Spreadsheets. Really?

Illumination

48 x 64

(click for larger view)

Spreadsheets. Not a word I would have ever included on a list of things I might learn about over the course of working on my solo show. But, here I am two years later finding myself creating spreadsheets to keep track of and organize over forty paintings for the show.

The exhibition will hang in two separate venues (Galerie Kornye West and The Botanical Research Institute of Texas) and is organized around the theme of the four seasons in Lennox Woods. Early on, I worked out the number of pieces I would paint for each season and the size ranges and how many in each range, and roughly how many of each would hang in each venue.

As the work begin to take shape, other things needed to be kept track of- what pieces had been photographed, what was finished and what was work in progress, how many of each group still needed to be started, and the frame status for each piece.

Then, some pieces were sold and others left the studio for the gallery. Some pieces were varnished and others had not been (making it easier to work on them again if I wanted to).

When we started working on the catalog I needed to keep track of what information had been given to the designer of the catalog and what was still needed. And, of course, the deadlines to get the work finished, photographed, framed and delivered.

It turns out, spreadsheets are a great way to organize all that information in an easily accessible and organized way. Spreadsheets. Who knew?

Working on the "big boy"

One of the most exciting things about painting for my solo show next spring has been the opportunity to work in large formats. I have learned so much about how to go about this, mostly by trial and error. These days my studio is a jungle of easels and paintings, but I cleared away some of the clutter to show how I started this large painting, 72 x 96 , aka "big boy" which will be the centerpiece of the show.

I have described in another post how I use sketches, drawings, memory and imagination plus a study to start the process. A grid is made on tracing paper over the study and proportional squares placed on the larger canvas in charcoal. In this first image you can see the 18 x 24 study (which is at the underpainting stage) on the right, the grid in the middle, and big boy on the left with the charcoal grid laid in. All images can be clicked on for a larger view.

 Here is the grid. The main shapes and lines in the composition are traced in pencil after the grid format is drawn in in pen.

Here is the 18 x 24 study (unfinished).

Here is the underpainting more or less complete. This took about two days of work.

Up on my little stepladder working on the underpainting.

Bare Trees

Edge of the Woods - Dusk

18 x 24

Spring is coming to Lennox Woods. A light haze of budding out branches envelops the Woods in a shear whisper of pale greens and reds. But, I am still painting autumn and winter. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be painting at least a season behind for the next 18 months or so. Of course, I am gathering reference in the form of drawings and studies with the season, but finished studio work moves at a slower pace.

So even though the trees in the Woods are budding out, those in my studio are bare. Or, they are autumn trees losing their leaves rather than leafing out. One of the challenges I worried about was how to depict nearer bare trees without noodling them to death and perhaps spoiling the mood and look I am after. The answer was found in drawing them (like the answer to so many other things!).

All images can be clicked on for a larger view.

Well, not just drawing, but it starts with drawing. The treatment of the nearer trees really is more of a drawing issue. You want to show the roundness of the tree by making sure your limbs and branches come out from the trunk in all directions. You have to think carefully about the smaller limbs and twigs and really design them as well. I will usually leave that until I have painted the sky a couple of times and I am getting toward the end. I will also then, scumble back over them to keep them soft but not obliterate them. And the edges, while soft, aren't completely lost.

What I found was that drawing them really helped because I got comfortable with the form and their gesture, then when I needed to simplify and edit out all the clutter I had a much better idea of how to do that.

As you go back into the picture plane and you are massing the trees, then the solution becomes more of a painting issue. In that case I will often have to come back in and put the tree tops back in after painting the sky, then glaze and scumble over the whole thing once its dry.

The Lennox Woods Project

Autumn Sunrise- Lennox Woods

18 x 24

I am so excited to announce the Lennox Woods Project. Over the next 18 months or so, we will explore and record the pristine beauty and magnificence of the Lennox Woods Preserve in northeast Texas. Underwritten and sponsored by Galerie Kornye West of Ft. Worth, Texas, the project will encompass over fifty works of art- including paintings, drawings, etchings and drypoints-to be be exhibited in multiple venues during 2014 and beyond. A film documenting the project will be shown at the exhibitions and film clips from throughout the project will appear on this blog over the course of the next year. A full color catalog will be produced which will include a DVD of the project film and other content. This blog will chronicle the course of the project, recording what happens in the Woods, in the studio and elsewhere in connection with this unique multi disciplinary project.

Although the Lennox Woods Preserve is only about 10 miles from my home/studio I visited it for the first time in late summer 2011. Northeast Texas is full of beautiful woods, huge trees, and streams, and I had spent the last five years painting mostly what could be explored within a few miles of my studio. My husband Steve visited the Preserve with friends one weekend in late summer. He thought it would be the perfect subject for a large body of work and a major exhibition. I was skeptical. But, when I stepped into Lennox Woods I knew I had come to a place that is unique and special.

As an old growth forest Lennox Woods presents an opportunity to step through a door to an earlier time. Unlike other old growth or ancient forests like the redwoods, Lennox Woods represents not what is unusal but rather what was common, and is now rare.

Honestly, I have a difficult time describing the effect of the Woods on me. When I first went to the Woods I began to consider what I might have to say about them in paint. I worried at first that there might not be enough material for a large series of work, and then I worried that there was too much. For the first month, I simply observed, walking, listening, closely looking at every little thing. The more I did that, the more I noticed, the more I understood, and the more I fell in love.

Slowly, I began to draw and then to paint. I took these first attempts and other treasures, like pine cones and leaves, rocks and pine needles back to my studio. I went back again and again, waking early as late fall approached, knowing that fog might envelop the Woods. I wanted to miss nothing. I wanted to see each leaf fall.

Steve encouraged me to dream big about what was possible. We drove to the Woods in fog and rain and he waited patiently at the truck while I wandered around exploring. He shot some of the original footage we took at the Woods and acted as lookout and bodyguard for wild pigs that happen to cross our path. He has come up with wonderful ideas for how to promote the project and expand its reach.

When Paula Kornye Tillman and I first began to discuss this project, I honestly wondered if I could convey to her what I saw and how compelling this place is to me. After all, at that point, I had only drawings and a few field sketches to show for months of intense observation and study. But, Paula understood immediately and embraced my vision for a large exhibition and desire to bring in other artistic disciplines to document and enrich the project.

Soon after, Steve recruited Allen Phillips to document the project. Allen's creative and unique talent and his deep roots in the northeast Texas soil make him the perfect partner in this endeavor.

I hope you will join us in the journey!

Deborah Paris
February 2012