Up in the loft the last straw bales are going in. This area is just above the tub on the first floor so I used conventional stick framing to make the walls less permeable to moisture from the tub and shower. You can see here the extra layer of rock-wool insulation on the outside. Way overkill on the insulation but it was much easier to set these bale vertically than cut them all around the 2x6s and wiring.
I just did the base coat on the first interior wall. This will have the propane heater so we can work inside soon.
The long days of summer 2021 have been spent on this 12 sided “Yurt House”. Our old 30ft canvas yurt gave 20 years service and will be set up as a gathering spot next spring. Now I’m finishing the “brown coat” of stucco on the outside walls of the new building. The cement/lime mix should have enough moisture permeability to let the strawbale walls breath.
The clay is calling. Working again in 3D uses all my senses. Mixing the earth into a moldable state and observing the changes as the moisture escapes and the clay goes through different stages I use the appropriate tools to get the effect I want.
The human head is always a challenge. I’m making a few different characters, taking molds from some and building a textural environment around them.
After these dry I’ll bisque fire them and use slips and glazes to create their surfaces.
It’s been almost a year since Covid19 raised it’s ugly head and it will be another year till the vaccines have any effect. Feeling the depth of change that is happening to the world, my general enthusiasm is not holding up and I need some new ideas to explore. I envision doing a quick loose idea sketch everyday for a while. Not sure where it will go ….. let’s see.
I’ve been putting some final glazes on these flowers and foliage and really enjoying it. Some manners of painting don’t use glazes at all, going after that modern matte flatness, the truth of paint on a surface. In this type of painting I want the illusion of depth. I want the viewer to look right through the picture plane, with forward parts almost popping in front of the painting itself. It’s a dimensional composition leading your eye in, around and back out again. And when you are up close there is no doubt it’s just paint on a board. We always have to simplify, leaving out as apposed to leaving in. I’m leaving a lot in at this point, it’s consciously full. Now I want it even brighter… maybe the next one.
The weather is holding here in Eastern Washington, calm and cool as the long shadows fall across the drive. Leaves are starting to turn just in time to pull out the quinacridone burnt orange, sienna and gold.
With all the restrictions these days we are missing being able to travel. I was finished up this little oil yesterday and thinking of the folks affected by the fires all over the west. We are still under a smoky haze but the closest fires are gladly under control… for now. This painting is from a trip to Yachats Oregon, a beautiful small town on the coast that I hope to see again some day.
Working on a new composition with the flowers, fence and pathways. But the smoke is giving me a headache even with a mask on.
The fires are inundating us with smoke, so I’m in the studio finishing up some older paintings that didn’t quite make it on the first go. This one is inspired by the windy bluffs on the oregon coast.
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