One Week
                          Or  The Experiment That Worked
 
                             
   I was scared of becoming a lazy person.
   There had to be some way to free my paintings.
   The process of copying my pastels with oil paint
   was boring me to tears. The idea of going into the studio
   to copy the pictures was a dreadful thought.

   I took a week off from my other job
   and spent 4 to 6 hours a day doing actual artwork.
   Here is what I produced and some of my thoughts about it.

   18" x 24"  2006
 
        I took from a realistic landscape (above) and started to draw
   a new study from it. I turned both of them around, rotating them
   on the same side in the same direction, and continued to draw.

         
   This forced me to see the realistic landscapes in a non-realistic way.
   It broke the focus so that I could see abstract elements
   within the pictures.
 
    
   No. 1                                                          No. 2
  18" x  24" Oil Pastel on Paper                     18" x  24" Oil Pastel on Paper

   The first two attempts of drawing were very sucessful.

                
 
   Then I began an oil painting from one of the sucessful studies.
   Originally I was going to copy it the way it was, but then
   I gave up that idea. So, as with the studies, I rotated the canvas
   as I worked -- to force my eye to see abstract elements in it.       

   It became sucessful.

   Work-in-progress #1
                                                                   33" x  48"  Oil on stretched canvas

   When I got tired of working on it, I decided to set it aside, and move on.
  

   Later, I began a second oil painting. Again I worked
   from the first two sucessful studies.

    
         
                      Work-in-progress #2
                                                               30" x  48"  Oil on board 
 
   I wanted to attempt to do oil painting,
   because I don't want to be known as a sketch artist
   and my ultimate goal is to do oil painting and not just studies.

   The process of doing oil painting is slower
   and I get bogged down in quicksand with it,
   particularly after so many years of doing
   quick sketches
   with pencil and charcoal and oil pastel.
   It takes more patience to work with it.
   But I've got to try if I want to be an oil painter.

   There is a lot of work involved.
   Even the greats had to work at it.
   Van Gogh - Picasso - they had to work at their craft
   until they mastered it and physically do the work itself.
   Sometimes they had to push the paint around for twenty-four hours.
   Pollack worked his ass off...

   Think for a moment.
   It is hard to set up a realistic study and a blank sheet of paper
   and to copy and not-copy at the same time. But I have found,
   that when I rotate them while I work, the wellspring of creativity
   comes together.

   Trying to analyze what you are doing is like
   trying to watch each step as you are running down the stairs.

   Like Picasso said, "If I knew what art was I wouldn't tell you."

   Even after saying that, what makes them work, is the
   combination of geometric shapes mingling with natural forms.
   Sometimes I like the way it comes out...
   When it becomes too abstract, I think I'm missing something.

         
         Later, I worked on a third oil painting.

             
                                                                         Work-in-progress #3
                                                                         38" x  58"  Oil on board
                                                   
       Then I took out a fall scene
  and began my fourth canvas.   The above study was done in January of '06.
 
                          
      Work-in-progress #4 (horizontal) 32" x 48" Oil on board
                        Work-in-progress #4 (vertical)
            I was hoping the painting would represent autumn, but it began
   to take on a life of its own. I set it aside to dry and started on new pastels.
           
 
  October 2006                                           Autumn 2007  18" x 24" Soft Pastel
  I looked at this autumn scene (to the left) in a more abstract way--
  to get the essence of autumn....the way I feel about autumn
  (to the right).
    
   Snowscape   December 2006                    Winter 2007 18" x  24" Soft Pastel
   I worked from this snow scene (above left) and came up with a new
   winter work. (above right).

   Later I did these two new nightscapes (below).

       

  What started as a headache has me all fired up.
  I found a joy in oil painting. It's been twenty years since I've felt this way.
  One of the paintings has made me real happy.
  
   joe tonnar july 29, 2007
 
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