Sometimes it doesn't work ...

Just to make the disclaimer first -- I am just as guilty as everyone else!

Okay. That's out of the way.

I admit it. I have some opportunities to look at other artists' blogs and I am somewhat amused that I never see an artist post a bad effort. AND -- see the first sentence of this week's blog. Yes, I'm as guilty as everyone else.

We, as artists, are read by many, many folks. I, myself, have a following of at least 1 million readers. Well, maybe one reader, BUT, he/she is ever faithful!

We, as artists, make art look easy. It's not. We post our successes. We rarely post our mis-steps. Fortunately for you, today's blog is a chance to see what I regard as a dismal performance.

Ray Hassard at work

Last weekend, I had the great fortune of taking a pastel workshop from one of America's finest pastel artists -- Ray Hassard (who lives in Greater Cincinnati area, by the way). I had been so looking forward to this.

The focus of the workshop was "Making a Public Scene." Ray has the uncanny ability to make beautiful artwork out of what most of us regard as every day life. And, among the things I learned this weekend, is to view my every day surroundings with a more artistic eye. 

In any case, after a demonstration by Ray we had the option of choosing to work from one of the hundreds of photos that Ray graciously allowed us to use, or we were free to use one of our own. I decided to do one of my own photos, one I had taken several years ago while in Oberlin, Ohio. I had filed it away as a future painting and now was the time to take advantage of one of the many I took up there.

Bad art in progress

The photo depicts one lone person walking in front of an equally lonely movie theatre that was featuring the movie -- Social Network. Oh, the irony was just too good to pass up.

After an initial sketch and some cropping, Ray and I agreed to move the person away from the black movie facade and put him in front of one of the windows. My intention was to give this painting an Edward Hopper feel.

Armed with my many boxes of pastels, including my three-drawer box given to me by a dear friend to store my many colors, I had all the best intentions. Indeed, for a while it looked like it would come together. It achieved the mood that I wanted as most everyone who came back to look at it said how depressing it was. 

A different focus

But as the weekend progressed, me and my artwork regressed. Everything I tried didn't work. I was fighting the colors and the lighting. It wasn't vibrant enough to further emphasize the irony of the story of the painting. By the time Sunday afternoon had come to a close (not quickly enough), I had overworked this painting to death. It was flat and blah and, well, as you can tell, I just wasn't happy with it.

These things happen. Happen more often than artists acknowledge to the viewing public. All the drive home from Rising Sun, IN, I kept asking myself what I should have done differently. And, that, is what artists do. We are constantly pushing and pulling and adjusting and fixing and sometimes, the painting works! 

For one, if I want to do this scene the way I wound up painting it, I need to do it on a larger surface than the 11 x 14 I was working on. Two, if I want to keep it to the size I was working with, then I think I will have to crop this photo a LOT more. It may have worked better with a close up image of the man walking in front of the movie theatre with the poster of the movie title behind glass.

I did like the shadow transition from the sidewalk to the street. All is not lost!!

Works in progress

Just to keep you updated on Opening Night, it continues to progress fairly well. I am fighting with the gray car on the left side. 

Opening Night

The glare on the right side of the painting is from the lighting when I took the photo of the painting. It has, however, given me some pause for consideration to add some lighting "glare" under the far light post on the right side. 

The dogs work now I think. I had to add moe coloring on the first one on the left. He was looking too much like Calliope in the center.


Finally, now that I am back in to painting instead of color-pencilling (I am allowed to make up my own words), I am doing several paintings at the same time. 

I've included one of the 4 x 6 efforts. It's not quite done yet, but It's tentatively called American Eagle. I am painting this with water-soluble oil paint.

American Eagle