Post 34: Making it a Triptych

   I wish I had time to detail the construction of the next two pieces, but there is no point. It is basically the same approach, process and techniques anyway.
    First I decide to do two lighter Assymetrical piece with more paper than Chalkboard to flank the first one. I use the same colors, textures and some of the same images for consistency, adding similar quirky details at the end. The first piece is designed around a Red Croquet Ball I have, and doesn't have a name yet:

    The second is designed around a White Pool Ball with a Red Dot Ball I also have. It is of course called "DANGER":

  This last one doesn't entirely please me, so I may evolve, but the three Pieces will make a nice Triptych hanging together, even though they will likely be seld separately".

Post 33: First Ideas and First Photoshop Mockup

    I gathered in a set of folders a bunch of images I felt like would work: Backgrounds, Colored Textures, Striped Textures, Images of Stuff, Images of Objects the pieces can be built around.
   Then I just picked an 18"x18" square chalkboard texture, an old yellowed paper texture, an old Red Top to put in a 3"x3"square niche in the center of the panel, and the image of a really nice old circular Hebrew Astronomical Plate:

   I  made the 3"x3" niche, put in the Red Top, and arbitrarily cut out two shapes out of the chalkboard layer, a rectangle and part of a circle. Naturally, the design is symetrical, which always seems to be my basic first instinctive idea:

    Now, I need to add some red to match the Top, and layer the lines of the Astrological Chart in white on the Chalkboard, and in black on the Paper. In order to do that, I need to cut out the background, invert the chart, and save it as a .png with a transparent background.

    So I add as layers a red texture, the chart, the inverted chart, cut them out to fit, and use a Multiply effect on the chart layers so the lines blend in subtly. And then I try, just to see, adding a Drop Shadow effect on the red layer. Bingo, I love the simple trompe l'Oeil that created, making the paper layer appear recessed behind the chalkboard layer, with the real niche cut even deeper, which will eventually contain the Red Top :

   Next, I decide I want to try another ruler like background texture along the vertical sides, and a vertical ruler texture along the middle(still my primeval obsession with symetry). So I pick the image of a Surveyor Pole, cut out the background, and invert the image.

   That will be duplicated and added with a Soft LightEffect.
   I also have on file the image of a bunch of old yellowed tape measures/seamstress tapes:

    I pull out images of a few more red objects that catch my eye, including a Chinese Contract, my signature Wax Seal, the Red Cord I used in the previous piece, a Red Lapel Button, an old aged tag, a brass Name Plate, a rusted nail, and one of my favorite long time symbol: an old Brass Plumb Line Bob. I move them around a bit, add Drop Shadows to create a Trompe l'Oeil depth(very important to me):

   It looks pretty good already, and some people would stop there, but it doesn't quite have my look yet. It's a little too plain, and I have to introduce a few of my "quirky" touches: a wasp spider and a Horn Bug crawling, a Bee in flight(with shadow), a square plate under the seal with 4 nails, a Domino leaning on the Trompe l'oeil Arch at the bottom, a rusted clip on the cord(I have no idea why, it just seemed to work), and decide to hang a real Old Key on a real Rusty Nail appearing to also hold up the Tag. All these things are positioned to overlap, and cast shadows, which is one of the basic rules of Trompe l'Oeil.
    The working title will remain "Red Top" until I think of something more clever to write on the brass plate. I have not figured out either yet what the Tag will say, but here is the pretty much final composition now, and I am pleased. I feel it is really starting to look like me, an evolution of what I have been doing, just smaller and simpler, with a hint of Cornell, but certainly not to be taken for a Cornell. Plus of course, it is not an "Assemblage", since there are only two real objects there anyway: the Top and the Key. The rest is Illusion, with a twist of Surrealism, and that is the way I like it:

Post 32: Thinking in Terms of a Show

    I wanted to let the collage sit a while before I coated it in encaustic. There are a few things I could add to it, but it might make it too busy, though they are all relevant to the Subject Matter. It is always the hardest thing for the Artist to decide when to stop, and not overwork the piece... So I decided to take a break, and started thinking about a Show. I do not want a group show, I definitely want all the pieces shown together in a One Man Show. Where that will be, I have no idea at this point. I might consider renting a space and bypassing the Gallery system, which would allow me to offer wholesale prices...
    I know very well from experience that even though I like large pieces, and it does takes large pieces to impress the Galleries, the Public and the Critics, many people do not have the space on their walls, or the money to get them, but might well buy a medium or small piece. I am not thinking in terms of making money anymore these days. For that purpose, I have always said it is easier to sell an elaborate impressive $7500 painting than seventy five $100 plain small pieces. At least that was my experience in the 80's and 90's, when I did most of my painting. This show will be different, and may well be my last. I don't have space in the house to hang any more "left over" paintings, so I really want to sell most of the work. I don't want to be cheap, my work takes time, but I want it to be reasoneably priced, slightly on the low side. I want people that really like a piece to be able to buy it, and will work with them to achieve that goal, with discounts, layaway, etc...
    I like series, triptychs, groups of 4 or even 9 smaller paintings that are related in style and color.  So I will from now on work on 3 pieces at a time. Some will have to sell as triptychs, but other I might show as triptychs and sell separately.
    I pulled out of my collections a number of favorite objects of no particular monetary value, simple old things and tools that I like and have over the years accumulated, but never took time to photograph. I am going to photograph them all first. Some of them will be used as such as part of the piece. Others will become part of my bank of images:

    There are several things I do like very much in some of the pieces I have done so far, that are going to become a common thread for most of the show:
            1. The mix of real objects with the painting and collage of realistic images to create sort of a mixed Trompe l'Oeil effect.
            2. The multiple layers built into the panel, giving depth to the work, such as a cutout window, a niche, a drawer, a door, a protruding area.
            3. The sheen and irregularities of the scraped encaustic finish.
            4. The narrow real wood veneer frames.
            5. The aged and weathered look.
            6. The constrasty blackboard and aged paper look of the backgrounds.
            7. The geometric figures, esotetic drawings, charts, graphs, grids, equations, algebraic formulas, words, stenciled letters and numbers, calligraphy, letters, solid lines, dotted lines, crosses, circles, spirals drawn over the background with white chalk or charcoal.

      I fairly recently "discovered" the surrealistic shadowbox assemblages of found objects made by self taught reclusive Artist Joseph Cornell in the 40's. He has apparently many followers these days. He experimented with many different  kinds of assemblages, some very simple, and some very complex. Some I love, some I don't like at all, so I put together a group of images of my very favorites:

     I really feel we both share a love for a lot of the same kind of humble and often distressed or broken objects: old documents, old maps, old  drawings, old astrological and astronomical drawings and prints, old celestial charts, old musical partitions, old blueprints, old tags and stickers, old photographs, old tintypes and daguerréotypes, old pipes, old broken dolls and doll heads, old  globes, old wooden blocks, old radio tubes, old keys, old locks and padlocks, old tins, old clocks and watch dials and gears, old books and printed pages, old  game boards, book marbled paper, old bobbins, rusted wire, rusted chains, rusted nails, screws, hooks and washers, springs, hat pins, dominos, dice, buttons, stuff hanging from old cords, metal rods, rings, drawers, doors and hinges, shelves, nooks and niches, the sun, the moon, disks, birds, insects, shells, bones, feathers, numbers, fonts, lines, grids, dotted lines, geometric shapes and constructions, spirals, graphs, crosshairs, targets, compass, points, egg shapes, stamps, seals, matchboxes, wooden sticks, round holes, boxes, chalkboards, corked bottles (preferably half full with liquid or stuff), tapemeasures and rulers, apothicary jars and bottles with glass stoppers, glasses, balls of all kinds, wine corks, marbles, minerals, coins, medals, small stuff, etc... We both like photography and film, Renaissance  paintings,  few bright colors on a neutral blue black to tan textured backgrounds, a full range of tones and fairly high contrast.
     Of course, I have no interest in redoing Cornell, nor in doing  any assemblage of actual found objects. My interest has been in Surrealistic Trompe l'oeil Effects. My intent at this point, and of course things may change, is to start with one found object I care about,  to create a special space for it space within the panel, color the panel with pigments and/or paint, and then to go on as I already have with cutout images glued down and finally embedded in Encaustic. The original inspiration came from Cornell, but I know by experience that things will take a life of their own, and may end up looking quite different...   

Post 31: Things get a lot more complicated...

   Well, OK, now the Painting has gone from being just a composition with a buzzer, a letter, pulleys and green frogs on a chalkboard (I have no idea why) to being a piece about the First Amendment. So I feel I have to review the imagery in that new light, revise and modify things to fit the Theme, and do  supplemental research to find images that add layers of meaning to the composition.

    Reviewing what I already have in that light, the Frogs are a perfect fit as a symbol of "The Swamp" denounced first, and then made worse by 51. The buzzer fits in very well too as an Alarm, as well as the push buttons. What does the Nautical Signal Flag mean? Well, I picked it for the color and graphism, but it happens by chance to be the flag representing the letter O (could that be for Obama?). It is also the flag used to signal "Man Overboard", and the Semaphore Flag at sea.

   The set of 4 pulleys and crank driving a red cord round and round in an endless loop doesn't seem to have any purpose, but is a good symbol of both the continuous and relentless attacks on the First Amendment we have seen in the last year, and the endlessgridlock of our politics... The Drawing Compass is one of the symbols of Masonry, and as such can represent the founding fathers.
     That was actually a pretty good start for a meaningless first draft!

     I then started Googling away and gathering images of other objects, as well as quotes from various thinkers, and the composition has now reached this stage:

     The added objects are:

         . Various stamps quoting parts of the First Amendment, plus the "Yes We Can Rosie" stamp, a Voltaire & Rousseau French stamp, a Lenin stamp, a Thomas Payne stamp.

          . An old photograph of a very old, tired and ragged Uncle Sam, hat off.

          . Stamps on the envelope.

          . Two French Revolution Cockades.

          . A plaque saying "Capitol".

          . Two bullets and a pre WW2 Coca Cola Swastika Fob.

          . A target with 4 bullet holes

          . A piece of chalk

          . A rusted meat hook, a Red Sacred Heart Scapular, and my Dad's WW2 POW dogtag(intact)

         . An assortment of Bugs arranged on the Target: a Green Stink Bug with eggs, two House Flies, two Kissing Bugs (very deadly), a Brown Widow Spider, a Wasp Spider, a Red Coccinelle(Ladybug( for luck, a couple of Maggots coming out of the Bullet holes, a Flying Bee, and a couple of Flies mating.

    

The added chalk writing on the background blackboard are:

        . The Heading of the Bill of Rights.

        . Two favorite quotes from Voltaire: "I dissaprove of what you say, but I will defend to the Death you Right to say it", and "It is Dangerous to be Right when the Government is Wrong"...

        .  A quote from Historian Dave Krueger: " The First Amendment was not written for People with Nothing to say". 

       . Two powerful quote from Lenin: "Can a Nation be free if it oppresses other Nations? It cannot." and " A Lie told often enough becomes the Truth".

        . Two short quotes from MLK: "I have a Dream...", and "Free at Last! Free at Last!... We are Free at Last!"

        . As well as: "Je suis Charlie!"

                                                                

Post 30: Designing and Transfering the Wheel Chart Design

It took a while to find a font I really liked, and to do the arwork for the Chart in Photoshop. I considered 3 fonts that had a proper "old look", and ended up picking the first one, called "Charlemagne":

   I then printed the chart full size on 6 sheets of legal size paper, taped them together, cut around the circle of numbers, and started slicing 2 rows at a time and transfering then to the chalkboard, using a light table to outline the letters on the back side with a General's Charcoal White Pencil, and rubbing them with the tip of an aluminum knitting needle to transfer them.

   In  order to figure out the best pencil to use for the Red Letters, I tested a few on the tape at the edge of the board, an covered them with wax. It clearly showed that using the Red Pastel pencil turned very dark, and that the best way to achieve a bright red was to use a layer of White Charcoal, a layer of Red Pastel, and finally a layer of Prismacolor Carmine Red :

Post 29: Moving along with "Magic Chalkboard"

    I printed all the images on scale and cut them out. After sanding the chalkboard finish smooth with 220 sandpaper, I rubbed a white pastel stick on, drew some lines and erased most of it with a chalkboard eraser and a paper towel.
  The next step was to draw the circular chart, divide it in 7 segments, then each of those in seven more to get the 49 slices. I transfered the Eye and circles drawing, added the letters, Wrote the "We the People" from the Declaration of Independance above the drawer. I laid on the panel all the images to get an idea of the look, and am pleased with the "Trompe l'Oeil" effect, even whithout the shadows drawn in :

       When I picked the circular chart, I actually had no idea what it was about, it just looked interesting to me and fit the composition.

    I set out to research what it meant, and discovered all the stange names starting with a B were connected to "Enochian Angels", and a "language" seamingly made up by John Dee, a 16th Century English "pseudo scholar" with the help of a Medium. The idea was picked up in 2002 by a weird web site peddling all kinds of paraphernalia, incenses and talismans very loosely connected to the original concept. In other words, this chart was plain bullshit!

     The painting so far had no subject, and was still, as often happens with my ideas, just a graphic and interesting composition. I had been concerned lately with the challenges to the First Amendment coming from our #notmyPOTUS, and decided to write it around the circles of the chart. It happened to more or less fit the chart, so I fiddled with the chart and the number of letters and spaces to make it fit within the 49 segments:

   I then set out to make it look good, tried various fonts and symbols, and ended up with this:

Post 28: Test Panel looks Good!

 Well, I sanded the primed panels smooth with 180 grit sandpaper, and put on 2 coats of Chalkboard Paint, letting them dry overnight, and sanding them smooth. In this particular case, I want to avoid the fine grainy foam roller texture I usually like, and have a smoother surface similar to a real chalkboard.

    I first rubbed orange, green, black, and white Rembrandt soft pastels, as well as harder white chalks on the Test Panel and erased with a pad, wrote things and drew lines and circles and erased again, to create the illusion of a well used chalkboard. I then used a General's White Charcoal pencil and Conté white pencil to draw circles, lines, letters, triangles, etc... These do not erase much, but I erased some areas. I wiped the panel lightly with paper towels to remove loose powder, and glued some images I had laying around using thick Acid Free Yes Paste. I used a brayer with fairly light pressure to press them down without squeezing out the glue, and after a while pressed the edges down with a small wooden convex wallpaper seam roller.
   The next day, I rolled the edges some more with a lot of pressure, and rubbed them with a burnisher to press them down. I worked on the background some more with pastels, chalk and pencils to add more visual texture. I then brushed 2 coats of clear wax medium over the whole panel, and fused it.
   The next day, I polished it, and it looked good, but the wax was much thicker in some areas than others, and I decided to scrape the excess off as I usually do. I am well pleased with the result, and ready to use the same procedure for the larger Chalkboard: