Archive for the Work in Progress Category

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Old Habits

Posted in abstract, Art, Collage, J. D. Hastings, Toni Tiller, Work in Progress with tags , , , , , on May 30, 2012 by Toni Tiller

After getting all jazzed up last week about the new materials and all that color and pattern oh how exciting because boy don’t I love new challenges,  went upstairs, spread everything out, and picked…

that.

It’s so boring.  And if you add a swipe of teal in there it becomes the exact same color scheme as the Ramada Inn circa 1984.  I think I must have been terrified when I was looking down at everything, all those pieces, 87 total, and just selected the colors that were safest to me.  On the other had there were some successful elements, it was another clarification of how the white thread changes and pulls together the designs, and the actual sewing of the shapes came much ore easily.  Not sure if it is worth finishing though.

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Pheromoning

Posted in abstract, Art, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, nude, oil painting, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress with tags , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Nothing finished right now, so here’s a working experiment on canvas. oil on linen, 36″ x 62″. It’s about finding the right rhythms with this.

1st stage Limbs 2

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Basketball and Sex

Posted in Art, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Jeremy Lin is the the cinderella story of the NBA this season. He was a no-one who came out of Harvard and was on the bench for the New York Knicks when he was chosen to come on the court where he went on an electric run to rejuvenate the team. I had made a couple of monotypes dedicated to him but both were unsuccessful, poorly formulated attempts. Here I took one of these flat prints and I’ve begun the process of reforming a composition with a slightly sexualized nude, utilizing bits and pieces of the underlying marks and forms. It is only fitting, I think, to honor this injured basketball player, who has had surgery on his leg and will be out the rest of the season. Baseball and sex are the usual analogies, but I’m throwing up a three pointer and lets see if it misses. This is a work in progress.

Guarded Sin WIP

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back from the beach and back in the studio

Posted in Art, art on paper, Drawing, laelia e. mitchell, mixed media, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , on March 5, 2012 by laelia e. mitchell

after a much needed warm weather excursion, i’ve spent some productive time in the studio. my last post spoke to the dilemmas i face when placing my studio practice on the back burner. when i wrote that i’d be taking some oil sticks, pencils and a sketchbook on my vacation, i obligated myself to actually draw… which i did, happily on the beach. it was a necessary excercise to stay in the game, to make sure my practice is as much a part of my life as … oh .. drinking coffee. the results are below. i also spent some time in the studio upon my return to make certain my practice stayed on track when i’m not at the beach. while i can say i succeeded in my commitments to draw consistently, i can also assure you that time spent at the beach is really, REALLY nice!

beach time

this was done in studio. acrylic and pencil on black plexi 4"x5"

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WIPWIPWIPWIPWIPWIPWIP

Posted in Art, art on paper, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , on March 1, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Unfinished study oil over monotype on paper, 14″ x 20″

WIP B&W dance

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WIP

Posted in abstract, Art, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2012 by Tom Bennett

This is a bad photo of a work in progress. I’m going south for a couple of days.

Tom Bennett

WIP

WIP, oil into monotype on paper, 18″ x 24″

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what happens to me when I’m away from the studio

Posted in digital, Drawing, laelia e. mitchell, Work in Progress with tags , , , , on February 20, 2012 by laelia e. mitchell

for long periods is that I forget I’m an artist. I forget I have a creative language and I forget to articulate this language, as evidenced by my lack of anything to share. this is quite alarming. plus I leave tomorrow for a mini vacation …. I also know there’s an element of laziness involved. I’ve made mention of the need to do something everyday … advice I need to be more in line with, clearly. all this said, at least there’s a phone picture to post!

I am taking a sketch book and my oil sticks/graphite case with me. I’m intend (operative word “intend”) to sketch. I hope to forget that I’ve forgotten how to be an artist. I hope to forget that I’ve not practiced my creative language and I hope that this time next week, I’ll have a sketch to share. til then … bon voyage

20120220-185859.jpg

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fun and struggles in the studio

Posted in Art, art on paper, laelia e. mitchell, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , on February 13, 2012 by laelia e. mitchell

that’s the sum total of my experiences in the studio as of late.  i go … i draw … i have fun.  i go … i draw … i struggle.  and it’s like that, all the time.  some days the ideas flow with grace and fluidity like it’s a gift from the ether.  other days (like saturday) i draw and i might as well be dumping the cat box on the paper it’s so horrendous.  there seems to be no way i can gauge the day or my temperament.

the drawing below is from one of the studio days that left me feeling like i know wtf i’m doing.  my mark making is developing into some weird language of repetition and movement and it seems to make sense to me.  i used a charcoal pencil then smudged.  i made 4 pages of this.  one page i added a gel medium to each mark and topped it with some oil stick.  i’ll photograph it and share next time.

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a late post

Posted in Art, art on paper, Drawing, laelia e. mitchell, mixed media, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , on January 30, 2012 by laelia e. mitchell

spending a couple days in the studio this week has refreshed my soul.  even though i didn’t really make any art on one of those days, i was able to putz around and feel that creative movement is steadily chugging along.  it’s really about the little movements towards making work that eventually end up with work getting made.   huh?  well … you know what i mean.  just something everyday eventually gets a big pile of art made.   i have a few drawings done and some canvas on the wall in the studio with a first pass of mars black … where it’s going?  not effing clue

ink, graphite, acrylic and oil stick on paper

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First Two Stages

Posted in abstract, Art, art on paper, Drawing, expressionism, expressionist, figurative, mixed media, monotype, nude, oil painting, Painting, printmaking, technique, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2012 by Tom Bennett

Photos of the first stages of the process I’m exploring with these current reworked monotypes-to-paintings.
The monotype is an ancient relic from the early 90′s. Drawing over the image and reintegrating the underlying forms with the new marks, I then bring in paint of varying viscosities with brush and knife. The recontextualization of form may be overtly reconsidered or more likely metamorphosizes ‘organically’ (for lack of better pompous phrasing). Here much of the original is obliterated yet structurally the new image is recognizably built on form that is now rendered abstract. I’m away from my studio this week and won’t be reworking this until I get back, so this current unresolved stage will have to ferment like a soft wheel of gouda, also known as my head.

 

stage1male-female-1.jpg

 

 

 

stage2male-female.jpg stage 2

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taking a break

Posted in art on paper, laelia e. mitchell, Work in Progress with tags , , on December 19, 2011 by laelia e. mitchell

so … i’m in the studio today and will be packing up some supplies to take with me for the holiday break. i’ll be in the southern vermont area with very limited internet service so I’ll likely pass on next monday’s post. in the meantime, i’m thinking about my practice and how i’m moving away from photography and how it feels. if one has spent 30+ years in one discipline, how do you move through the discomfort of transition?

20111219-114802.jpg

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columbus day …

Posted in Art, digital, laelia e. mitchell, Photo-Impressionism, Photography, Work in Progress with tags , , , , , on October 10, 2011 by laelia e. mitchell

so this is the day that good ole chris columbus invaded the native peoples lands, brought all manner of disease and claimed ownership of said property.  sounds like our financial industry!  so in honor of that, i’m going to close my bank of america account and find a credit union, get outside and embrace my liberation … and not celebrate columbus’s rapacious ways.

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still in the moving stages

Posted in "But Is It Art?", Art, digital, laelia e. mitchell, Work in Progress with tags , , , , on September 26, 2011 by laelia e. mitchell

yes.  it’s a lot more energy consuming than i thought.  while i’ve been going to my new studio digs, getting in a groove is proving to be a wee bit tricky.  not that i’d imagined it to be a seamlessly scripted tv show kinda event.  y’know what i mean … show opens, something happens and by the 22nd minute (excluding commercial breaks) everything is resolved and folks live happily ever after.  not so fast little girl….

what i have been consistiently doing is taking pictures with my phone, then over-proceesing the shit out of them and having some fun.  it’s my one consistent attempt at staying in the game.  the camera phone has proven to be a worthy sketching device.  a handy tool to use when all you wanna do is keep your head in your art.  i’ve even found a few worthy of printing and sharing.

so, let me start again…  good day fair folk.  here are some pics i made while waiting for the other artist side of me to get her studio shit together .

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monday, monday la la la lala la

Posted in Art, laelia e. mitchell, landscape, Photo-Impressionism, Photography, Work in Progress on September 12, 2011 by laelia e. mitchell

as i’ve been moving my studio, i’ve come to realize just how much energy is infused into the space in which an artist works.  my home studio enabled easy access and provided me with comfort and a sense of security.  it also doubled as a guest room, so when friends and family arrived for extended stays, i quickly gathered my essential art tools and left my little room.   i would peer in when our guests were out sightseeing to make sure my packed away materials were safe and no dog or small child had eviscerated anything.

when the opportunity to move into a shared space with a old dear friend presented itself, i jumped.  i also did my homework.   i looked at other studios in the city carefully measuring the distance/time component traversed on bike and whether there was public transport nearby.  i factored in rent which needed to be within a budget that i could reasonably afford.  after lots of visits and bike rides the original opportunity seemed perfect.

now for the move … what i didn’t know, nor could i have forseen, was the internal struggle.  that struggle being the need to redefine who i am as an artist, how i make work, and the essential need for time management and discipline.  i no longer have the luxury of “hanging out” in my home studio for an hour or so.  i must place my studio practice into the arena of commitment.  yes folks, commitment.  it’s been an easy ride for these last years and now i’ve challenged myself to shit or get off the pot.  i certainly have enjoyed the lazy jaunt to this place in my life.

i must now engage a new set of skills and inject my studio space with the energy of an artist ready to begin a new chapter … a deepening challenge and a commitment to break of out of the comfort and dive into that place where the best of my vision awaits.  it’s kinda hard, yet i’ve paid my september rent and most of my stuff is there.

i guess this means no more going in to the studio with my pajamas on.

in this transitive period the iphone comes in handy:

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Some Changes

Posted in Toni Tiller, Work in Progress with tags , on June 29, 2011 by Toni Tiller

This week we’ve had a change with the blog, I’m sad to say that Daniel (aka Happy Cloud) is leaving us. He said his work and interests were going in a different direction and this wasn’t a good fit for him anymore. We’ve enjoyed his company here immensely and wish him the best in his pursuits, we were lucky to have him for as long as we did.

At the same time I kinda get it because I have struggled with the same thing. I’ve got about a million projects going right now and most of them are not directly art related, at least not art with a capital A, you know fine art, the good stuff. These days I’m trying to get things renovated, start a freelance business, and just keep up with the ridiculous pace I’ve set for myself that I don’t see changing any time soon. If anything it is only going to get worse.

So I ask myself if I still fit in here too. Maybe, maybe not. I like being here, the other authors have been my friends for years and I’m really reluctant to give up this blog, I enjoy the deadline even as I bitch about it in my head every week. So now I wonder if there is a way to make this work for me even without a fine art post every week. I could link to other people’s work, that’s always a quick option, but what I’m leaning toward more than that is seeing if I can find the art in what I’m doing from week to week, because for me it’s all about the approach. The same thoughts, questions, critical processes, and design decisions take place if I am making a print, a collage, working on my house, or doing a big clean out job for someone else. More time is needed to see if it can play out or if I’m just going to bore the pants off of you with my domestic projects and potential lack of visuals. I guess we’ll find out.

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W.I.P. – Back To Paper

Posted in Art, Collage, Toni Tiller, Work in Progress with tags , , , , on June 15, 2011 by Toni Tiller

This week the weather decided to turn rainy so I had the opportunity to get back to cutting up some paper. I worked a little bit on JD’s book that I have had in my possession for far too long, but got a little stuck so moved on to something else. For awhile I have been thinking about exploring the layering of some very fine lined pieces in much more subtle color choices. This is one that is in progress and needs a few more layers to pull it together, but in the end I am hoping it will evoke some kind of floral
something or other.

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Abduction and Marriage

Posted in abstract, Art, figurative, homage, narrative art, nude, oil painting, Painting, rape, technique, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress with tags , , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2011 by Tom Bennett

Rubens’s Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus confronts the viewer with an interpretative dilemna. The composition illustrates the story recounted by Theocritus and Ovid of how the twin brothers Castor and Pollux (called the Dioscuri) forcibly abducted and later married the daughters of King Leucippus. Rubens’s depiction of the abduction is marked by some striking ambiguities: an equivocation between violence and solicitude in the demeanor of the brothers, and an equivocation between resistance and gratification in the response of the sisters. The energized ebullience and sensual appeal of the group work to override our darker thoughts about the coercive nature of the abduction.

I’ve decided to take this painting and place it in another ambiguous and disconnected space, distorting much of the narrative and for lack of a better cliché, recontextualizing. At this late stage it still needs some tweeking and resolution of various passages.

Tom Bennett

Daughters, 1st stage, oil on panel, 18" x 24"

Sisters, oil on panel, 24″ x 30″

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Stage 2 of a Figurative to Abstract Painting

Posted in abstract, Art, figurative, homage, male nude, oil painting, Painting, technique, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress with tags , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2011 by Tom Bennett

This week I’m posting a current stage in an ongoing metamorphosis of a painting influenced by Caravaggio’s Crucifixion of St Peter. I’m trying to find the place where the abstract marks camoflage any overt figurative narrative. I’ve been working here with oil, oil stick; a 3 part medium made of damar, turps and stand oil; and black oil medium, made with litharge. The black oil creates a really beautiful, deep and strong paint film and glaze.

I’ll be the first to admit this is a mediocre photo.

St Peter stage 2

Pete’s Going Away, oil on panel, 40″ x 30″

St Peter stage 2

Detail

Here’s the original Caravaggio, so he doesn’t sue me:

St Peter

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Baby Boomer Remorse

Posted in Art, figurative, homage, oil painting, Painting, technique, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress with tags , , , , , , , on December 23, 2010 by Tom Bennett

I know that posting unfinished works might be seen as a tad unprofessional, a bit unheroic or at the very least a teensy weensy questionable for any number of reasons. But I don’t give a rat’s ass. I have no new finished work this week and rather than posting old stuff I’ll do the clumsy yet fun and exciting thing and put up an example of an unresolved question mark in the form of oil on board.
I apologize for the mediocre photo, but then again it is a W.I.P.
The image is informed by a Caravaggio.

At this stage the form is too narrative. I think broader abstraction will be brought in.

As a representative of the tail-ass-end of the post war natal boom cycle, I have a touch of guilt about the fact that the “me” generation sort of selfishly consumed its way toward the recent economic downturn. This painting may be about that shame. Or at the very least, the fear of not being able to consume more stuff because you’re about to get nailed to a cross.

Unfinished WIP: baby boomer remorse

oil on enameled board with oil stick and graphite, 30″ x 40″

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More Dreams: Monotype Studies

Posted in Art, contingent art, Illustration, monotype, printmaking, Tom Bennett, Work in Progress, work on paper with tags , , , , , on July 15, 2010 by Tom Bennett

Here is a finished monotype and some unresolved studies illustrating chosen dreams of  Toni Tiller’s.
The medium allows for quick studies to be worked and reworked on the plexiglass matrix, so that experimentation is always an easy and disposable exercise. The first I’m happy with, the rest are problematic and I’m posting them as WIPS of a sort. I’m using rags, a steel comb and razor blades as some of my tools here.

Click on the link after each title to read the corresponding dream.

Dream of a Tail

A Tail Like a Cat, monotype, 9″ x 12″
Dream from 7/02/10)

dream study/floating to the surface

Dream study/ Floating to the Surface, monotype, 18″ x 14″
Dream from 6/12/10

The above has a number of issues. its too busy and the figures seem to be a bit static, for starters.

dream study/storm

Dream study/ Storm, monotype, 18″ x 14″
Dream from 7/11/10
This is clumsy to me, and I’m not happy with the design, nor the drawing.

dream study/eating mice

Dream study/ Eating Mice, monotype, 9″ x 12″
Dream from 5/31/10
I had designed this to be viewed vertically, but the issues I have with the mouth and general drawing pushed me to present it horizontally. The composition is more dynamic and the tension works. I don’t think know if it represents the tone of the dream right, though.

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