American Artist Cy Twombly died today in Rome. I’ll miss his mark on the world.

ArtForum has a good article by Ann Temkin on his 1955 painting, Academy. Click the image to read the article.

Academy, 1955, by Cy Twombly

Here’s the painted version of the first panel I made. The paint moves around on the panel in, not surprisingly, an entirely different manner than it does on canvas, which takes some getting used to. That also gives me a new set of variables to work with which is always a good thing. Just remember, you don’t need to use ALL of the variables all the time. So, bottom line is, these panels won’t replace canvas by any means but it gives me some good solid surfaces to paint on, particularly for smaller format works. My 4 x 6 feet paintings will still be done on canvas. I can’t afford a crane.

The gallery below shows 4 different states of the just completed (well, possibly not completed yet) painting. You can click on each image to see it larger.

Last week I pulled out my old stock of paper and started painting away. I sometimes get bogged down with the process of building new canvas strainers (it takes days to do right) and wanted to be able to paint non-stop for a bit. After three paintings I decided to use up my last smaller canvas (the last image here). I liked the feel of the paper, which I clip to a piece of hardboard. It’s firm, doesn’t bounce with the brush like even the best canvas wrap will do. But I like the finished aspect of a canvas. The canvas is more solid in terms of being an object, it doesn’t need a frame; it doesn’t try and curl at the edges.

Like I said, a properly built canvas takes days. Gluing up the molding and wood strips (1 day), gluing up the miter joints (1 day), first stretch of the canvas and rinsing it with water(1 day), second stretch and priming of the canvas (1 day, at least). It’s hard to keep a good inventory of blank canvas around. So I decided to build some cradled hardboard panels. This is a pretty straightforward process. I use miter joins for the cradling as I did with my canvas strainers. You need to brace (cradle) the back of the hardboard (sometimes called masonite, a trade name like Kleenex) so that it doesn’t warp. I’m using 1/8 inch board. The good folks at Home Depot cut the 4 x 8 foot sheet into 22 x 30 inch sheets quite accurately for me. I then cut my bracing, which includes a brace across the middle to support the long length, to match each panel.

The cradled panels give me the solidity I liked about painting on paper and also the finished thingness of the canvas. As an added benefit its cheaper and MUCH faster to build. This last Friday I cut, built and glued five 22 x 30 inch panels (I did one on Thursday afternoon to check out the process). Saturday I sanded the edges, and put on three coats of acrylic dispersion primer on all five. Today I’ll add maybe one or two more coats of primer. On Monday I’ll have five new surfaces to paint on! : )

Yesterday I started painting on the first panel I built on Thursday. So far so good. Less tooth than a canvas of course but you can really work the surface which is nice.

Total cost for six 22 x 30 inch panels, including bracing, $50.00. Can’t beat that. Now, when I sell these finished paintings for tens of thousands of dollars each I should be able to pay off the creditors!

: )

Recent paintings from 2011

I was cleaning house, preparing for my wife’s birthday, and I thought I’d survey some of my recent work from this year.  Click the image for a larger, un-cropped version. Still need to do LOTS more. Need more time, always.