Found these in the garage the other day. Four drawings based on found images of death row prisoners, one of which looks a bit too much like a Bacon knock-off. Next was going to be Four First Ladies of California; that’s still in the preliminary stage.
The weed whacker, or string trimmer, was invented by a man from Houston, Texas who marketed it as the Weed Eater. Four decades later, these sketches in paint are preparatory studies for what will be my second weed whacker painting, scheduled to begin soon after FedEx arrives with my new art supplies.
“The grid serves not only as emblem but also as myth. For like all myths, it deals with paradox or contradiction not by dissolving the paradox or resolving the contradiction, but by covering them over so that they seem (but only seem) to go away.”
Thanks Rosalind Krauss.
I wasn’t sure about adding color so I snapped the first shot beforehand. I’m still not sure about adding color.
Though it’s not quite finished here, I have completed Tree Trimmer, the sixth of my New Landscape Paintings. If you count more than six of them posted on this blog, that’s because one or two of the earlier ones didn’t make the cut. So far these are all acrylic on paper, using Blick and Liquitex paints from large, relatively cheap tubes. The packaging says they’re lightfast but the low pigment/binder ratio does get difficult (eg, cadmium orange and raw sienna both require double coats to show up well, even on white paper). After this I may upgrade to “artist-grade” paints.
The finished version of this painting is in my gallery.
Two studies for my New Landscape Paintings, both conte crayon or chalk pastel. Note the subtle white-on-white smokiness. Been thinking about doing a snow series, but haven’t seen much around recently.
Not sure if I’ll follow up on the mower, but the finished painting of the man with blower is in my gallery here.
What better way to spend a sunny spring afternoon? These are the results of my first couple weeks hamming it up on the cold-pressed.
My Landscape Series continues. Had some trouble with the beauty bark and the funny angle of the guy’s foot. Still haven’t finished the foot in the fourth picture here, but worry not: I eventually worked it out. One of these days I’ll get around to posting a pic of it with my other finished works.
BLAKE CARTER | GERMS 