Tad Spurgeon	oil paintings
Modifying the modernist malaise.

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news       All process, all the time.                      september 5              Last week of the moon, very hot week until yesterday, became a little desperate and stayed inside with the air conditioner on. This is the weather I came to Vermont a long time ago to get away from. A high class problem compared to what is going on in much of the world, but makes it harder to work, which is a challenge: work is fun, work is therapy. The book is also somewhat stalled, have a few areas that need not just the usual endless editing but actual re-writing. The usual waning moon debacle, all this resulted in some back trouble but did have one good studio day before things unraveled. We did not get much from the storm, yesterday the sky was often semi-tropical and in constant motion.              Have continued to refine lots of linseed oil lots of slightly different ways for the book. This has resulted in a new improved method and lots of finished oil. I make the paint with walnut oil, the linseed oil dries too fast in the tube. But the putty is all linseed oil, so having a backstock of this aging in the light is a good thing. These are done, awaiting final decanting and heat treatment to clear it before bottling.              An image I've been working on for a while, since 2005 in fact, have learned a lot on this particular panel. Decided that the problem was too much color and began to attenuate it in this last pass. Had lots of fun with this as the medium was cooperative, perhaps soon this will be complete. Covered the green of the background with a thin, very Chardin sort of cool brown but you can see the green peaking back in already. After much deliberation about this sort of thing I think this approach is better: the next layer can then respond to a more complex situation chromatically than if the green had been obliterated. 11x14, oil on gessoed panel.              Have a couple of these now, this is the littler one that came first. I like this tag team approach because the little one can always be used as a testbed for the next step, making it that much more confident on the bigger one. Just put thin putty/paint on it, it looked pretty finished when wet. That may be the best test of when they are ready to be finished for real, that is, with more medium, designed to dry with a shine. This has a somewhat unpredictable poise in the composition that I like. About 8.5x18 inches, oil on gessoed board.              Larger version of one of the paintings that sold to the collector earlier in the summer. Layer four on this, felt like this would be the last one. Tried a small addition of Venetian Turpentine for this, a material I liked the look of, but abandoned because of its long drying time. And yes, it still takes forever to dry! There's some confusion about Venetian Turpentine and it's parent, Larch Balsam. Both Mayer and Gottsegen call Larch Balsam Venetian Turpentine, but the material of commerce now is actually Larch cut with colophony, the rosin left over after turpentine is distilled. So Larch is the higher quality material, pretty reasonable from Kremer. Not sure if this is actually better than the original, but it's more evolved, has more color and more chances taken with form. 9x20 inches, oil on gessoed paper mounted on panel.              The most interesting thing about working with this site has been meeting people -- well, e-meeting people -- from all over the world who share a fascination for the craft of painting. One such person is my friend Roland, who lives in the part of Europe where so much intense observational painting has come from, Belgium. Being a scientist, Roland took to the research here very easily. He is even a scientist with a sense of humor: the only person to send a photo of amber varnish produced on the backyard barbecue. And the thing about Roland's work is that it has all these things: a quality from older painting, an analytical quality from his profession, and a quite a sense of humor. It is just amazing to me the way painting picks up all these nuances within the individual. This detail here is from a recent portrait, the sitter was wearing an angora sweater. When I saw this it instantly put me in a much better mood. It is such a correct but also high comedic way of solving the angora sweater problem: accentuating the dilemma. I would never have thought of this. Another fascinating thing about painting: the way it expands your mind without words getting in the way. This is about a sweater, but it is also about an unflinching attitude of mind.              This technique was done with a combination of amber and sandarac varnishes that Roland made, taking advantage of the thixotropic nature of the paint mixed with the varnish to create a mini-Jackson Pollack sort of surface, including a final pass with a fine stylus. Given the size of the painting, I'm guessing this detail is less than an inch across.              And this is what Roland makes varnish with. I am very jealous, of course, my hotplates are old and funky compared to this fuel injected beauty! The key is the built in thermometer which would allow very exact replication or alteration of a previous recipe of varnish. Of course, with the putty, varnish isn't necessary, but varnish was fun to make and this makes me sort of miss the process, especially the very real smell of brimstone at the end!              Completed the fourth or fifth time through the Delacroix Journal this week. Think I'm done for a while, but three interesting lessons have emerged, things I'm going to try to apply to how I solve problems in the future.       The first is that he could neither truly escape Paris nor come to any kind of functional relationship with it. He needs it, it is often literally his employer, but very quickly realizes that it has little to offer besides his beloved concerts. Still, towards the end of his life he got out of it more and more, taking enforced vacations from the huge commissions he took on, usually due to illness from overwork. The most genuine entries become those from his little cottage in Champrosay, where he becomes a kind of de facto transcendental naturalist. Not sure if Delacroix would have fit in anywhere during his period, he is such an odd duck art historically, looking both backwards and forwards a great deal at once.       This leads to the second lesson, which is the way he wanted the past to define him. He initially modeled himself of Géricault, and ultimately wanted to be a Great Painter in the tradition of Rubens, yet from this remove he is arguably most convincing when he is being most spontaneous. The drawings are astonishing, as is the Moroccan Journal. Delacroix, born thirty years later and involved with Impressionism/Post-Impressionism, would have been alarming: the round peg finally in the round hole. But, of course, it is what it is, and no one knows what he would have done under different circumstances. Perhaps the whole larger point for him was to plant the greatest seed, which, looking at French painters of his generation, he certainly did.       The third lesson is that there is no escape from who we are, or from what we most basically want or need. That is, that self-knowledge is an unending lesson in itself. Delacroix knew himself pretty well, there are really deep insights into being human throughout the journal. And he was smart enough to see through the Parisian art world with its endless posturing and Neoclassical idiocy. Yet he wanted to be elected to the Academy, fons et origo of Neoclassical idiocy: it was a life goal. And they refused to elect him seven times before finally letting him in in his late fifties. My God. He consistently advises friends to accept themselves, to find a more reliable happiness within, but he cannot help but want more acceptance than the art world of his time could grant him. In a way it's the struggle between an involved and a detached philosophy; the zealot who wants to reform the rotten culture, versus the stoic who says it is all but a turn of the wheel.       So, those are the lessons, all of which seem to apply in some way to questions I'm trying to solve. It doesn't seem possible to outwit one's Fate. Given that the battle must be fought, is it better to order the Cuirassiers to charge, or wait on the high ground, with the artillery positioned just behind the ridge? Or is La Gloire in the larger sense simply a function of the choice to be on the field? august 29              A good week in terms of both the work and the book, plugging but progress. While I'm used to this, it will be a relief to get back to the work full time, more seems to want to happen than I can handle right now. At the fair a few weeks ago I saw the draft horse pulling, they were so excited to do it that five guys could barely get two horses hooked up to the weight. It's like that, the work really has places it wants to go, but have to keep giving time to the book until it's done. Have been refining various techniques for the book, have made some major progress with the linseed refining procedure, this is now more efficient. Have been making paint, enjoying the fine Kremer cristobalite in some of the more opaque colors. Continue to work with the mulled putty made from calcite and silica. This may get a little chalk added back in at some point, but it's interesting to explore a system which is so close yet so different.        One of the things Delacroix does a lot in his journal is complain about vacuous painting. While he was in many ways simply happy to pursue his vision, it must have been hard for him to have, in some ways, been shunted aside. They just didn't know how to deal with him. He of course had no way of knowing that his idea of a personal, painterly depiction based on feeling and meaning would, after the Impressionist/Post-Impressionist detour, be reinstated as the foundation of 20th century realism, an idea which countless different painters have seen as a logical path. There are many passages in the journal where he rationalizes and defends his edifice based on Rubens and the Old Master canon generally. He almost constructs an Old Testament, in a way, trying to figure out how to re-embody the best of the prophets. At the same time, there's a way the past held him back. Yet, this is only obvious in hindsight: who knew, at the time of Women of Algiers, that the coming innovations of Corot and Courbet would segue so quickly into Monet and Renoir on the one hand, Degas and Manet on the other, then Gauguin and Van Gogh: the speed of the change was just phenomenal. If he had known that he was going to triumph over Ingres, that he was so right that the basis could not be stopped by any institution, would he have moved more fully into spontaneity, or was he truly most comfortable in the classical and mythological imagery of the old way? Hard to say. All this has been brought on by thinking about the sketch form the Moroccan Journal I saw last week. What if he had left a body of spontaneous sketches in oil as Constable did? Oh my!               Almost September! The best time of year here. This lasts about two or three weeks, the transition from summer to fall. Peak foliage here is too nutty, then there can be good times later in October depending on if the leaves get blown down or not. There's also usually one last Indian Summer day in early November which is an atmospheric knockout. An effortless lyrical elegance and serenity in the land now, birds flocking, corn ready for harvesting everywhere. Mostly iffy days this week, have been visiting some of the better spots when the clouds look promising, this actually worked out well this week, guessed right consistently. Saw a kingfisher, not that common, a few herons, many monarchs and groups of plummeting goldfinches. Photo here from an evening where the sun came out late. I've walked here for years, a road with no houses on it, almost never see a soul.              Have been working with a different type of putty, and the optics are different. This is the third layer on a little study from a few weeks ago, felt like something different was beginning to happen in terms of getting lyrical but not too bright color, the right kind of broken surface. In a sense, not sure if I can ever get what I want in one sitting, but keep trying alla prima work anyway to see what will happen. 7x9 inches, oil on gessoed canvas.              Second layer on an even smaller study from last week. This was from one of those images that had something, but needed some serious changes as well. Instead of a one color study, the idea here was to make a macchia type study, just keep to the essentials. Wanted to explore a slightly different palette but haven't quite gotten it here. 6.5x8 inches, oil on gessoed linen over panel. Setting the stage, though.              Another very small study from last week. Set this one up with a ground that would take endless paint, made a conscious effort to work with the full throttle Barbizon palette, including my Emerald Green Nouveau. Chromatically, this is just on the edge of too much for me but it was interesting to do and the scale helps in life. The paint performed admirably here, but I did become a little perplexed near the end as it verged on sculpting and decided to let it dry. Cowpath, 6x8 inches, oil on gessoed linen over panel.              Did some more layers on things in progress this week but they dried shiny and needless to say did not photograph well. So there's a more finely painted set of images begin developed as well. This one however, is a larger version of the study above, done in one day with the same paint, slightly lower chroma version of the same palette. Felt more in control, the scale was easier to work in for what wanted to happen with the paint. I think it would be possible to work this same way a bit larger, still have hopes for that halcyon 15x20 size. Want to continue to develop it for a while at this scale, but may set up the underpainting of something larger in thin paint first. Cowpath2, 9x12 inches, oil on gessoed linen over panel.              Three times life size detail from the lower middle of the painting above, about 1.5x2 inches in life. You can see a few places where the flatter first passes can still be seen. This is a lot of paint for one layer, but it was pretty in control. I'm excited about how it handles, it could perhaps be a little longer. Have always wanted to puzzle out how to work with landscape detail in the "late Rembrandt manner", that is, with free but organized impasto. This was painted with a few destroyed No.4 round bristle brushes that would be hopeless to use with less plastic paint. Unfortunately, the technique destroys them bit by bit but I'm thinking about a way to manufacture this type of brush from new ones. I'll leave it until something has eclipsed it, the only problem with this very dense method is they really need to be allowed to dry thoroughly. The way to set these up is for the dense layer to be the last layer. Perhaps the first layer is simply thin paint in bright midtones, which then get modulated by a dense layer once dry. That might be interesting. Once the scale comes up a bit, it should be easier to intuit how to organize the sculptural quality of the paint. august 22              Better week, less hot, was able to concentrate better. It's been raining for a few days now and quite dark, didn't get many pictures of the work. The season is slowly turning a corner, a few trees with red leaves, huge swathes of ragweed coming in. Next will be the purple asters, corn being cut, a really magical color time in the fields when it's not quite fall or summer. I'll do some photo tours on good cloud days in the next few weeks, this is the best time for what I want. Have been making batches of small panels for working outside, want to do this in September after the book is finally delivered. The putty has come far since I've been outside last, a round of this work would be a good working vacation before the winter. Made a few small panels into paintings this week, am getting the hang of it, using the scale and tons of paint to make the image more essential and monumental.              A long time ago I did a lot of small hand monoprints. Used a block of that soft lino-cut material for them, and Rives paper. It was fun and interesting, could get a lot of detail. For a while I've been casting about for something preliminary that I might like to do with an image before painting it. In some ways, a small study in color becomes the drawing, but this process gets pretty drawn out in terms of time spent before the next, larger painting in which the image is known more clearly. Taking a gander at the boffo recent graphite on mylar work from Laraine Armenti convinced me that returning to something single color and strongly graphic would be a good idea, so I did a few single color putty paintings. These were very physical and intuitive and helped me to see how fiddling with color messes up the flow of change in movement in the paint through the putty. The putty can do much more, I know it, and it's frustrating to feel it subordinated to handling color effectively sometimes. So, will keep returning to these in the hope of finding a way to integrate this more graphic and mobile way with paint into the work with color. Farr Cross, Late Corn, 7x9.33 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              That's all I have for images now, will get some more up when there's finally a little light.       Did go to see the collector as planned, as I arrived he was a bit perturbed by the complex quality of a book on the early Matisse that goes with the exhibit at the Met. The book contains lots of images not in the exhibit. It was interesting for me because Matisse covered so much territory, and much of it, being somewhat beyond the joie de vivre Matisse of the coffee table book circuit, just doesn't get seen. Moved on eventually to the work he had purchased and framed, one of them was a total home run, the other two were framed to go with a form of decor that is not that congenial to me. Sigh. But of course, I was polite: that Quaker training. Got another good look at the Delacroix sketch, heaven help me I liked it even better than before, perhaps because I could actually begin to comprehend it instead of being blinded by its appalling insouciant brilliance. Delacroix had an amazing visual intelligence, really want to find more of the drawings and Moroccan sketchbooks. In the poignant Francoise Gilot book on Picasso, she tells the story of the Louvre giving Picasso a private viewing -- sheesh -- of one of his paintings next to Women of Algiers. She records that his reaction was "That bastard! That bastard!" It's always odd to me that Picasso felt competitive with painting that actually acknowledged the craft. What would art history be like if, like Dali, he had been able to get a grip on the older way of working? Did everything he invented come about because he could not, in fact, learn to "paint like Raphael"?       Continue to work on the book, have been waylaid by what the actual definitions of larch balsam and Venetian Turpentine might be. Got a product from Maimeri that I would swear is an Oilo d'Abezzo type resin, possibly from Russia, dark but dries very quickly. The larch I have had in the past is nearly clear, take a few days to dry: similar to Canada Balsam, but more reliable as a drier. Complexity: why can't we agree not to fudge or lie about the definitions of things? I'm trying to be moderate about commerce in the book, but stuff like this makes me want to set phasers on "obliterate". It's all hard enough to fathom without the endless commercial shellgame. Which, when called on, they all just deny with predictable fervor. But I digress, and verge on a Delacroixesque fulmination.       The thing I came away with, with regard to the collector, is that, rather than actually have a dialogue about life, art, anything, he is only too willing to marginalize me in favor of all the great painters whose work he can conjure. But not, of course, own. This is not malicious, so much as it it is the competitive sublime. The point is to make sure that I know my place: by being committed to my own work, I am without a prayer in the context of all the art history "owned" by the collector.. Which, in the context of the arena, is perhaps more a compliment than the collector may be aware of. When Picasso curses Delacroix, or his other bête noire, Bonnard, you know it is because they define a non-purloinable quality. So, while this was in some ways interesting, in other ways it was too predictable, a situation without a future. Selling paintings continues to be a blood sport, perhaps soon I will have the temerity to cause as much pain as I am given in this pathetic but pitiless arena. Yet, early Quaker training dies hard. Spiritually or philosophically, it seems unwise to fight back, descend to this level, but that might not have any bearing on the situation. In America, at this point, it may be a case of devolve or die. august 15              Mostly hot and humid, reasonably trying, could not accomplish much and just had to accept it. Had a few good evening walks on Farr Cross, have to admit that this weather has generated great clouds, this period of the day often leads to a temporary sense of greater equanimity. There's a kestrel with a nest in a pine tree near one of my spots, it gets upset when I stop there but I get a good look at it as a result. Got a good look at a group of cedar waxwings this week too, they are amazingly elegant. It feels like such a compliment when they don't fly away instantly. I'm always fascinated at the way flocking birds know what they are all doing, all the time. There are a few slow signs of fall: the evil cow parsnip has died off, the ragweed is blooming, big yellow spikes in great swathes in the fields. This will be followed by the purple asters, there were tons of them last year. These look especially stunning with goldfinches darting above them.       I've been playing back the most recent situation with the collector who visited in the last few weeks. It went okay for me all in all, but there are some things I would do differently next time. Need to learn when to take the initiative, in a way. I tried to set the ground rules through a third party and this did not work out. It's a matter of working more actively towards quality communication, this can go a long way towards setting a tone of trust. So, as is the way with these things, it was not that much of a surprise when I found a phone message from said collector, in which, to my surprise, he told me he had a Corot and two Marsden Hartley's he wanted me to see. When I called him back it turned out he meant the work of mine he had purchased and had framed. I should have remembered his way of kidding around, just a little too much humidity for a little too long, I'm afraid. This sort of jousting sort of reminds me of high school, which ended a long time ago. As if sensing this, he then made an effort to name-drop me out of French 19th century painting. Only to find my artillery politely positioned behind the top of that particular rise. You see, at this point in the campaign he has lost the crucial element of surprise. It's a matter of varying one's tactics, after all. Ah well, c'est la guerre, selling paintings will always be a blood sport. Will go visit again in the week to come but I think, in spite of some sincerity at the core, there might be a little too much self-conscious cleverness in this department for me. This impatience with the latest round of cultured folderol is partly due to August, partly an inevitable by-product of the simple functionality of the craft getting into my bones. All I want is the next step in the work and a week in the low seventies.              The major goal this week was to get a good start on a bigger version of last week's painting, and this did get accomplished. Wanted to do it at 15x20 but decided to play it safe and do it at 12x16. This was wise, as I ran into lots of interesting things. Would tell you that I've looked at clouds from both sides now, but there seem to be more sides than that. Was excited by how much this came together on the second day, didn't feel like it was better than the first study but in many ways it is. Not done, was able to shift the medium so it was simpler but it got just a little goopy and also dried surprisingly fast. Still, feels like the 15x20 size will benefit from this experience. Have the right colors, just need to develop them a bit. The ongoing issue is the insouciant redeployment of the clouds in a more poetic way than they are ever deployed -- well, almost ever -- in real life. Someone who was really good at this was Chase. I don't love those vermilion and vert Veronese interiors but the Shinnecock Hills landscapes often have a nice quality. Another great cloud painter was of course Constable, those studies have an extraordinary quality.12x16 inches, oil on gessoed linen over panel.              The original study from last week, have an old frame that fits it more or less. Got inspired after this and mounted the study, inpainted the edges. This particular frame was always a little hot with the red bole underneath, but it looks right with the brighter palette of this one.              Worked on another older painting with the latest putty and the same palette as above. This is early Spring, flooded fields near where I used to live. Was relieved that the method translated backwards over older work so smoothly, this could be a big deal in the next year or so. I think, after fours years, this painting might be on track at last. I don't mind the work, just would like to see daylight at some point. Odd that the major issue was in fact not understanding enough about warm and cool. Putting things in frames again is good, a kind of foreshadowing. About 14x18 inches, oil on gessoed linen over panel.              Little alla prima study done with the latest putty. Wanted to see what it would do without any couch or added tricks, just the paint on gessoed canvas. This is an image I've always loved but whose graphic/lyrical quality has proven pretty hard to translate into paint. 7x9 inches, oil on gessoed canvas.              Here's a snazzy "raking light detail" of the image above, you only get these in the very best painting blogs. This putty is similar to the Amsterdam style putty of chalk with egg white, but can do things at a finer scale. That is a lot of wet in wet paint which remained discreet for one afternoon. Things like this are in some ways useless, but in other ways they set up the next step. I correspond with a painter who spent a tremendous amount of time copying. But now, they are moving into their own work and, lo and behold, the copying is paying off. This is what is building with the medium situation now. Having made several attempts at expanding the scale, I knew it wasn't ready. But it's getting closer.              One thing that has changed this year is that all the mediums are made 100% with linseed oil I refine. I've tried making paint with this too, but the shelf life in the tube is about two months, not quite enough at this point. So I'm still using preheated walnut oil for the paint. But it was time to make more linseed oil, best to stay well ahead so it can age in the light. So here's the front row of a gallon of linseed oil being processed. The middle jar illustrates the inexact nature of this, all the jars have exactly the same contents and procedure but this one decided to be different.              Got a nice present this week of Desert Oil from California painter and fellow materials enthusiast Robert Roberts. This is organic linseed oil refined as above, then put in the sun in a lead tray for a week. On the left is my version, done inside. I thought a week in the sun would make for more thickness, but not so much.              Well, I haven't been to the fair in a few years and it has grown. Still, it is pretty dinky, which is just the way I like this sort of event. Went early to avoid even a suspicion of carnival, although the carnival of the night before was occasionally in evidence. Concentrated on the great farm fauna, although the antique tractor pulls were more interesting than I would have thought possible. I tried to get some images that showed the fair itself situated in the land, not sure if any of these are worth working with.              I'm not exactly a horse person but the draft horses are pretty amazing generally, saw some doing pulling of large weights and they were incredibly into it. My favorites are the Percherons, mount of the Norman knights, they kind of give me chills. This dappled mare was in the middle of a lot of activity when this was taken, only chance I got as they then moved her into the ring. One thing I felt a lot from the animals was their patience with the humans.              Can't remember the breed, something English with two words, but this one had, needless to say, lots of personality.              Robert Roberts told me about the artinconnu website, full of the work of little known painters. The flickr version was easier for me to navigate. A lot of work which is about line in a way I can pass on. On the other hand, really liked this image by Suzanne Lalique (1892-1989). She mostly did decorated porcelain designs but her paintings are all quite well done, seem to have had some contemporary influence.              This is by Walter Vaes (1882-1958), a Belgian painter who went to and later taught at the Academy of Antwerp. This one is about as real as they get, there are many that are a bit more painterly and juicy. This guy is trouble, quiet still life with a highly developed color sense, may well have some strong local influence.              Oh, the book? You're so nice to ask! It has been endless, hasn't it? But, with any luck, started the final re-write has begun. Am trying to explain things in general just a little more clearly, remove extraneous adverbiage, smooth the prose out as much as possible. Will just go through this for the next two weeks until the designer is ready. I'm fine with pretty much everything now but the end, a chapter in which the hapless author tries to condense eight years of process into a breezy but meaningful conclusion. Not sure how this can be resolved with any accuracy without making it hopelessly boring. august 8              More heat, could not take it this time and just hid out until it passed. Waning moon, did no work at all until it cooled down. A few lovely days recently, went out and did some exploring of lower Addison County again. Am putting together a route that avoids all the evil two lane commuter roads where people go fast. This is a Cardinal Flower, a variety of Lobelia, quite the zippy wildflower for Vermont. Found this on the lower Otter Creek in a sleepy farming area near Leicester, first time I've ever seen them around here, just a few of them, they seem to be more common in the south.              Exploring is not that efficient compared to knowing where the good spots are. On the other hand, every now and then I come across a fun surprise. This was a very well-maintained but tiny Class 4 (drive at your own risk) Road that began with flanking old maple trees and let out into a relatively high meadow type situation with a wonderful sense of space, a few old trees and large old farms. Those are the Green Mountains, so this is looking east. This let out into an area of older, small homestead type farms, most of which still have their black locust split rail fences.              Am returning to the hurl paint at it approach with a slightly different type of putty, a bit coarser, but more mobile, leaning more towards calcite. Don't usually use a toned ground -- this one was an accident from something I erased a few weeks ago but I liked the color. First pass on this one, decided to return to that Constable black first idea, it absolutely forces the composition to develop. That was the potential issue with this one: as almost always, the image must be altered a reasonable amount to get something that works.              Here's where it is after working on it twice. Had to stop on the second day, just a little goopy and I couldn't see how to resolve the water. I like the energy of this and the way the paint operated, also the way it contains elements of a few different centuries, but will keep going with it. Want it cleaner, want to resolve how to get some brighter color without having the color take over. As always, it is more integrated in life... This is of course quite indebted to The Hay Wain, Monet never got a chance to explain to Constable that the only times to paint outside were early or late. Image of the Mad River, outside Waitsfield, being less mad than usual, it does some very crazy things. 9x12 inches, oil on gessoed canvas over panel.              Second painting made with the newer putty formula, some glare here. Like the way this paints very much but perhaps it could be a little finer. Have been taking photos of farm buildings recently, they get into geometry and make interesting compositions. Sometimes there are quite austere situations like this, just a building in the land. But this one is very altered, took out tons of the usual rural detritus, wanted the faded, sagging barn and the early morning light. Have plenty of late light photos this summer, but have to get out early more. Especially on Sunday morning, even roads I can't usually go on are empty then.        Wonder if hurling paint at these will ultimately begin to work. This is the "Hit the ball as hard as you can and eventually it will start to go in" theory of painting. Not sure, no matter what happens I always seem to want more. Of course, the paint will be denser tomorrow and I'll be able to get more, fine tune this, lock the composition better, make it less of a record, more of a memory. Perhaps the solution is to work with demoniacal fury and simply act like it's effortless, that the dark puddle around the easel is just paint. A little frustrated with the way the book has taken a toll on the work. Have to remember that it's August, and, for August, it's been pretty mild so far in terms of those stunning, unexpected challenges August usually seems to abound in.        Delacroix, who did often work with demoniacal fury but who also died much sooner than I want to, said that gray is the enemy of painting. But, for once, he's wrong. Unless, of course, he means gray used incorrectly, gray that kills color, or is out of the envelope. What I'm finding is that in all of these there is a certain gray that actually animates color and makes the envelope that much more palpable. This is the way to avoid the marshmallow highlight effect, get the sparkle without being too obtrusive about it. About 10.5x11.75 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Here's the new putty, it gets mulled. This is a fun process, the putty is simple again. Good to read one's own book now and then for these helpful technical tips.              Did lots of work on the book while it was hot, did some work with Regalrez (Gamvar) as a final varnish, melted some Ketone-N into the oil as a damar substitute. It is unfortunately easy to think up these things. Keep remembering small additions and writing them down in the studio or the middle of the night on index cards. Removed the scariest thing, the hard resin varnish making directions, that was a relief. Don't think the hard resins are evil, but they are optional. A very small amount is plenty and it takes quite a while to get good at making the varnish. There are technologies in the book that are safer and more versatile.       Anyway, the book is really and truly almost done. A few more weeks and it goes to the designer. july 31               I guess the biggest news is that it is no longer broiling here, an incredible relief. Had one of those varied weeks where not much happened in the work but what did happen was interesting. A glorious day on Tuesday, amazing clouds, was spontaneously ejected from the studio in the early afternoon and went out exploring. Mostly I know the area just north of here, but have been feeling like I need to learn more about around here. The land around Middlebury is more complex, less flat and less open, more second growth forest -- there are very few old trees in Vermont -- but still in the general plain of the lake region, not really enclosed or hilly. The idea when I do this is to find the dirt roads, then the dirt roads off the dirt roads. This can create issues, when roads on the map are not actually roads in real life, but is also where things get interesting as a rule. When I'm driving along watching the ruts so I don't bottom out and a grasshopper jumps into the car, I'm in the right kind of place. There are several two lane arteries in and out of Middlebury, I hate these roads to pieces as people go fast on them at all times. For a little town, Middlebury is in fact kind of busy. I feel embarrassed saying this, having grown up in Philadelphia, survived the Schuylkill Expressway, driving in Italy, etc. But the point of one of these excursions is to find space, relax. I was talking to my friend Jill this week, and she said the same thing apropos of a canoe trip she had taken with her husband in Ontario: they only had three days, but it was great to get out, it was so quiet. Maybe everybody's life just has a requisite amount of tension in it, from which only small vacations are possible.               So, it's not the most efficient process when you explore an area because you never know what's around the corner. This was especially true on Tuesday as several roads suddenly changed one way or the other. But I did find some of the Vermont that I really love to be in, the next trip will have a more specific loop. The key around here is that there's a belt of iffy suburbs around the town because of the college, but once out of that, things get quite profound again. Still, without the element of hardscrabble agriculture, it's just too beautiful in a way, too lyrical, as in this image here, just above Orwell. This makes William Gilpin's 18th century point about landscapes needing something which is picturesque. For him it is the difference between a perfect Greek temple and the temple in ruins. I just need cows. Horses: no. Emus, llamas: no. The culture of cows changes the land in just the right way.              Made this painting later in the week using one of the images from the trip. It might be possible to paint here, might not, have to go back and look again. But this particular road was pretty ideal for a few miles, quite a nice kind of roll.       Did this with a slightly looser version of the putty-silica gel combo from last week, used a thin couch of the same medium to begin. On the first day, that seemed like a mistake, as I was trying to complete it and the paint slid around just a little too much. Still, learned a lot about the composition, was able to get a sense of the day built in. Came back the next day, unsure of what to do, but began fiddling with it and quickly saw that more could easily happen. Completed it into relatively tarry paint with a relatively fine texture, this was especially interesting in the land, which was a little drier, was able to both plough and drag depending on pressure, always a plus. Issues still of how to essentialize this type of sky. Delacroix talks about the most important color being the reflected half-tint. I think what he means by this is the color that animates the local color: a relatively Impressionist concept, but logical since he was always inventing everything. In the land especially, was able to add these animating colors the second day. Have been trying to get at more of the quality of the envelope on a sunny day, and have also been trying to get at the sparkle of the land without the more intrusive Constable type highlights. It's the question of balancing the unity with the details, which Delacroix identifies as the hardest thing in painting. Oui! The "mistake" with the too loose paint enabled this to happen by forcing the first day to be about unity. The second day was about detail, but the preceding unity clearly demarcated the place to stop. This is another thing Delacroix talks about. Want to do a few more of these on paper, but made up some panels with linen this week for somewhat larger versions of the ones that work out best. Used the exact gesso of the paper. This was also helped by information in Art in the Making: Impressionism from the National Gallery about the colors Monet actually used as opposed to the famous list of five. Vert Veronese was made from copper acetoarsenate and is of course no longer available, but was able to tame that insane modern copper green by cutting it a great deal. The apprenticeship period is not over yet, but this is as close as anything has come so far. Want to get the process just a little more refined before moving back to panels. The Lower Lemon Faire, 10.5x14 inches, oil on gessoed paper. july 25              More intense heat, and we are at the northern end of this, cannot imagine what it's like in NYC, etc. Worked away but without much consciousness, had to go slowly, stop often. Had a few frustrating days looking for the next step but then something good happened with the medium, got a new balance going, and this was interesting. Although these are more saturated, so, typically, the photos decided to be iffy again.              Second layer on this one, in life I'm fine with it although the camera made some interesting decisions, it always seems to fragment things more than less. Farr Cross, about 11x13 inches, oil on gessoed board.              In the journal Delacroix goes through several entries where he's weighing the pros and cons of the study versus the finished work. He's sort of trying to convince himself that the finished painting is worth it. Given the unusual quality of his drawings, and his ability to paint things very quickly, it may well have been that his studies, as he was apparently told, might have been better off left alone. Somehow all of this made me feel like returning to the study again, even though I've been so bugged by the most recent round of what I can accomplish in one layer. Decided that the problem was a paint that encouraged a more traditional approach, so made one that was on the loose side. Have been through several rounds of this procedure but got a balance this time that really worked for me. It was funny, I knew something new was going to happen as soon as this began, the paint gave me lots of chances to think it through and change it without becoming mush. It could layer, but could also be ploughed, giving lots of chances to make decisions but keep them painterly. Small study of an image from the Apennines above Lucca, please let me get back there someday, about 9.5x12 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Decided to branch out in terms of locations, I love Farr Cross but this area is full of interesting places. Studio production, same paint, same palette, different ground and different temperature, this combination changed the way the paint behaved significantly. Thought to make this cooler and on the English side from the beginning, and the ground helped the paint hold much more. Became somewhat fascinated by how detailed this could be, a one brush painting, used an old number four round with the worn bristles trimmed off. Will put another layer on it to get rid of the somewhat spidery quality but learned a lot. The Lemon Faire, 9x12, oil on gessoed canvas over panel.              Another image from the alternate location trip, on the east side of Snake Mountain looking east. Clearly saw that this had to be made as loosely as possible and set it up accordingly. Nice performance by the paint on this one, again had the great ability to layer or plough, add or remove, kept all the brush movement charismatic instead of finicky. This paint is somewhat bouncy or boingy in spite of being more loose, very exciting development for the Department of Rheology. Harder to pull off the same type of movement in the sky, learned to do more layers in a more open pattern so that the sense of atmosphere remains deep. About 11x12.5 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Older image I've always liked, did this based on what happened above, tried to get more in the way of atmosphere into the sky. Had fun with this although it happened later in the day and didn't have all that much oomph in execution, had to puzzle more out in the shadows. The paint helped by allowing pass after pass, you can see the texture in the reflection on the bottom right. Am wondering now if the cloud in the upper left is helping this. This one's done, might try another one in a bit with that area as clear sky instead to balance the lower right.              Had a great visit today with the peripatetic Laraine Armenti, who's in Vermont doing a workshop. I'm a great admirer of Laraine's work and process so it was fun to finally meet her and exchange thoughts and ideas. Thank God, we agree on everything! Got to see the most recent round of her work in person, this was really fun. She's got one that's still wet that really knocked me out, kind of like Euan Uglow draws while Morandi attenuates Gwen John's palette, a very elegant piece to emerge from a pizza box in the back of a car. You just never know how that next inspiring painting is going to enter your life.       Worked a lot on the book this week, I guess my hope is that it will in fact become literature through this process but will settle for something seamless that feels complete. Delacroix has really helped me see the potential value of a book like this in the way his journal has helped me on several levels. In terms of re-doing things, it seems like words can almost always be made better, but that there's a law of diminishing returns that kicks in. If I let it sit for a year, it would be easy to re-write it again, to see the whole more clearly. On the other hand, maybe that's what will happen in any event: there will be some feedback from the first printing to deal with, I'm sure. 435 pages now, yikes! july 18              The hottest week I've experienced here in twenty-eight years, one day where going outside was out of the question. But today and tonight, where I am seems to have just moved into the cooler, less humid zone of this pattern, whew. Don't mind the heat as much as I used to, but it does reduce one's ability to function. The studio is reasonably cool though, was able to get a decent amount done, considering. Mostly did finishing or reclaim layers on older work, didn't have that much oomph but if it's old enough, I've learned the next step so they come forward anyway. I'm beginning to wonder about some of these, though, new beginnings develop so much more quickly now. But sometimes it seems to be time to dig into the bone pile and see what will happen. Towards the end of the week some newer things began to occur, these photographed better because they weren't smooth or shiny.              Little study in the greenish Kremer Elba Ochre on paper where I put some raw sienna and grit into the glue. Was going to do this in full color but liked how this looked and stopped. Need to do more stuff like this, simple value sketches designed to help keep things a bit more condensed or essential. West Road, 9x12, oil on sized paper (Rives BFK).              Although, comically enough, it didn't help because I couldn't resist another idea for altering the putty and this resulted in a surprisingly fast setting paint. Oops! What was the second part of that darn spell? This behaved almost as though the ground were absorbent, was able to get lots of paint on and a sort of dense fusion beginning. Unexpected, but interesting, don't like this and will do it over. The paint has a nice look, though, may visit this idea again with a slightly more open formula. West Road, 9x12 inches, oil on gessoed canvas over panel.              I always liked cerulean but used to have issues with the opacity. Started using it again this week, made a tube from some old Grumbacher pigment that someone gave me. Nice color but required lots of grinding and then began to fall apart a little in the tube. But, that's better than drying out too fast. Cerulean comes in several variations, also have a pigment that's warmer, a little duller. Then, was rooting around in the old paint drawer for some Golden Ochre and found this tube of Lefebvre-Foinet Cerulean. This must be fifty or sixty years old. What paint. Oh my. These people really knew a thing or two. Darker and cooler than the tube I made, and quite amazingly dense. There's a great cantankerous line in Ralph Mayer about how, if painters could only accept their paint instead of monkeying with it, half their problems would be over. I would gladly accept this paint. But the chances of anyone ever making paint like this again are slim. Still, it has me thinking about some things I might be able to do to make my own paint better.              Started this off with the Elba Ochre, it's maybe halfway between raw and burnt umber. Made most of the greens from the cerulean, this was not as hard as I thought, used a little green earth, vermilion and cobalt along with earth yellows. Decided to keep the medium very simple, so there's just some putty in the paint, some oil to make it move and chalk to tighten it up again. There was a dark bit of tree on the right side but it seemed to be crowding things so removed it, a little evidence of that procedure. So, this is sort of like the underpainting method I've been going with, but with more paint. It got a little gluey or mushy at the end, lost the pattern of shadow and foliage in the tree, but I like the sense of the summer envelope in this. Slight compression of the value scale, slight enhancement of the warm chroma and reduction of the cool chroma. This is more like what I want in terms of balance between the poetic and the mimetic. Want the tree and the sky a little cleaner, but there's a feeling in the color, more emphasis on harmony. Not done, this will be fun to clean up once it's been dry for a while. Farr Cross, 9x12, oil on gessoed paper.       Am about halfway through another rewrite of the book. This is the serious re-write, the one where nothing gets blipped over. A lot more got blipped over before than I thought. The second half should be easier, it's the formulas and methods and these are later writing and simpler anyway. Then, one more time through and it will be done: end of August?       Finished the Delacroix journal, started it over again. Lots of insight and lots of wisdom in this book, it's very helpful to hear about this life from him. july 10              A week of unusual, prolonged heat for here. That combined with the waning moon slowed things down but was able to do some small studies with medium variations and progress with the book. Have had a few weeks where even looking at the book was difficult, but literary energy seems to be returning, am adding and slashing again with renewed vigor. Am also continuing with the Delacroix journal, a unique document, truly wish I could stroll along the quay at Dieppe with him. In reaction to the academic painting of the period, he is a great champion of the poetic over the mimetic, and this has me wondering about where just I stand in this regard. It feels like essentially I distrust the excesses of either position and hope, through this double pointed skepticism, to somehow avoid cutting myself to ribbons and arrive in a more interesting territory as a result eventually. Thank goodness for a hardy gene pool, this is still going to take a while to puzzle out completely.              This is an example of a small -- 11x14 or so -- study from Farr Cross that has stalled, based on too much attention to the reference with too much detail in relatively dry paint. I hate this! But I keep trying this method to test images out. The results are okay in a way, since the next step is obviously to begin to remove detail and add art. But it is woefully inefficient. Why not simply begin with art? I'm not sure that these small studies don't need to be curtailed altogether, since they end up not being that spontaneous and the scale feels inhibitive anyway. Nevertheless, with minimal energy this week in the heat, started looking for yet another different way to approach the small study.              Also Farr Cross, based on the backlit haze idea I've been interested in, but coming in tighter. This composition was iffy and it still is, but left out a lot and was able to go pretty far in developing this in one layer, the medium made paint that was somewhat discreet, somewhat blended, had a kind of pulsing quality. Dried down a bit from the layering, could be finer and use more flickering color. Feels like a light grinding back and one more layer might yield something more definitive. About 9.5x12 inches, oil on gessoed board.              Next tried adjusting the medium to be slightly more flowing, but still maintain a significant viscosity. This created a fascinating still point similar to a mastic gel, but with more open time: a medium that could be blended discreetly but also layered in a somewhat soft way. This enabled even more emphasis on the envelope and the feeling of the day. This paint was a bit of a surprise, capable of unusual subtlety. Over a solid underpainting, at the larger scale, it would be pretty effective, feel it may have significant potential moving on. As it is, I'll let this one sit, then grind the shine off and put on one more layer. Farr Cross, October Evening, about 9.5 x 12 inches, oil on gessoed board.              Am continuing with variations of the putty medium but the paint is generally getting finer while retaining body and motion: palette from a cloud study in progress here. Received a very nice book about Tom Thompson this week, and, after a bit of cogitation, made a prototype Thompson putty medium to try. Not sure where this will go, but I'm fascinated by the living shreds of impasto in his work. In the book they talk about the possibility of him using an available W&N paint variation that was stiffer, as well as Freeman's white, a dense concoction of lead sulfate, zinc white, calcium carbonate, etc. The white is long and quite glutinous, but the paint is too. Ah, old paint. Anyway, have made this more rococo type of paint in the past and enjoyed it: something Thompson-esque may need to happen again in the not too distant future.               july 3              Cooler for most of the week, now back to some intense heat but with less humidity. Not the best week in terms of focus, the construction project next door was back on again and was finished, lots of digging close at hand with backhoe and bobcat. But it looks nice and I have a nascent front yard and a much tidier general look as a result. Waning moon, mostly did layers on work on progress. Am reading the Delacroix journal still, it's great, am learning a lot from him. Boy does he hate Paris! There are some amazingly tender entries about nature when he's in the country, he's another Pagan Christian Pythagorean like Constable. He goes on at great length about what is good about a study, what is good about something finished. In his terms, am working to create a kind of fusion by building in the structure and detail and then adding the sense of unity or fusion in a looser way. I guess it's the same process, really, just that he would have relatively more detail throughout.              Study of light into fog at Farr Cross, early morning. This was a little too busy in the bottom, may now be too simple. About as undetailed as I want to get, but will keep going with it. Didn't get may good photos this week, was surprised this one came out. 9x16 inches, oil on gessoed board.              The only other painting image that came out was of today's beginning. Have been frustrated with the scale of the smaller landscapes, think maybe that test-it-small-first phase is ending, just need more space in which to work. Same procedure as last week, close line drawing, thinner paint, relatively accurate color but lower key, looking for the essence of the movement. Did two small versions of this last year, this one is about 10 x 25 inches. I like this size, still somewhat intimate but easier to work in for me. Did a second layer on last week's start with looser paint on top, it came out reasonably well, so this procedure looks like it might be stable for a while.              Have been using more and more of my own paint, the seizing quality with the unsun oil addition is greater and more consistent. Said good-bye to an old friend this week. This is the Mont Amiata Raw Sienna, a relatively dark one. People seem to not get this color, it is after all pretty unexciting chromatically. But it's great for natural light shadows. This is also the first color I ever made with preheated walnut oil for more boing. Nice to be far enough along in this process to have historical moments.              Haven't done much in the Sorcerer's Apprentice line this year, but have been thinking for a while about how dammar might be improved. Soft resins are known to yellow less over time if they've been preheated to drive off the more volatile components, so tried letting the resin melt and go over low heat until it stopped smoking, smelled like a cross between a pine forest and an old church. Stirred it at the end while it was smoking, it became quite clear and more viscous, darkened just a bit.              Poured it out onto a granite tile and it looked like this. Then broke it up and ground it in a mortar. Put a little bit into spike, could almost watch it dissolve. Will be interesting to see if this material is, like the preheated version of larch balsam, is less sticky in use. Think I'll fuse some into the hand refined linseed oil too, maybe at 5 percent; this would be a logical pair as the oil dries quickly, the dammar, without solvent, impedes drying. The problem with both of these experiments is that it will take eons to know if they are successful in creating a less yellowing material.       A lot of what happened this week kind of bugged me, just endless nibbling. Am thinking more about how to have a more efficient process in terms of finishing work. This also has to do with making decisions about what finished means. The problem here is that the process is always moving around, and I hesitate greatly to stop it in favor of product. Why have a career when you can have an education? But it may be possible to combine elements of both. Feels like the new system of a looser layer over a tight but thin underpainting may be the soundest system yet: it allows lots of fiddling but within well defined parameters both in terms of color and composition. In other words, I feel fine goofing around because the structure and the envelope are established, and this "goofing around" is looking much easier on the eyes. But, summer promises to be quite hot, have to lower expectations a bit and work positively with the heat. That literate fellow Delacroix, crabby and elegant by turns, has suggested several new thoughts for the book, can feel a large re-write coming on bit by bit. june 27              Week of the full moon, intense weather, was really stirred up all week. Things are in the process of changing more than usual. This produces a sense of interest, new territory arriving, but also a sense of beginning again: where am I? This began to happen when I read the Delacroix journals; it just felt like he was making so much sense. But then it became more focal looking at the collection last week that contained the Delacroix sketch. I don't mind if someone has better hands than I do, but if someone is simply operating in a higher evolutionary orbital altogether both visually and artistically this is not okay. Something must be done about this too articulate Frenchman and his maddening je ne sais quoi .        Delacroix was pretty complex, the last great French painter to take the old way -- Michelangelo, Titian, Rubens, Poussin -- seriously before Impressionism blew the whole thing up. He had an odd way of evolving: things would just occur that had never been done before. If you look at a good reproduction of Women of Algiers, it's practically the foundation of French painting that doesn't reference Monet: one can see how it influenced Picasso, Matisse, and Balthus. But this was just one stop for Delacroix, one idea. The Journals show clearly how much he thought about painting, and how it functioned as a kind of philosophy or religion for him. All of this has me wanting to get at something deeper, something analogous. In America? In Vermont?       For a while I've been hoping to get a full set of images of what happens in a week up. This week co-operated, so below you get everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly.              Small study from earlier in the month that got a layer this week. Too small, but I like this semi-twilight idea and will make a bigger one eventually. Farr Cross, about 6.5x14 inches, oil over tempera on gessoed paper.              Study from a week ago that I got a good photo of today. Older image of Farr Cross, almost the same place as above but a decade ago. I was always attracted to this moodier stuff but could never get the colors right before. Two layers, will keep going. Oil on gessoed paper, about 9x20 inches.              Another recent study, this one got a second layer this week. First pass on this was very abstract, just forms, need to remember this as it really helps when a composition is tricky or iffy to just get the major masses and the envelope. If those are right, the rest is not an issue. So this one is sort of emerging from its own shadows, a nice method if it's not overdone. Farr Cross, about 9x20 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Another too small study, tried the keep putting paint on till it works approach but it was just too little. This is not something I'd normally put up, but like this type of image, the backlit humid afternoon making the trees graphic. Another iffy composition, want to go back to it larger at some point, will probably need to draw it full size first and play landscape gardener more than usual to get what I want. Farr Cross, 6x12 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              First study of early sun coming into the fog, almost got a very nutty colorful version of this, but it just didn't gel, scraped it back to this. As a look, not new so much as very old, something I did long ago. Farr Cross, 9x12 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Liked the composition above so tried another version with thinner paint and more emphasis on control. Second layer here, this is from a very small piece of the image so has little detail, lots of guessing needed, which is good. Will keep going with this one, not sure about using manganese violet, this old favorite has both pluses and minuses. Farr Cross, 10.5x14 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Next did an alla prima study using a new version of a putty with small BPO and egg in it: this is shiny and therefore better in life. Wanted to finish it in a simplified but realistic way, but that didn't quite happen. Will grind it down after it's been dry for a week or so, and go at it again. Still, this was a kind of watershed this week, showing clearly that what I want just isn't possible in one layer. Farr Cross, 10.5x14 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              After doing that large cloud, went out in the afternoon and did a some quick studies of clouds. This is all the same place in the sky, done one after the other. It was impossible but I learned some things, and liked that quality of just having to hurl paint around while it changed. Will try some more clouds outside, but not on a white ground, that wasn't helping.              Decided to make another cloud oriented image but with thinner paint. This is from the same day as above, clearing storm. Did the first layer using homemade paint and some Eminent Oil, this was dry the next day, put another layer on it, this time using some finer brushes and a bit of additional unsun oil, added a little chalk now and then. This gave the paint a slight boing and more movement, might have put the absolute thinnest couch on the sky but maybe next layer. Like the sense of the envelope that's happening here. This will take a few more layers, will continue to keep it more detailed and explore the homemade paint with unsun oil route. Farr Cross, 10.5x14 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Last beginning this week: here's what one of these images looks like after the first layer. This was again just homemade paint and a little oil on a somewhat grippy gesso ground, drew it pretty carefully first. This is a second, larger version of a favorite image that was sold recently. Was going to do it again anyway, feel it actually benefited from not having the original around to refer to, used a different palette and that led to a different place. There's something going on here that I like, a somewhat different way of approaching painterly realism: less paint, more development. Also like the way all those homemade color choices work together. Farr Cross, 8x20 inches, oil on gessoed paper.       So, a week of lots of heat and sudden large questions and not that much relief or resolution yet. This aspect of the process is always both humbling and confusing, but it's also always very interesting to see the unexpected next step get underway. june 20              Complex week with lots of intense weather, this summer can't figure out whether to be cold and rainy or hot and humid. Tried to work through it all as best I could, using the moodiness, had some good developments with the medium, something that may well make all aspects of the process easier. More layers on work in progress, but have posted some small new studies below.              Did a somewhat larger version of last week's low chroma study. This was again done with a small addition of wax to the medium, allowed for a cleaner and finer build-up of paint in one layer. Helpful to move away from blue skies, interesting to figure out a complex sky like this one. Not done, but was able to get pretty far, and the medium feels like an interesting development. Panton, about 6.5 x 10 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Another small study using a variation of the wax addition. An old image I've always been attracted to that has proven difficult to make at any level. Not done, but the kind of beginning I'd like to see more of: emphasis on the envelope and a bit more abstract. Farr Cross, about 9x10 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Image from a morning I got up early and went to Farr Cross for the fog and sun festival. Not done, but I could not have had a prayer at even getting this far a year ago. This may have to have some of the drama taken out, possibly become more abstract as well, but has been fun to puzzle out. Far Cross, 9x16 inches, oil on gessoed board.              I've been reading the Janet Abramowitz book on Morandi: she was the studio assistant in his etching class in the Fifties and they became friends. A bit endless in terms of career minutiae but a lovely book overall with some great reproductions of unusual Morandi paintings. It also gently explodes the myth of Morandi as a recluse, including some pretty funny anecdotes, and deals very forthrightly with how the Italian painters, and Morandi in particular, had to work with Fascism in order to survive. Anyway, something like this always puts the particular painter on my mind. Haven't done anything too much like Morandi in a while, but was thinking about him here. A bit too much real light, perhaps, more "memory light" would be better. Another variation on the wax addition, not done but pretty evolved for layer one. Farr Cross, about 7x8 inches, oil on gessoed paper. It's been good to take some time off for a set of studies and a set of medium experiments, this has factored back into work in progress already.              For a while it has felt like I'm retired and living in a small Vermont town but had some interesting surprises this week. The first was a visit from a genuine collector. This was a little complex, mostly because we were both a little edgy at first, but in the end it worked out well. I took some paintings over today, and saw the collection itself. This is my first exposure to someone who has bought work internationally for decades, and it was quite an experience. With regard to painting I've gotten used to being the teacher, but this is someone from whom I could learn for quite a while to come on a number of different levels. Being self-taught and relatively hermetic has its limitations and they became apparent to me today. At the same time, it has its strengths, and they became apparent too. That's an interesting conundrum to work with next. For now, a positive opportunity to work with and learn from someone gracious and absurdly intelligent who sees and feels painting at an unusually deep level. Might be helpful, don't you think?       Reading the Delacroix Journal in the last few months was a really positive experience, making his sense of art pretty vivid and present. There was an extraordinary bit of kismet today related to this, coming across something I never thought I'd see in the flesh: an illustrated page from the fabled Moroccan Journals. The image was small, bright tight watercolor dashed over a quick drawing, but in terms of energy I've never experienced anything quite like it. Very hard to explain, it simply felt alive in a way that nothing else ever has: in a house full of amazing things it stood alone as an artistic achievement. I returned to it three times but it wasn't nearly enough. If you know the live Beatles performances on YouTube, the intense mixture of harmony, polish, frenzy, and glitches, something soaringly lyrical attempting to emerge from chaos, it was like that. So, Delacroix continues to have a nebulous but definite impact on a sense of what might be to come; of what, after all, might really be art. A long time since things have seemed to open up so much, so quickly. Of course, that doesn't mean they'll expand, or even stay open, but what has been learned will have an opportunity to grow. june 11              Bitter end of the moon this week, new moon tomorrow. Felt itchy but underconfident, mostly did experiments with small studies and made materials, tried a few layers on larger things but had little of the required oomph, made workman-like adjustments. More wacky weather, mostly cold and rainy this week, several rounds of it, just clearing again now. A complex last few days in which everything began to look bad again. As this always precedes the next step I'm more or less used to it but it's helpful to feel like working instead of like a bowl of overcooked linguine. As usual, hard but necessary to pause and let things settle a bit. Looking forward to the new moon.              A layer that happened last week on an image that I've been trying to put away for a few years. This is pretty close, might be able to just glaze it down a bit in places. Combination of the silica gel and the putty medium, have found a place that has some motion without feeling inebriated or consciously alla prima. Another one brush painting. More chatoyance here than in life. About 9x12 inches, oil on gessoed linen over panel.              Close-up from image above, a little larger than life size, shows the way this paint kind of quivers as it is worked.              Did some work with cold wax in the medium for the first time in about five or six years, interesting to revisit. This is about half of a small long study done with the silica gel mixed with wax and a very limited palette. Was trying to get at that backlit quality, and also make something English in feeling for a change. This medium was interesting, would work quite finely, but like all new beginnings, I have issues! Might make another study based on this composition using another iteration of the medium. About 6x7 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              After making Fra Angelico blue thought I might be ready to take on the final pilgrimage, Blockx Venetian Red. There is no Venetian like this, not even close, especially when cut with putty it just glows. There is also no pigment called Venetian Red which comes close that I'm aware of, they all look like mud in comparison. This used to bug me, but now I just want the color any permanent way I can get it. So, doing this with my humble collection of pigments took some ingenuity. Unlike the Fra Angelico, it didn't come out the first time. Or the second, third, etc.              Was finally able to match it, it's even got the same level of translucence, but it took three earth pigments and two modern pigments to do it. By far the greatest proportion was of yellow ochre. A fun exercise, and now all the colors can be made by the elves on site.       Also did a test with walnut oil, heating it to 300F for 45 minutes before making paint with it. This produced the same quality of seizing, or boing, in the paint that the oil heated to 230F for 48 hours produces. So, that might help. This paint is so ironic, it's identical to the "deliciously buttery" commercial paint except it has actual body and no additives.       Also did some work on the book, am done adding bits and pieces and onto another full re-write. Funny how easy it is to see how dumb or roundabout a given construction is given enough time, editing is being straightforward again. june 5              Unsettled week, lots of changes, heat, and humidity. The studio stays cool, that's been good for working. Some dark days, set up a system of white paper baffles to get as much light on the easel as possible. Not the most decorous and I'm sure the feng shui stinks, but they help and also make photos easier. Although this new technique, even if it dries matte, has presented a new set of problems. Got in another good pass at last week's peony, this painting is exciting for me because it represents the resolution of so much that had gone wrong for so long with these florals. Waning moon, sort of ran out of steam with painting at the end, started processing a lot of linseed oil and made some paint I've been thinking about: a green earth with a little viridian, and a duplicate of Fra Angelico blue. This last was fun as I guessed the proportion of three pigments pretty closely the first time. Is it okay to chortle about things like this? Working in layers without end, it's often little events like this in the studio that add up to a fun day. Spent most of the week doing reclaim layers on older work using this new, micro-impressionism approach. This involves taking smooth, relatively tightly painted work that had stalled and giving it a slightly broken surface with slightly vibrating colors. I like the look but it's going to take some time to figure out: need to use more in the way of color in these layers than I thought at first, leave them a bit less blended, more jumpy. Did finish an older small floral, used one brush to do it, have been doing this more and more, wiping it on a rag as needed. The system is very fast, if unpremeditated. Sometimes it's an older mongoose round but this paint was a little denser and I used one of the old bristle rounds that I'd trimmed down. These live in oil and are more flexible and expressive. There are some types of paint where the quality or type of brush is crucial, but what I've been working with recently is really forgiving: it's the pressure that matters, more than the type or quality of the hair itself.              An example of the new broken technique, old farmhouses in the Mugello, always a good place to visit again. Although this one was broken all along it has more color and sparkle in it now, a little more storm light. Have to remember to overemphasize things when working in layers, there's always a settling in of the different color over the older color. Will probably just keep going: make the scale of the paint a bit finer, emphasize the thunderstorm aspect more, try to get more wind motion and interest at the edges. 12 x 16 inches, oil on gessoed linen over panel.              A recent beginning on a relatively rough chalk gesso ground, this now has four thin layers on it. Wanted to see what it would be like to spend more time in the development phase with one of these blue sky landscapes and think it's a good idea: need to get the composition more evolved and the color more attenuated before adding more rococo paint. The next layer will begin the broken treatment and build up of low impasto. This is Farr Cross two weeks ago, about 12 x 15 inches, a little small for this type of image, will return to 14 x 18 or so with these soon.              An example of the issue I got into with these smoother paintings. I guess, basically, it's too smooth for me! Like the image and where it went, but the next pass will use the micro-impressionist approach, this will hopefully give it access to more color, mood and mystery. Farr Cross, 11 x 24 inches, oil on gessoed canvas over panel.              A more recent beginning, just a layer and a half in oil over the cellulose tempera made recently. CT is a fast and fun underpaint, creates an absorbent ground for the oil on top, it will keep being part of the process. A little clunky, but the basic pieces are in the right places. This is of the same trees on the same morning, image from a few minutes later, facing east instead of west. Will tone this down a little more next, emphasize fog instead of light. The image itself is quite over the top, cue the Moron Tabernacle Choir, but it seems like the quality of anticipation is more interesting than the epiphany itself. 11 x 24 inches, oil on gessoed canvas over panel.       A lot is going on and keep hoping to put up lots of interesting images one of these weeks. But between the excavation of older work, dark days, and the new issues photographing this technique, it hasn't happened yet. Still, have more momentum in terms of wanting to work than in a long time, can see a way to take the work to the next step after quite a while of poking around in the dark.        Started in again on the book, adding items from the long list of things that have occurred to me, written on index cards all over the studio. It doesn't seem so awful anymore, or overwhelming: always a relief! Tracked down an older version of the Delacroix Journals by Walter Pach, very nice edition from the Thirties and not expensive. Have also been ploughing through the Gwen John Letters and Notebooks again, I really like her work. The letters are mostly about arrangements being made or falling through, never about art except in the most temporal sense of trying to get paintings to England or America. I'd love to know what Ursula Tyrwitt, her fellow student at the Slade and a patient lifelong friend/correspondent who seems to also have supplied funds and clothing when needed, actually wrote: one side of a correspondence is not that satisfying. The notebooks do contain some really interesting if oracular insights on her later style of painting in "blobs". Keep looking for a better sense of her -- beyond incredible endurance and strength of will -- but not sure it's to be found anywhere but the work.       Insightful article here recounting an interview with New York art dealer Stephen Haller about his friendship with Giorgio Morandi during the last years of Morandi's life. Thank you, Allison! may 30              Busy week, much heat in the middle, almost to the unbearable point but was able to keep working. Then one truly incredible thunderstorm, really high winds, felt like a strobe was on outside it was flashing so much. Saw the single largest lightening bolt ever hit across town, thick and fuzzy in the edges, on the yellow, not pink side: urgh. But, some truly lovely evenings after that with lyrical kufic cirrus clouds. Farr Cross is like a giant emerald right now, the yellow in the greens has gone but there's been plenty of water so they're still quite saturated. Have tried in the past to access this via viridian or phthalo, but the results were simply too glaringly green. This always reminds me of the passage in the Virgina Woolf diaries where Vanessa has a field day with Roger Fry when he pronounces yellow green an "inartistic" color. Not very Neo-Pagan of you, Roger! But I saw a room full of Cezanne's once in Montreal that all had that a liberal dose of that vivid summer green: to me, they were, um, inartistic? I get around this now by making the photos look like August before working with them: pushing the Corot button, it is infallible. Had some moral misgivings about this until readings in the 19th century alla prima literature made me realize how much -- and how well -- they altered things as necessary.              Mostly worked on larger -- 11 x 27 or so -- landscape work but then shifted over into still life again and put some layers on older work. Realized that things have progressed enough to solve lots of the former problems: have a paint now which is thin but discreet, that is, does not blend unless blended. This, along with progress in terms of controlling value and temperature, enabled several hard case florals to come forward. Was even able to put a definitive salvage layer on the hardest case of all. That was fun, nothing like figuring out a painting after five years. But that led to the image above, a similar but more recent start which hadn't locked at the edges or become too dark. Put a layer on and was pleasantly surprised by how much had been learned since the last pass. Not done, can imagine several more layers, but perhaps the most evolved example of the Chardin meets Morandi concept so far. At one point, almost nine years ago, I had a somewhat stable way of painting, using an egg emulsion medium made with Canada Balsam on panel. The egg helped the balsam dry, and cut that unfortunate level of gloss. It looks like the putty medium may be evolving to a similar place in terms of thinner layers and low impasto but with more development in the color as a result of the way the paint can remain as discreet or blended as the situation dictates. This is fun, a slow but rewarding conclusion to the project. may 23              Lots of sun and heat, the last few days have been like summer. Lots of new ideas and beginnings as well, a very zippy new moon, made a great deal of work inside and out. Did more work with the tempera medium, more refinement of the oil study approach to landscape both loose and tight. No closure with any of this yet, am somewhat bugged with everything right now. This is actually good as long as it is kept in perspective: just keep going. Am slowly closing in on my nemesis, the complex overcast sky. The value and temperature shifts in these are very subtle. Am reading the Sue Roe biography of Gwen John. A little disappointing after Delacroix, the author is just a little too close to the subject for comfort. Am also always a bit put off by how well anyone literary understands all things painterly; they always seem to consider painting to be their adorably inarticulate younger sibling. The fascination with John is understandable, she was quite an amazing individual and an uncanny painter whose star will only continue to rise, Pablo. Still, in spite of incredible research there are large gaps, she was just too good at being private. And way too many clever, loud-mouthed quotes from that superficial brother. I don't trust his opinions one bit. may 15              Last week of the moon, was not a house afire. Have been feeling grouchy and impatient about the book situation, but this week began to see the next level forming. It's not that the book will get much longer, but it will get more cohesion, more detail, in some interesting places. Began one painting early in the week, above, based on a study from last summer that I liked. This system of making the smaller study, then making something more finished at a larger scale, really seems to be working out in the long run. Decided against the energy first approach in this one, just developed one relatively dense layer of paint. This proved better at getting towards the sense of unity I've been looking for, it feels developeded without getting into paint which is too dense to be detailed. It went on a second day, but not for long, it seemed complete except for an element of detail that should wait until the paint was really dry. So, in a way, this is a big deal, have solved how to begin at a better level. This will just get a very loose weave of color added over it, some detail in the land, some clean up in the sky. About 10.5 x 25 inches, oil on gessoed paper. Pretty accurate color overall, darks too dark.              A small alla prima study that had lots of paint, finally went back into it to clean it up, enlarge it at the edges somewhat. Am trying to keep some of the goofiness of the original while giving it more attenuated color. About 10x11 inches, oil on linen over board.              A start done today using the same system as the landscape above. This one was a little trickier, may have to let it dry before going further. There's a swathe of bright dry grasses leading in from the left in a wedge, decided to wait and see before putting them in. Will be able to do the middle distance tomorrow, clean up the trees. May let it go there until another layer can be put on it cleanly. 10.5 x 25 inches, oil on gessoed paper.              Continue to do research for the book. Several books about color, interesting, although none of them seem to really address how to make light/form. Have also been reading the Delacroix journal, this is quite an amazing document, unprecedented depth and quality of mind on painting, ordered some of his letters too. Did a great deal of reading in English fiction between the wars at one point, this is how I hooked up with Anthony Powell. Read the women first, but missed Vita Sackville-West, perhaps due to opinions in Virginia Woolf's diary. Anyway, just read All Passion Spent, a pretty compelling pro-art torrent masquerading as a novel. What oomph in prose! What complete disregard for standard narrative conventions! The premise is somewhat sappy but it is carried off with great sincerity and aplomb. There is one scene in it which is just out-of-the-park magical, having to do with a memory of butterflies.

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