We needed a table for our couch after the move to the studio. It has been sitting in the back of my head for some time, but as usual, nothing happens as long as you don’t start sketching, working, trying ideas. I was toying with the idea of using the Divine Proportion, which I have used for quite a few of my paintings in the past. So I took some of my paintings and tried them next to the couch to find a suitable size. That led to the idea to simply use one of the paintings as a table. All I had to do was to build a stand. I built a prototype out of plywood (what else?) and this is something that Lucas maybe can weld and build of steel someday… 96 x 60 x 44 cm. I am very pleased. If we want the painting on the wall, we can simply remove it and hang it on the wall again. I coated the painting with floor varnish, which I often do anyways, to make it more durable. The colors match the couch and the cushions really well!
Meanwhile I have been working on a number of photos of people I have painted in the past. I have combined faces of couples, brother and sister, father and son, and have “built” faces that really do not exist. This has become a fascinating study of similarities yet differences and the subtle uniqueness about our faces and us as individuals. Even in the same face there are so many small differences in expressions, most of them disappear within fractions of seconds and pass unnoticed, at least to our conscious observation, but maybe they convey moods, truths and lies, feelings, etc. that we can snap up in another person and “blame” it on intuition when we read another person’s state of mind. So, yesterday I started painting one of these “constructed” faces. I am working in relatively small scale, 30 x 25 cm. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of painting and will let this piece dry before I continue. I have a few “almost real” faces to work on.
Last but not least: yesterday I bought threes songs by the Seattle based group Secretary! Check iTunes or www.secretaryband.com. Proud to say that Andrea’s sister Em and her husband Craig are the founding band members! I can’t wait for more music to become available from them!