Not a blogger

Sorry everyone out there in blog world. I guess i am just not up to blogging. So consider this blog on indefinite hiatus. Between painting, a bartending job, and a soon to be 3 year boy, something's gotta go. Here's the brief update. Yes, i was in that show in january. I just had the opening to a show with two other nice folks, Peter Roux, a painter, and Rory Burke, a sculptor. This was at the Fetherston Gallery here in Seattle. It went very well. Here are some photos...







And here are some of my favorites, professionally shot.









That's it for now. Hopefully more to come on my website, www.joeshlichta.com, but don't go looking for me to post anything on this blog, for some time. There is enough in my life that pulls me out of my studio.

Latin quote for the day:

Eligo Quod Video.
(I choose what I see.)

January show

I was just informed by my gallery here in seattle that i am expected to have a piece in the group show opening this january. Those who know me know that i am a slow painter. So i have to really crack the whip on some of these pieces, and get at least one done. I currently have about 20 paintings in progress in my studio, most in the earliest stages. I took a look through them and pulled out the ones most likely to finish within the next month, and will concentrate on those. They are...

These 3 by 4 foot ones. Either could suddenly and miraculously resolve itself. Maybe.







This is a fairly large one, four by five feet. A nice comfortable size. It may take a lot of work, but it shows promise right now, although you may not see that, as the colors do not seem to come out properly in this photo.




This one is small and very strange. I don't know what got into me, but i am rolling with it.



These last two are both painted on some really funky 70's wallboard that was panelling our basement when we bought our house. You can't really make it out in this photo, but it is made of capiz (that sort of shell from the philippines that was very popular in the 70's. They made lots of cute hanging ornaments out of it that tinkled in the breeze. You can find them in thrift stores.),
on plywood. I thought i would use it, just because it is so strange. I had grave doubts i could make it work, and still do, but it is interesting to work on...






There you have it. One or two of these six must be done in a month. It is likely that whatever is finished will bear little resemblance to what you see here. So it goes.

Wish me luck.

The new dog

In honor of our new president elect, Barack Obama, here is a page from my little boy's favorite book, "Go dog, go!".

long time

Yes, i know it has been a while. It has been difficult lately to juggle parenthood and studio time, and i just have not been able to get on this blog thing much. But there has been some progress...
Remember this guy, Alden Mason, who i wrote about in the last post?




I usually make an underpainting that is some starting ground for the surface color. Well, just the other day when i started a new canvas i thought i would try to do an alden mason style underpainting. And the result was...





Strangely similar, wouldn't you agree? Of course i would never show anything like this. It is way too derivative of him. But fun to do, nevertheless. The finished painting will be nothing like this, i am sure.

Here is something else amusing. A fellow painter, Eero (some of you may know her blog. I would make one of those cool link things here, but i don't know how.) is often going on about one of her favorite motifs she works with, and sees it in lots of other painters' work. She calls it "the shape". I never thought much about it, but i was just drawing this evening and look what came out....



It's a very weird drawing, and i don't know if i would ever show it. I only had an hour in the studio and this just kinda popped out. But you can definitely see Eero's shape in it. Sorry girl, guess i ripped you off. But i see your attraction to it. It is fun to draw.

I try to avoid anything political here, but as this is such an important election...
All you Obama people out there, get out and vote, damn it. I don't know if i can live through four more years of failed republican policy. For you McCain fans.... Sorry, but you all had your turn, and look at the mess you made.

Alden Mason

I have recently discovered the work of a painter i am awestruck by. His name is Alden Mason, and he is a local guy, who must be in his eighties now. He shows at a local gallery occasionally. Not so wild about his more recent work, but i discovered some of the paintings he did in the seventies, of which are a few examples here...












You have to see these in person to really appreciate them. They are fairly large, about the size of some of my bigger pieces. They are beautiful. Stunning. He simply and seemingly effortlessly captured some of the exact things i have been struggling to achieve in my own work. And my favorite one is not pictured here. It's very humbling to see something done in your lifetime that can only be described as a masterpiece. I can only hope i could do the same someday.

september

I got some work done lately. My mother took Jonah away from me for the weekend, and i got some time in the studio. Here we are in the studio with racks full of unfinished paintings...





As you can see, a lot to be done. At this early stage, all these paintings are in their rawest form. Not one has "clicked", as i put it. There is a moment in the making of a painting when it reveals to you what it wants to be, and it "clicks" into place. Then you have to follow it where it wants to go, which can take some time. Right now, not one of these has shown me any direction. I am struggling with all these, and have no idea what they will become.












And this is a monster, eight feet wide. Just the first layer, but it is really daunting...





Showing these at the state they are in right now is a little like going to the corner store in a bathrobe and slippers. You are just not ready to be seen.


And here i am having a drink with two friends who are bad ass sculptors, Matt and Eric.




Cheers!

august

I have been absent for some time.
It has been my intention to make this blog thing only about the paintings i have in progress, and not about my personal life, but the two are often intertwined. I have had very little studio time lately, largely because i am struggling with finding childcare i can afford. It is very difficult to have a baby, a bartending job, and a fledgling art career. Something has to go, and it looks like jonah plans on staying. Other than that, it's beautiful outside right now, and the last thing i want to do during the best month of the year is hole myself up in a studio on a gorgeous day. I always get very active with the painting in the fall. Summer is a difficult time for me to paint. So not much progress. I will leave you with this image, which is the first day of painting on this very large canvas, 8 feet wide. I know it is only the very first layer, and very little of what you see now will remain in the end, but there are people who would consider this a complete painting. Not me, though.