Friday, April 23, 2010

Done with Grandma

Well, I'm not really done with Grandma, of course.  She seems, in fact, to be a surprisingly persistent muse, and I am even currently working on one other Grandma-related piece: the serial post-it note story of grandma/granddaughter road-trip that I've been inserting into library books...

But I'm done with Grandma in Brush.  Here's one last process shot:


I was pretty nervous after adding that bright minty green to the foreground.  But now that the painting is complete, I think I'm happy with the final product:


This is the first painting in a long time on which I've used more brush than palette knife, and I was evidently having fun with the brush strokes.  I was thinking about David Hockney's recent work a bit, and also a little about Laura Owens, although the end result is pretty dissimilar.  Here are a few detail shots:

3 comments:

  1. I like it, though it unsettles me a bit because I expect some subversive note...a hint of mental imbalance, or a voyeuristic intrusion or something, and I can't find one...which just means Grandma must be staring at me for some unsettling reason...

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  2. For me, the narrative impulse in this painting is more driven by technique than by detail of subject matter. I wanted Grandma to be a figure that is not a weak one, and yet is still outmatched and somewhat overwhelmed by her surroundings.

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  3. Very few paintings have enough minty-freshnesses in them these days. I really think this painting is one of your best at showing off your skills.

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