"shhh, blastulas"

Here it is, the (maybe? almost?) finished piece that will be exhibited in The Gallery @ Spencer Lofts during Chelsea Art Walk, May 30-31.

Tonight, I titled it "Shhh, blastulas".

I wanted to give it a phonetic title that suggested a sizzling noise, or the sound of the tide receding over sand.

My dad (handle: SuperScribo) suggested blastulas which I just love for the sound of the word -- say it, BLAS-chu-lahs -- and for the way it feels in the mouth. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the meaning is actually related to the subject matter. Definition: The usually spherical structure produced by cleavage of a zygote, consisting of a single layer of cells (blastoderm) surrounding a fluid-filled cavity (blastocoele).

So tonight, in a rather cheeky mood, I threw the two together and had a "you got peanut butter in my chocolate" moment. I enjoy that the title implies something very important is taking place, or that a great new concept is being presented (like "two great tastes that taste great together"), while in reality, nothing more than a painting with a lots of circles is being presented to you.

Nothing more, nothing less. I hope you enjoy the combination and see things in here I've never imagined.

finished or fearful?

This 36"x32" oil on canvas painting has been in a near-finished status for months. I've become so used to it in its current state that I don't feel the normal compulsion to take it further. This could be a sign that it's finished. Or fear. This is the first oil painting I've completed since 2005 and I don't want to screw it up.

What's my motivation to open up this inner debate with fear and 'the critic' on a Sunday evening when I'd rather be chilling out? An opportunity to exhibit the work at a show during the Chelsea Art Walk in late May.


Painting with warm neutral glaze


Bringing a painting into Photoshop for experimentation is always helpful. Looking at an image in a few pixelated inches condenses the composition down to its essence. Flaws become instantly obvious. And the exercise always leads me to question the merits of digital media as an art form. Why struggle with oil and drying times when with one click I can 'step backward'?


Painting with green neutral glaze

With so little time to finish the painting for the show drop-off date, I can't layer it with months worth of circles like I might with an instant-drying gouache painting.

It comes down to a here and now decision. Glaze it with warm neutrals or cool neutrals?

As a friend keenly noted this week, I like to win. Choosing the wrong glaze might put me back. But stepping out of the game and calling it finished is worse.

20.65 to-dos

I'm a list maker. And apparently I get a certain amount of comfort from having more to do than I can ever accomplish.

For one week I tracked how many times I added or removed major to-do items (requiring multiple steps) from my list using Mycrocosm. No matter how productive I was, I always had an average of 20.65 to-dos.

Mycrocosm, "a web site that makes it possible for people to use statistical graphs and other visual language tools for expressive social communication", is a research project of the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab. The site encourages users to creatively use the visual forms and "express whatever they may want about themselves or the world they are living in".

I expected my graphing to result in a visually arresting work that I could translate into a hair drawing...but so far it's just not that interesting. So, I'm moving on to track things that are more socially oriented. More posts and graphs to come.

On my list for the past month has been "write in blog". Check!

If image below is not working visit my project site