Lots of Weird Turmoil, a Change of Pace, but Always the Art

This blog looks remarkably sad right now, but a series of unfortunate events beset me sometime between December 9th and April of this year - in no particular order

1) user error meant I ended up deleting a chunk of photos which I used both in this and the art.aliciaraya.com blog - this is what happens when a person relies too much on Google +

2) a house fire the day after my birthday meant that the hard drive where the photos were stored, as well as the paintings themselves, not to mention the stuff we need to live day to day, ended up a bit sooty though blessedly undamaged, and now is all housed in a storage disaster area

3) a weird winter frost made our car drive off a cliff and, aside from almost losing life & limb, we almost lost a vehicle. Blessedly, neither of the above was the case.It was not fun times though. From what I hear, many people had ice/winter misadventures this year

4) the various venues where we were doing our art selling, throughout 2014, dried up or went away - and that includes Hot Springs. Meanwhile while this was occurring Jimbo & I transitioned to making a living off writing, which all became a convenient segue that the writing came in just as the art was heading out. I made a halfhearted effort to create & promote an Etsy site, but my heart & talents do not reside in the promoting realm, so I was happy to let it go. One of the last places we sold was the Marshall Farmer's Market, and even though I still am in charge of the website upkeep, the distance has made us not sell again there this season.


Some good things too, though:

1) as stated, we were able to successfully produce various writing pieces for a project of Guardian Media, Contributoria, thanks to reader support. Our very textual, political, and informative output can be found here and here

2) a wonderful patron came to visit us a couple of months before the fire and bought ten of our larger pieces. This is a wonderful art collector who used to be established in Asheville but has been living in Portland for some time.

3) we have found a wonderful new home in a commune situation in Bat Cave NC where I have once again found an opportunity to explore nature, gardening, etc.

4) in spite of having been the world's worst promoter, I have received interest from the internet in viewing the Turner project!! Very exciting, just to hear from a new friend of art, and to know that there's hope and life for a project I had placed in the back burner, though not completely abandoned.

5) in a wonderful full circle/closure to living in Marshall, Elizabeth Topper, the artist who bought some raw wood from us a couple of times & the first time right at the time of this Turner painting project, came the very week we were vacating the blighted property at Riddle Farm Rd/Hwy 25/70 for good, and purchased more raw materials.

We still have lots and lots of the coolest wood on earth for sale, of all shapes, sizes, and for all purposes. We are storing the raw wood with a friend in Madison County, but will most likely soon consolidate it all towards a storage unit somewhere

6) I have had the opportunity to work on two barn quilt successfully already - these are those lovely quilt blocks one sees on the outsides of buildings now & again. Am successfully finishing my 2nd commission of these. The fun thing re working with these is that they are very geometrical, therefore all the creativity functions in terms of colour combinations. I also like that a predetermined set of lines, and established patterns speak to a larger quilt canon. This is my convoluted way of saying "I enjoy working on these, y'all!"

As can be seen, I am still in the drawing phase. This one will be 2x2, and I've yet to hit on a colour scheme, but I hope it ends up as lively and interesting as the other one.

I am charging $250 for this, and I have found that my prices are very competitive because I do not place a limit on colours or patterns available. If anyone is interested in having their own quilt barn - or in buying wood, as mentioned earlier - please leave a comment.

One of the last times Jimbo and I had an opportunity to set up as Marshall Artists (which is the rubric under which we had been operating, as many in Hot Springs and West Asheville know) was at a recent fun event organized by Move to Amend & REAL Cooperative, called the Corporate Person Birthday party - we made one princely sale though, probably more importantly, we got to share our vision and message with plenty of likeminded folk. Some pictures to follow (until I manage to delete my G+ folder again, ha ha)

minding the booth

a very interesting bus

happy birthday corporate personhood!

Jimbo with his epic hair!!

that interesting GMO car I've been seeing around town for years

So, in the end, it has been a fun & interesting time. Hope that everyone's doing great, and would love to hear from some folks!

Naturizing Naturally in Nature's Glory

My ‘spousal support unit’ said that this would happen. Here I am on the
forty-sixth day of this project, more or less caught up in my output—having completed forty-three panels and begun five, with plenty more hours of evening before I crawl into bed at four or so—and I feel already the looming loss, when I
no longer have more and more paintings to produce, because my commitment, my audience, and my calling command me.

Commitment and calling just seem so bare, so inadequate, so paltry, if an audience and the resources that it conveys are lacking. Then again, keeping my fingers crossed as I imagine it, maybe someone will purchase the entire lot of the Turner outpouring, and at an equitable price, and then nothing will ever again keep me from producing, again and again and again, into the long nights of my dotage.

Anyhow, I definitely grok the idea these days that the journey is ever so much more the point than the destination. I mean, in so many ways, just taking this trek—through time and technique, along the path of pulchritude with paint—has been as cool a period of time as any twelve-thousand mile sojourn, halfway round the globe, that I’ve had occasion to take in the past.

Some of the days are so sublime that I have to pinch myself—is this really
happening to little old me? Today and Saturday both were like that. Rather than hang around our cramped little space—now rife with the clutter and clamor of prepping and pondering and painting—my sweetheart and I availed ourselves of Spring brightness luminous enough to blind an angel.

Like my husband and I, all of these people from the past—and their ghosts are palpable; that I promise—meandered along the waterways where we’ve twice recently set up shop to paint. Spring Creek welcomed us Saturday. We visited a
swimming and diving hole where—despite the recent heat wave and the dry times that the warmth induces—a Friday cloudburst had left the water level five or six feet higher than it was when, last August, both Jim and I hurled ourselves fifteen or twenty feet into the chilly depths of a deep sluice fed by and feeding melodious cascades of crashing white water freshets. Whether surprisingly or unsurprisingly, I felt a direct connection to Turner’s watery creations here; the chilly halls of British upper crust dames somehow suggested women who seemed equally at home overlooking the liquid chaos below me, as they appeared in the splendor of Pentworth-on-the-moors.

Today, we made our way to an easier jaunt along the Laurel, where I’ve
already had occasion to create an earlier panel, before Spring’s grip had appeared so certain. On this occasion, I faced a lodge where Azaleas and Dogwoods and assorted wildflowers held sway, while the rushing slosh of the Laurel slurped behind me. Jim took some photos, of course, on both days, and hunted up more wood for future projects.

The saying that his grandmother used to offer seems apt: ‘Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.’ After all, we’re halfway done, the work appears lusciously lovely, if I do say so myself, and maybe someone else with the means to put his (or her) money where his (or her) mouth is will show up and validate this work commercially.

If not, c’est la vie. The odyssey has been such a bracing expedition that I feel as If I’ve gone forth to the kingdom of heaven and had occasion to return to tell about it.

PPF & SS - Photos! From first one to a day ago, minus one

Here I am simply seeking to post the pictures representing all that are finished, or in the process of finishing - all save one which for some reason I forgot to photograph - and the one I finished today. I may write a brief note re. each one but mostly will just let it all speak for itself. Will also set up a Flickr account at some pt.

Am linking this to Paint Party Friday & Sunday Sketches as an encyclopaedic view of all I've been working on since Feb 24th :D I fell off the face of the earth during this process but now will strive to get into the swing of things again! And everyone please go check out all these awesome artists' work...



Fishermen at Sea - exhibited 1796 - this was the very first painting I worked on for this project, back on Feb 24th. As it would have just sucked had I slacked on not making it an indirect painting (like God meant it to be ha ha) I went ahead and did it. What this meant is that due to drying times and other considerations, the thing didnt finish till 3 days ago. Yay! finished now.

Second one ever done, "Morning Amongst Coniston Falls", exh. 1798. I was not entirely happy with it., but I reserve the right to rework it later. Photo's not too brilliant either, but it has potential.

Buttermere Lake - Exhibited 1798 - I am sad to say the wood might be splitting! will have to fix this. Still, enjoyed working on this nice slab of wood. This one was created on FEb 26th.

Aeneas and the Sybil - c. 1798 - colours look different :D This one was on Feb 27th - it was a lot of fun.

There's an image I neglected to photo for some reason - it was called "View on Clapham Common", and quite a enjoyable small fun one - soon I will photo it again. Meanwhile can be seen here in bad webcam photo.

Shipwreck - exh. 1805 - This was the photogenic representative throughout this journey! The first one I ever did back in summer of 2011. I have since learned this piece actually measures over 8 feet by 5 feet. Needless to say this one's far smaller!

Goddess of Discourse Choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides - c. 1806. Quite a mouthful, I know. This one originally was based on and inspired by Titian and other masters. in general composition, figure styles, and coloring. I am building a grisaille base - before the color. Am significantly further along now, as can be seen in another photo somewhere

Spithead: Boat's Crew Recovering an Anchor - exh 1808 - this is the 3rd one I ever made, also sometime last summer - here's another painting that was essentially bigger than me in every direction!

A Country Blacksmith disputing the Price of Iron - exh. 1807 - I find this an interesting painting, due to the intriguing social political notion behind it. I am undertaking the same process as with "discord" but obviously far behind

Barge on the River - c. 1806 - 7 - one of many sketches of the Thames area - many layers of linseed oil

Washing Sheep - c. 1806 - 7 - I really enjoyed making this. Second of a series of in-place sketches he made

Willows Beside a Stream - c. 1806 - 7 - thought this sketch would do well on this very distressed piece of wood!

Goring Mill & Church - c. 1806 - 07 - another sketch. More finished though

London - I had occasion to write about this one earlier

"Where burthen’d Thames reflect the crowded sail
Commercial care and busy toil prevail
Whoese murky veil, aspiring to the skies
Obscures thy beauty, and thy form denies
Save where thy spires pierce the doubtful air
As gleams of hope amidst a world of care"

(Words by Turner - from the display caption February 2010)

Shipping at the Mouth of the Thames - wrote about this one as well. c. 1806 - 07

Fishing upon the Blythe-Sand, Tide Setting In - exhibited 1809

I also had something to write about this one earlier.

Mahogany on wood series - these are four of a mini series Turner made on mahogany. I unfortunately did not realize that he'd painted these on a wood coloured ground as opposed to white, so I sought to amend this by giving all a dark undercoat of burnt umber.

From top to bottom:

The Thames Near Walton Bridges - c. 1807

Windsor Castle from Salt Hill - c. 1807

Godalming from the South - c. 1807

Treetops & Sky - c. 1807

Ploughing Turnips Near Slough - exh, 1809 - this is another one I love - the idea of turnip pickers - such a nice idea. Begun committed to finishing it - did the sky, begun the scene - but I gave in to the idea of making another indeirect painting. Will probably have to wait another week for it is what that means.

Battle of Trafalgar - exh. 1806 - reworked 1808 - this one is one I was sort of putting off because I guess it is my fave :D didn't want to kill it. Am probably 80% done - planning on finishing in the next few hours

That is all for now! Some of them are farther along than shown, one is missing, etc. In any event, wanted to show folks where I am in the process.

Am looking forward to some very difficult, challenging paintings, and some that will be unfinishable in a day. If I can have 4 working at once, however, it will still be 'being caught up'.

Please leave a comment if you've come this far - could not have done it without you if you're reading this now! Have a great week everyone...

London - Crossing the Rubicon

Map of London, back in the day - 1806

First of, I would encourage anyone to visit this site to get a real Tate gallery experience - this is a FABULOUS online portal showing a 3D rendition of his works at the gallery - actually hung on walls - and seeing it just barely makes up for not being able to see it live.

This has become of interest to me, especially as I sense the scale on which Turner and I are working is so vastly different that it takes an effort for me to come to terms with the difference of process and outcome this creates. Possibly more on this later.

Secondly, a lovely correspondent has alerted me as to a Van Gogh exhibit in New York describing his later years - and how at one point Van Gogh himself completed 40 paintings in 40 days. If anyone has information about this, please let me know.

Today wanted to discuss this is painting:

London from Greenwich Park exhibited 1809

Oil on canvas
support: 902 x 1200 mm
painting

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

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Where burthen’d Thames reflect the crowded sail
Commercial care and busy toil prevail
Whoese murky veil, aspiring to the skies
Obscures thy beauty, and thy form denies
Save where thy spires pierce the doubtful air
As gleams of hope amidst a world of care

(Words by Turner - from the display caption February 2010)

I call this painting my own crossing of the Rubicon - because after completing it, I feel I can do anything!! I chose one of the bigger panels, thinking the panoramic view from Greenwich Park, which exists today, after a fashion (more below) deserved a bigger display. The main problems I discovered with this were that

a) I just don't LIKE working big, for some reason - the absolute largest piece I have habitually created does not pass 3 squared feet, and when left to my own devices everything I create is around 1 ft squared. The smaller, the better I feel about a piece. So, right off, the size of the canvas stalled me out a bit.

b) there was a lot of detail!! I once had an art instructor say "the only limit in how small you can work comes in whether you can see what you are doing or not" and tools exist which can help. Almost every square inch in this painting, for instance, had something to it that demanded use of the magnifying glass, an uncomfortable posture, and lots of patience. The magnifying glass is a pretty amazing tool. A lightbulb attached to it allows a person to get amazing close ups - I've worked with before, in this project and others, but in much smaller pieces! The size of the piece makes a difference, since a person reaches a certain saturation point from working close like this. If I am working on a piece that I know I can basically finish in one sitting, I will feel less of that restless itchiness that comes from deep focus and diminished mobility.

So, at first, dawdled with it, nothing much happening. It bears mentioning at this point that I have had a challenging past few days, where a weird & unexpected infection had me in its thrall for a few days. Not that the project has suffered - I am as of now caught up: with 15 paintings finished and 2 half-finished.
I might have let the sick state get the better of me absolutely but, I think of Frida Kahlo who was able to produce endlessly even after having been skewered by a traffic pole - so I carried on. But since I am neither of a heroic or speedy disposition, the condition has taken its toll - it took me like 5 hours to just get these blocked color areas shown at right - after endless procrastinations, consultations, and attending to other tasks. I finally left the painting there overnight to stew, to see if fresh eyes helped at all.

The next day proved more productive - I ended up spending anywhere from 6 to 8 hours on the thing. The sky was a rushed job, but in the end, DONE!

This project made me curious about London, in particular, this specific view of it. How much of it remains now? How have things changed between now and then?

I have been casually looking at the world of Regency England - the time where Turner was productive. Some of the things experienced were the Napoleonic Wars and the consequences of the American colonies' independence. It was a world of stage coaches, pleasure gardens, and duels of honor - a world captured excellently in Thackeray's Vanity Fair, and the work of Jane Austen. The era was particularly propitious to great literature - the British Romantic Period was in full swing, giving us Blake, Shelly and many more in addition to the above. Given to strong differences between socioeconomic classes, some of the issues experienced then resonate to this day - the seemingly chronic wars, the social ossification, the difference in income and lifestyles of the 'haves' and 'have nots'. In any event, Turner himself had some baggage to overcome in terms of his 'station in life', due to having been born in less stately circumstances than he might have wished - it might become relevant to speak more to this later. In any event, he painted London from the view of Greenwich Park, an ages-old park belonging to the Greenwich World Heritage Site. The meridian line which tyrannizes our watches cuts smack through the middle of this as well.

For a current view of the vantage point from where Turner sketched his work, one can see this video (click on pic)

One may notice many of the things in Turner's painting remain (including the Queen’s House and Greenwich Hospital which eventually became the Old Naval College), and the upwards curve of the river. One can even distinguish St Paul's Cathedral at the horizon level - something not easily seen in the modern-day view, so overtaken with skyscrapers as it is. Interestingly as well, the herd of red and fallow deer seen in the painting are still known to graze in the 183 acres this oldest of British Royal parks contains.

An interesting aside: these picturesque buildings so prominent in Turner's painting later on came to house a nuclear reactor:

"the Royal Naval College buildings were – as the chief British naval training centre between 1869 and 1998, including a fully functioning nuclear reactor between 1962 and 1996 – an institution that guaranteed the survival of the British empire. No Royal Naval College, then no Britain as we know it; rather a country that would pay a a closer resemblance to France and Spain than it does now." Seven Wonders of the World...

What a bizarre confluence of events could have led to a fully functional nuclear reactor practically in the middle of Londontown is more than I can imagine at present,and probably more than Turner could ever have conceived of - but there it is. I have spoken to Jimbo about it since then and come to find out it is fairly unremarkable to have working nuclear reactors in the middle of a large city - that in fact the first one was at a University of Chicago basement somewhere. Ah well, wonders never cease...

Would love nothing more than to spend more time inquiring into literature, culture, and society of early 19th century England but I need to make sure I complete another one before nightfall so as not to fall behind. Have a great week all! Will be in touch again soon.

Process - "Shipping at the Mouth of the Thames"

I wanted to discuss briefly the following painting, completed actually some days ago. It is

Shipping at the Mouth of the Thames c. 1806–7

THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (2702)
Canvas, 33 3/4 × 46 (86 × 117)

This painting is, according to the Tate Britain site, apparently one of
seventeen sketches on canvas from Turner's various pictures of 1807–9 of shipping in the Thames Estuary, particularly off Sheerness.

Though carried to different degree of finish, are all similar in technique, being lightly painted in unstretched canvases over a dry chalky ground, and are all roughly similar in size. The poor condition of some of these attest to this. The notion, of course, of walking around with canvases capturing the power and majesty of the Thames is very awe-inspiring, and dear to the heart of any plein air painter.

"There is reason to suppose that, contrary to Turner's usual practice, some if not all of these sketches were at least begun out-of-doors. Thornbury prints some reminiscences of the son of Turner's ‘oldest friend the Rev. Mr. Trimmer’, who had been out fishing with Turner when a child. ‘He had a boat at Richmond ... From his boat he painted on a large canvas direct from Nature. Till you have seen these sketches, you know nothing of Turner's powers. There are about two score of these large subjects, rolled up, and now national property ... "

These paintings furthermore seem inspired, or based on an earlier inspiration of Turner's on the Flemish painter Van der Velde, and his son - he approached the work from these traditions but found a way to make them his own, both in terms of subject matter and execution. These sketches of the Thames estuary look back to this tradition in any event.

My version is significantly smaller, maybe 6 x 8 inches, on a slab of walnut or some other hard wood. The slab has these deep vertical gashes, which to me added to the compositional value of the painting. Martin Butler, author of my slim reference volume (seen here), seems to agree when he notes on page 7, re. this work: "The sketch, though fresher still than the exhibited picture, is nevertheless consciously pictorial in its carefully controlled diagonal stresses of sails and beams of sunlight."

I also noted in this one something I've been grappling with with all the works from the period I'm now covering (1806 - 1809), that the painting itself is used with very thin layers of linseed oil or other diluting agent - thus producing an almost watercolor-like effect.

This has been my first time really working with oils in such a diluted way, aside from my utilizing galkyd mediums to create glazing effects.

I started out with a brown underpainting - then added blue and yellow. The composition seemed to allow for a white slash near the larger boat, done with a pallette knife. The final effort led me to add in details, boats, etc, with all available colors. All, from the spirits-diluted underpainting to the layers of paint, use this watery form of painting.

Preferable? Problematic? One can say many good things about this painting methodology, especially if the muse has one straddling a boat or a fence or some other less-than-permanent construct in order to capture a fleeting moment. The effect will often be, well, 'sketchy', light, and possibly a little vague. Am glad to have given myself the experience, however, of painting with oils in this way - it's one of the great things about this project - I have already done 4.

Tomorrow! and general list of Turner exhibits at this time

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow it starts, the actual painting process. Very excited! This is actually the best part of the process. And here's where other things stand:

• Funds finally, officially available.
• Amazon shipment of CF card + reader is on its way, thus unless something is very wrong with the camera/equipment in general, I should be able to have real pictures (although the web videos were kind of interesting
• Supplies' ordering was minorly delayed due to Mardi Gras. I love the idea of a company's taking time off for Mardi Gras --- a direct result of being in Louisiana, I suppose
• 2 painting surfaces prepared and ready to go. Enough of supplies and whatnot to start. Sort of wish I had my smaller brushes at hand, but you work with what you have....
• Between now and 5 weeks from now I will be sending surveys out re. rewards fulfillment through the Kickstarter system. Why so far removed from now? Because 70% of the rewards fulfillments depends on actually completing some of the project. But part of this blogging will contain regular updates re. that, and a few fun giveaways just to keep things more entertaining.

Now, I wish to present all with a list of Turner exhibits occurring at the current time:

• Cincinnati - The Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio is currently exhibiting a collection of watercolor paintings by in a show titled “J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors to Books” (on view until April 15, 2012. They demonstrate how the British artist broke new artistic ground with breathtaking watercolors reproduced as etchings to illustrate travel books, poetry, and novels. Would, of course, love a chance to view this, especially since my brother is there.

• Tate Britain - through April - Free Entry - Discover how Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) revolutionised two different kinds of image-making: watercolour and print. Colour and Line: Turner's experiments is a two-room display featuring works on paper by Turner, with a variety of experiments and interactive displays exploring his working methods and techniques.
  
• Margate, Kent, UK - After 161 years, JMW Turner is back in town for the first major exhibition of his work in Margate, the seaside retreat he repeatedly visited for what he claimed were "the loveliest skies in all Europe".The exhibition, which includes 12 oil paintings and 72 dazzling watercolours, is free. The Turner Contemporary gallery has at times been overwhelmed by its own success, attracting more than 350,000 visitors before it reaches its first birthday. There are emergency plans to introduce timed tickets if the crowds become unmanageable. "It's fair to say there has been a lot of excitement in the town about this show," said director Victoria Pomery.
• Edinburgh, Scotland (recently ended) - JMW Turner (1775–1851) was perhaps the most prolific and innovative of all British artists. Turner in January showcases thirty-eight of the artist’s watercolours, providing a remarkable overview of many of the most important aspects of Turner’s career.
  Bequeathed to the Gallery in 1899 by the distinguished collector Henry Vaughan, these outstanding works have been exhibited, as he requested, every January for the last 110 years. Vaughan wanted to limit their exposure to light so that they would be conserved; consequently, they are renowned for their excellent state of preservation.

And here's a famous yearly Contemporary Arts award given out in his name every year at Tate Britain: "At first the prize was awarded to 'the person who, in the opinion of the jury, has made the greatest contribution to art in Britain in the previous twelve months'. This meant that critics and art administrators were eligible as well as artists. [...] The prize was founded by a group called the Patrons of New Art. They were formed in 1982 to help buy new art for the Tate Gallery's collection, and to encourage wider interest in contemporary art. The Patrons wanted a name associated with great British art. They chose JMW Turner (1775–1851) partly because he had wanted to establish a prize for young artists. He also seemed appropriate because his work was controversial in his own day." Just how controversial, Turner would never have a chance to find out - Damien Hirst, the fellow who made cut-up cow cadavers an artistic feat won the award in 1995. So.... a mixed bag.

As an aside, folks might have noticed as well I have finally added a contributor's Hall of Fame to the blog sidebar. THis is the same list who will appear as contributors in the eventual catalog development of this series, sometime in the Summer/Fall. Anyone who contributed at the $10 level or above is eligible for inclusion, even those swell folks who chose to not be part of the rewards system. If you are one of those and have decided you want to appear, please leave a comment below!