JEFFREY PRIMEAUX

Long time no...

2012-01-24T15:46:00.001-08:00

NADA!

Well not absolutely nothing, but been kind of busy out of the studio: new job, new position at new job... stuff... and after a day looking at the computer screen where do you think is not the first place I want to station myself for updating my blog, checking out facebook, corresponding?

Anyway, I had a few commissions this past fall and winter:

Lady 18x24 acrylic on canvas

Junior and Mary 24 x 30 acrylic on canvas

residence 8 x 10 inches pencil on paper

It isn't green, really, but grey on white: couldn't get a satisfactory edit from the photos I took which were themselves not nearly to my satisfaction. I like the greenish look, though.

In the not commissioned area, you might recall from an August entry that I started recomposing some older canvases. One that had some toile figures on a flower background - one of my pictures that did look too much like wallpaper for even my comfort - I cut into several pieces for some new paintings.

Okay 9 x 20 inches acrylic on canvas

To this one I added table, vase, gin, picture, and pigeon; the flowers in the back and branch were there. The picture is a painting by Deth P. Sun, an Oakland artist whose work I've enjoyed for some time now. I have a couple of his paintings. Check him out.

Still Life with Some of Hokusai's Things and Venus 21 x 30 inches acrylic on canvas

Blueberry Empanada 18 x 24 inches acrylic on canvas

It was inspired by a painting by Manet in the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.

Caravaggio Still Life 9 x 12 inches acrylic on canvas

A still life composed of a torso from sculptural ceramics at St. Edward's, a postcard of a work by Uemura Shoen and one of George Stubb's, "Whistlejacket," the catalog from a show of early Baroque work in Rome, "The Genius of Rome," and some other elements.

Two more recompositions:

Still Life with Ceramic Birds 18 x 24 inches acrylic on canvas

Absent the Anecdote 16 x 20 inches acrylic on canvas

I though the pigeon might be looking at a magazine or the Chronicle or something, but decided, as it were, to absent the anecdote...

Hooray swimming

2011-08-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

I need to try some other batteries to see if they will allow for functional camera and WIP, but then haven't done much painting the past couple weeks until the past couple days. The air conditioner was out, so my studio was not very habitable. Lots of back and forth between house, air conditioned place, house-pet sitting, work. I did get some drawing done in the air conditioned places... where I didn't get the paper all damp...

Anyway, not me in the photo - not sure who he is, but looks like he's having a swell time. The photo is by French photographer, Jacques Henri Lartigue. I found it amongst the interesting tidbits at Ancient Idustries blog.

Salon Show

2011-08-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

I just put paintings up at 4001 Duval Salon in Hyde Park - they welcome walk ins - yes, it is at 4001 Duval. Most of the works are having their premiers in the neighborhood (I couldn't help putting up, "Winter Coats"), but this one, below, is having it's first showing anyplace.

Courtier 2 x 3 feet acrylic on canvas

The puppy is modeled after my sister's little poodle, but rather than going for a likeness, which would depict something like terrified, I went for mischievous. It doesn't show very well, but the ochre ground blends into gold around the middle of the canvas. The shade is taken from a Japanese screen with which Peter Marino was posing in an issue of Architectural Digest I picked up several years ago; the pillow is borrowed from Francois Boucher - he used it in that painting of Louise O'Murphy.

Here's some work in progress:

Unusual for me, a still life, but for some reason I feel a compulsion to make some at present. Partially, I'm interested in the challenge of making interesting still lives. A couple others pending.

I'm re-using several older canvases, the ones that look too muck like wallpaper, as well. Obviously the old ones (framed in black) are no longer available...

Still figuring out at what the pigeon is looking: magazine, book, newspaper, Austin Chronicle.

Another still life:

This one is now cut down into several segments, two of which are here undergoing work.

Ceramics from Hokusai and Venus statue a great aunt gave me when she moved from her house in Texas to a smaller one in Louisiana.

This is a painting by a San Francisco artist I like, Deth P Sun, that I bought a few years ago from a show at Motel Gallery, now Motel Projects, in Portland, Oregon...

...that I'm using (with the artist's permission, of course) in the other fragment of the painting. Almost a still life, this one - pigeon peeking in from the one side.

With all the artists, Cy Twombly, Hedda Sterne, Lucien Freud, dying lately, it is perhaps odd that I shall conclude with a memorium for a Japanese singer (and not an English one), but of more personal relevance is the singer Isshi, from the band Kagrra, who died last month.

Kagrra split up earlier this year and I haven't enjoyed their later as much as earlier work, but a favorite band nonetheless, combining guitar-focused pop and traditional Japanese sounds in a compelling way. A number of videos on youtube: "haru urara," and, "omou," are songs I particularly like.

Collaborativo

2011-06-29T15:34:00.001-07:00

Well, why has it taken so long for me to follow up on my Canada post with the collaborative painting that Mali and I did while I was there? Well, I've been letting my hair grow out and I've taken up pen-and-ink correspondence for the majority of my missives and getting the right feathers for my new hat... MON DIEU!

...and these shoes! You surely can't suppose they came from some, "shoe store?"

I've been into the mid-seventeenth century Dutch painters of late, finding bits, mainly the textiles covering the tables, to incorporate into my own paintings; learning a bit more about that whole milieu. This painting is Gabriel Metsu's, "Man Writing a Letter," from the National Gallery of Ireland (presently it's in D.C. for a Metsu show - I WANT TO GO). Right now I'm taking a break with Hikaru no Go, but otherwise, have been pouring over Metsu and de Hooch with a little Ochterveldt and Mieris thrown in.

Reading as well as looking at pictures, yes. A little annoying how little is known about these artists from such recent history, and how little is known about many aspects of life of the period, but that's an interesting aspect of history: how little we do know and how little can be even extrapolated with certainty. The removal of biographical information, however, does make it possible to look at the pictures in their own lights, as it were - no Picasso to separate from the Picassos. The scholarship seems interesting, though, regarding the period in which Metsu, et al. lived and worked, so of course my reading list has gotten longer.

Tangent city.

Anyway, here's the painting Mali and I did when I was in Calgary.

This is a good example of how little a photograph can tell you about a painting. The long, green streak is a pretty thick drip and some of the squares on the right side (some of which aren't visible) are lozenges formed with acrylic medium. Sneaky Mali started taping the side for squares just when I was coming in to paint the figure, so we hashed it over an made some space, so that part is odd for me since it isn't conceptually where or exactly how I would have put it in my own work, but it ended up well balanced - I was going for something kind of David Salle.

Back from Canada

2011-05-14T08:34:00.001-07:00

...and this is the image I choose to depict Calgary? Ah, the things that impress us Austinites...

To be honest, though, not many of my Calgary photos came out to my satisfaction (for public exhibition) and I really didn't take that many since I was pretty busy the whole time!

Another successful Art forMS this year: raised a good bit of money for the M.S. Society; had a swell party; and some quality artwork found new homes. Yet again, Mali collected a fine batch of work from artists around Calgary and beyond (e.g. Austin, TX). I, personally, enjoyed this years art even more than last time's and would like to have gone home with a haul of new artwork (at some pretty fantastic, bargain prices), but, alas....$.

However, I did get a nice gift of one of the artworks. Mali's husband's mother gave me this swell, little painting from the auction as a thanks for helping out with the event.

What a great, little fellow! I'm totally loving it! I haven't been able to get a satisfactory photo, but this one, "Powdered," is by Ljubica "Luba" Todorovic. Most of her work is more abstract and larger, as you will see when you visit her website. I saw one of those when I visited her shop; want one of those, too...

The days leading up to Art forMS were busy, but less crazy than last year since Mali is very well organized and last year's event provided a good template for this year's. The day following Art forMS, Saturday, Mali, Ben (husband), Miles (son), and I went to an open house and glass blowing demonstration at Bee Kingdom, a popular Calgary glass studio (which has donated works to Art forMS). It's newest member, Kai (who also, independently donated a work this year), demonstrated his particular method, in which a work is constructed from multiple, sculpted, segments of glass.

Saturday evening Mali and I headed out to High River, a little town about half-an-hour South of Calgary, for an opening at Evanescence Gallery which shows Mali's work. Here she is with one of her paintings at the gallery:

You can, of course, keep up with Mali at her website.

Sunday, I helped Mali shuffle paintings for and attended Calyx, a group art show/sale that takes place a couple weekends of the year in Calgary and Edmonton. I think more jewelry and that sort of thing sells than artwork, but Mali sold a couple paintings - that's always exciting - and just heard she sold another, good-sized piece in Edmonton.

Also at Calyx, I met artist, Lisa Brawn, who was not only showing there, but also has work at Evanescence Gallery, other places in Calgary, and here in Austin at Yard Dog Gallery. Mali came across and pointed out to me the Yard Dog ad featuring one of Lisa's woodblock paintings in an Austin Monthly magazine I'd brought, telling me that she runs into Lisa's work everywhere lately. Anyway, Lisa's work involves carving an image onto a wood block which, instead of being used for prints, is painted with color and then black on the lines that would make black lines on a print: quite striking and cool pictures... sculptures?

After the whirlwind weekend, we took things a bit easier. I spent some time building Lego constructions, kicking around a beach ball, and blowing bubbles (the blue ones don't work so well) with Miles; had some delicious Indian food with Mali and Ben one evening; ran some errands; watched a movie about surfing penguins; visited some art galleries; hung out with Darcy and Greg at DaDe; general hanging out.

I'll need to get pictures of the results, but Mali and I also did some collaborative painting. That may be a good feature of its own.

The day before my departure, we all went out to Canmore, a little town in the mountains outside of Calgary where we had coffee, stopped into several shops and galleries. None of my pictures gives a clear idea of the town, but here is one scene that includes an amusing, old building and a view of the mountains that surround the town.

Calgary had snow the first couple or so days I was there, then it was mostly clear with some rain during one part of the day or another. Not much Springtime action as far as green was concerned...

That evening Mali and I went to art openings at Art Central, a collection of galleries, etc. in a building in downtown Calgary. Luba's shop, which has already moved at this writing, was there, so we visited her there where she was featuring work by her husband, photographer Sean Esopenko; Lisa Heinricks, another Art ForMS artist, at Stoneworx Gallery, which was featuring her paintings along with little sculptures by one, Tobias Luttmer; and a space in which the Consulate of Mexico, Calgary, was exhibiting works by contemporary Mexican artists.

We'd planned to make some more openings elsewhere in town, but had a late start since Mali had a yawning episode related to a concussion from which she's recovering. Plenty to see at the Art Central, though, and we followed the art viewing with a late supper with the Stoneworx set, then returned to Casa de Ben and Mali, where I packed.

Friday, I joined Mali for a Mother's Day concert at Miles's school then it was off to the airport and back to Texas.

Ahoy, Canada!

2011-04-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

Heading out to Canada (Calgary) for about two weeks to visit my friend Mali and help out with the Art ForMS benefit-art auction with which she is involved... pilots... The event is Friday, April 29th, 6-9:30 in the evening, at DaDE Art and Design Lab, so if you're in the Calgary area, swing by to say howdy and maybe pick up some art.

The following days, Mali is showing at a group show, Calyx, so I'll be around there then.

Dogs

2011-03-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

At last: another update of paintings! Of course they've been on my official website for a while now, but haven't featured them here.

All of these continue the set I did on board, taking advantage of the brown ground.

I suppose I should have positioned the images side by side, since they are sort of companion pieces; you'll get the idea, though.

Open Parenthesis - 11 x 14 inches - acrylic on board

Closed Parenthesis - 11 x 14 inches - acrylic on board

Side by side, you get a better idea of the parenthetical theme and the top-bottom, rug relationship between the two paintings. Open them up in separate windows! Shuffle them around! The dogs are Morgan (open) and Oxnard (closed), whippets, who were my family's pets.

This next one is a pharaoh hound. I had a commission years ago to do a drawing of this fellow and recently (compared to the date I began the painting) came across some of the images for that work and thought to myself how interesting it would be to play the color of his coat off against the color of the board, connecting the lower and the upper, less developed sections of the board, foreground and background with the patterned, dog cushion dividing the image. I applied more paint to the dog area than originally intended, but am not dissatisfied with the result.

Pad - 11 x 14 inches - acrylic on board

I had originally intended that all in the set of paintings on board would be less finished in not just the background areas, but in general, with an overall sketch-like quality. Ah, well...

"Things that are Fuzzy," was supposed to have a background in the same manner as the grakle paintings, but I wasn't liking it, so I made it darker.

Things that are Fuzzy - 12 x 16 inches - acrylic on canvas

This is the only dog of the bunch that is still alive... my sister's little poodle, Tyrone. Anyway, after I darkened the background, I thought, "it looks like one of those George Rodrigue, Blue Dog paintings!"

It may be blue poodle paintings from here on out...

Cats

2011-02-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

New selections from the cat department today.

Chloe - 11 x 14 - acrylic on board

More Chinoiserie - 11 x 14 inches - acrylic on board

Did I post the same image twice?

Aha! No! or yes, or sort of... maybe. The same painting, no, so technically, no, but the same composition for each.

Why?

Well, The cat depicted is my friend's, Stephenie's, cat, Chloe - that seems to be a punctuation mess, but I think you know what I'm saying - which died last year. Stephenie commissioned me to paint a memorial portrait, so I decided to paint two copies: one to go to her, one to show and (hopefully) sell.

Plus, though it's usually not such a concern, I was concerned about getting the likeness, so wanted a couple stabs at it...

"Insistence of Memory," is kind of an odd one in the oeuvre - bit of a different look.

Insistence of Memory - 24 x 30 inches - acrylic and oil pastel on canvas

The idea for this one came from a photograph of another friend's cat (also a dead cat), Dali: hence the joke of the title and the watch. I was also going for a disorienting feel with the non-perspectivally correct stripes. Originally I'd planned to have another magazine, in the back where the seat meets the back of the sofa, which would have had another watch ad, though the position of the page would have been folded a bit for that melty watch look - wasn't working out.

I got annoyed at the painting fairly early in the process and wasn't pleased with how it was going, so I decided to get a little experimental and complete it with oil pastel... and I don't know how many coats of varnish... Anyway, I find the results more satisfactory than what I expected to get from completing the work in acrylic. I like the drawing-like look of some parts.

Up and Down and Up at Brick Oven

2011-02-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

If you missed the Hyde Park show, you can see my work now through May 7th at the Brick Oven Restaurant on 35th Street (it's between Jefferson and Kirby - it is not the one downtown).

A Bold Return

2011-01-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

...or a return, at least, to incorporating people into my work as the principle subject.

A Cloudy Day at the Beach - 22 x 28 inches - acrylic on canvas

Originally, I started this piece as one of my Color-Panel paintings: at that time, the foremost figure, from a photo of a friend a friend of mine made when she was teaching in Japan (image not posted here), was more closely cropped by the sides of a smaller canvas; and if I remember correctly, I did not start it then because I was unable to decide on a background.

At some point, I was inspired by this image I saw in the April 2005 issue of House and Garden magazine, to include a figure in a similar pose, but reading, behind.

However, when I came back to this painting more recently, I thought I would paint one of the whippets (the skinny, white dogs in such works as my, "Winter Coats") sitting behind the front figure. The canvas, at this point, was going to be a taller, narrow canvas the same width as the originally planned size, though of course without the bars on the sides. Then I went back to the reader idea, combining several additional images for the model.

"A Cloudy Day at the Beach," is also a good example of my incorporation, collaging, of various sources. The pattern on the nearest swim suit and reader's towel are both adapted from Elizabeth Peyton's painting, "Ben Drawing,"

...the first of her paintings I saw - reproduced in the reviews section of Art in America or ARTnews. I was able, at that time, to find a few additional images of her work online. At any rate, enjoyed the look of her work, the drawing, use of color, and fluid application of paint, often dripping and running. I've yet to see her paintings except in reproduction, but do enjoy the images, so a bit of homage.

Though it doesn't appear as prominently in, "Beach," as in other works, I frequently use elements from scenic wallpapers such as this one from Griffin and Wong, for bits of foliage or to separate spaces.

The background finally presented itself this past Autumn when I visited an exhibition of paintings from the Walter's Museum (Baltimore) that was on view at the Blanton (here in Austin) in the form of Constant Troyon's, "Coast Near Villers.

A bit less foreboding, weather-wise, in my adaptation with a little change in topography. Originally, I was going to use another beach-scape by one, Ludovic Lepic, that was in the catalog to another exhibit, "Sargent and the Sea," which I saw this past summer at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. One of the paintings in that exhibition, "Neapolitan Children Bathing," from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts,

also ended up in my painting when I decided I needed some figures on the beach (also presenting an opportunity to pay tribute to Sargent, another long time favorite).

The little fellow with the floating devices pretty much demanded an update with bright orange water wings...

CD Release!

2011-01-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

The new CD from Nancy Green, concert cellist, which features my painting, "Spanish Early Evening Painting," (seen below in the non-album edit) is out now! Check out the track samples on her website, www.nancygreencello.com, and hop over to Cello Classics to order a copy of the CD. The company is U.K. so the price will ring up in pounds, but with shipping, it comes out to just under $20... when last I checked on the rate of exchange.

Even without my work on the cover, the album is worth owning: the music is a pleasure to listen to and Ms. Green has a style and sound I particularly like. Of course the performance is great.

A few of you, of course, know that I played cello in the past and am particularly sensitive to how the instrument sounds. dilitante! Though hardly a precise comparison, in describing her sound (after listening to her Tovey and Kodaly recordings) to a friend, I imagined her playing as being a Cabernet as opposed to a Pinot Noir, which I likened to the sound of Yo-Yo Ma (although Mr. Ma is one of those good Pinot Noirs one - who doesn't like that varietal - comes across and actually enjoys). On this most recent album, I think Ms. Green leans appropriately towards Tempranillo: nicely bodied but with a pleasing crispness.

I also have copies of her Brahms sonatas for cello and piano and the Tovey/Kodaly recordings, both of which I recommend. The Kodaly sonata for unaccompanied cello is a favorite: you should definitely get that one... you must have it!

The painting, if you are wondering, is not available. It is a favorite from the 2nd phase of my Flower-Pattern paintings from 2007 and sold some time before Ms. Green contacted me about using the image for her CD. In truth, she first contacted my gallerist, Dawn Chapman of Libertine Gallery after she'd seen the painting on the gallery's website, so special thanks to Dawn for having the image there and representing my work.

Grackles

2010-12-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I have a number of new paintings, so rather than dropping them all into one post, I will make several smaller posts in which I may discus the featured images more at length. All of the new work is posted on The Official Website.

Recently, I've been interested in painting grackles and pigeons.

Tomato - 12 x 16 inches - acrylic on board

There Must be Something Good Around Here Someplace - 11 x 14 inches - acrylic on board

French Fries - 11 x 14 inches - acrylic on canvas

Common around Austin, especially during the Spring and Summer, grackles are amongst those critters that tend to be listed under the heading, "general nuisance:" noisy, messy birds, they are known for hanging around in large groups and lurking around eating spots, ready to snap up any random bit of stray food. They are, in fact, habituated to human/urban environments, and being amongst the relatively small number of creatures that dwell in said environments, have been mentioned as representing the lack of biodiversity in these locations.

At any rate, perhaps being scoundrels accounts for some of their appeal, but they also have odd characteristics that have certain charms; then males have beautiful iridescent coats while the females have less dramatic though also beautiful coats that transition from browns to blacks. Do birds have coats? I guess it's plumage.

Hyde Park South

2010-12-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

I just... well, just yesterday morning put up the show at Hyde Park Bar and Grill, Westgate, 4521 Westgate Boulevard.

Just kidding: I haven't been very image laden on the blog of late, so wanted to put up something. I don't know who/what/what, here, but find the picture (that I found on some j-rock blog or another that was in I don't remember which non-English language) amusing. Attributions are welcome.

Anyway, the show is up through January 29th.

This evening I'll probably start formatting images of new works to post, so stay tuned.

Popularity with girls being a not unwelcome side effect.

Greetings Face-friends!

2010-12-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

Yeah, finally have a Facebook page now. The link is over there on the side... over there with the links to my site and Libertine... I just mentioned, on my Facebook page, that I've been hearing Gary Numan a goodly bit lately and that I find I'm quite digging what I've been hearing. What I really need to do is update here with works in progress (some of which are completed) and recently completed works, but as I need to get dressed soon to go to a Christmas party, I will put that off till I am a bit more at leisure.

Yes, that last bit would have been more appropriate for the Facebook.

Tour's Over

2010-11-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

...but my paintings are still up at Brocca Gallery for the next couple weeks; probably till the 16th or 17th when I'll be taking those to put up on the 19th at Hyde Park Bar and Grill, south location. Anyway, thanks again to Augusto Brocca for having me at the gallery and all you folks who came out for the tour.

EAST AUSTIN STUDIO TOUR

2010-11-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

One day down... but today, November 14, and then next weekend, the 20th and 21st, the East Austin Studio Tour continues! I have work at Brocca Gallery, 1103 East 6th Street (#6 on the tour map) and will be there, myself, pretty much all the time between 11 and 6 each Saturday and Sunday... I'm on my way there now!

Why I simply MUST learn to use Powerpoint

2010-10-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well, this post wasn't going to start out with the titular declaration, but I was sufficiently amused by...

... which you can see for yourself at Ralph Lauren Home, that I've decided I must learn Powerpoint for my own amusement... never mind that every office about these days seems to think their receptionists and administrative assistants and other lackeys need to know the program. I suppose it's so they, the employers, can leave it to someone else to produce their cheesy presentations. I don't know if it's possible for a Powerpoint presentation to look, "professional," but I've been sufficiently turned off by the ones to which I've been subjected to promote a general ban (along with one on leaf-blowers), should one be proposed. Of course, I suppose I do have some aesthetic training and sensibilities, whereas...

Anyway, Mr. Lauren's fellows have made me feel much better about perhaps someday confessing the I know Powerpoint, if they haven't inspired me to get to it post haste.

The inspiration for this post all started out, in truth, as a mention of the new issue (November 2010) of Elle Decor, the cover of which features an image of a room - interior designer, Suzanne Rheinstein's place - painted with a grisaille mural, which those of you who know my attraction to pictorial wallpapers and all that, know must excite me. There is also this advertisement (point of departure), I wished to mention, for R.L. Home which one sees when one opens the front cover:

Well, this is the picture used in the advertisement without the text that appears in the magazine, but it's got borzoi. Supposedly, adult borzoi are virtually mute, a feature which particularly appeals to me in this age of everyone having dogs, and dogs that they leave alone all day and whenever long to bark for hours on end... it's worse than Powerpoint presentations.

Really, though, borzoi are beautiful and I haven't seen any in ads or elsewhere in a while, so, yeah. More of these fellows here and there's another breeder's site I like, Valeska Borzoi, which also features nice pictures of their dogs.

I'm trying to think of whom the heiress reminds me.

Oh, it's Autumn again...

2010-09-29T16:45:00.001-07:00

...and it's been three weeks since last I made an entry here!

Yeah, it's Autumn again. I won't be wearing a kilt... probably... but yeah, it's about that time of year when I start getting all, "et in arcadia..." so if you catch me sitting under a rock someplace scribbling autumnal waxings, sighing deep sighs, staring off into space instead of painting, don't be surprised...

Where can I get that hat?

Anyway, that's another George Barbier print. I'm awaiting the charging of a new battery to see if the camera will function. If that works, I'll have an update of artwork soon.

In the meantime, hop over to my website to check out old stuff! I've been filling in sections of older work: all the Flower-Pattern pictures are up, and I've added some Teas and Color-Panel paintings. More images will pop up for those latter-listed series, and maybe some even older ones, but I want to use the digital camera to take pictures since I only have slides of some older work and a lot of the prints aren't all that great and then one has to scan them straight or straighten on them on the computer, which tends to make them funky-looking, so that's that.

Perhaps the artwork update will be sooner than three weeks from now... or you may get poetry.

Site Sighting

2010-09-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Still from Frederic Goode's film, "World at Three," which I haven't seen.

Ahoy! As you might guess from the addition of the link over there on the side of the page in the, "view my art," section, the official, art website, JeffreyPrimeaux.com, is now up and running... some parts are still in the works, but my more recent work is up in the, "current work," section.

The camera is still broken, so an update on new and in-progress work will have to wait.

The Obscurer Obscura et La Paresse

2010-08-24T08:47:00.001-07:00

The camera is having some sort of issue, so I haven't been able to do the work in progress update of a few days ago that I'd intended. I've removed a couple canvases from stretchers with a plan to work on some parts with oil pastel: I'm hoping the mixing of media will yield a more satisfactory result than that which I foresee from continuing with paint.

I've been asked before what I do with pictures that aren't working out, to which I usually answer, "it depends." Most often, I throw them out; sometimes I just stick them in a drawer; make significant alterations to the image; or, on the rare occasion (this present being the only case within memory), I go after the image with a different medium at some stage.

I'll write more as things progress.

I'm trying to get some new paintings going, as well, but this print from George Barbier would seem not too far off the mark.

My idleness, alas, is short on the Chinoiserie (and I don't smoke)... It's August in Texas.

Also absent are the cat and lolling lovelies.

Cat and Bird

2010-07-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well, no work or receptions or attic cleaning the past couple days... I haven't know what to do with myself! Yes, should have been paintings - I have done work a bit, in truth, but it has been principally looking. I'm just getting started on a couple new pictures and returning to the squirrel and the young women on the beach (both in WIP sections somewhere down the page).

Oh yeah: thanks to the folks that made it out to the reception - nice turn out - good job keeping it non-regicidal. Thanks also to Anne Ducote, who arranges the shows at Hyde Park (and the openings and is an artist herself, ducotedesigns.com) and to Jeremy and the rest of the Hyde Park crew.

Here are the most recently completed paintings for which I'm still determining titles:

20 x 24 inches - acrylic on canvas

12 x 24 inches - acrylic on canvas

I need to rephotograph the second.

Maybe in my next entry I'll include a picture of a sampling of old wallpaper Bouquet brought back for me from the house in Tyler.

Reception, Ars Sacra, Et Cetera

2010-07-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'll be having, or rather Hyde Park Bar and Grill will be hosting a reception for my artwork at the restaurant on Wednesday, July 14 (yes, that's Bastille Day), from 4:30-6:30 in the evening. They will be providing some snacks, water, and ice tea along with a cash bar for the cocktail hour beverages. The restaurant is located at 4206 Duval Street. I will be there too, of course.

The event will be regicide-free.

In the recently completed department and the Ars Sacra reference in the title:

Fr. Kevin Rai at San Jose Catholic Church here in Austin, commissioned me, a while back, to make a painting of the Miraculous Medal, a devotional medal representing a Marian apparition (perhaps that's not the best description, but I'll leave it to my readers to do the research and determine designation), that he might use for teaching about the medal. That occupied a good bit of time the past couple weeks before its delivery last Wednesday: of course it took me long enough to actually get it to canvas that I was determined to get it done and delivered before I should be declared irredeemably remiss. Anyway, it's 2 x 3 feet, acrylic on canvas board.

I need to photograph another recently completed work - perhaps today, since it's not wet out. I have a cat and a squirrel in the works, at least one of which will surely be out of the WIP category by the time I next post.

I forgot to put this one up the other month:

It's a companion piece B.B. Keville commissioned to go with this one, and has the same dimension and all that:

What else? Oh, yeah: update from the Antiquities Department. I decided, at least for the time being, to stop showing older work at Yessy.com. No sales, for one thing, over the year I've had stuff there; but also, such a glut of images! and I'm not sure mine are what most buyers there are looking to buy; and, since the money considerations are afoot, I've decided, rather than renewal at Yessy, to put the considerations toward entry fees for exhibitions... and perhaps an official website!

Hyde Park Exhibition, June-July 2010

2010-06-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to announce that I have paintings up now at Hyde Park Bar and Grill, 4206 Duval Street (that's here in Austin, Texas, of course), through July 24th. I'm sharing the space with one, John Mosteller, who principally makes serigraphic work that looks pretty different than my paintings, but my works are mostly up in the rooms to the right (north) of the entrance along with a couple in the main room: one over the fireplace (Haarlem Lion and Cubs), one over the back booth (Winter Coats). Tomorrow, "Koi Pond 3," (below) will go up above the front-most doorway to the south-side, dining room - I'm a bit short, otherwise, on horizontal pieces at the moment.

Koi Poloi

2010-06-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah, goofy title.

I suppose it's been a while since the new koi painting appeared in a works in progress section of a previous entry: it was a while before additional progress, and then I really pushed to get it done in a couple or so days, painting with little enough time in between sessions that I didn't think to bother photographing the progress... or maybe I did think about it and decided not to bother...

Koi Pond 6 22 x 28 inches acrylic on canvas

I'm not sure that I'll be doing many more fish paintings - like I have been doing that many anytime recently - fish don't have a whole lot of personality. The painting has turned out rather nicely, though, so I have considered reconsidering: I was planning on doing a 3 x 4 foot, koi pond as I commenced this one, but then, like I said, fish don't have that much personality. Plus, unless I start doing reflection settings, or fishes out of water, or fish tanks in front of places (that idea is kind of amusing), the variety of fish settings that fit conceptually into my oeuvre is not so appealing to me for painting.

Meanwhile, back in the Antiquities Department...

Ceylon 18 x 24 inches acrylic on canvas 2003

I've been updating over at yessy.com. Most of the Color-Forms are up, a couple of the Tea paintings, and soon I'll get started posting the Tetrachromes. "Ceylon," is one of the earliest in this Pop Art series in which I combined tea bag envelopes with a variety of other images; in this case, a Fortnum and Mason, Orange Pekoe packet serves as the backdrop for a tiger with some bamboo and a waterfall taken from a Japanese screen.

Haven't sent the announcement out yet, but I have a show going up at Hyde Park Bar and Grill in Hyde Park (Austin, not London) this coming Sunday, June 6. I'll mention it again later.

This has been a brief post of recent news - a more content-heavy entry is planned for the near future.

Period Piece... and pieces...

2010-05-21T11:08:00.001-07:00

The most recently completed of my new paintings:

Period Piece 18x24 inches acrylic on canvas

In a not usual case, the title for this one came about quite simply. Of course the background, adapted from a Zuber (or is it de Gournay?) wallpaper, suggests period piece movies like the sort of Jane Austen adaptation movies I like, but also, the inclusion of the now no longer extant, "Domino," and, "House and Garden," magazines hint at a more recent period and the use of the term, "period," also implies the punctuation mark, marking ends...

I think the implications there are sufficient to relieve me from waxing for numerous paragraphs.

I suppose if there's anyplace I should wax, it should be here, but perhaps I'll make a special waxing entry later.

Anyway, one of the changes I made to the Zuber (or de Gournay) original was to replace a tall monument with a shorter plinth featuring a Cupid and Psyche sculpture. If I could find my resources for the painting, I could tell you the sculptor - where are my resources? Interestingly, the sculpture depicts the scene in which Psyche spills oil from a lamp onto Eros... yeah, if you don't know the story go for a synopsis at pitt.edu/~dash/cupid.html or wikipedia, because it will take up too much space here and you should know it anyway... an important point in the story distinguishing a particular before from after period.

What does the pigeon have to do with the aforementioned periods theme? Uh, the eye is kind of like a red period punctuating in the middle of the painting? The pigeon was already there for the picture. I have an inkling, though, that the idea(s) of periods is relevant to/in my own work at present.

Meanwhile, back in the Antiquities Department...

I just photographed the Tetrachromes and Color-Form drawings (from the mid '90s) I still have around here to post over on yessy.com in hopes of finding nice homes for them and supplementing my coffers a bit.

However, before I do the posting of those there, I need to find my notes that include such important information as the titles...

This one (above), I know, is, "By Hand" - the images are, in green, a model's gloved hand in which I put a paper airplane; yellow, a blind man from a Japanese or Chinese (additional important information) ink drawing feeling his way across a log crossing a stream; red, a Republic of South Africa, postage stamp featuring a hydro-electric project dam; blue, the hand of a discobolus sculpture from a sketch I made from one of the casts at the University - but seeing the other Tetrachromes did not have

such the ringing-of-bells effect and as far as the titles for the Color-Forms go, those are given by color and number - though my memory of the chronology of their creation is good in general, it is not so exact in the specific.

The size is the same for all of them, about 14x17 inches (something else to check), is the same and all of them are chalk pastel on paper.

I've thought about doing some more of the Tetrachromes: they're kind of amusing in a random association sort of way, but I thought it might be a good, daily, drawing exercise to draw one color panel each day. Of course, if I end up with one completed drawing every four days (unless I don't work each day on the same drawing) I'll have a lot of these things around, but then maybe I can start an every-four-daily-artwork-to-sell-site and sell one each day which wouldn't be bad for the coffers... and would be good for hooking people up with quality, inexpensive art! Although the prices I've had for them is something else I'll have to look up in my records, so perhaps I shouldn't promise anything yet... but the outlook is good!

The text doesn't appear the same on the composing page as it does on the main... that's kind of annoying.

Before I forget...

2010-05-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd put up a couple new things and an image of one of the works in progress... which has progressed... Official titles are still pending, but the second (the gray one), at any rate, will be named something like, "The Inestimable Importance of Accent Colors." Both, and especially the latter, pick up off, "The Decorators' Handbook," focusing on the decorative and art-as-decorative idea as well as animal colorations and chromatic similarity in environment, etc. etc.

Both are 16x20 inches, acrylic on canvas.

I think I never posted, "Decorators' Handbook," also 16x20 inches, acrylic on canvas.

This one (below), "Period Piece," has had the most progress made, so I'll put it up, but other paintings are still where they were at last post, a couple are just transfered to canvas from drawings, a couple drawings are not yet transfered to canvas.

Oh, yeah: here's the painting that was a Mothers' Day commission; 11x14 inches on canvas board, "Nest," is the title. B.B. had mentioned that the painting might be like, "Drowsy..." but more subdued in color, which inspired me to sort of reprise that one, but with a different arrangement of elements and the cat has a different personality.

Back from Art ForMS

2010-04-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

I've been back from Canada for a week now, but I've been busy with painting a commissioned work that is for a client's mother-in-law's Mothers' Day gift (hurrah, apostrophes - I'll post the image later - pretty swell little picture, if I may say so); taking my car in for transmission fluid leak repair; working a few hours at the Williams-Sonoma; getting back into the swing of things here...

Anyway, back from Canada, Calgary, where I attended the event, Art ForMS, put together by my friend Mali as part of Team Docktor's (teamdocktor.com/art-forms) MS, fundraising activities. The event was - or perhaps I should say, "is," since this is expected to be the first, annual - an auction, principally a silent auction, but also with several works in a live auction, almost exclusively of art: painting, sculpture, print, jewelry, photography, glass, ceramic, belt, quilt, other... from artists from around Calgary as well as from further afield... like from Austin, Texas. In fact I had a couple other Austin artists' works to keep mine company on the walls, some fine, fine, prints from Chelsea Ward and Michael Sullivan. I'll give Mali official Austinite status, too, since, after all, I know her from school here and she lived here for a goodly while: she had a couple paintings as well as a print-triptych.

All around, the art in the show was pretty high on the quality front, so none of the wall-company was bad.

The place that hosted Art ForMS, DaDe Art and Design Lab, has my nomination for, "coolest place in Calgary." It's located in what appears to once have been a mechanic's shop (it has garage doors) in a historic area of town, Inglewood (really, I guess it's the old, main street of what used to be its own, outlying town); an art, contemporary furnishings, and antique Asian furnishings gallery - easy, laid-back cool. Also got to spend time with the owners, Darcy Lundgren and Greg Fraser - very gracious hosts, swell fellows. Mali is working on the DaDe website, so hopefully there will be some more pictures, particularly of Darcy's artworks, constructions of paper on canvas painted in a Pollock-like manner, soon.

Speaking of more art work soon, here's an interlude of works in progress that I was going to post before I left town - some progress has been made since then on these, but I'll save that for another post.

Also speaking of more artwork soon, I'll have to tell Mali she should put up some of her new paintings on her website.

At any rate, Art ForMS was a great party: lots of folks excited about seeing the art (the folks who bought mine were excited about them, so that's pretty excellent - in fact, I heard that one couple was even more excited about the work they'd acquired after I met them and talked with them about it, so that was tres excellent... since I feared the inverse case...); lots of art to see; all lots sold; successful fundraising; lots of interesting people to visit (good turn out despite cold and rain); wine, food, ginger ale, cheese, jelly, wine... So yeah, you Calgarians who missed out, make sure you don't miss it next year.

In all likelihood, there will be more about my Calgary excursion later, but look at the time!

Camera Obscura

2010-03-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

That is, the camera has gone missing, so I'm afraid I don't have pictures of some new works in progress (which haven't really progressed very far anyway) and haven't been able to take pictures of the old tetrachromes that I'm planning to put up on yessy.com... or for the related blog entry which will be titled something like, "from the antiquities vault."

At any rate, Katell Keineg has a new album out!

I decided to do the object-free, object-travel-free purchase bit at cdbaby.com/cd/katellkeineg2. I still find the digiformat weird. So far, I've been enjoying the album - I've only listened a couple times and while doing other things, e.g. typing a blog entry - need to sit down to give it a focused listen. My i-pod just finished synching...

Alternative Venue

2010-02-26T08:49:00.000-08:00

I realized when I was visiting B.B. Keville, New Alternatives Skin Care, yesterday, that I'd forgotten to mention that she'd invited me to put up some paintings at her New Beginings Wellness Center, http://www.newbeginningswellnesscenter.net/, 3355 Bee Caves Road Suite 606, 293-8077, so I have a few paintings on view there which you might drop by to see if you're in the neighborhood... maybe on your way to a facial or craniosacral massage...

I've yet to have the latter, my sister gave me a gift certificate for one and she says it's pretty excellent, but B.B. does a nice bit of face rubbing, and, like I'd mentioned before, has done some good work in the treatment of facial blight for me.

More Beneficial

2010-02-13T14:01:00.001-08:00

B.B. Keville at New Alternative Skincare http://www.newbeginningswellnesscenter.net/, who has been most helpful in healing a face-skin condition that saw fit to afflict me, asked me the other day, when I visited for a bit of face rubbing, if I might donate a picture for a benefit to be held for her old friend and veteran, Austin music fellow, Will Sexton, that is going on next Monday (Feb. 15) at Antone's http://www.antones.net/index.php?content=shows, to help cover expenses from his recent stroke.

So, I've sent, "Summer Pastoral." I thought about sending one of the Pouffy-Pants Hummingbird paintings, but I'm kind of reluctant to seperate them and I want, "Going Courting," just at present, as reference for another picture (by the way, you can see these at the Libertine Gallery site). Yes, I need to get some more small, 11x14 and 10x10 inch paintings underway... yes, I need to get some paintings underway!

At any rate and nevertheless, "Summer Pastoral," came up pretty insistently to my mind as the one to send. I really want it to make its way out into the world and find a good home.

Show Down

2010-02-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

Alternatively titled...

ME, ME, ME

...since it shall include a number of pictures of myself.

So, yeah: just took the Brick Oven show down this past Sunday from which sold, "Black and White," "Even In..." and "Incensed Sensibility," all of which you may scroll down to see in the post titled, "Current Body of Work - installation one." My next scheduled gig is at Hyde Park (I think the one in Hyde Park) in June and July, but I need to see if I can line something up in the meantime... and get some more paintings started... and find a full-time job... blech!

At any rate, the self portraits here aren't merely an excercise in obsessive vanity: my friend from art school (yes, I only made and kept one) who now lives in Calgary, Mali Docktor, is arranging a an art auction to benefit the MS Society of Canada to which I'm donating a few things, requested I send a photo of myself for the site http://www.teamdocktor.com/art-forms.html.

This, above is the one she chose - incidentally my favorite which you get to see here in full-color-exclusive edition. It is a sort of redux of the picture I took for such purposes several years ago (which is overexposed a bit so I could probably get away with using it still). Perhaps I'll include the older image in another post - I quite like it - along with the painting in the background, "Three Seasons and Spring at the Heian Shrine," which I started back in the Color Panel phase but didn't complete until sometime during the Flower-Pattern period. I want to do another version of it at some point in time.

A few more I particularly like:

I forgot to put it here, and I'm not sure how to plunk a picture down en media res without difficulty, but I'm sending, "Pond, Evening," for the auction - you can scroll down to also see... oh, wait, you'll have to go to the Libertine Gallery site, http://www.libertinegallery.com/images/JP/JPpondEveningb.jpg (maybe I'll post that image closer to the event) - along with several prints, which are posted here. Mali asked if I might send a particular print, but I only have a test proof (a not too presentable test proof) of that one, so I sent a few others instead. Anyway, a couple intaglios and one linoleum print.

Again, be sure to check out Mali's Team Docktor site, http://www.teamdocktor.com/art-forms.html, which has more information.

Shuffled Around

2009-12-29T16:27:00.000-08:00

Not a big shuffling, but I thought I'd rearrange some of the paintings at the Brick Oven for the last month or so of the show. I'd originally planned to use the front room as a sort of retrospective room and the back for newer work, but I though some of the older stuff could stand to be seen in the higher traffic areas a bit. Plus I really want someone to buy:
It's one about which I continually hear, "Oh, I love that one," but as yet has not been taken off on its way into the world, so I'm hoping... Happily, I've sold a few things from the show: "Incensed Sensibility," "Even In..." and most recently, "Black and White," about which I've wondered, "does anyone but me like this one?" (a personal favorite, in truth), thus I'm pleased of some positive feedback on that one.

Showed Up

2009-11-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

The Brick Oven Restaurant show is up now (1608 West 35th Street). If I say so myself, which I do, the work looks quite good in the place, an old house, intimate in scale, and with motled, tan-ish walls.

Here are pictures of the most recently finished paintings. The cat is still in want of a decent picture: I've tried several lighting situations, but as yet...

A Poetical Interlude

2009-09-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

Around this time of year, I most always find myself feeling a bit poetic and into poetry. Recently, I keep thinking of this poem, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=181986 (my apologies for only having the link here: didn't want to print it without authorization), "Atlantic Oil" by Cesare Pavese, that I first came across about a year ago. Probably I should memorize it (the words), but the visual imagery and the feel of environment and people is what keeps coming to mind. I'd forgotten there is a mention of Fall, which perhaps reminded me of it; the time of the poem itself, I picture as Spring or perhaps even Summer. Of course, Autumn always makes me wish it were Spring or Summer again already.

Also of course, I hate to have an entry with no picture: "Bigelow Brawl," 30 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas, one of the old Tea Paintings. These fellows have probably had too much wine, themselves. At any rate, I recommend hopping over to the poetry foundation site to check out Mr. Pavese's work: most all of his poems have the distinct sense of time, place, and (annecdotal) event; and the manner of writing that has the immediate, visual presence I most enjoy (in writing).

I seem to be enjoying parentheses as well...

The Current Body of Work - installation one

2009-09-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

I though it might not be a bad idea to make an entry of my current body of work, or rather the works of which it so far consists... True I still need to get my website up and running, but, in the meantime, here they are and of course the images can be viewed larger when selected. My apologies for the very vertical fromat. Also, I'm still working on photographing (digitally) the dark background paintings without glares and glints - not a problem when I photograph them for slides - but you'll get the idea well enough for now, I hope...

Rather than add another entry titled something like, "Are they or aren't they," I decided to include this set as a sort of appendix of work that is more closely related to the most recent work than to the previous work. Ah, 2008 was an interesting year... Most of the year's work is over at the Libertine site and to preface the erratic look of it: ambitious program that was to include many works interconnected came to naught... Also, there's the previous set of works proper...

Okay... Computer?

2009-08-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, computer issues of late, but now, I'm back with a functioning computer and in keeping with updating progress on paintings well after they've progressed further, here are a few pictures...

I'm incorporating the picture of the Ponte Vecchio into the background of the painting with the birds that is only drawn in above. Truth be told, I've already painted that background, but I need to photograph it along with the other two, which, at least for those, involves a bit of set up for good reproduction and also photographing them with the nondigicamera for slides. I need to get slide film.

Old stuff, new stuff

2009-07-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been adding pictures from my Color-Panel Series to the old stuff available at Yessy.com. This series, executed mostly during 2005 between the Tea Paintings and the Flower-Pattern Paintings, is a small set of paintings, not previously exhibited.

Screen 16x20 inches acrylic on canvas

The idea for the colored center with uncolored sides came directly from the Tea Paintings, particularly the ones using Twinings envelopes:

I need to take new, digital pictures of the Tea Paintings since I'm not satisfied with the quality of the extant, photo-print images which additionally didn't all scan very well...

At any rate, the uncolored sides presented themselves to me, conceptually, as an area beyond the edge of the canvas and not, "the main picture," but implying that there is more happening or more to see than what is presented as, "the picture." Not all the works played up this concept so much or so well: "Screen," the picture shown above, I feel doesn't. Most likely I'll put up some more in the future...

Also, in the way of bad photographs, here are a couple works in progress. Already the progress is further along than in these (week old) pictures, but just to give some idea of what I'm working on at the moment.

Greetings!

2009-06-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Black and White - 2008 - 16"x20" acrylic on canvas

Welcome to my artblog/temporary website (no telling when an actual, official website of my art will occur). I'm still getting things going here: figuring out how things work, what the content is going to be, what fonts and colors I want to use.

I'm expecting the entries will principally be my pictures with descriptive blurbs and perhaps also something of a journal of work in progress; but I wouldn't be surprised if I branch out into writing about other peoples' art, music, design, whatever strikes my fancy.

At any rate, as far as site for viewing my work go at present, my most recent work can be seen (and acquired) at Libertine Gallery http://www.libertinegallery.com/primeaux.htm: the gallery is presently without a physical space, but maintains the online presence and is otherwise nomadic. Also, I've put up (and will be puting up more) older stuff - works previously unsold, works previously unshown, works previously unseen - at this place yessy.com, http://www.yessy.com/JeffreyPrimeaux/fpgallery.html, since I'm running out of storage space...

Until later,

Jeffrey