New Paintings

A few years ago (see here) I started a series of shellac paintings on Baltic birch plywood to experiment with taking the wood element out of my work and just using the shellac as a stand-alone paint to see what kind of effects I could create. Over the summer I was digging around some old pieces and was inspired to revisit the series. Having some scrap plywood lying around, I started to play with some new ideas. With all of these pieces I started by priming the boards with gesso, painting in perpendicular directions to create a textured base for the shellac to settle into.

The first of these pieces were minimalist, single color, geometric shapes inspired by one of my "Barn Art" pieces (see here).

Blue First

shellac and gesso on board

22" x 29" x 1.5"

July/November 2013

The process of painting with shellac creates a very original effect. Along with the gesso, it looks something like a fabric has been stretched over the board; in addition, the sensitivity of shellac allows for the wood grain in the plywood to subtly be seen. 

Blue First (close up)

With these next two piece I started to add acrylic paint.

One Greenish Hexagon
shellac, acrylic, and gesso on board
40" x 27" x 1.5"
October 2013

I really like the surfaces of these. The process of repeatedly rubbing the pieces to blend, smooth, and fill gaps with the shellac reveals the beautiful texture of the gesso.

One Greenish Hexagon (close up)

The piece below was made at the same time and was originally intended to be part of the one above but because it turned out very different, I left it separate.

Autumn 2013

shellac, acrylic, and gesso on board

26" x 19"

October 2013

Autumn 2013 (close up)

I then decided to purchase a new sheet of Baltic birch so I could go bigger. Unexpectedly, the work became "messier." I started to integrate more texture with scratches and sanding marks throughout, as well as shellac spillages, pourings, and splashes. This work is much more abstract expressionist. I like the unintended effects that are created with the free-form techniques.

October 2013
shellac, acrylic, and gesso on board
43" x 48"
October 2013

Though these last three pieces are very 'messy," there is a tremendous amount of working, reworking, and refining to form a contrasting smooth, shiny, surface that takes advantage of the ability of shellac to create the appearance of depth.

October 2013 (closeup)

When I was in New York City in November I saw an incredible show of Brice Marden's minimalist graphite drawings at Matthew Marks Gallery which inspired me to get some graphite and add that as another element of the work. While what I came up with is nothing like Brice's drawings, I think the idea of adding more materials and experimenting with their effects is a good direction.

December (1) 2013

shellac, acrylic, and gesso on board

44" x 40"

December 2013

In this close up you can see the run/drip marks of the blue shellac, which I find interesting, especially the ghost-like faded quality of it, but what I particularly like are the wavy sanding marks created by my Festool sander, it is a unique pattern which I think it adds to the mystery of the piece.

 

December (1) (close up)

Here is the final piece. I've debated how to title them but think that a date title might be the best solution because it captures a specific point in my life and in the series of work I've created.

December (2) 2013

mixed media on board

40.5" x 45"

December 2013

My favorite part is this yellow section below, especially the sanding marks toward the bottom.

December (2) 2013 (closeup)

While I'll leave it to others to judge whether the pieces are successful, I find them interesting, with a lot of surprising and contrasting elements that can capture a viewers attention. At the very least, they make me look and think about them for quite a while. 

New Work/Images for Fall 2010

Here are new images of my work. I have three new wood sculpture, including a new flag, and five new shellac paintings. I had been calling my wood sculptures shellac paintings but as they have become more sculptural and as I have developed a new series that are really shellac paintings, I have had to adjust my terminology. Hopefully, the change isn't too confusing.

This one, On Edge, is made with the same lumber as Fear Not, Fall Not that I finished earlier in the year. As you can see, the figure is phenomenal in both, something of a cross between a curly and quilted maple. I used the direction of the curl/quilt as a rough guide for the end angles. You can't see from this image but each of the boards are slightly different thicknesses, ranging from about 5/8" to 7/8". It can hang in any of the four 90 degree directions but I've settled on this one for no particular reason.

On Edge
shellac on curly maple and cherry
28.5" x 34" x 1"

Peaches and Pears, below, is made with a highly figured board of curly maple. I thought I got such as great deal on the lumber -- it was marked down to $1.65/board-ft, which is about one quarter what one would usually pay for figured maple and which I figured was due to the numerous knots (which I particularly liked). However, what I didn't pay for in cash at the lumber yard I paid for 10-fold in labor. The figure is so intense that it was like working end grain the entire length of the board. Not only did I have to take extra care to prevent and fix tear-out, but it soaked up shellac like nothing else I have ever worked with.

Peaches and Pears

shellac on curly maple, cherry, and epoxy
16.5" x 54" x 0.5" Peaches and Pears (close-up)

I also finished a new flag. I had posted an image of this one months ago but after looking at it a while decided I the blue sections needed more contrast between each other and the red stripes needed to be more peachy so I took it apart (removing all 160 screws) and modified it. I'm happy with it now (I hope for good), I have no desire to take it apart again. I also decided I prefer this orientation.

Chevron Flag

shellac on curly maple, curly yellow birch, bird's-eye maple
53" x 34" x 1"

As you can see from the side view, the different pieces are off-set with the curly birch being the thinnest (about 3/4").

Chevron Flag (side-view)

I've also continued to explore the new shellac painting series and I feel that it has finally advanced beyond the experimental phase into something that I consider to have great potential for creating unique and interesting contemporary paintings. One of the things I love about it is how it captures the history of everything you have done up until the time it is finished. Every layer, every color, every coat remains visible in the final piece. It is very time consuming and frustrating (because it often feels like I'll never be able to finish the piece I'm working on) but I feel it is worth it because the effect is so unique. One unique effect is how it highlights the texture of the coats of gesso. By brushing each coat on at 90 degree angles to the previous coat it creates a textile effect in the final piece. Without the shellac the variance in ridge and valleys don't appear significant but as soon as you start brushing on the shellac they suddenly become visual mountains with valleys that appear to be impossible to fill. When the surface does finally become flat, it has a cloth-like look (unfortunately, I've found this to be impossible to capture with images).

I named this one, And Most Positive, from what a Ukrainian friend was saying about the piece when she first saw it. In addition to thinking that this one has a very positive energy, she also thought it belonged in The Museum of Modern Art (she had visited it recently and was very disappointed with there contemporary exhibits). I didn't argue with her about its relative quality but I did have a hard time convincing her that I couldn't just submit an image for their review.

And Most Positive
shellac on board
35" x 29"

One of the amazing things about working with shellac as a painting medium is its sensitivity. Even after coating the baltic birch plywood with five coats of gesso and numerous heavy coats of clear shellac, the grain pattern of the plywood is visible in the final piece.

Six Yellow Rectangles
shellac on board
24" x 29"

Here is a close-up example.

Six Yellow Rectangles (closeup)

Blue
shellac on board
27" x 21.5"

Here is another example, it is much more visible in person.

Blue (close-up)

With these two next pieces that I had done earlier, my technique was a little different and the grain pattern isn't as visible.

Random Colored Lines
shellac on board
33" x 14.5"

As I mentioned earlier, I entered this piece, Watermelon, into the Art Hop's juried show. Though I was surprised last year to win with Three Days in September, I was equally surprised that I didn't win this year with this one. I think it is a fantastic piece, one might even say that it is the greatest painting of the nascent 21st Century. I'm trying to be as objective as possible.

Watermelon
shellac on board
44" x 44"

Fall 2010 Show Schedule

I have three shows scheduled for this fall. They include:

Burlington Art Hop - September 10 and 11
I have entered this new shellac painting, Watermelon, in the juried show which can be viewed at the Soda Plant at 266 Pine Street. I will also be debuting the rest of my shellac painting (eight more pieces) at the SEABA office space at 404 Pine Street where they will be on display through the end of September.

Watermelon
shellac on board
45" x 45"
2010

Paradise City Northampton - October 8-10

CraftWestport - November 20-21

I will just be bringing my wood sculptures to the Northampton or Westport shows because I find it is too confusing to display both series in the same small space. I'll post images of the new work soon.

New Work, New Directions

In getting ready for three shows in the next couple of months I've been busy creating more new work to bring with me. Here are the images and discussion:

This first one is the second of my wedge series, the first one is here, and pre-painted earlier version of this one is here.

Fear Not, Fall Not
shellac on curly maple and cherry
28" x 32" x 4"

side view

In looking at the images, I'm real satisfied with how it came out. I find it hard to look at a piece after working on it for months and seeing it with fresh eyes. Somehow images give me the distance to be able to evaluate the work. For instance, I knew that the sections were book-matched but I couldn't remember or see which were the matching sections. Now, looking at the image, I can see not only the match, but that the off-set lines them up perfectly. I don't remember ever thinking of lining them up -- it might have been an accident -- but I'm happy with the results.

The piece isn't that large but it is substantial. I don't have a scale but I'm guessing that it weighs 45 to 50 pounds (judging by my feeling that it weighs less than my 62 lb air compressor). I'm a little worried about it taking down my plywood walls at a show but I think if I place it on the back wall on the left or right side I'll avoid that disaster.

The over-lay piece I have been struggling with for a while (discussed here and here) is also finished. The title, No Apology Necessary, is a reference to my earlier discussion of being influenced by George Nakashima and being able to keep the live-edge on the final piece.

No Apology Necessary
shellac on curly maple, cherry, and walnut
48" x 26" x 1"

This next piece also went through a major change. Earlier images are here and here. I decided I didn't like the clear epoxy in the middle so I cut it in half and glued it together side by side. I think this version is much better than the original idea and, thankfully, I don't have to worry about the back-lighting issue any more.

Time Float
shellac on bird's-eye maple, cherry, and epoxy
29" x 24" x 1"

And I finally finished the second of my flag series after many iterations on the blue section. Just before finishing it I was ready to completely start over but, as I removed a little of the shellac I thought it suddenly came together and made sense, so I stopped and just polished it. I like how, from the time I started, the movement in the wood caused the bird's-eyes to protrude slightly so that when I removed some of the color they suddenly came out as white stars on a blue night-like background. It made me think of Van Gogh's famous painting, hence the title.

Starry Night Flag
shellac on bird's-eye maple, curly maple, and cherry
26.5" x 26.5" x 1"

In the quest to explore work in a completely different direction, I started a series of shellac paintings that are just about shellac, and aren't sculptural or have anything to do with wood. Having recently acquired a large stash of 3/4" baltic birch plywood, I decided it was time to experiment. With this first piece, I treated the plywood as I had solid wood, building clear shellac on the surface before adding color, but then realized that I didn't like the grain pattern coming through.

Untitled First Shellac Painting
shellac on board
18" x 24"

So, for the second painting, to get ride of the wood altogether, I gesso'ed the plywood before painting it. I know it is more than a little ironic that someone who is so focused on wood would try to get rid of the look but I don't see any reason to be dogmatic about art. I think shellac can create some real interesting effects, different than one can get with any other type of paint, so I feel it is important to explore what can be done with it.

Three Blue Stripes (2010)
shellac on board
12" x 26"

Because I have an earlier piece with the same title, I added the date.

With the third one the design got a little more complicated. I struggled with it for a while but felt it came together when I added the black.

Six Red Squares
shellac on board
19" x 25"

One of my hopes with doing these paintings was that it would be easier and faster than the sculptural paintings on wood I've been doing. Unfortunately for me, it didn't seem to be any faster, rather, I seemed to be exchanging one set of challenges for another. Still, I think the effect is interesting and worth exploring. It opens up a lot of possibilities that I don't have with the wood work.

In another direction, I started another series of ribbon sculptures. Since selling a couple of them at the last show in the fall, I had wanted to make some more, so, figuring the I could now justify the expense of buying a big hunk of cherry, I bought an 8' x 8" x 3" board on my last visit to the lumber mill. I was looking for a 4" board but the guy at the mill said he hadn't seen anything that thick in more than a decade and even getting 3" thick boards is getting tough to find. I could probably find a 4" board if I go to a lot of effort but luckily my neighbor cut down a butternut tree over the summer that I was able to buy and mill myself (after using Inca-like ingenuity to move and lift it into my truck, solo). Now I have several big hunks up to 8" thick that I'm air drying. In four to eight years it should be ready to work.

Cherry Ribbon (2010)

42" x 8" x 3"

Lastly, in making these ribbon sculptures, I'm left with a negative half that I like to make vases with, good for dried flowers. Because I feel it is more craft than fine art, I don't plan on adding it to my portfolio and just photographed it myself. It can hang on a wall or sit on a table/credenza/shelf.

Cherry Vase

8" x 37" x 2.5"