no underdrawing or much thought going into formalities. However, the one formal thought i did have in mind upon going out to paint today was to not paint anything very scenic i.e. horizon line and large recognizable land masses.

Studio Wall Installment III

2007-09-26T14:16:00.000-04:00

Peaks no.11

2007-09-26T14:14:00.000-04:00

Tue. September 25, 2007
5pm

Today i didnt have my car. it was HOT. i loaded my radio flyer with my; paint box, jar of white dutch paint, brand new small tubes of viridian and alizarin crimson, a yellow canvas, a light sweatshirt and leash for heta. We wheeled our way down the street (15 min walk) to a small spot i haven't yet checked out.
There are more people that access this spot as it is at the end of a more residential area of the island. Not an ideal work space, but me, the radio flyer and heta cant walk that far with wet paintings. Of course, the people that gathered had something to say but for the most part let me be. Heta found a few empty(ish) gross lobster shells and chomped on those. I searched for some shade to paint in and took an unusual amount of time deciding what and where to stand and paint.
Standing in the shade of a more cliff like part of the beach, I spoke with a man above my head, Scott. He was banging on what appeared to be a deck in the front of his cottage about 15-20 feet over me. He said he was trying to fix it and that there was no ground underneath it. He was worried about his two yellow labs falling through as his brother did 15 years ago. His brother knocked himself out with the beam that hit his head and the 15 foot fall to the beach undertoe. This wooden planked front yard was again rotting, and his entire house was about 5 feet from falling into the drink. hopefully, his brother wasn't visiting soon. I decided Scott's shady cliff was not where i wanted to stand as he would keep talking to me and his dogs as he continued to hammer away on his yard. I moved far away.
i continued changing locations on that small beach until the light changed just a bit to make some mountainous rocks look interesting. i again sat and quickly painted as the sun lowered and dramatically highlighted the shadows and incoming tide. adding the final touches and shadows i ran out of my alizarin. i had brought my new tubes down with me and searched where i had stashed them. they were no where to be found. i knew i had them with me when i first came down. then it dawned on me, i had left them at one of the inadequate locations i was originally going to start painting at. these original locations were on rocks closer to the water which were now submerged by the rising water levels. i waded into the shallow water hoping to spot my new lost tubes of green and red paint, to no avail. waves had washed them out and my indecisiveness an hour and a half ago left me shit out of luck. what is worse is i had no colors to mix a black with. that is why you see the muddy brown color on top replacing what should be much more dramatically dark shadows.

Studio Wall Installment II

2007-09-26T14:12:00.000-04:00

Peaks no.10

2007-09-26T14:09:00.001-04:00

Thur. September 20, 2007
1:30pm

Today is my birthday! It has turned out to be another gorgeous day at the end of September. i ran off to go paint this before cole and i had to to catch the 5pm ferry to portland for drinks with friends.
i took heta to the backside of the island with me, and sat to paint by lodging a bunch of big rocks around my easel as for the box not to slide away. I do not remember much about this session aside from the ocean and sky both being very pleasing blue colors. i wanted to include the sky for that reason but compositionally wanted to leave the horizon out to have the final piece be more about clusters and less about landscape and space. i compromised with the thin sliver at the top suggesting the other land masses vaguely in the distance.
upon returning home there was a mysterious package wrapped in brown paper and left on the steps leading into the house. Someone had glued little purple flowers (asters?) in a horizontal line across the front numbered 1 thru 6... and had written a lovely birthday note under the six flower lineup.

Peaks no.9

2007-09-26T13:44:00.000-04:00

Wed. September, 19, 2007
2:30pm

I have been meaning to paint this segment of the island for a few weeks now. Cole and I have been admiring the shapes the water makes between the backround land masses, small peninsula and shore when the tide comes in. Another painting could be made to exaggerate those shapes, more so than this attempt.
The light was extremely bright on the water to the left. Im almost out of titanium white utrecht paint and have been using the end of a jar of dutch white paint i had for some larger paintings. its viscocity does not exact utrecht's and it was odd mixing and using straight out of the jar... i think the light on the water would have been more clearly "bright" if i was using my more familiar utrecht white. Until the end of this jar of dutch paint, so shall it be.