STUDIO PEN AND PAINT 2

2009-09-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

Come on over to my new site

2008-05-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

Great Art makes you want to become a better person.

2008-05-04T04:38:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with jewelry lately. I am quick to come up with ideas that are as complicated as possible. With every new idea there is a tool that I do not have and need to buy.With no money at my disposal I am going to limit myself to ready made objects. I can cut and polish just about anything with the tools in the glass studio where I work. I love exploring new material.

2008-04-11T05:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still working on paintings.

2008-04-10T03:58:00.000-07:00

An artist on Flickr recently posted work from the Volta art fair. One of the painters whose work he photographed was Khalif Kelly a student at yale. I am really draw to all the paintings I have seen so far. The work is illustrative, and honest with a touch of politics. People are relating him to Jacob Lawrence but I see more of Balthus.

2008-04-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

More boxes. The Handel on this one is made from a piece of antique spatula, a piece of felt, an old rusty washer, a wooden peg, and piece of a tag my mechanic put on my keys when my check engine light decided to come on for no apparent reason.

You can have it here tricycledesign

2008-03-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

I have more art ideas than a freshman art student off his A.D.D medication. An idea has to come back around two or three times before Shannon will give it any validity. Something that keeps coming up, several times in the last five years, is making boxes.I am back on the box kick and ideas are flowing.

2008-03-28T04:20:00.000-07:00

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
tricycledesign.etsy.com

2008-03-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

I made a glass ring.

2008-03-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

I am working on a collabrative project with a filmaker using photography to recreate historic events. This image is my attempt at making a study for a civil war photo. The neighbors must think I am crazy because I kept flinging myself on the ground. Shannon's only comment was "you dont look dead".

2008-03-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

I try to get into my studio everyday,even if it is only for a moment, preferably longer, but it is not always easy.

2008-03-07T04:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wish I could be in a collaborative art group rather than just making my own work. I think the work would go further that way. Like being in a rock band where four or five guys work up ideas together. I could be the builder of the group, we would need and ideas person and perhaps an illustrator, and then definitely a manager who could go out and get us some gigs. That would take a lot of the pressure off my shoulders and produce better work.

2008-02-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

Its always an honor to hang work next to a Tinguely.

2008-02-24T05:41:00.000-08:00

I made this collage a long time ago when I was making small works to sell here in town. I am now at a point in my painting where it will fit well into a group as a large painting. I plan to make a 3 ft oil painting from it in the next few weeks.

2008-02-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution. -Paul Cezanne

2008-02-21T14:50:00.000-08:00

Maisy's collage.

2008-02-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Suddenly I cannot do a collage to save my life. I keep trying to make the piece into something I have predetermined instead of letting it be what it wants to be. I have switched to watercolor for awhile in order to gain some more control over my images. Maisy couldn't care less.

2008-02-04T15:35:00.001-08:00

2008-02-02T04:20:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went down to the local art museum and checked out a show of paintings by Maud Gatewood. Her work is uniquely abstracted, a style of painting like no other work I have seen before. She seems to have developed a technique of masking off sections and building up multiple layers of texture, rendering surfaces such as straw, trees, rock, even cows and people. It was not always easy to see how she executed some of the surfaces. I had never heard of Gatewood before going to this show and even now when I look up her work online the images I find do not come close to doing justice to seeing them in person.

2008-01-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

I've sent the work off to Charlotte and started a new painting. The small collage called Train Bridge is going to be in the show. I made a copy so I could use it as a reference to make a 4ft oil painting using the same design. I am going to try painting the whole thing using very thin layers like one would use water color, then I will paint over the top getting progressively thicker.

2008-01-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

This is a large painting I just finished last week. It is going into a show in Charlotte called Structures. The piece took three months to complete and started as a small collage. The painting is 4ft square which is a size I am going to continue working with for awhile. I am very happy with the way this one turned out. I think I am going to continue with the bridge design for my next few paintings.

2008-01-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

2008-01-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

Check out some of my paintings at Palm Beach 3.

2008-01-06T12:36:00.001-08:00

2008-01-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

a letter I will be sending to galleries...

A. Tucker Studios

This is a quick update to let you know how things have been developing inside my studio this past year. I hope to be able to send out a new update once or twice a year, which will keep you up-to-date with the evolution of my work.

Time in the studio this year has been fruitful. I started 2007 building upon my grid paintings. I began adding new elements to blocks of scratched paint. Playful Images of toys, crowns, and plant forms reflected my anticipation of the birth of my first child, Maisy.

I am always working in both paper and paint — while my oils are drying I am cutting collages. Mid-summer I started making collage work that employed simple shapes based on industrial landscape designs. Soon this work began to develop into something interesting and worthy of further exploration. In the months since I started, the paintings have become more representational, starting out with simple forms and evolving into images of bridges, factories, and urban landscapes.

I am excited about the new direction my work is taking and hope to venture into more ambitious areas as it develops. As always I am eager to get the work out into the public eye and hope that you too will be interested in setting up time in the next year to see and show the work. I plan to have some of these paintings photographed and images sent to you very soon.

Jan 2008

2007-12-24T05:41:00.000-08:00

I am messing around with old Civil War photos. Converting them into collages and perhaps later into larger paintings. Its a fun thing to work on while baby sitting Maisy during the holidays and I hope to have enough for a large body of work to later show and sell.

2007-12-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

2007-12-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

My work is moving forward faster than I can paint. As always it comes back around to Picasso, he is the Beatles of visual art, everything begins and ends and is influenced one way or another by Picasso. I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of his work, but I just picked up Gertrude Steins book on him and realized that some of his cubist collage paintings fit perfectly into what I am doing with paint and paper. I think it would be fun to do a series based directly off some of his work during that period. I can see using his design and my techniques to create some interesting paintings. The thing I like most about Picasso is his diversity, the man was always evolving. I think we were steered wrong by the abstract expressionists "signature style" thing. We should be creating all kinds of work, always evolving and producing lots and lots of art styles.

2007-12-09T05:58:00.001-08:00

I am painting houses and boats, the most cliche motifs in art history (besides the nude). It feels so right though, I have a secret fondness for Sol LeWitt, and art that is so simple that it is just right and conveys order and unity. I am not interested in preachy art or work that is too chaotic. I am using the most simple forms I can, a house, a boat, a tree, a cloud, simple scenes painted in a ridiculously complicated manor.

2007-12-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Check out my work at Bridge Art Fair in Miami with Ferrin Gallery

2007-12-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

I have gone off the grid. This painting I have posted is an older piece, but can give you some idea of what happens when I go off grid. It happened a couple of months ago, I had just finished my third grid painting in a series and I started messing around with paper collages. Before I knew what was happening I had three finished pieces and two more in the works. Its always nerve racking when your work decides to go off the rails because your never quite sure if it taking you in the right direction. Not to mention everyone always likes the work that you "used to do" better than the work your currently making, It takes awhile to get people up to speed. Still, I am excited about this new stuff.

2007-11-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

Artists have been trading work since they were scratching out scenes on cave walls in prehistoric times. "I will draw you an elk if you make me a feather hat like Thor has," as the conversation might have gone. I myself have been building up a collection of traded work.I traded Mark Flowers a collage for this painting which has a secret I found while changing a diaper at 2 in the morning.

And I got a few of the famed Moonshine Cups from Micah Sherrill for a collage. I once traded a painting for a nice antique camera, I paid for most of my wedding in trade, and I even traded a painted portrait of Bob Dylan for a pet snake.

2007-11-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

I am working on these paper studies between paintings. I use wood glue and quickly cut and place the shapes. I can not even take the time to glue it properly because that would slow down the pace at which I am designing. I plan to make them into a painted series.

2007-11-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

The De Kooning book quoted Rosenberg, an art critic, referring to the gang of New York Schoolers as "the herd of independent minds". I have been thinking a lot about "the art world today", what is going on with it, I don't know? Is there one? A friend of mine said that art is all about region today. Everyone is doing something different in individual cities. Surfing around on-line and looking in publications like New American Painting gives some idea of a movement but this can be deceiving because these are reproductions and only images that are flashy get into them. Minimalism in real life takes some getting used to but online forget about it. In the fifties artists were poor, it was expected. I personally only know one artist who is truly poor, the rest have jobs or have businesses where they sell marketable goods related to their work. These days artists are as much entrepreneurs as creative types. We don't expect that because we are cursed with an impulse to make things, we also have to suffer in a shanty shack eating nothing but oatmeal and Ramon Noodle. One thing that will never change though is that if you decide to become an artist, its going to be a hell of a lot of work.

2007-10-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

I have begun a new series of collage work. I am taking paper, cutting it into shapes and gluing it down to form landscape scenes that I will later turn into large oil paintings. I love the spontaneity of cut paper. I am not even attaching it in an archival manner because I do not want any hindrance to the quick automatic placement of each layer. I am working in an abstract expressionist freedom which I will use as a launching pad for more tightly rendered work. Paper is everywhere in my studio.

2007-10-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

In the past week I have spun myself into a tizzy thinking up ideas for different directions my work could take. This is what happens when I am between paintings. Sooo... I thought I would take a moment to clarify for myself just what I am doing in paint these days. I don't want to get lost in the muckery of Internet ideas...

I am using simple forms as a means to paint complex surfaces. Balance, design, and the grid are structures I use to build layers of paint surface. I have always be drawn to lines made unconsciously, you cannot fake that. I have noticed that slick, flashy, eye popping, software developed work is the order of the day. This kind of painting makes good printed matter, on the web or in art magazines, but sometimes suffers on the walls. I prefer work that is subtle easy on the eyes, and has a painted history which seeps out over time.

Sometimes its hard for me not to want to jump the rails, move in a whole new direction. What artist does not question their direction at times, for now I need to maintain course.

2007-10-14T12:16:00.001-07:00

2007-10-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

I can not sing the praises of Alexander Calder enough. I am reading a book about De Kooning which I am half the way through. To be honest I love art history but there are some things about his life that I just do not care about. Its really causing me to be less interested in him as an artist. Calder's life on the other hand, except for his work and pictures I have seen of him in his studio, I know little of. What I like about Calder is that his work is unpretentious, art is synonymous with play. I see a genuine love of life being translated into metal. I wonder what I would find out to dispel this myth If I were to read a 630 page biography about him.

2007-09-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

I have gained a huge amount of respect for nursing. What, you may ask does nursing have to do with art? This is an art blog you know. Well, my dad is an artist and a nurse. Since my time spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (8hrs a day for two weeks) I have been thinking a lot about the links between health care and art. I have a lighting fast reaction to anyone who finds themselves in pain, the reaction is to quickly pass out. For this reason I have had to forgo my career in medicine. At times an artist will be fooled into thinking that they are doing something noble by making art, but spend any amount of time in a hospital, around nurses, and you will become quickly humbled. Our Hospital has some of the worst art around, prints of ballerinas with gel slathered around to make it look like paint. The art is easy to overlook because the staff is just so unbelievable.

2007-09-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to the NICU? If your baby weighs 3 pounds and is cut out of her mommas belly two months before her due date, then you too will visit the NICU. What can you expect? Lots of bells going off, telling nurses who is breathing and who is not. Plexiglas cases sometimes called cages but only by mistake. Quiet mothers and sometimes fathers who always give you a sideways smile as if to say "you too ah". You will sometimes see a doctor, sometimes social workers and always nurses. By the time we leave I'll bet we could run the place, or at least our part of it at home in her own bed next to ours.

2007-09-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning Shannon called me at work and said that the doctors were inducing labor. It would take twenty four hours for the baby to be born but I should come up to the hospital. One and a half hours later I had a baby girl. What a ride!

2007-09-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

I have been longing for a cultural night on the town. I missed Pavarotti, never saw him in concert, my chance is gone. Still there are great things to be seen in the country.I saw a huge bear walk down the driveway while shipping packages at work. Turkey's drop by all the time, and my chickens I see everyday. I just planted a perennial garden and can watch it grow unhindered by city smog. I have always been torn between the urban life and the country. Which do I really prefer teriyaki chicken or peeing off my front porch? Lately I have been missing the chicken, sold on every corner in Seattle. I was considering going to Art Basil in Miami this year but because Maisy will be born in November and it is held in December I think I will wait until the next one. In the meantime surfing the Net and my De Kooning book will have to get me by.

2007-08-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

I thought of two possible posts I could write about today.

One is about a piece I heard on NPR about Mother Teresa's personal journal, in it she speaks about her long struggle with God's silence. I was going to relate it to my theory that if you want to feel close to God then you have to raise chickens in your back yard.

The second relates to the book I am reading, De Kooning, An American Master. It has me thinking about what an artists goals should be. You would think happiness would be one of the top pursuits, but I am not so sure about that. I am very happy with my life, but not settled into that happiness, something inside is willing to give it up in pursuit of...

2007-08-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

When you take the time to be in dialog with other artists, especially those that you respect, you can start to see who you are as an artist by the similarities and differences. What has struck me lately is just how different I am among my piers. Its these differences that make my work, and theirs unique.

In the past several weeks I have had a number of stimulating conversations about art with several artists who I consider extremely talented. In talking about my own work I found myself in want of explanation, and at times actually felt the need to defend why I was so focused on certain aspects of my work. Some of the conversations were along these lines.

friend: These are much brighter paintings than you have done in the past.?.
Me: Yes, I just want to paint nice things.?.
f: What is this shape supposed to be?
m: Um... I think it is a submarine, maybe something else. Ummm...I don't think its supposed to be anything really. Its a neat shape that is next to a boat that is supposed to make you think its like a boat part or something like that, not really though. I am trying to paint things that are not things in particular but only elude to those things because I am not really interested in things at all only color and surface and the things are only tricks or devices to draw in the viewer to what I am really doing.
f: huh?
Me: Its a submarine.

2007-08-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

I can't wait until Maisy is born. I can feel her kick around from time to time. We have a very clear ultrasound picture that shows her little face. My paintings are being influenced by Maisy already, toys and children's books are directing the imagery.

2007-08-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

For some strange reason I have become interested in learning to walk a tight rope wire. It took me a good week to figure out how and where to put the wire up, as well as a few spills when I under estimated my weight. The wire is up and I have been mastering the line. It feels so good to be out on the wire, above the ground with little between. The next step is to take it further and higher, and then join the circus.

2007-07-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

Missy is not too sure about our Amish bred chickens.

2007-07-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

Whenever I am feeling truly uninspired by my own work all I need to get myself back into the groove is to turn to art history. It’s a secret passion. I love to study the lives and works of past artists. Lately PBS has been showing a great series called The Power of Art. Every Monday night a new artist is covered, Picasso, Van Gogh, Turner and many more, I am learning so much. The only thing I like better than reading and watching TV about art is going to museums, a sanctuary of art viewing. What an art geek!

2007-07-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

I am working on building a studio. I feel that if I do not begin it now, I will never get the thing together after Maisy is born. I have set my paint box aside, picked up pen and ruler and have drawn up plans for a post and beam building. It will be built in three phases, posts and roof, outside walls and floor, inside walls and wiring. Permits should be in next week.

2007-07-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing has moved me so much as the music of Joanna Newsom. I spent the whole day listening to The Milk-Eyed Mender, over and over again. Its a true joy when I have the chance to see or hear great art, the kind that shakes my bones.

2007-06-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

I was watching public access TV saturday night and was struck by the inablility of local vidographers to edit their work. Anything goes, and as it seems, everything goes. this is the mark of a seasoned artist, the ability to edit ones own work. I read that Davinci said a good student is one who is never satified with the work they have done. I think this begins the ability to self edit. It's the artist who thinks that everything they do is great who puts all their work out for public speculation. If you don't edit your own work then the public will begin to do it for you.
I'm too tired to edit this entry. I'm just putting it out there; you be the judge.

2007-06-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

I go through these very typical stages of creativity. First I get an idea to make something new, then I spend a whole heap of time restlessly messing around in material. Later I become frustrated because nothing is working out quite as I had predicted. Out of this mess comes one or two ideas that I can build upon. From these seedlings a new body of work bust forth. Its a painful process and I wish I could just set a pace and plod along, but if you want your work to grow you must suffer growing pains.

2007-06-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

Making art is play. Go into your studio and play around with ideas and material. There is no screwing up when you are playing around. Sometimes I get too serious with my work, its like trying to move around in a straight jacket. I need to goof off and make silly work, do stupid art. I have plenty of time to get serious and refined later, when I figure out what I really want to be making, through play.

2007-05-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

I am busting with ideas. I have about ten new areas that I want to explore. Now, If I can just get some time and money together then I will be able to begin working. Oh, and a little sleep would be nice.

2007-05-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Frank Stella is great.

2007-05-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

I wonder if other artists get what I call art PMS. I get restless and nothing I work on gets resolved. I am flooded with so many ideas that I can hardly fix myself to one or the other. Last night I could not sleep because I had an idea to make some big wooden sculptures. I got up at six in the morning and glued a bunch of blocks together with the thought that I might carve it into a ball or something, but by the end of the day I was onto fifteen other ideas. This time, luckily, I haven't soured toward painting. They are still going strong, but I just don't feel the satisfaction that normally comes from a piece nearly finished. I know myself well enough now to realize that I will make it through with hopefully some stronger work in the end.

I have posted a painting by my dad, also a painter.

2007-05-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

I slowly edged myself toward sculpture this week after I purchased some beautiful red paper for a collage and it went 3D. I am always a bit nervous to tread into new territory because it means I am going to have to spend a whole lot of time finding the limits of the material as well as my own limits. The metal version of the piece turned out to be just left of my vision but with many possiblities. Do I dare step any further...

2007-05-04T04:23:00.000-07:00

Art has become something very different for me in the last few years. Everything cool about it ended at 19 when StarBucks was invented. I told Shannon last night as we left a show at the Blue Spiral that when I am interviewed by Charlie Rose I am going to say that I keep on making work because each painting is such an utter failure that all I can do to keep from being depressed is to keep on working. I find myself going to shows and only looking at the frames that hold paintings, "I wonder if they make their own frames" or "did they spay paint this or brush it" are questions that take up space in my head. Being an artist is great but its not so great, in my next life I think I should become a farmer. I can remember when I was very small having a great desire to work in such a way that I could focus intently on what I was doing without the distraction of other people around me, artist, farmer, small engine repair shop, etc. etc.

2007-04-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

Fresh work is cooking in the studio

2007-04-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

This painting was a rabbit trail from 2005. My love of simple illustration married to my love for abstract modern design. Successful, but rabbit trail nontheless.

2007-04-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

This paintings is inspired by some great modern ceramics. Because I do not have time to mess around in a new medium, I will be content to let my interests fuel my paintings.

2007-04-12T04:37:00.000-07:00

I have not been posting because I am just to busy as of late. I finished remodeling the kitchen and am eager to get back to painting. Plus, Shannon found out a few weeks ago that we are going to have a baby! I think we will name him The Beaver, or Eunice if its a girl.

I have begun honing my photography skills via Photoshop. I am going to start approaching documentation of my work as another outlet for creative expression. Art about art.

2007-03-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

My collage work is converging upon my painting work. I finished two large pieces that were taken directly from collage's. I have a firm grasp on both the paintings and the collage work. I am discovering the unexpected freedom that comes by limiting the areas in which I work. In college they teach you to explore in many different areas, to try and come up with that one idea that is going to make you hit it big. Now I see that as I limit those directions I am freer to explore in one small area. By chipping away in that one area I have much more freedom and discovery. Its like if you were digging a hole, the most effective way to get the job done would be to focus your attention in one area. If you just dig here and there you will never get the thing dug.

2007-03-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

We got a modern couch frame from someone who works with Shannon and I spent all of Sunday in my pj's sewing cushions. Missy has claimed it as her own.

2007-03-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

I have had a heavy dose of art this week. There is something about the end of winter when everyone comes out from their cocoons and deals begin to be made. All the work that has been stacking up inside studios starts to see the light of day. Shannon and I went to a great show at the Blue Spiral last night. So many inspiring works of art, including some of Michael Sherrill's that I have only seen in print.

2007-02-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

I am spending tons of money on photo equiptment in an effort to save money on photographing my work. I think that the images look good until I compare them with the professional shots of past work. I am giving myself a headache.

2007-02-18T14:05:00.000-08:00

I love the work of Bodil Manz. I found a few booklets about her ceramic art that Shannon had sitting around her cubical at work. I have seen her work before, but did not know who she was. Seeing her slick ceramic vessels with modern design made me realize that I strive for polished modern paintings but feel more comfortable making them with a rough twist. Like a Mondrian painting that has been lost in the woods for six years.

2007-02-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

Winter is weighing heavily on me. My studio is in chaos due to the fact that I am remodeling the room leading into it. This is soon to be my collage room/office/baby room/library and overall junk room. I managed to finish the painting that I based off a collage, which needed some roughing up, and some scrawly mountains. I realized tonight that my work is best when there is almost a whole painting underneath the layers. I need mountains of sheets of paint layed one on top of the other.

2007-02-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Shannon and I went to Raleigh for our first anniversary. On our way home we stopped by UNC to check out the newly installed artwork from last year's commission. Raleigh has a nice art museum that made the five hour trip worth it. We saw a Katz, Motherwell, Beardon, Richter, Shapiro, Baslitz,(school of)Rembrandt, and so much more. Looking at great art (and my own work out of my studio) can help give me bearings. I am ready to make some new paintings.

2007-02-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

My theory is that a painting never bombs, you either give up halfway through or you keep working.

2007-01-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

This painting needs to be mulled over for awhile

2007-01-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

I think most artists get to the midpoint of a work in progress and find themselves thinking; what they hell am I doing. The painting I am working on now is a little diversion from what I've been doing for the last year or so. This piece is looking formal, more design than scawly, scribbley. Its making me nervous, but I know that the pay off could be big in the long run. So, I will stick with it and see what I end up with.

2007-01-14T10:21:00.000-08:00

I've been in an email conversation with Mark Flowers about the hum and drum of being an artist who finds himself having to "work" for a living. I used to be embarrased that I had to have a job for my living. Like I was not realy an artist unless I made my living by art. I believe that most artists either have to work a job to support themselves or they have to forgo the luxuries, say 3 sqaure meals and haircut, and live hand to mouth begging for loose change as they go. I tried that lifestyle for about six months five years ago and it made me to nervous knowing that bills were emanent and money was never a sure thing. Now I work eight hours a day so that I can work three more in my studio, and I sleep like a baby knowing that my ten year old 14" Magnavox television will not be reposessed.

2007-01-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

Shannon and I have similar mood cycles. Whenever I finish a project or she starts a new cycle of birth control we turn into weepy bitter suicidal grump monsters. The worst part about it is that neither of us recognize it in ourselves, we can only see the problem in the other person. But if I were to say, "You're only weepy because of birth control" or if she were to say, "You only wish you were dead because you finished a big project and have just been sitting around wasting good art hours" I don't think it would be taken very well.

I finished my commissions, I bought some wood to make stretchers, and then I just goofed off during the holidays. For the last week I have been 50% more grumpy than usual. In the middle of some blog entry about how I am all out of sorts due to something or something else, I realized why I am really grumpy and wish for death to come quickly and take me to a better place...I need a new project.

2006-12-31T14:44:00.000-08:00

I have done nothing but eat this holiday season.

2006-12-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

Every year around this time, because it is the end of the year and I am usually laying around consuming all kinds of candy and coffee, I tend to become interested in other forms of art. One year it was water color, another year it was chair making, then there was box making, sewing, etc etc. This year its ceramics that has my head turned. I was flipping through Shannon's book called, 500 Teapots, and its all I can do to keep from going down to High Water Clay and picking up some stuff to make me into a great ceramic artist. Rather than that, I decided to go to Lowes where I picked up some wood to make a stretcher for a six foot pianting. I am finished with my commissions and I don't have a show lined up until July, so starting tomorrow I am going to delve into a new piece that has been brewing.

I posted a cute picture of baby Jordan my new niece.

2006-12-21T13:57:00.000-08:00

My work is inspired by:
quilts,scratches,marks,paintings,mortality,spirituality,absurdity,beauty,intellegence,mystery,
nature,bugs,birds,the south,mountains,rockers,death,artifacts,museums,
color,history, science,Annie Dillard,other artists,math,coffee,paint, and fear of being bored.

2006-12-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

Horn Hats. It Turned out well after much fighting. The piece became to complicated early on, I had to bring it back to its simple self. I struggled with the center space for a long while. The hat had a nice shape but took over the whole painting. I needed to pull the thing back and put it in its place by simplifying the shape and color. A number of the blocks got away from me for a bit. In the end I learned that I am working toward multiples of simplified forms that together create a complex tapestry. If one part becomes over-worked it can throw the whole off.

I turned off my comment bar, I like hearing from you, I just found myself checking for comments to often. This is not a popularity contest. Now I am just writing, and you can read if you like. email me raarontucker@yahoo.com, or you can comment on Shannon's side.

2006-12-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

There is a certain shade of red that I am not supposed to be using in these commissioned works. It is proving to be a real pain. The first painting turned out way too cold so I added a shade of “red” that I thought was a different red. Shannon came home from work and informed me that it was absolutely “the” red. Not only was it the red, but the same red was on the second piece as well. I am beginning to think that it doesn’t matter what red I use… any red is going to turn out to be “the” red. I bet that I could put down 15 different shades of red and they all would read as the same forbidden shade. This is a real handicap.

2006-12-10T07:03:00.000-08:00

Micah Sherrill came to the house-warming party last night. That's his painting there at Shannon's left. We were able to talk a little art before the other guests arrived. After everyone went home he stuck around for a bit to shoot the breeze. It is always refreshing to talk painting with Micah because we are at similar stages in our careers, and have known one another since we were kids. Our approach to painting is very different, but we can appreciate each others direction. We spent about six months collaborating on some paintings about three years ago. I think that we both took pieces of that collaboration and used it to fuel what we are making today. Collaboration is such a useful tool to move your work into new directions.

2006-12-05T16:41:00.000-08:00

I just found out today that five miles up the road the powers that be are building a Super Duper Wal-Mart. We just moved out here into the country and already the invasion has begun. My neighbors, Denver and Lucille, grew up in the house behind ours. They remember when our road was unpaved and they had to get water from the well up the cow path, when only 15 houses were within a 20 mi radius. Is there anywhere to go these days where the big nothing will not follow and swallow up every tree and grass path available? Lets let the city be the city and the country be the country.

2006-11-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

I thought I might have some trouble getting the commissions done on time, but over the holidays I was able to really focus and get two of the paintings moving along. I am happy with the way these paintings are going and working large has really allowed me to open up with large gestural marks and sweeping blocks of color. I do not see myself wanting to go back to small format after these are finished. I have two more canvases stretched and ready to be worked on, but I need to spend some time in my sketch book working up the right shapes before I begin.

2006-11-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

2006-11-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon, Shannon and I went to my parents' house for lunch. It was my sister's chance to "practice" for Thanksgiving. My parent's living room was full of paintings that my dad is working on. It's been a few months since I've done any painting, and sitting there looking at the work was more than I could handle. I gently asked if I could work on one of his paintings, just for kicks. A few hours of work was enough of a fix to spark some ideas. Tonight I got my new studio set up and ready for the four large pieces that I am starting. Saturday is move in day at the new house, and Monday I am hitting the ground running.

2006-11-11T05:55:00.000-08:00

We are in a holding pattern here. This is the new studio and we are waiting on our marching orders.

2006-11-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Have any of you out there watched the Frank Gehry documentary? What was the deal with Schnabel in his bath robe? What about his comment that if your art gets lost in one of Gehry's buidings, then perhaps the work is not good enough? I have seen at least one of Gehry's buildings in person, EXPERIENCE MUSIC PROJECT. I never went inside, because I honestly felt like it was a ride at Six Flags, and not very approachable. I like his buildings when they are cubistic and not so fluid- or alien-like. Just call me a fly buzzing around the lion. The documentary was well done, not too over the top like some I've seen where person after person goes on and on about why the viewer should sacrifice their first-born at the foot of said genious. Still, don't we all just want to be in the shoes of said genious?

2006-11-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

This blog is about to change gears again because I have to finish everything I can on the house this weekend. I received some commission work and must get it done on a short schedule. Some of the paintings are going to be quite large, and if I do not get going on them there is some danger of paint not drying in time for installation. The house is going on hold but luckily I finished the bulk of the job. I moved my studio over on Saturday last. We painted a large wall white and hung track lighting so that I can work off the wall instead of my easel, which is too small for the job. I have some big ideas on how I might meld my collage work with my oil paintings, hence the image I have posted, which lets you into my thoughts on the direction I plan to take in my future painting. Imagine the collage above as a 6' x 8' oil painting, some of the squares could have images in them just like they do in the collages I have been doing. These commissions are based off the works I made a year ago, grid stuff like BAD HATS, so I don't think I will be able to start this new direction until next year.

2006-10-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin carving! I made a robot pumpkin.

2006-10-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

Picking color for a house is quite a different story than picking color for a painting. I found myself at a loss this weekend at the Home Depot paint chip section. 25 yellows, 25 blues, 25 reds, 25 what the heck, we finally settled on a beautiful shade of Tenderness. Yes, our paint is called Tenderness and we bought three gallons of its tender sweetness. On the way home from the store it suddenly dawned on me that Tenderness is the color of a new born baby boy's nursery room. I told Shannon that I thought we had made a big mistake and we spent the rest of the night, even dreaming about it, trying to convince ourselves that it really wasn't going to look that bad. On Sunday, we painted a test area on the wall and decided that if "not that bad" was our criteria then we had made a mistake. We decided to call this batch a total loss. Shannon liked the color of the original 1930s grey wall that was underneath the 1970s wood paneling. We ran back out to the Homies D for our second chance. They matched the color via their super-duper computer. The paint job is still in progress, but to date, looks great. We might turn our kitchen into the Tenderness room.

2006-10-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of possible subjects I could write about today.

Pygmy Goats
Voting Republican
Home Remodel Burnout
Not Painting
Season Finale of Project Runway
Missy and Why She is Always Crying
Should We Have Babies
My Dad's Paintings Selling
Death and Why I Am Obsessed With It
Tight Rope Walking, My Soon To Be Hobby
One Of My Galleries Goes Co-Op

2006-10-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Fall has officially begun! I love it; something about the weather changing makes life exciting. Can you imagine if the weather stayed the same all year around - what drudgery! The heater has come on, and Shannon and I have cloistered ourselves in on Fridays to watch seasonal horror films. Children Of The Corn, 28 Days Later, Rosemary's Baby, The Shining, all greats.

This morning I took Missy out for a pee break. I could hear the wind blowing through the tops of the trees, bugs and bird were silent in the cold, and just the whispering branches and falling bright orange leaves made a sound. It is a good time to be alive.

2006-10-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

Once in a long while we are lucky enough to come in contact with greatness. I am so glad that I decided to turn off HGTV and get my butt down to the Grey Eagle to see Damien Jurado. It was a small venue and a thin crowd, which added to my luck, because we were allowed to be close to the action. His music was like morphine, it brought me up and up, later that night, while on my way back down I was reminded why I am a painter and not a musician, music is too powerful. It gets me high and then drops me. Painting is stayed and controlled it has a steady pace which move me incrementally.

I have been thinking a lot about painting lately. I am not able to do any painting while remodeling the house, so I am left to just think about what I would be doing. I feel like I am at a small cross roads, I could pursue abstract work or more of the imagery I was doing just a few months ago. I have been a little torn on which rabbit trail to follow, but this morning I woke up thinking about my favorite artist, Martin Puryear. I am reminded of what I was doing back when I didn't care about selling work. I love design, abstract art just on the edge of something recognizable. Its tough to make work that is abstract in Asheville because most of those around me prefer realism, (which has to some extent pushed me in that direction). I think that it would be best for my work to make whatever comes most natural, buyer or no buyer.

2006-10-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

I spent an hour last night at Micah Sherrill's FLickr site, http://flickr.com/photos/micahsherrill/. He has uploaded about 4000 pictures, most of them about art. This is valuable documentation of many great artists including himself working in their studios, as well as showing lots of great art and art events. It made me wish that I would spend more time taking pictures.

2006-09-28T05:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday is my birthday. I will be 32 years old. Yesterday morning I had one of my "mortality attacks" which is what I call it when I am suddenly struck by the realization of the thin line that we skirt by being alive. "Death is a mere foot fall away" as someone once said. I then went out to my car and found a dead cat in the yard. A sign? Where am I going with this? Don't worry I am not depressed, quite the opposite. I am finding real enjoyment with my life. Hard work has at last become a fullfillment to me.I watched the rest of the Andy Warhol documentary and was struck that if I had been 19 I might have bought into its glorification of Warhol's genious, as it is I am too old and have made and sold art for too long to believe the hype. If you want to be fullfilled in this life then you had better start enjoying work, thats the true genious of Warhol, he was a hard worker.

2006-09-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a little before and after. I told you this work is like peeling an onion. First we were just going to move the door to the bathroom, then we decided to enlarge it, then I ripped out the tile, and finally we decided we might as well gut the whole dang thing. The tub was unbelievably heavy; I bet it weighs 300lbs. I wrestled that thing for hours, and decided that they must have built the whole room around it. I finally got it out of the bathroom and thought I would never be able to get it back in. Shannon and I began pricing Fiberglas tubs, but we both agreed that it would be a shame not to use this cast iron beauty. Through lots of strategic planning, mathematics, geometry, and brute force we managed to get it back in and its beautiful.

Did anyone see the Any Warhol documentary on PBS? I really enjoyed it.

2006-09-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the dog that came with the house. His name is either Chopper or Harley we are not sure which. The previous owner left him with the neighbor but apparently forgot to tell him.

I am starting to feel like everything is breaking down. My wrists are hurting, they have been bad ever since my skateboard days when I broke the right one doing a jump from one ramp into another and set it myself by grabbing and squeezing. My broken break light came on in my truck so I made time on Saturday to change the pads which looked like they were about to turn to dust. Our computer was not working last night which made me feel really tired. After work my broken break light came on again and I figured out that I had a break line leak. This time I left it to the professionals to fix because I am really tired. I am considering gutting our bathroom a little further because I could not get the floor as level as I wanted.

Busy hands are happy hands.

2006-09-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

Just because I am working on a house does not mean that I am slacking on my paintings. This piece, along with another is on its way to Ferrin Gallery. I like the way my collage work is going. They are larger than the last group, I have more antique books to draw from, and the frames are much more elaborate. I sold one of the pieces that I sent to the Harrison Center In Indianapolis. The show is called Schooled and has works about...uh, school. I wish I could have gone to the opening, but I have house work to do.

2006-09-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

The big "vacation" remodel is almost over, one day left. I have done so much, pulled all the paneling out, gutted the kitchen, the bathroom, refinished floors, plastered the ceilings, refinished a bead-board ceiling, reinforced the floor, and much much more. Tomorrow is Shannon's birthday and I have not gotten her anything yet. I need a vacation.

2006-09-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a little before and after. This house is like peeling an onion, one room leads right to the next. I had originaly planned to do the kitchen and bathroom in phase two, but one thing lead to the next and now I have gutted the whole thing. The kitchen floor had two layers of vinyl under white tile. Pulling up that floor took everything I had. Today I did some framing to make a walk-in closet and widen the bathroom. I found that the seal on the toilet was broken and had been leaking for perhaps years causing floor rot, I gutted it down to the sub-floor, an unexpected turn for the day.

2006-09-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

I have been working super hard at gutting our new house. The realtor came by the day after we bought it to give us a key and take down the for sale sign; she was shocked at all I had already done. We closed on the house at noon and by 3:00pm I had one room gutted. I have pictures, but left my camera at the house. I'll post some images soon. This house has at least three layers of plastic, shag and muck on top of original beauty. I am working morning to night peeling back the layers to reveal things like hardwood floors, beadboard ceilings, and handmade cabinets. I really love this kind of work. I have realized that I am truly motivated by beauty. Money is not enough for me to want to work hard, I need a project that I can truly get behind and then I will really crank it out.