New Painting In Progress

Started this last night, about an hours worth of work for the first layer. Again, emphasizing the "glowing" horizon line. I will work on it over the weekend and post new pictures. Dimensions are 47x47"

Ayse Erkmen

http://minimalissimo.com/2010/09/bluis/

I love this

http://www.ayseerkmen.com/

In Progress Painting Update

Posting a picture of it again to see how different it looks after a little more paint. I sat down and looked at it for a little bit and some thoughts came to me. It feels a bit redundant saying this again but I think each time I do, a little more comes out and I will be able to piece it all together.

These are my emotional and psychological states. That moment in time when I feel euphoric. Not at one time. Not only during and not only after, which is why it's the culmination. I take pieces of each. When I'm out there and observing and physically there in the space. Along with after. When the memories are forming. Since that is what I am primarily working with.

The stray marks are what I find interesting. In nature, they can be materialized in the sky, in the clouds. As the edges of the clouds dissipate and soften out into nothing. That helps capture the feeling of weightlessness and floating.

Float being an idea for a possible show title.

New Painting (In Progress)

The lighting captured in the photo (taken with my phone, so not the best quality) might not be 100% true to the lighting in person, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like. I am continuing to work with the horizon line as the main focus. I really enjoy how it looks when I make it thicker and darker (that's what she said?).

I am liking the direction to where it's headed. Which I would say is North/Northwest...give or take a few degrees.

Prints

These screen prints are related in a way to the concept that I am working with. For a while now I have wanted to incorporate photographs with my paintings, but could never come to a decision. The photographs that I used for these screen prints are directly related to where I have run. One of the roads pictured is Gracie Road, a road that I run on from time to time. Back when I referenced photographs for my paintings, it was photos like this that I used. The reason why there is selective coloring in the prints is because when I am done running, there are only certain things that I remember. It would be impossible to remember every detail of every run. Whether it is a certain patch of trees, a stretch of road, or a meandering stream, I only remember certain parts of most runs. And my mem_­ories of anything for that matter typically are lacking color. Which is why small bits of color are added to the black and white prints.

Photo Silk Screens

These are screen prints that I made for Fibers III, and I am considering adding something like this to my Thesis show. I really don't feel like going into that right now, so I will save that for a later time.

Discussing a painting

This is my favorite painting from this semester thus far. I like it because of the glowing quality that the horizon holds underneath the airy sky. The blues and whites in the sky give off such a weightless feeling that I can see myself breathing in the cold air that exists in that world. The triangular shape that is developing above the horizon is ambiguous in that it is not being labeled as anything in particular. It could be a cloud forming in the distance, it could be a mountainous formation, or it could be something else. When I am out there running, I am constantly taking in what is around me. This is the result of that. How it is not identifiable as one object, but rather it is a combination of many things.

Some more thoughts

On my run this morning, 7:48 A.M., Lighthouse, when I got to the top of the first hill I looked across the field to the left and it was beautiful. Sunny, snowy field, there were posts in the field. I could only look at it for a brief moment though before it was gone.

Light source in my paintings-

As I am running in different directions, North, West, East, South, Northeast, Southwest, etc. the location of the sun is always changing. Rather, I am constantly changing/moving in relation to the sun. So sometimes I am looking across a field with the sun behind me. Other times the sun might be in front of me... And certainly there are runs in Central N.Y. when the sun isn't even shining.

It really is the culmination of my running experience. But these paintings aren't solely about running. It just happens to be the easiest way for me to feel most connected with my surroundings, outside. And those memories and feelings don't fully augment until after the act. Like now, 12:16 P.M. There are glimpses, brief moments that I remember, and I guess that is what I am painting.

These paintings are the experience of it all. Before (not so much), during, and after. During is when I am subjecting myself to the world, physically being there and taking everything in. The harvesting of it all if you will. Then after is when the "magic" happens. When everything that is in my head takes its course and produces something.

What is more important, the sky or land?

Neither. There wouldn't be land without sky, and there wouldn't be sky if land didn't exist. But more truthfully, they are both equally important. Although I admire the sky a bit more. I think this is because I enjoy looking upwards when I am out there. I'm more susceptible to "loose myself" in those moments. Have one of those moments where everything is....

"Doug Marx' Artist Wednesday

This first Wednesday of March I chose Doug Marx as the artist of choice for the bi-weekly event titled "Artist Wednesday".  Doug Marx is an artist similar to Keith Jacobshagen, being that they are both landscape painters from the Cornhusker State of Nebraska.

On his website located here, you can read about his bio.  He lacks an official "artist statement", although he does say, "So, for over twenty years now, I have painted the sunrises, the sunsets, the skies, fields, prairies and rivers that have always surrounded me and my family. I never long for what is somewhere else. Each day brings forth a new challenge to filter first through my eye, then my hand. As long as I can see and paint, I want for nothing."

What I like about his paintings is what I like about every other painting that I have discussed on here.  That is the feeling of solitude and expansiveness being depicted.  The large skies and empty fields are very quiet and uninhabited, yet they posses this feeling of something overwhelming.