Untitled 121

Pastel on PastelMat, approx. 4" x 6".

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Looking out over the wall from the Air Palace, Jaipur.

$115.00 - Untitled 121 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Jaipur 6

I certainly am getting my money's worth (in terms of inspiration) from that trip to the Jaipur palace. (This is a different painting, not a closeup of Jaipur 5. They are similar.)

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Sick at home today with strep. So much fun. I can't believe I'm sick again, having just had The Crud in some form or another all of January and part of February. On the bright side? I have more time to blog (read "ramble") and visit others' blogs today.

Last night I spent a goodly amount of time (I like that old-fashioned-sounding expression) attempting to make a dent in some studio cleaning and organizing. I don't know about your studio or art area, but mine is very kludge-y [one definition: an awkward or clumsy (but at least temporarily effective) solution], and it's often impossible to find the time to go back and try to start from scratch on things. I'm referring to physical, literal things (not artistic): like where you put a painting to dry, or where you put your odds and ends (and there sure are a lot of "odds and ends" in a studio, especially one in which several media are practiced), or how you use one thing to "temporarily" prop up another...and it stays there forever... My studio is rife, even infirm, with kludges.

I've had some lovely and insightful comments lately (thanks particularly, Kelley and Ian) about the effectiveness of my restraint in my abstracts. I absolutely feel that Restraint (I'll give it a capital R to denote its importance :) ) is a huge factor for success in this sort of minimalism. There's the eternal struggle between just a tad too much and not quite enough. I always amusedly recall an anecdote I read somewhere (they're all "I read somewhere", aren't they?) about one of those famous artists (Degas or one of the impressionists??) who, upon delivering a painting/drawing to a client, was reproached for not having entirely covered the canvas/paper with paint. Supposedly his rejoinder was: "Madam, you are paying me for my restraint."

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Why so many photos of Rumi, you may ask. Especially of him sleeping? Because:

$115.00 - Jaipur 6 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Blue door

I generally reach for colors without any thought (ideally, I paint with no thoughts at all; that's when it turns out the best). It's so interesting to me to look back on a piece later and realize how often I've ended up with a tried-and-true color scheme. For example, these choices felt so arbitrary, yet so instinctive. Seeing it now, I'm surprised to find that it's basically just a good ol' primary-colors scheme.

I'd like to take this opportunity to quote fellow blogger-artist Brian Eppley; when I read this (below) on his blog recently, I was like, "Yes! That's it!" You see, though I truly enjoy painting realistically and watching the magic happen under the brush of 2-D turning into 3-D, nevertheless, my truest love is abstract and semi-abstract (or is that two loves?). Anyway, here's Brian: It's interesting. The more I attempt to focus on a particular subject the less interested I am in portraying [it] in its real state. But that's my whole intention!!! Art is crazy. Maybe I have an issue with focus. I continually want to tear down subjects to the bare essentials. My interest in archetypes could play a role. Representation and abstraction. A fine line indeed.

I don't know why, but those little curled-up paws when they're asleep just slay me.

Jazz hangin' out under the table. Jazz just turned 13, by the way, an amazingly venerable age for a big Golden. The biggest sweetheart you've ever met.

The Jaipur palace provided endless visual material.

$115.00 - Blue door (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Jaipur 4

Even though I'm more of a "rectangles" kind of abstract painter, lately some interestingly organic shapes have been creeping in. I don't know where they're coming from, but as long as they make themselves useful, they can stay.

Used The Husband's lens to take this one. Wow--it takes a much better picture, and I don't have to use Photoshop's Sharpen filters at all, or at least not as much.

Kind of surreal.

In the Jaipur palace.

$115.00 - Jaipur 4 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com