I went down into storage and brought up more work that had been ordered in the last two weeks and moved them into my storage racks. I rearranged some of the acquisitions; we received many last week and the shelves are full. When I get a chance, I will have to start hanging some on the walls, gallery-style (one on top of another). Last week, when I wasn’t in the gallery, Tara Evans and Christine Ranck each dropped off a painting.

I returned to George Dugan. It is going better, I feel like I have a better sense of his gestures–still not perfect, but I am getting closer. I’m not working from a traced image as much on this one. Although there is a speed to this painting, I think it was still made in one or two sessions: there are darker marks underneath more worked-over areas. I am also sensing a difference in materials. The turpentine substitute I am using, which is some kind of green (environment-friendly) turpenoid, is not a viscous as turpentine, and I am unable to produce some of the watery drips in the painting. Oh well.

A couple visited the gallery. Their daughter is transferring to Cortland, and they are here for orientation from Yellow Springs, OH. Of course, the only thing I know about Yellow Springs is Antioch College, and so we talk about that for a while. I was sad when it closed, only because I am interested in those institutions that explored alternative education. They told me more about Yellow Springs; it sounds like a place that has a rich cultural life–bookstores, a cinema, filmmakers, artists.

Chea, who had visited maybe a two weeks ago, returned with a painting she made in exchange for an Ansel Adams. Two young boys were with her, they each made a painting too. She said when they saw what she was doing they also wanted to make something. They helped me put the paintings on the acquisition wall. I gave Chea her Adams copy, and offered her some other prints to choose from–she selected a David Lucas print.

I was at a stopping point on the Dugan. I measured the new work I had to copy, and scanned some of them. I wasn’t quite ready to start something new, and so I worked on the David Lucas painting a little–small brushes, starting to work in the detail, all the leaves, etc. Andrew brought in a new donation: a photograph of Liverpool (UK).

[July 19, 2008]

Today was billed an “exchange auction,” which was really just another way to get people into the space. Actually, at one point I did want to hold some kind of auction, hoping that at this point I would have an excess of copies. Instead, I have had plenty of orders to fulfill, and so all my time has been devoted to finishing those.

Andrew, Greg and I had a discussion about the exhibition. This was recorded, and once its posted on iTune U (I think), I’ll post the link. Andrew asked us questions about the drive towards exhibition, about archive, and about our practice.

Some people did come in and make exchanges. Buzz Spector arrvied with a great piece based on Magritte’s eye, for which he received a copy of the Magritte in the collection. He ordered another copy, of the Ed Ruscha book, for which he will exchange another work he has based on Ruscha. Feresteh came with a painting by Lance Winn. In that small world way, Buzz also knows Lance.

[July 16, 2008]

I brought in my digital prints and compared them to the orginals. They all look good, but in digitizing, the colors have changed slightly: all the prints are slightly more saturated and have a higher contrast than their sources. I supposed these are “better:” I think of those histogram curves on my digital camera, and also in Photoshop, geared towards an idea of correct color balance and contrast. I trimmed the prints and stamped them.

I then cut down my half-sized print of Ruscha’s book and pieced them together. In doing so, I caught a few more mistakes in my composite images–some sections are cut off, and so the folds don’t like up properly. I also forgot to print the title page. I used my bone folder to score the folds and folded together the book. I was somewhat imprecise, which is all right now, as this is a draft, but I’ll have to be better when I get to the final copies. I like the half-size, I think I’ll make a “small” edition of them (sorry for the pun).

Last week, Andrew and I were looking at our houses on Google Maps street view. This gave me the idea to re-create Ruscha’s book using this. I checked and Google does have Sunset Boulevard in Street View. The street had changed, but there are a lot of similarities between the images: the presence of cars but not of people. As soon as I get a little caught up on my orders, I’m going to compile these images.

A few more visitors: Paul, who lives in Cortland came in. We were discussing some ways of copying things, and he suggested screen printing. He had gone to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and does oil paintings. I am struck by how many people I have met in the gallery who have gone to art school. But it makes sense that these would be the people who would visit the gallery. Still, it has made the number of people who have art training more apparent to me. Later, Jen, who teaches fibers at Cortland came by. She had just finished advising during orientation, which has been going on for several weeks now, it seems. We talked a bit about the bureaucracy in school.

It was time for me to get back to Geroge Dugan. Unlike the Mazur, which seemd to just flow, this one had already been difficult. It’s funny, because the Mazur is much more polished, whereas the Dugan is more gestural and process-oriented. It is hard to replicate another’s gestures. His painting has a loose grid on it. I first thought of Giacometti’s portraits, which are also full of grids and crosses and a emergence of an image. As I worked on this painting, I realized that the lines are sight lines; they correspond to an edge of a shape. There is some underpainting–dark browns with lighter colors worked over it, a constant reworking and re-looking, and so I was trying to follow these marks first. After about an hour, I felt like I was just getting too far off from the composition. I wiped out an area and tried to re-work it but again felt frustrated. I decided it was time to just start over. I mixed up more brown-ochre-gray, and painted over my start.

I felt like I had just wasted the day…I have to be more patient.

[July 14, 2008]

I spent the morning putting together all the sections of Ruscha’s “All the Buildings on the Sunset Strip.” There were 38 different scans to put together, for 9 sections that wll be glued together to make a 304″ inch book, unfolded. I have been thinking about how to get this printed for weeks. I called Syracuse Blueprint Company, and they could do it on a 36″ wide roll. I laid out the sections onto 2 different pages and brought the disk in. It won’t be ready until tomorrow, at the earliest.

I then went into school ( Syracuse University, where I teach), and printed some images on different papers, especially on Epson’s Velvet Fine Art paper. I tried printing a painting on some ink jet canvas but it didn’t print well. While things were printing, I worked on the manuscript file.

In leaving, I noticed in the hallway a few assignments hanging on the wall: studies of master paintings–Vermeer and Velasquez. Around the corner in a short hallway is another drawing, based on Inges’ odalisque, I know this drawing has been on this wall for a while. It is such an ingrained part of art education to look at art history and to learn from it, or to reproduce it.

[July 11, 2008]

I spent the morning finishing the Micahel Mazur painting. I worked with some of the paint and a dry brush to mimic pastel (the original is a pastel drawing), worked on the grass and the sandy area in front. Last, I painted in the wires coming off the telephone pole. There will always be more to do to it to perfect it, but I felt I had gotten it to a fairly good stopping point. I liked working on this one.

I had a few visitors: a man came buy who was an art therapist in Long Island. He had gone to school in Philadelphia, first at the Philadelphia College of Art (I think that’s what he said–it has since changed its name), and then at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Later in the day, Gary, from the Physical Education Department stopped by. He told me he used to make paintings, based on geometrical designs using folded paper. He said he had a good friend who was (is) a sculptor, and who used to encourage him to make stuff; he thought because his friend needed an artist buddy. I encouraged both to make a trade.

After finishing the Mazur, I re-measured the medieval manuscript, and scanned it so as to make a template. I also re-scanned most of the pages of the Ed Ruscha book. I had scanned this before, but in piecing the scans together, found I was missing some sections. I then stared on the George Dugan self-portrait. I drew out the image, but then covered it in a brown-gray wash, thus losing my drawing. I started painting it. This one has a sense of process in it, there are darker lines, almost like a drawing underneath areas which are painted.

[July 9, 2008]

I arrived hoping to finish the Mazur painting today. First, I put together the stretcher bars, stretched and gessoed the canvas for the George Dugan self-portrait. I helped Andrew move selections from “Open Curating” down to storage, and bring more work up. A slight procrastination. We talked about the David Ahlsted paintings; I am not a fan of his portrayal of women.

I got to work on the Mazur, starting with the slide (in the drawing) itself, and working my way around into the grass and trees. I can sense that I am getting closer to finishing this painting, and I find I am losing my patience–it needs more time and work to make it perfect, or I could leave it as pretty good and move on to the next painting. I am going to have to use my time in the gallery on the paintings; I can work on drawings at home, referencing prints I’ve made and finishing them in the gallery in front of the “original.”

A woman and who I assume is her teenage son wander in. I tell them what I’m doing and hand them each an order form, but they don’t say much or walk into the space very far.

Kit Minervini visits, bringing a large painting her mother made. The painting is a portrait of a woman, made within a copy of another painting. It looks like a Gainsborough painting, or of that time and style. Kit wasn’t sure what the reference was, I will investigate. Kit’s mother studied at the Art Student’s League, and then at the Maryland Institute. She painted all her life, and did many portraits, this being an example of one of the ways she would create them. She later did eye portraits (which I’d love to see).

Kit was the Director of the gallery for two years. She was a student who worked at the gallery, and when the  director left, she was hired. She told me about some of the work she exhibited–an installation that was based on an empty lot and rubble in the Bronx; photographs in wine bottles arranged all over the gallery. Another work was comprised of red dots that the artist had placed all over NYC, and mapped; students were given red dots to mark around campus.

Kit orders a copy of Ben Galos’ “Yonkers,” a WPA painting. She tells me she always liked that painting, and was worried about its condition, once visiting to check on it. She thinks that alumni or others could sponosr paintings. I think that painting is okay, but there are some paintings that need some conversation.

I left without finishing the Mazur. Another day.

[July 3, 2008]

There was a small reception tonight. When I arrived for it, there were two new donations: a sculpture by Bryan Thomas, and a photograph by Greg Halpern.

A friend wanted to paint, so I put him to work. He worked on the copy of Annunziata’s copy of Benjamin Franklin. It was his first time using oil paint, and he seems to have a feeling for it. I told him that he would still have to make a trade in order to get the painting, but he makes great drawings, so I am sure this won’t be a problem.

Janet Steck and her husband Henry came. Janet ran the gallery for a long time. It was great to talk to her about some of the history of the collection. She told me that a sociology professor had rescued the WPA paintings from being thrown out. I learned about Ralf Jean Baptiste: he was a student at Cortland, and a good lacrosse player. Janet also told me about the Matisse print–it was damaged when it was stolen. They know right away when it went missing, but were unable to find it. Someone had taken it to California. Several years later, it arrived in the mail, but it wasn’t packed properly, and the glass of the frame broke, and damaged the print. I asked her who did the watercolor paintings of the chickens in the back yard ( 1990.1.F)–there is a whole flat file drawer of watercolors like this. She told me it was by Robert Pennoyer, and that he is a local artist who donated his work to the Dowd

I asked Janet to pick something out for me to copy. At the end of the evening, Henry told me he had ordered one of David Ahlsted’s paintings. I told him I hope it wasn’t one of the one’s with the women’s heads cut off, he said it wasn’t. These paintings are very large, so I have my work cut out for me.

[July 2, 2008]

I decided to stay with painting, because I’ve found it takes time to get into its rhythm. I worked on the Lucas painting, but became frustrated with it–I had one of the moments when I wonder why I am doing this. The other time I sometimes think this is when I look at all the orders I have. I am actually very happy to have so much work to do, but it becomes overwhelming, and I find myself thinking of all the works to copy while I am working on a particular piece. They have all entered my head, as I envision going through the steps to reproduce them.

After about two hours, I switched over the Mazur painting, which is going a lot better. I realized they both have the same palette: green/naples yellow field with blue sky (the Mazur more Cerulean, the Lucas more Ultramarine. I think I need to buy a tube of Cobalt blue to use in the shadows of the Mazur.)

Luke and Sara (the couple from the education workshop) stopped by again; they like the new donations. Sara says that she likes paintings better when they’re unfinished– I agree. I said I thought that was why I was working on everything at once–starting something is much more fun than finishing it. She is now thinking of having me copy a painting she requested in Greg’s project.

Greg has been here photographing the rest of the collection, a little bleary-eyed at the end of the day after being in the basement storage room for hours.

I felt I had a good day painting the Mazur–it went fast. I am glad this painting is going well, as it is for Bryan, who did a lot of work for the installation. Of course, I want to make the best work for everyone, I like thinking about who a piece is for. I came to a point where I had to let the paint dry a little–I think I can finish it in another day. I worked for a short while on another Magritte, and measured out some other works to prepare for reproducing them.

[July 1, 2008]

Today felt very busy, although in the end I didn’t feel like I got much copying done. Instead, I talked with a lot of people, which was great.

When I arrived, I had several donations to process. Two from Chris Wildrick, who left them for me in Syracuse; a beautiful print of an owl that Kathy and John Suarez had brought in last week; and a print mailed in from Mick Mather. Jennifer Wilson, who works at the college came by and donated two watercolor paintings. She ordered a Chagall print (to be created in mixed media), and took the Ansel Adams photo with her.

There is an education workshop happening at the college, and a couple from St. Louis came in; she paints and he does ceramics. I hope they will make an exchange. The woman seemed interested in the Jerome Witkin painting, which I would really like to paint. There were also visitors who were in orientation, and a few more from the workshop. Some seeemed to be expecting a more traditional gallery exhibition–one woman told me she was looking for the gallery, and I had to tell her this was it.

I was planning on preparing the canvas for the George Dugan self portrait, which I brought up from storage. My measurements were incorrect, and so I had the wrong stretcher size. I tried to spend most of today painting. I have forgotten the patience needed to paint, but at the same time, I am getting more confident. Perhaps what also slowed me down was the good interruptions.

I worked on the Lucas, and started the Mazur. I am working on all copies at once. I think this is because of the way the last few weeks have been, and it takes me a little while to pull myself back into the artwork.

The Acquisitions wall is full. I will have to start hanging the work salon style.

I was once again pulled away from my copy work for another project, so I had missed over a week of work. When I arrived today, three new donations were waiting for me. I tallied my copy orders, and I have 21. I hope I can catch up over this week.

Andrew and I went down to storage so that I could bring up three new pieces that have been ordered: the Chagall, the medieval manuscript, and The White Rabbit Poster. I couldn’t find the Kalim of Hamsden manuscript, I’ll have to look through my notes to find its location.

I decided to use today to draw out more images, so I can bring them home to work on them. I’ve been tracing images, I have used a projector for some, but I prefer to use tracing paper. I put glass between the art and the paper, to protect the work. What I like about this is that tracing from the artwork in this way is that there is a sense of touch in the transfer–it is an index (see Peirce).

I drew out a new Currier& Ives print, and the White Rabbit. I also measured the sections of the Ed Ruscha book: it is comprised of sections glued together. I hope to being printing this tomorrow; I’ll do a small edition, as I have three orders for it already.

I hope to be back consistently now.