oil on paper
30 x 22 "
Even though Nancy wasn't a fan of this (with legitimate reasons), in an uncritical way, I have a certain fondness for this (unfinished) piece.
As a piece that didn't go into my BFA show, I put it away and forgot about it. While I didn't get the colors harmonized completely (I planned to add some glazes and scumbles in areas in the next layer to do so), it was a largely successful experience to determine how much oil (stand) I could add whilst maintaining the structural integrity (keep it from wrinkling) - which was quite a lot if one makes sure to mix the oil and paint well.
I had just read of de Kooning painting with his eyes closed - "that's crazy", but to understand someone else, one must walk a mile in their steps (or however those monks tell it in a much wiser sounding way). As my first experience painting with my eyes closed (when I actually applied the paint I would close my eyes and just feel it out or paint/dance to the music), I valued that all my marks coalesced into a ghostly portrait.
Through a haze, I can see a grad student's full-on abstract paintings ( I wanna say Stephanie...). There are crisp oceanic blues and crashing whites and all I know as a sophomore/sophomoric painting undergrad is I don't understand what the hell she's trying to represent and why do people paint like this? In awesome red pants, Jen's sage words were about the feel and experience when viewing it. I like the hide-and-seek game of imagery in a painting, but it can be a much deeper experience, a more profound revelation: Pollock, Brown, Mitchell, Twombly (when he adds emotion), Resnick, Synder.
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