Larry Moore Studios

Catching up

I was reminded, ever so gently, that I have been off my posting schedule… probably because I don’t have one. I write stuff as it comes to me but sometimes it gets a little tabula rasa upstairs and I got nuthin. Or I’m busy catching up on all the Law and Orders I’ve only seen once. Actually there’s a lot going on and much to say. I’m working on several ideas that involve creative ways to promote myself as an artist as well as others in the creative field(s) and if they come to fruition, you, my tens of readers, will be the first to know. One of the ideas involves doing more writing about my travels and life as a migrant art worker. So I’ll be writing more about my experiences on the road here at MAW headquarters and once I can figure out how to get my ipad to connect to wordpress there will be much up to the minute kind of stuff.

For now, I’ll start with the above painting and the artists commission to interpret. I do paint from my computer, I paint in the same way I do in the field except with a widescreen Mac. It’s a lot like painting outside except there’s a fridge and a microwave nearby. On a recent day, I had just started blocking in the above painting as I always do, with a nice warm wash and a friend stopped by about a half hour in and said, stop right there, I love it. She loved the warm tones of the wash in. I said okay but didn’t. Can’t seem to stop until I see the stop sign. But her response inspired me to push the color more than I usually do. Here’s the pic I worked from.

It’s a decent shot of some boats in Curacao. Kind of grayish. I take more photos on the gray days because I’m not painting at a feverish pitch to get the work done while the sun shines. But then I come home with gray pictures. Anyhoo, I figured since I was pushing the color, I would do it throughout so the whole painting had an equally saturated quality. It’s like when the pepper guy comes to your table, he doesn’t put the pepper in just one spot over on the left, he puts it everywhere. Though I do always hold back a little so that there’s still room for the king of the color notes. Just one or two that can rise above the rest and give the painting that extra zing! A little more pepper, if you will, a bit more umami.

And, in my continuing conflagration (I know it’s the wrong word but I like it) concerning frames. Here’s my case for the right frame for the individual painting. I can never seem to get the right damn frame for anything, too gold, too dark, too simple, too brassy, too black…. If I were just loaded with money and time, I would send pics of each painting to a custom frame company like AU frames and say “make me somtin purty for this here paintin’ “. And it’s what I keep saying I’m going to do, just as soon as I marry into a trust fund. My point… oh, my point is this, a gold frame would kill this thing. Too much warm, you want something that complements the direction of the painting. Dark paintings get light or gold frames, bright paintings get darker toned or black, warm gets cool and cool gets warm.