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Jan 21 10


Today I made wooden armatures on which to form the giant ears I'm about to put on a large hare sculpture. The sun watched me work.

Dec 20 09

I've completed the concept and armature for the next hare, a *big* one. Don't have a working title yet.



Below is an in-process shot of the hare I already sculpted a couple weeks ago, tentatively titled "Reprieve," showing the props and scaffolding it takes to transform imagination into physical form. Right after this photo, I sliced him into 19 pieces, hollowed out each piece, then reassembled them in the wet clay stage. Now must wait for it to thoroughly air dry before firing in 2010.





Dec 16 09
In-process photo taken one week ago:




Nov 23/Mon, 2009

First clay!




Nov 18/Weds, 2009

Hey Blog, guess what?! I'm all finished making my "new" sculpture space in Studio G!! After going through literally everything in the room item by item, I've accomplished my goal of "re-claiming" a bit of space where I can sculpt again.



The black tabletop in the center is where I'll sculpt.






The wire rack is the edge of "my" space. I'll use the wire shelves to store works in progress.


Nice to greet some old friends I hadn't connected with for a year and a half!

It's been exactly a year and a half since we received the unexpected news that our tile business was coming back to us, which required me to immediately cease sculpting and give 110% of my energy/focus, plus 100% of my former studio space, to rebuilding Fine Art Tileworks from scratch...which we have since accomplished.

The tidy little "re-claimed" space I'm about to mess up is about a fifth what I had before, but 100% better than nothing!

I've seen it in print many times, and experienced it firsthand -- that telling others about artwork you're planning to make can "steal its thunder," thereby reducing or even eliminating the "need" to make it at all. It has been fun and motivating to blog about the "external" goals and accomplishments of the construction and studio preparation phases, but now that my journey is transitioning from external to internal, I'm going to be more circumspect in my blathering about it. I wouldn't rule out future blathering, in perhaps-annoying detail, about my internal artistic path, or day by day process photos/descriptions while creating a sculpture, but my gut feeling is that I should wait till my confidence is built up again before doing so. How long that will take I have no idea. But I do have an idea for what I want to sculpt, so off I go to mess up my new work space!


Oct 29/Thursday, 2009
Dear Blog: Giant step yesterday. I was placing a piece of fir trim under the little arched window in Jackie's new studio, and she said, "I think you're all done!" She loves her new space. And I love seeing her so happy in there.





I've been working fast and furiously for the past couple of months, tackling what seemed like monumental tasks by "throwing time at them" until they're accomplished. And now they are!

(Jackie just now came in to thank me again for repairing the dishwasher, then went on to list a bunch of other things I've done recently, and said, "You've been a real dynamo lately!")

My "reward" is that now I can finally turn some attention to reclaiming a few square feet of sculpture space in Studio G. Over half the room is already taken up with tile production and crow/raven casting, but by re-arranging, consolidating, relocating stuff to the new mini-barn, discarding things etc. I think I can reclaim about a 10' x 10' area for sculpting.


Here's the space; kind of a "before" photo although I've already started clearing it. The orange thing is a hydraulic lift table I'll mainly work at, with lift capacity for 360 lbs. of clay (to about waist height). I'll bolt a bigger work surface onto it.

As you can see, my biggest challenge will be dealing with all the stuff concentrated in my little "janitor closet" of space (maintaining half an acre and three businesses and a 1957 house takes lots of tools and supplies). I plan to re-do everything on the far wall in the photo, including wiring, put a set of wire shelves somewhere...to the left against the tile racks maybe? and make as much open table space as possible without overly crowding my "sculpting arena" around the lift table.

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Oct 18/Sunday, 2009

Dear Blog: You're still on my mind 'most every day. Everything I do, I do for you — knowing that whatever I get done each day gets me that much closer to having the "space" (figuratively and literally) to sculpt. Just got back from an excellent ten-day, 3800 mile road trip with Jackie to Nebraska to visit her folks. The washer conked out the day we left, so I had to deal with that yesterday (tore it apart and repaired it) but even in the midst of taking the motor out I was thinking that by repairing it I was one step closer to sculpting. Same with constructing and installing a six-tier shelving unit in Jackie's new studio today. I continue to be motivated by the *hope* that I will eventually get sufficiently caught up on my "Big List" that I can get back to making self-expressive art — most likely sculpture, although I wouldn't rule out oil painting entirely...or maybe I'll oil paint on sculpture.

In other "creative" news: Took my digital piano along on the road trip, set it up on the farm and enjoyed the luxury of more time than usual to play it. Also took lots of photos of the farm (go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve-eichenberger/ to see them). The drive itself was also inspiring. I had forgotten how amazing the Western states are...Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming on the way there, then Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Oregon on the way back. Overall an "expanding" trip for both Jackie and me. Opening the check for my "big sale" from Attic Gallery was re-inspiring too. Will use it as an excuse to buy something nice for Studio G when I get that far.

So my overall goal is to keep working fast and hard until I get everyone/everything else reasonably taken care of, so I can have guilt free time to sculpt. It may still be weeks or months till that happens, but just having it out there as a possibility is motivating, and in the meantime life has been going pretty well to boot.



Jackie's new 14x20 studio and 12x16 mini-barn for storage. Also re-roofed the big barn while we were at it. More photos of the project than you'll want to see at http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve-eichenberger/


Sept 14/Monday, 2009



Most recent excuse for not painting shown above: new curving concrete sidewalk & two concrete slabs for two new structures. I've been planning, clearing brush, digging, re-arranging "boulders," customizing little things along the way at night when the construction workers are gone. Oh yeah, I also demolished the 10x20 shed that was previously attached to the barn and salvaged 90% of it to give away on craigslist so it can be re-used. This project will continue to be an "excuse" as I build an air compressor enclosure onto the side of the barn, run electrical circuits to Jackie's new room (above center) and underground wiring to the new storage mini-barn (above right)...and a long list of other things. But in the long run I'm hoping it will pay dividends in the creative department by giving us a little more elbow room. Overall I've been enjoying revisiting my youthful summers working on a construction crew.

In other "creative" news: One of my ceramic sculptures sold last week for nearly $5000 via Attic Gallery. This of course got me fired up again about sculpture, causing my restless muse to lean sideways and peer wistfully around behind the oil painting easel to look for enough space to sculpt. It would take some major re-configuring in Studio G to get *any* space back from tiles, but I notice my brain has been putting in nighttime hours working on the problem so maybe it/I will figure something out this winter.

Gratitude has been the overarching theme of late.

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August 28/Friday, 2009

Excuses for why I haven't been painting:
—I was sicker than a dog for a week...worst I've felt in decades...took a lot out of me.
—August has been our best month ever for tile orders; lots to do, good energy flowing, hired a new part time Presser. No time for painting.
—Planning to hire some construction done to give tiles and Jackie's art biz room to grow. Creative energies diverted toward envisioning new workspace/workflow, and thinking about all the details of the project. I enjoy construction, so my creative self is content with the diversion for now.

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August 9/Sunday, 2009


8x10 oil sketch by Steve Eichenberger

Well, it's loose, I'll give it that. Not sure what I think of it yet, just finished it, still have my apron on. It's not an "instant likeness," but at the moment that doesn't concern me. It looks less horsey than yesterday's. Used some Galkyd Light medium, but didn't like it; I prefer Utrecht Alkyd Glazing Medium. Didn't use Gamsol thinner during painting, but missed it for toning the background and roughing in. Am also going to use it to clean four brushes dirty since Friday.

Rigged up a flourescent spotlight upper left of me, used mirror attached to easel, turned off lights to my right. I bought a "150 watt equivalent" fluorescent spot, but it didn't seem as bright as a "real" spotlight would have been. But at least it was cool and energy-efficient...and I can exaggerate the highlights and shadows in the back of my brain.



Roughed in & erased three or four times...still don't have a "system" for sketching prior to painting. Tried "geometry," lights and darks. Part of the problem was trying to use Galkyd Light instead of thinner or Utrecht brand Alkyd Glazing Medium...paint only lasted a few inches before having to re-load.

Meanwhile the weekend is now gone, and many other things didn't get done, including exercise, but that's the way it goes... If I hadn't painted I would have wished I had. It took a lot of fiddling today before I actually got down to painting. I'm assuming I'll eventually get more of a routine down so I can get right to painting.

Someone who "loves faces and portraits" called today inquiring about my cast meditative faces. I encouraged her to e-mail me photos of her and/or her husband (2B) if they are willing to let me experiment with painting them and post the results here. Hope she sends something. I'm tired of looking at me already.

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August 8/Saturday, 2009


8 x 10 oil sketch, by Steve Eichenberger

"Why the long face, Steve?" Ha! Certainly not a likeness (thankfully), but I promised myself I could do this one fast and loose. Pretty grim result, but to improve the likeness would involve wiping off features and repainting, which I don't feel this project warrants. Think I'll chalk it up to learning, and move on.

I was less than thrilled with my all-non-toxic experiment. I missed using medium (Utrecht Alkyd Glazing medium) for these reasons:
--without medium I had to use much more paint, and the paint lays down thick and mucky
--paint doesn't set up, remains wet even overnight (resulting in pink hair among other things)
--colors get muddied from new layer mixing with previous
--medium helps paint flow better, for longer and more fluid lines/strokes
--straight paint is unpleasantly stiff, like Vaseline...brush drags rather than glides

But now at least I'll know it's possible to paint 100% non-toxic, with certain drawbacks. Of course if I were to continue practicing this method, I might learn to like painting wet on wet...I can see how there could be advantages...and it's nice to come back to a "fresh" palette even a day later.

I guess I'd better continue to make Studio G as facilitative as possible for painting so I can use my mildly toxic medium out there. Maybe I'll still use the non-toxic solvent. And if we have another heat wave, I'll know I can still paint in the house (sans alkyd medium).

I've been wanting to experiment with a red background, so got that out of my system on this painting. I like it, would use again. The dark streak at upper left was un-premeditated, from erasing wayward pink hair, but I liked it there so didn't re-paint it (background was pre-toned green, see below).

I used a mirror attached to my easel to do this painting -- but don't like the lighting, which was two fluorescent lights on either side, resulting in too uniform lighting without definite shadows. I'd like to rig a more direct lighting system before doing another self-portrait.

8/9 addendum: a painter friend just commented she likes the roughed in version (below) better. Part of me agrees. I like the more varied colors and bolder brushstrokes of the rough one. I'm about to go out and paint again today, Sunday; I'll try another self portrait, attempting to keep from getting too tight. With enough practice, perhaps I'll learn how to get a reasonable likeness AND keep it loose and fresh.

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August 7/Friday, 2009



Yay, I got paint on something tonight -- 20 mins of roughing in a self-portrait using mirror attached to easel...will continue it tomorrow. Going all non-toxic on this painting: using no medium at all, and using Turpenoid Natural to clean brushes (non-toxic solvent "for artists of all ages"). Want to develop a completely non-toxic system so I can paint anywhere, including any room in the house (if Studio G is too hot or cold or otherwise non-conducive to artmaking) or in a life drawing class right next to other artists. Also just so I won't have to worry about cumulative health effects if I end up painting for decades.

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August 5/Wednesday, 2009

Had enough time to paint something tonight, but faced the roadblock of not knowing what to paint. I know it sounds ridiculous after the long list of ideas I made in my last entry, but when it comes right down to it, I freeze up. I expect I'll get over it eventually. I did at least get a mirror hooked up to a flexible arm attached to my easel so I can do a self-portrait if nothing else, next time I have time to paint. At least the weather is cooler now...I'm sure I'll get to paint this weekend.

August 1/Saturday, 2009

Dear Blog and Oil Painting: I haven't forgotten you. It's been too hot to paint in Studio G for many days in a row (it's still 98° out there at 8:45 p.m. as I type this). Last weekend I took my telescopes and tent up to Mt. Hood's south slope for stargazing instead of painting. BUT...I have been thinking a lot about oil painting, which is part of my process. We went to the beach for several days this past week to escape up to 106° heat in the valley, and I looked at many oil paintings in galleries, part of my process. Today I got up early (for me) and went garage sale-ing for frames for oil paintings. I bought some old shelving planks today at a garage sale; tight grain fir 11-1/2" wide x 3/4" thick to cut up into panels to paint on. I've been talking over the many many options of what to paint with Jackie, part of my process. Have continued reading about oil painting, looking online at oil paintings, looking at reference books for possible subject matter -- all part of my process. I wrote an e-mail to the Oregon Society of Artists (of which I'm an associate member) to inquire about submitting the requisite three paintings for jurying to become a full member. So if Studio G ever cools down enough to paint in and I have a free weekend, I definitely feel ready, internally and externally...uh, that is, if I can decide what to paint next out of all the options pinging off the curved walls of my cranium. I do feel somewhat paralyzed by too many options. Let's see if I can list them...which will give them a place to land so they won't bounce around so much. Faces...of grandsons or nieces, self portraits, post a craigslist ad asking for photos of people's faces to paint, historical figures, celebs. Try the same subject in several different styles. Paint a series of just backgrounds. Use mug shots in my high school or college yearbooks as basic inspiration for dozens or hundreds of portrait studies, varying everything I can think to vary such as color combos, brushstrokes, thickness of paint, various historical styles, very quick and raw or highly detailed likenesses. Saw some whale paintings I surprised myself by admiring, could try my hand at one of those. Still lifes in old masters style with high key highlights and deep dark shadows. Self portraits as if I were various animals (me as a gorilla, me as a boar, me as a goat...hmm...not that much of a stretch...). Self portrait after Rembrandt's self portrait. Landscapes. Ravens. Herons. Give myself a half hour time limit to paint portraits. Go to a park and paint whoever is willing to sit for me. Paint people's pets. Paint kitschy stuff to sell at Urban Art Network. But any and all the above is just accumulating experience to paint well enough to eventually do self-expressive painting, if I should ever progress that far. That would be the holy grail for me. I know from some of my vivid dreams that I have stuff deep inside that I'd like to release into the outer world through painting, but I confess I have doubts about my waking-life ability to do so. One step at a time...just hope I have enough time for enough steps. Hot again next several days...sure would be nice to have a "real" studio someday, with some semblance of climate control. Worthy goal I guess...work my way up to that from present circumstances. See, Blog, I haven't forgotten you...I've been doing what I can.
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July 19/Sunday, 2009



Title: "Developing My Taste for Color"    11x14, oil, by Steve Eichenberger

This was a difficult expression to try to capture (emphasis on "try"). Dab of yellow/orange paint on lower lip shows up better on the real thing. (Should I dab more of it onto the beard maybe??)



At this point (above) I couldn't stand to look at the face, so scraped it off and painted a brown patch so I could start over again.





This painting took me a long time, with lots of detail work...three or four days of off & on painting sessions. It was good practice, and I enjoyed it for the most part. It definitely took a lot of patience to see this one through...I think my next one should be "loose," perhaps with a time limit. Watching hours pass as I diligently tried to achieve a likeness, I started to give myself grief about using those teeny tiny brushes, but realized there was no agenda, no deadline, and I seemed content in what I was doing, so why sweat it?



My juice carton palette worked well, and I'm glad I didn't have to clean my old wooden palette tonight!

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July 13/Monday, 2009

I got quite a ways on a new painting yesterday, but didn't finish it...may not get time to do so until next weekend.

But I did come to a conclusion about my traditionally shaped wooden palette with the thumb hole: I don't like cleaning it! It takes too much time, solvent, and paper towels...and I'm concerned about where to safely keep the solvent-soaked paper towels till garbage day...plus I don't like using any more solvent than I have to for the environment's sake. So I cut the tops and bottoms off some half gallon paper juice cartons today to try using as disposable palettes. The off white color of the inside waterproof surface should be nicer for seeing what colors I'm mixing. I'll also be able to more easily save useable blobs of paint by transferring them to the next clean juice carton palette. I won't be able to hold them with my thumb, but I prefer leaving the palette on a nearby table anyway, leaving my left hand free to hold a paper towel for towelling paint out of brushes for quick color changes.

I find I'm avoiding painting unless I have a big block of time available, due to the hassles of setting up and cleaning up. I want to reduce the hassle hurdles so I can paint even if I only have half an hour or so free. Eliminating the chore of cleaning a wooden pallette will be a big step in that direction.

I read an internet tip suggesting that oil paints can be kept underwater to keep them from drying out. Sounds a little crazy; I'll have to try it.

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July 11/Saturday, 2009



Result of my first "official" day of oil painting. An 8"x16" oil sketch that took about 5 hours. Reference photo graciously provided by a sculptor friend of mine...a damn good sculptor, I might add, which made painting him a bit more intimidating ;-)   

Here's the sequence:



Freehand sketch for general position in thinned down Venetian Red. Turquoise background tone is completely random: it's made from paint I had leftover on my pallette one day and didn't want to throw away. Substrate is a gessoed panel.







Two hours to the above stage.



Somewhere along the line I greatly expanded the forehead to make it look right, forgetting that the hands would then be too small. So I "erased" one of the hands and sketched it in again larger, but I think I overcorrected, so now the subject looks like he is standing behind a glass door with one hand against the glass and one hand cupped toward his ear...





Used Color Mixing Recipes book to find out that Burnt Sienna + Phthalo Blue would make turquoise, which I never would have guessed! Mixed them with white to match background tone.

I was surprised that it seemed easier to paint than it would have been for me to draw this same subject.

All the info I've been cramming into my brain from various sources helped today; especially the advice to NOT try to draw in the features initially, but instead to paint in the shadow areas, then the midtones then the highlights in sequence with attention paid to the planes of the face rather than the features...to almost try not to notice the features until the planes are established.

Overall pleased to have finished a painting in one day, that I enjoyed the process for the most part, and it turned out better than I feared it might.

Thanks, M, for calling my bluff when I "dared" you to send me a photo to practice on.

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July 10, 2009

Note to self: Idea for Learning Curve Project

In the spirit of "The Journey Is the Destination" and "The Process is the Product"; and to foster radical experimentation, including the possibility of "ruining" a painting, the fear of which can make me paint "tight"; I propose doing a long-running self-portrait painting series where I do not allow myself to actually keep any of the resultant paintings. I can only keep photos of each session's transient "state." I could do this by painting over the same panel multiple times until it's too crusty to work on any longer, or by wiping the fresh paint off the panel with Gamsol at the end of each session. Aha! It's already working. Part of my brain is tugging on my sleeve saying, "But what if I don't hold back, what if I succeed in loosening up, couldn't we keep the painting then?!?"

It's tricky trying to outsmart oneself...

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Another idea for a painting:

Paint a raven in old masters style with rich deep dark background.

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Excerpt from an e-mail I wrote to a friend yesterday about the process of artmaking:

it's truly ALL a mind game, isn't it?!?

this painting book* i'm reading (about painter/teacher david a. leffel) has a page about "attitudes that can hold you back." one of them is "rembrandt was a genius. i could never paint like him." to which leffel responds:

"you can be as good as one of these artists. it depends on how much work you're willing to put into your art, how much frustration you're willing to bear. (emphasis mine)

talent is the willingness to figure it out. it's not a mystical or metaphysical thing. it's the ability to relinquish all your assumptions and conceits in order to learn."

i've decided i want to learn to embrace artistic frustration! to see frustration as a positive indicator that i'm making good effort. the more earnest effort i expend, the more frustration is likely to arise...but only temporarily, until the effort pays off with improved skills, when frustration is forgotten as fluidity increases, leading eventually to perhaps a measure of mastery.

to sum up:

"Artistic frustration is only an impediment if I let it become heavy. If I don't pick it up, it doesn't weigh me down."     —Me, July 9, 2009

* "Oil Painting Secrets from a Master" by Linda Cateura about "Prominent Artist/Teacher David A. Leffel"

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July 7, 2009

The following is in response to painter Karin Jurick's twice-monthly "challenge" on her Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. She posts a photo and over a hundred folks like me send her their take on it. Thanks Karin if you ever read this!

I tried for an intentionally "vivid" color scheme because I like how water reflections look in high contrast. It's the most involved painting I've done to date. I could critique this piece to death, but I'll cut myself some slack since I'm still at the very beginning of the learning curve when it comes to painting. The main thing for now is that I parked myself in front of the easel long enough to complete a painting, and learned a lot along the way.



Oil on panel, 12x16.
Copyright Steve Eichenberger, artist.

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June 29, 2009



Utrecht Artist's Oils I have so far. Also using low VOC Galkyd mediums and Gamsol thinner, made by local paint company Gamblin.

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April 23, 2009



My first attempt at oil painting. I had no idea how to proceed, and didn't have many colors of paint yet, so just squeezed out a few colors at random ("Just do something!") and used a brayer to roll the color around for a background. Substrate is a commercial 7x10 panel. (I've since made a couple dozen panels myself by applying three coats of gesso to a 4x8 hardboard sheet and cutting it up into assorted sizes.)







Used a stomp to sketch position of face in wet paint (reference was a photo of Egon Schiele from an art book lying around).



Copyright Steve Eichenberger, artist.
Final oil sketch. Entire process took 25 minutes. Kind of strange, unplanned colors in background, but I was reasonably pleased with the result considering I had no idea what I was doing. The substrate was very smooth, so it was a little like trying to paint with Vaseline on glass.

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2009

In an intentionally campy "art film" Jackie and I watched awhile back,* John Malkovich plays the director of a low budget vampire film being shot on location in Transylvania. As shooting progresses, suspicions grow amongst the cast that the local actor playing the part of the vampire might actually be one. The leading lady is considering abandoning the set rather than risk her neck filming the climactic scene, but Malkovich convinces her to go for it with his fiery declaration: "If it's not on film, it never happened!"

That's the spirit of this obscure DIY blog. It's just a place to "put" stuff I feel an urge to post. Works in progress, my beginner-level oil paintings, ramblings, snapshots, whatever.

I considered using WordPress or Blogger, or joining one of the many online art forums, but I don't trust myself to not get too caught up in them--and spend more time "chatting" about art than doing art. So I'll give this simple section a try. Feel free to comment; see contact page for e-mail address.    — Steve

*Shadow of the Vampire, released in 2000, the vampire was played by Willem Dafoe.