Rico Lebrun

Thanks to friends Scott & Betsy for the gift of this book, In the Meridian of the Heart (selected letters of Rico Lebrun). It's been on my nightstand for a while now, & I have actually read it (as opposed to just looking at the images). Lebrun is an artist who has been mentioned to me before, in the sense of someone who is not all that far away from what I do. It's true...I can see the parallels: he uses a lot of monochrome, his instinctual, emotional repsonse to the human figure resonates with me, & his influences of Picasso, Goya & Michelangelo are also not that far from mine. He is an artist well worth checking out, not as well-known as he probably should be. He died in 1964, so his work is from that post-war period (especially in the case of this book which concentrates on his later years (1950-68) & his stays in Mexico, New Haven CT, Capri, Rome & Los Angeles. His letters illuminate his struggles with abstraction & the human form, & the development of the mural of Genesis in Pomona CA, among other subjects. A very thoughtful & well-made book.

In the Meridian of the Heart, selected letters of Rico Lebrun

The Light Box

Strangely perhaps, I've never owned a light box before. Light boxes are most useful for transferring rough sketches to another sheet of paper to create a basis for a more finished artwork without having to eradicate the original piece, and for all kinds of operations where tracing of some kind is necessary. This box we made is quite large, being based around a sheet of plexiglass 36" long by 24" wide. The interior is lit by six LED bulbs (equivalent of 60w output each, warm light). I haven't used it in a real-world situation yet, but it looks like it's going to be useful. Huge thanks to my pal Jim Stevenson, without whose skills and efforts this would not have been possible. I did some of the easy work, Jim did all the rest.

I put a drawing on top of the lightbox for the first photo & turned it on, to give an idea of how it looks. The 1" holes in the ends are for ventilation, though the LED bulbs give off very little heat (the holes also reduce the weight of the box a little).

Light box with drawing on top

Illuminated light box

Light box in the studio

Day of Wrath and Renewal

The title of this drawing is a reference to John Martin's "Great Day of His Wrath", an apocalyptic vision, but here tempered with a sense of rebirth. From an ongoing series of images depicting the world.

Day of Wrath and Renewal, 2015, brush & ink on paper, 28.5" x 22.5"

Destroyer & Creator of Worlds

A couple of years ago, I made a drawing entitled "Destroyer of Worlds" (a reference to the Oppenheimer quote). Today, to balance things out,  I created the antidote, "Creator of Worlds".

Creator of Worlds, 2015, brush pen on paper, 28.5" x 22.5"

Destroyer of Worlds, 2013, brush & ink on paper, 24" x 19"

The Survivors

This is the largest piece I've done in quite a while...it relates to other series I've done, such as the Black Paintings (1999-2000), the Holocaust Series (2005), and of course The War Room (2003-2004). It's good to be working on a large scale again...

The Survivors, 2015, acrylic on unstretched canvas, 66" x 72" approx.

The Siren and Her Song

Here is another monochrome painting on cardboard. The sepia color of the cardboard gives a nice warm middle tone, so I leave parts of the surface bare or covered with a light wash of paint.

The Siren and Her Song, 2015, acrylic on cardboard, 48" x 36".

Elongated

I haven't done a drawing in a while, so here is a new one. It's quite large, as drawings go. It was done with a Pentel brush pen, which has ink in cartridges—this drawing took up a whole cartridge. The brush pen isn't ideal, but it's pretty good. It cuts out the necessity of keeping dipping the brush in the ink pot, so it speeds up & makes the process flow a little more smoothly.

Elongated, 2015, brush pen on paper, 28.5" x 22.5"

FocusOnYourArt.com

FocusOnYourArt.com

My artwork is currently being extensively featured on the FocusOnYourArt.com web site in the "weekly artist" category, which I would recommend as a good way for any other artist/s who may be reading this to gain exposure for their work. The site also has some very good & useful advice for artists in general.

If you are interested in having your work displayed there, please go to this link for further information (& have an artist statement ready to go). Many thanks to Miranda & FocusOnYourArt.com for the feature.

Alive Inside the Egg / The Arrival of the Alchemist

A new large-ish monochrome painting on cardboard. It occurs to me that achemy is a good metaphor for creating art, or maybe creating art is a good metaphor for alchemy...

Alive Inside the Egg / The Arrival of the Alchemist, 2015, acrylic on cardboard, 48" x 36".

DeepDream vs. my artwork

I just discovered Google's DeepDream visual tool...ostensibly created to help envision how neural networks function, but in actual fact a fun art toy to create disturbingly surrealistic artworks out of just about anything...

So, I thought if I put some artworks that were already at least vaguely surrealistic through the process, the results might be interesting...which they were (although DeepDream's repertoire does seem to be a little limited...dogs, birds, eyes, heads...). Judge for yourself below:

The Ruins of Babel

Empire of Death

Toward the Fountain of Life

Minotaur Completion

Young Minotaur in an Arena

From an occasional series of images of Minotaurs...see also the previous posting.

Young Minotaur in an Arena, 2015, acrylic on cardboard, 48" x 36".

Monocolor Paintings

Here is a new series I've been working on for the past week or so. It started by accident (as so often happens) when a painting I was working on (Vestige, below) refused to make sense of itself & through a series of drastic changes became the red figure on a white ground as it now appears. I can't even remember what the original image exactly was, but it went through several (3 or 4) changes before simplifying itself into the iconic image it now is. I decided to try and continue on this path which had opened up for me...and I'm continuing to do so. I don't know how long or how far this will go.

Vestige, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 12" x 10"

Emptiness, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 14" x 11"

Green Angel, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 14" x 11"

The Rise of the Minotaur, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 14" x 11"

Reach, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 14" x 11"

St. Sebastian / Cerulean, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 14" x 11"

The Visitors

I guess this painting asks the question, "what are UFOs?", or "what are aliens?"...I don't know the answer to that, and I'm not sure anyone actually does. I did see a UFO in the sky once, about 45 years ago, from the school bus. However, it was just a thing in the sky & I still don't know what it was. I did a painting of it from memory here.

The Visitors, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 14" x 11".

The House Where Souls Grow

This is a small painting I did today that seems to say something profound on an emotional level...something about the idea of home...this one took me surprise, as I didn't know where it was heading until it just happened.

The House Where Souls Grow, 2015, acrylic on gatorboard, 14" x 11".