Catching up

Time in: 9am

I've got some catching up to do on recent news - I received a 2011 CAAP grant from the City of Chicago for the second year in a row. (Thanks, Chicago!) The grant will go to purchasing supplies so that I can really experiment without being stingy.

I also have 3 paintings from my new series up at Collaboraction's new multi-use space in the Flat Iron Building in Bucktown. The space is called the Mush Room (Room 300) and the inaugural show includes myself and 4 other artists, curated by Wesley Kimler and Paul Klein. It will be up through August so if you haven't seen it, you should check it out.

I feel like I've gotten some good work done in the studio today. I got an early start and made some major adjustments in my studio space. I have been desperately needing a bigger palette so I finally cleaned up one of the old windows that were replaced in my apartment and set it up as my new palette.

I'm also trying to de-clutter. There are still piles of junk laying around from when I moved in 2 years ago. I have been fantasizing about renting an actual studio space - it's a goal that I'm working towards. I am outgrowing my space in my apartment and just don't have enough space to put everything. I don't want to limit myself either - I don't want to avoid painting large pieces and I want to be able to work on multiple pieces without having to undergo a major rearrangement. I think I do a goo job of making a small space work, but the time is coming where I just won't be able to do it any more.

Playlist:
Holly Golightly
Philip Glass
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Ben Harper

Working on a gray day

Time in: 3:00pm

I've been chipping away at these paintings in my new series, starting over multiple times on each canvas, searching for the direction to push. It seems I take one step forward, two steps back; I get excited and then discouraged, and am waiting for something to jump out from these new paintings that is what I'm looking for/trying to coax out from this work. So far in one of these paintings there is an excellent cluster of brush strokes on one cheek, a jawline that blends into the background in a way I really like, and an eye made up of a few simple blocks of color that I'm happy with. It's a short list, but it's something.

To do:
Another coat on background
Hair definition- look at references
shoulders- figure out angle
eyes- fix?

Wood panel florals
sketch out next painting
Deanna- ??

Playlist:
Jack Johnson
Van Morrison
An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
The Books- Lemon of Pink

The Paul Show

Also tonight is the opening reception for The Paul Show- a show of the artists that were in Paul Klein's inaugural class at Klein Artist Works. I will be heading over there this evening to check it out.

From the Facebook event page:

::: THE PAUL SHOW | February 5 – 20, 2011 :::
http://www.thecharnelhousechicago.com/upcoming.html

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 5th, 6 – 9 pm (refreshments served)

...Exhibition Viewing Hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment at (773) 871-9046.

About the Exhibition: The first crew of artists from Paul Klein’s new and much-lauded training center, "Klein Artist Works", will be staging an exhibition of their works at the up-and-coming Charnel House, a new multi-arts center located in Logan Square, run by Klein Artists Works member Victoria Szilagyi and local playwright/director Billy Bermingham.

Members of the group include professors, working and emerging artists. Their ages span generations and their media is diverse.

ARTISTS: Jess Beyler, Jason Brammer, Tom Burtonwood, Robert Fields, Doug Frohman, Teresa Getty, Tatjana Jovancevic, Dellamarie Parrilli, Andrew Rigsby, René Romero Schuler, Johannah Silva, Hoyun Son, Victoria Szilagyi, Jill Pope West, Peggy Wolff

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143453502377793

Working

Time in: 1:00pm

Back in the studio- I'm trying to get earlier starts in the studio because my natural light is gone by around 5pm. I notice that I start to make everything worse when it starts to get dark, even though I have lights. I can't wait until I can have a proper work space with good lighting, enough space to set everything, and that's dedicated to work so I don't have to pick everything up when I'm finished. I may just be feeling a little bit of cabin fever because it's winter in Chicago and I am missing warmth and being able to get outside and do things.

Yesterday I continued to work on three of the paintings I have going. Some moves are going forward, some are going backward, but I think I am learning. The glimpses of forward movement are few and far between, but I guess I should be reminding myself that good paintings can take a while to make.

One of the things I get to see while working for Wesley is how long he works on a painting. This year he's been re-working some of them that he started (and maybe thought they were complete) years ago. It's almost like they needed to sit and settle for a while before they could become complete. Or I think part of it is that he continues to grow and mature as an artist and so can make paintings better now than was possible for him 5 years ago.

I think that should be the hope of other artists. I see a lot of artists that peak early, and their growth gets stunted. They stop pushing themselves and trying to get to the next level and rely on some previous success or affirmation, rather than stepping out of their formula to risk failure.

To Do:
Work on "Double Fatigue"- my forehead, neck and bring back some brushwork
"Deanna"- Continue to develop neck/shoulders
"Aerobic": work on body, forehead, neck

Looking at:

I've been looking at the following artists for various things:

Szalbocs Veres- painterly quality, color pallette:


Philip Guston- feeling of flesh:

Frank Auerbach- gesture and working with impasto:

I've been working hard in my studio, but still dissatisfied with what I've been producing. I feel like I start to make some moves forward, and then I halt or go backwards. I'm working and reworking several paintings, trying to push myself out of where I'm at right now. It's generally frustrating and disappointing, but really exciting when I feel like I've done something good, even if it's one small area of a painting. Overall though, I have no idea where I'm taking these paintings other than away from where they are now.

Here is a quick study I did on paper:


And here's a larger piece that's gone through many changes and is still in progress:

New Year

Time in: 2:00pm

Not too much has been happening here on Chicago Studio Visit as blogger.com has been giving me troubles. That and I've been experimenting quite a bit in the studio and don't feel like I have too much worth showing yet. I'm doing a lot of playing and trying out different things, some of which work out and some which don't. I've been working in oil paint which I'm trying to get used to again. I'm also trying to get away from the photograph in my paintings.

Here is an image of one of the paintings I've been working on in my new series.

To do:
stretch canvas
prime canvas
prime new papers
2 studies on paper

Images from Eyeporium Gallery

"About Face" exhibition

I know this is short notice, but this Friday is the opening reception of a two-person exhibition I will be in. Alan Brunettin (another portrait artist) and I will have our work displayed at Eyeporium Gallery from Ocotber 1st through November 3rd. The opening reception is this Friday, October 1st, from 6-9pm.

Eyeporium Gallery is located at:
1543 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
One block from the “Damen” Blue Line El stop in the heart of Wicker Park.

Here is the gallery website, although it presently isn't up to date. And here is the press release:

Eyeporium Gallery presents “About Face”
portraits by Virginia Broersma and Alan Brunettin
Opening Night is Friday, October 1st from 6pm to 9pm

Eyeporium Gallery presents a group show of eerily engaging as well as amusing portraits by Virginia Broersma and Alan Brunettin. Virginia works in acrylic paints and has been using portraiture as her primary subject matter for the past few years. The lush application of paint and larger-than-life scale of her work draw you into the almost palpable conversations of her double portraits. Alan shows us how the world is made up of fragments that come together only when processed through the filter of personal perspective. Brunettin seeks to construct portraits that, when viewed from afar, bear keen resemblance to the subject — while a closer examination reveals the faceted planes of the image, forged by brushstrokes that are intentionally sculptural.

WHEN:
Opening Reception (public invited): Friday, October 1, 2010 from 6pm to 9pm
Exhibition Viewing: Through Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Regular Hours: Monday to Friday 12pm to 7pm; Saturday 12pm to 5pm

WHERE:
Eyeporium Gallery
1431 N Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60622
Phone: 773-782-1744
Two blocks from the “Damen” Blue Line El stop in the heart of Wicker Park.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Virginia Broersma received her BFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. In 2010 she had a solo show at Fermilab Gallery in Batavia, IL and received grants from the Puffin Foundation and the City of Chicago. She has also exhibited in the ArtSeen Auction for AIDS research in Los Angeles and participated in group and two-person exhibitions throughout the US. Virginia currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.

A native of Chicago and a graduate of the American Academy of Art and Northern Illinois University, Alan Brunettin's work took shape out of the surrealist and expressionist movements, as well as the influence of his father, a classically trained sculptor. He has exhibited extensively, particularly in the past ten years following a career in commercial illustration. Concentrating on portraiture and urban landscapes, Brunettin's signature is his geometric division of the work space and his use of an extremely limited palette on each painting.

ABOUT EYEPORIUM GALLERY:
Annette Sollars, creator of Chicago's fine eyewear icon, Eye Want, also launched Eyeporium, a fine art gallery in Wicker Park. Representing exceptional artists of regional and national prominence, Eyeporium Gallery features contemporary creators of paint, print, photographic and sculptural works from the realistic to the surreal to the abstract. With the location of Eyeporium inside Eye Want, Annette has created a single destination for you to procure fine eyewear and fine art “for your face and your space”.

Stretching Canvas

Time in: 9:30 am

Today I need to stretch canvas on some new frames that I just built. I finally have enough space in my studio- I've had less room in here because they were painting my back porch, which meant that all the furniture I had out there had to moved into my studio space for almost 6 weeks. It's nice to have the room again...

To Do:
Stretch canvas on new stretchers
Photograph at the lake
Print new references
Go to library
Get paint at Blick

Playlist:
Beethoven's Piano Concertos
Janis Joplin
Joan Armatrading
The Clientele

Plant Studies

About a month ago, I found these beautiful pieces of wood in the dumpster behind my apartment building. I think someone had broken down an old cabinet or something. They were so nice that I took a few pieces and painted on them. I've been doing a variety of things to get back into oil painting, and this was one of them- just having fun painting some luscious leaves on these beautiful panels.