I spent a lot of time looking at this painting in it’s previous stage and decided it needed to be dark to balance the top third and the red line across the top of Amanda’s head.
I also did some scratching on the piece with a knife and some steel wool, mostly on the tattoo. I’d painted it in too much and it lost too much of it’s rawness. I also added some eyes that I’m working on, want to do something with the hair and I need to fix her lips. Paint dries quickly in the Rivoli. I’m waiting for darkness to cool the place down.

The second stage of the painting with a couple of obvious changes. The addition of the red line separating the globules from the figure and the deletion of the thumb from the angled hand. I’ve also warmed the flesh overall and tightened the face. The left eyebrow is giving me some cause for concern but the clutched hand has turned out nicely. It’s on to the tattoos and the eyes in the next round. Compare this stage to the previous post and leave your comment, I’m always eager to hear from you.

Art.a.ma.jig is an event hosted by Tanner Hill Gallery for the Arts & Education Council here in Chattanooga. Artists are asked to donate a piece of work with a common theme. This years is “I Am Fierce”.  I played with this concept in my head, rolled it out to paper and asked my friend Amanda to pose for me. These are my musings on the session and not the model’s. Amanda’s very unassuming and the last person I can think of as “fierce” in the literal sense of the word but she does have some demons writhing around inside her, as I know I do. Amanda’s break through her skin in the form of tattoos. This sugar skull on her shoulder manifests itself into the fierceness that I’m looking for, her open hand clutches at her shattered side. There’s a lot of emotion in this piece already, the floating jellyfish juxtaposed to the hacking strokes of paint. I can’t wait to see where this goes. Here’s a gallery of sketches revealing my process.

[View with PicLens]

Layer four of Thread was added this past Tuesday in a very energetic frenzy, My model was in top form, the energy running from her to me and into the painting was unprecedented in our collaboration, it literally painted itself. The more layers I add to this piece, the more I learn.

The third session of Thread started slowly but caught fire after after the first break. I find it hard for the model to be as much in the process as they could be if they can’t see the painting in progress. I have this picture nailed to the wall at an angle that can be viewed by my model as I paint. This helps keep myself and my subject connected through the making and gives us both a reason to stay present and in the moment. I’ve fleshed out the hands here and softened a few edges, the painting is progressing nicely.

The second week of Thread, in progress, exploring the work and my interaction with my model. This session was more relaxed and easy, allowing me to delve into the painting, discovering colors, edges and surfaces. I use a very limited palette when I am painting figures. I use primaries and neutrals that don’t distract me from the form and the energy. While I was working on the collar bones, a strange acid green came to the fore. I’ve discovered the same green in Cacophony, an acrylic abstract that I’d done with the same model. This green had never found it’s way into my work before that painting. I’m enjoying it’s presence in Thread. I intend to work on these piece over the coming weeks until it tells me to stop.

My work is about the energy exchanged between the artist and model. My friend Todd Leninger describes it a s silver thread running from the subject to the observer and back again. I took that thread in my hand and tugged at April’s navel, slowly pulling out what I wanted and what she gave me and putting it on to the surface of my painting. Over the course of the sessions I hope to expand upon this thought and see where the end of the thread goes.