Trappings Demo @ Museum Of Northern Arizona

Trappings of the American West is an annual exhibition held at the Museum of Northern Arizona that showcases contemporary artists and craftspeople who work with traditionally Western concepts and imagery.  Artwork and artifacts in the exhibition range from photography to painting and sculpture, to hat making, saddlery (and all forms of leather work), hitching (ropes, quirts, and reins), to knife making, jewelry, spurs, and boot making.  It is an extremely eyeopening immersion in all things Western...

This is the 20th anniversary, I've participated in the past 15 exhibits.

Flagstaff was cold this weekend!  All day Saturday it snowed; a good thing too because it kept people inside... It's hard to compete with the beauty of the snow-dusted San Fransisco Peaks on a clear day!

I have two items in the exhibit this year, an oil painting and a bronze sculpture (seen right).  The painting is a large canvas, 60"X 40", and is titled The Devil Of Doubt (you can see it on the far wall, in the photo above).  I worked on it all this Summer.  I started July 1st and finished just as the show was opening October 10th.

I began with an ink wash study to determine the composition for the oil painting.  Being short on time to complete the painting I set the drawing aside to complete the painting.  I had always intended to complete the sketch, time however wasn't on my side, so with  this opportunity to demo at Trappings, I decided this was my moment...

This is where I left off in July.  The drawing measures 19"X17", the surface is acid free vellum (a durable surface used mainly for architectural drawing), I like it because it really takes a beating (I'd used it years before, working with oil pastel and razor blades, in scratch-board-like technique).  Last year I'd seen a Jasper Johns exhibit at the Art Institute, where he used ink wash on vellum, that was very interesting!!  Inspired by this, I did several large ink wash/pen and ink drawings to great success, so it seemed natural for this sketch to attempt a highly rendered drawing.

Working this type of event is really more PR than actual work-time.  Usually I'm answering questions, selling cards (mostly), prints, and smaller original work.  It's like a trunk show with demos (like the knife salesman at the fair).

Needless to say, I did not finish the drawing (some signs of improvement though).

 
The idea behind the image is the internal struggle with self-doubt (who me??), hence the title, The Devil Of Doubt.  From this working sketch, the oil painting (seen below) started much like Murder Of Crows did, very abstractly.  Though you'll note how quickly it was recognizable as the finished image.  The major difference between The Devil Of Doubt and Murder of Crows was, knowing where I was going and what out come I wanted.  With MOC I'm following the lead of the canvas and my imagination, unconcerned with the needs of an audience.

Another reason for the quick transition is I wasn't photographing the progress everyday, as I am with the watch-me-work project and MOC...

This was the result from the first day of work on Devil Of Doubt.

This, about a week or so into the project.

And this is the completed painting on October 3rd, a bit over three months later...

In a brief comparison, there are few similarities between this project and MOC.  There are the obvious ones, like I did the work, and they are both oil on canvas (duh!!), and from the very start they take an abstract approach.  Though given this commonality, immediately you can see focused delineations appear in the day-one DOD canvas to the right.

Whereas here, on the first-day MOC canvas, the large part of the forms are left as negative space.  In strong contrast there really are no solid painted areas to be seen, and there are clearly no spaces defined with hard edges as in the DOD canvas.

It is not until this day-five MOC canvas, that you see as much organization as the day-one DOD canvas.  Though the forms are largely vaporous, some linear delineation is seen and a few of the forms are becoming recognizable and settling into place.

It is interesting revisiting old projects and comparing completed work with current work.  In a way it is learning from yourself.  Possibly re-learning from, and not remaking mistakes...

Also it's a way of recognizing where you've been, and how far you've grown as an artist.

Paint well...