The Evolution Of "Figure & Field"

Figure & Field

Except for regular days of drawing, I spent July re-working two paintings that I’d started and set aside several years ago. One is still unfinished, the other is the painting I’d like to talk about here, “Figure & Field.”

 At 36” x 36”, it isn’t an especially large canvas, but it is bit bigger than ones I’ve worked on in the past. Painters know that an exact square isn’t the easiest  shape to use. A lot of people prefer working just off the square, at 48”x 42 ”,  for example. Coming up with a non-static composition can be a challenge in a square format—it certainly was for me.

Version 1

Version 1 was basically a recording of the original pose with the model. All other versions were developed in the studio, though I did make additional drawings from the model to re-think the image. In version 1, you can see me struggling to use color--variation to come to terms with form. This is NOT something I recommend, but it’s often been a fall-back position for me. A more solid and confident structuring of the initial image would have saved a lot of time and eliminated a lot of  problems. Yet these same seemingly avoidable problems became essential entry points to the painting.

Version 3

 Versions 3 & 5 shifted the color and pose. The painting became more naturalistic and stiffer at the same time. There were also other changes starting to take hold: the overall tone was growing quieter and a rhythm was developing between areas of flatness and deeper space.

Version 5

Version 7

Version 7 took a wide U-turn, exaggerating form through contour and color abstraction. It was a necessary  advance, but a jarring one.  It displaced the intricate balance between observation and invention, a balance I had to spend many days recalibrating. Once again, false moves were just as useful as positive steps; they both led me to the completed work.

 

 There are at least two fields in the final painting, the one the figure looks toward and the field of her back. (This last is the likeliest focal point for the viewer).  As in many figure paintings, there are also two viewers, one inside and one outside the frame. Though they’re involved in separate acts, they remain connected, nonetheless. They share the same occupation: the making sense of a world.

“Figure & Field” has its own life now and I’m moving  on to other paintings. Still, this one remains important to me. It’s taught me a little more about keeping my head through the roller coaster of process, the finding, losing and regaining of insight.

From "Figures & Portraits" Exhibition

Woman In A Red Skirt

Portrait of A.G. #4

Figure & Sea-View

Leaflin In Green

Melinda, Stretching

Amanda, Seated, #2

 

 “Figures & Portraits”

This show is a mix of old and new work, often within a single canvas. Some pieces have been revised; some were recently begun and completed; others have been important to me for quite a while now, and they stand for themselves as they always have.

Most of the models involved are people I’ve worked with for a number of years, people I’ve gotten to know  as people and not as images. They’ve helped lead me through the maze of introspection that I find is a necessary barrier.  For me,  paintings are something carved out of time and distance; and two of the tools I use to make them are stillness and connection.

“Figures & Portraits—paintings by Tom Maderos: July 1—August 31, 2011: Gabriella Café: 910 Cedar Street: Santa Cruz, CA 

DRAWINGS -JUNE SELECTION

Leaflin--Striped Pillow

D Pose 2

Lili/ Tannery (1)

At Main Beach (7)

D Pose (1)

Leaflin Leans Forward

Several people have asked for more images in black and white. These are all culled from formal and informal drawing sessions over the last month or two.

FROM THE MODEL

                L.  At  Eduardo's (1)

L.  At  Eduardo's (2)

L.  At  Eduardo's (3)

Perched

 The Yellow Dress

Study for "At The Tannery"

I have been working regularly with my friend Leaflin for the last few years. Besides being a model, artist and yoga teacher, she's a pretty good mind-reader. Even when I'm not sure of what I want to paint, she is able to intuit the right pose from a few vague suggestions.

Her strength, intelligence and focus help to guide my painting process.

The Beach Players (2nd Set)

Beach Players (A)6

Beach Players (A)9

Beach Players (A)10

Beach Players (A)13

Beach Players (A)15

"The Beach Players" have been my central focus for the last few years. The (A) series is smaller format work, which I do from life at Main Beach in Santa Cruz. This is the second set of paintings from that series that I've posted here. (B) series paintings are larger scale, usually painted from sketches or drawings done outdoors. And there is even a (C) series, which are paintings in  black and white.

Among other things, May means a return to the beach.

Beach Players (A)6

Wilder Ranch 2011

Far Fields 1

Cut & Plain 1

Cut View 1

Post View 1

Tank View 1

Tank View 2

When I was first learning to paint, I worked outdoors. I love still life, abstracts and the figure, but I always seem to come back to outdoor painting. This winter, we've had pelting hail, flooding rains and tropical heat on the Central Coast. The tail-end of the Japanese tsunami even smashed up the harbor here. When the weather was calm enough, I've gone out to  paint at Wilder Ranch, one of the jewels of the state park system.These are some of the results.

DRAWING WITHOUT CONCLUSIONS

This selection of drawings focuses on the various uses I've found for drawing thus far: as an aid to seeing; as information storage, as a way to develop skill; as an image that stands on its own. As in the black and white paintings in the previous entry, this is the beginning of a long process. 

Robbie (1)

Man In A Wheel Chair

 L.W. (Sun Dress)

B's Back

At Main Beach (2)

At Main Beach (1)

2 of Lily