In the End

It is finished...

A Race With Van Gogh

I read at some point that Van Gogh managed to paint over 100 paintings in a single year and part of that year he was institutionalized. I don't know if that memory is correct or can be substantiated, but I thought it was a fitting challenge. Normally, I might finish 25 to 30 works a year. A couple of years I did my version of 100 Views of Edo, and for two consecutive years I completed 50 paintings per year. During the first COVID year, under lock-down, to keep my sanity I painted like a madman, literally, finishing 82 paintings. When this thing went into a second year, my mental state was threatened as it was the first year, and the therapy that painting was, became even more so in the second year and I thought 100 paintings would be apropos. I'm going to make it.

Here are some of the Architectonic paintings from the last couple of months. These were done for a small exhibition at a local gallery...GlassGrowers. The first painting is a painting of Sevilla, Spain.

The three smaller paintings are from a series of works inspired by the idea of Thomas Cole's Course of Empire.

Much of the year's work was figure painting and will post a few of them before the year's end.

 

Sirens

 A couple of paintings from the water that turned out OK.

 

Back At It

So a new stone stacking season begins. The photo below shows the progress before the big storms of the late Fall.

Then after the big storms, this photo shows the salvage missions of the storm aftermaths. This is what things looked like going into the winter season. I did not like my chances for having anything survive with the big winter wind storms we experienced .

This is where it stands now as we begin the season. It survived largely intact. The damage to the upper portions was not storms but vandals tearing off the top courses and tossing them to the ground. There are no shortage of assholes in the world...and the gods themselves contend in vain.

 

Tumbling Bodies

So in the process of doing all of this figure painting, one of the models had a penchant for trying these really contorted poses...channeling her inner gymnast. And although the result was some really interesting anatomical studies, I couldn't for the life of me figure how I could ever use them in a finished work. Sure Luca Signorelli's Damned Consigned to Hell from the Orvieto Cathedral uses such figures, or the back wall of the Sistine Chapel, but I was coming up empty. Then one weekend while in Columbus visiting my daughter, I took a walk in Schiller Park and hanging from wires throughout the park are these lovely figure sculptures. I photographed a couple of the more interesting ones to show my classes. And later, while looking at the pictures on my iPad, the light went on and so...

 

The Covid Year Continues

 

The Equinox has passed, the anniversary of my mother's death and birth as well. Birds and light are returning. I have been vaccinated, with no issues. Hasn't made a difference in day to day life for me, but hopefully for others. Below are two new paintings from the Architectonic series of works I have been playing with. The top one is Erie. Taken from a bunch of places I photographed...factories and plants, houses and places of recreation. The bottom one is a smaller piece taken from the jamb statues of Chartres Cathedral. I did this to kill time in school. I'm now working on a small one from some temples in Tibet. Hope to have it done by the end of the month. Still doing lots of figure paintings.  

And so on...

So the new year begins, but this is the last Architectonic painting of 2020...London. And now we're off to the races. More figure painting, more architectonic paintings...I'm working on Erie...no beachworks yet as things are locked up in snow and ice for the time being.

Some Ovidian figure studies...

Io

Eurydice