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Stre-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-etch

by Cooper on 5/14/2010 11:36:07 AM2 Comments

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio on a splendid Friday morning in Jefferson, Iowa. I will probably be giving in to the "must go dig in the garden" urge here shortly.

But first, do you remember a few days ago, when I told you about "junk day" (click on the red) in Jefferson? I ended up with two canvas stretchers in the freebie category. One of them has moved on to the completed painting category!

However! First you need the facts. These two stretchers are a dimension I have never used before. 16 x 42 inches. That's a whole lot of panorama, trust me. We've all used the phrase "think outside the box" in referring to thinking more expansive thoughts, in hopes of stretching to new levels of introspect. Wow. This was the studio version of painting outside the box. What an adventure. It took some massive cropping of a few photo references, and what I found that did was help me isolate the big shapes. Yes, I know, that's something all painters were taught to do way back in their infancy, but getting it done on a regular basis is another matter entirely. In this case, all those cafe umbrellas suddenly merged into one. I took my drawing of that over to the easel and painted those umbrellas as one big long red streak right across the top of the canvas. Don't you just love when it all becomes crystal clear?!! The whole painting was pretty dang easy after that big moment.

Oh, yeah, back to the title: stre-e-e-e-e-etch. Would I have had that big moment if I hadn't had to stretch? Think (er,paint) outside the box? Would I have eventually tried that extreme a canvas dimension just for the heck of it? Maybe. But I would venture that having the opportunity, via a freebie, literally thrown at my feet, hurried the process on.

Stretching. Something we should probably all do more of. Oh, and here's the painting:

Sidewalk Table, Brits, an acrylic painting on a panoramic 16 x 42 inch canvas. Thanks for stopping by.

Later, Cooper

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Oddly Enough

by Cooper on 2/11/2010 7:47:24 AMComment on this

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where we have at least as much snow as you, and quite likely, more. So it goes. It perpetuated the title of this post. And here's the premise:

Too much snow seems to be affecting canvas size.

Oddly enough, Robert Genn is his recent newsletter , talked about a condition of "crisis of confidence". His advice included gathering up about 100 little somethings to paint on, and just going at it. With abandon. No committment.

I love painting on a nice sized canvas with plenty of room to move around. In this studio, a 12 x 12 inch canvas is the small one. But back to the crisis. Oddly enough, I seem to be having a weather crisis. There's not enough sunshine coming in my studio windows. There's too much snow laying outside my studio windows. After spending over a week working on a 30 inch canvas, that came perilously close to being given to the garbage guys, I finally had the aha moment and saved it. But it caused me to do a bit of mental evaluation. Maybe it was time to do the "little somethings" canvases for a while. Paint with abandon. No committment.

Then, oddly enough, in cleaning up my email, I came across a DVD being offered. Quick Studies, Studies In Under An Hour, by Craig Nelson. You caught that, right?, QUICK STUDIES. Little something canvases not to committ to, but to learn from. (if you've tried this one, and would care to share your thoughts, I'd appreciate it)

This all seems to be pointing toward the value of the little canvas at certain times of the year. Winter?! Ha!

Errand Day, an acrylic painting original on a lovely "little something" canvas measuring 12 x 12 inches. Gotta love a red dress, right? And speaking of red dresses, having just learned how to sync music to images, I am preparing a newsletter involving all that. The music? High Heeled Sneakers (Tommy Tucker) And what's the first line? "Put on your red dress, Mama". Should be fun. If you haven't already clicked on that Cooper Studio newsletter subscribe link up there on the left, maybe this would be a good time :)

Later, Cooper

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Lean It On The Wall

by Cooper on 11/11/2009 12:12:15 PMComment on this

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where we are being blessed with another gorgeous autumn day.

Some of you may be wondering about the title of this post, Lean It On The Wall. Actually, I consider "leaning it on the wall" to be an integral part of the bag of tricks available to me, as a painter.

I find it helpful in any case, and essential in the case where the painting is on a larger canvas.

Take the current easel occupant, for instance. It's a 40 x 40 inch canvas. I have been planning it since April of 2007, drawing it in various situations since then, and finally putting it's paint on it's canvas, starting about 2 weeks ago. (Should I apologize about that April 2007 date? You're right, but some things just take a little longer than others.) But you get the picture---I can see this one in my sleep. When you know something that well, I think it's easy to "visually read" between the lines. Did I put that line in right, or did I just think I did? Surely that little dark place behind her arm is dark enough, or wait---is it? Have I just made it darker so many times that my mind won't even consider that it's not dark enough?

So, today, it gets to hop down off the easel, and find a bare space of wall to lean on. I know other artists who turn their paintings to face the wall, possibly out-of-sight-out-of-mind for a while? I prefer that they look at me, and I look at them. Every now and then catching something from a different angle will suggest an additional brush stroke.

I suppose I should share a photo of it's progress to date, oh, and it had a title way back when the idea first happened in 2007. It's Friend.

That's it for now, we'll see what transpires as it leans on the wall for a few days. Thanks for stopping by!

Later, Cooper

Ps: post scripts may be written in red, surely? I had occasion to read back through some of my notes about this painting---apparently it consumed my thought processes in that space of time. Just letting you know, others have voted yes on the whole timeline, including the outcome. The painting has been selected for Galex 44, and will be hanging in said exhibit beginning 3/13/2010 for about a month.

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Daily Painting, Spur Of The Moment

by cooper on 1/26/2009 8:26:09 PMComment on this

Greetings,
Welcome to my daily painting place. Let's talk canvas size yet again. Earlier this monthI contrasted large canvases with smaller canvases. Say, 30 inches square versus 12 inches square.
I have discovered another good reason to keep a few of the 12 inch canvases ready and waiting. They are becoming valuable as 'spur of the moment' targets. As in, you get the vision, you need to act on the vision while you've got it, quick, what can I use? 12 inches is good :)
And look what happened:

Light Reading, an acrylic painting on a gallery wrapped canvas, measuring a lovely 12 x 12 inches!

Also gaining the signature of finish:

Sharing The News, an acrylic painting on canvas, 20 x 30 inches. 12 inches versus 30 inches, one afternoon versus one week---there truely must be two sides to every story, er, canvas!

Time for some popcorn.
Later, Cooper

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