Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

As some of you may already been notified, the terrific literary blog Dancing on Fly Ash is back in operation. Micro fiction writers Matt Bell and Josh Mayday will be back in operation sporting a brand new site. I checked it out this morning and it looks terrific. I encourage all of you to do the same.

Matt and I worked on a collaborative project last year. Matt wrote a number of micro fictions inspired by some of my paintings. I have them posted on my web site danramirez.net as well as one "A Kind of Blue: In C," that can be found in the “Songs Out Of Sight” section. I also plan to repost all of them one at a time on my blog Luz as time permits. I am hopeful that Matt and I ( and Josh Mayday as well, if I can persuade him) will be doing more collaborative projects in the future. I was amazed (though not surprised) at the result from our initial project and look forward to the possibility of more.

Micro fiction, given my own minimalist aesthetic, seems to be a wonderful counterpart to some of the ideas that I explore. Reading Matt and Josh’s material has, from time to time, given me much to think about and I often find myself inspired by an insight that sparks an idea for my work. It reminds me of a somewhat similar inspiration when I was honored by Richard Cohen to be asked to use an image of one of my paintings as a cover for his wonderful book of short stories “Pronoun Music.” (If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so).

As many of you know, I am preparing to do a commissioned project in Chicago (eight very large-scale paintings) based on excerpts from the book “Chicago: A City On The Make” written by Nelson Algren. And I have also been in dialogue with author Stuart Dybek (“Coast of Chicago,” “Streets In Their Own Ink/Poetry”) about the possibility of doing a collaboration in the future.

So…having said all this…I invite you all to stay tuned for what hopes to be an interesting year. And of course, as always…I will try in earnest to keep up with everyone else’s blogs. Ah! Such a life. Aren’t we lucky!

Now...honestly, Abe!

Today, on the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, I celebrate an anniversary. It was many, many, years ago, age 9 to be exact, that while stepping off of a streetcar ( that might give you some sense as to…!) in Chicago, after seeing the movie “Shane,” (that might also help as to…) I was struck by a large semi-tractor trailer truck. I fell beneath its wheels and undercarriage and suffered many injuries including a compound fracture of my right leg. It was a wet and snowy late afternoon. No! I didn’t die! But…last year I wrote a poem entitled “Streetcar” that was inspired by the memory of that day. I’ve placed this poem on my post in the past but I felt that today was a special day so I hope you won’t mind the repeat. I have two versions; one is punctuated the other is not. I have chosen to post the one that is not punctuated.

Streetcar


A current of lines with wheels honed
A city’s gondola on cobblestone
A melody sung in the wake of rain
A song in motion with no refrain

A rider in step with the hum of rhyme
An exit in space to the fate of time
A view of the heavens from underfoot
A blackened carriage was undertook

A lapse in memory as to speed
A crawl to safety was in need
A dampness cold he did behold
A wonder that he could grow old

A sense of wetness he will always carry;
A symbol of fortune’s corollary
Aware that water had a role
As baptism did upon his soul.

Goya's Duchess of Alba

Goya's Duchess of Alba
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

Sorry. I forgot to post this along with the progress of the painting. You can scroll down to follow the remaining sequence of stages.

OLE! La Duquesa de Gallifa IX

#1
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

Here is the final stages of the Duquesa. I have also included the source of the inspiration for this ongoing series Goya’s “The Duchess of Alba” (white version). This particular variation focuses on the sash that she is wearing around her waist. The rest of the painting centers around various issues of light, object, and space. Of course there is also a personal romantic side to this series which will remain silent.

I have included four stages and the finished painting. The first stage (pic#1) is the measuring for the line articulation; pic#2 is the taping process; pic#3 is the painting in of the linear elements; pic#4 is the finished work, and pic#5 is a side view that details the edge of the right side.

The painting is 66 inches high and 79 inches wide. The “Gallifa” tag to the title is in reference to Gallifa, Spain which is located at the Josep Llorens Artigas Foundation where I worked this past summer.

I hope you enjoyed the progress of the work. I welcome any comments you may have. As I mentioned in an earlier post I plan to share some of my future projects with you as well.

I notice that pic#4 and pic#5 flip-floped. Oh, well. I hope it's still clear.

#2

#2
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

#3

#3
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

#5

#5
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

#4

#4
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

La Duquesa# IX:In Progress

La Duquesa# IX:In Progress
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

This is the third stage of the painting. I am removing the block-out section. This is used to protect the field on the right from paint splatter. This is actually one of the trickier parts of the process. This is an acrylic medium and the paint must be at a particular stage in the drying before pulling of the block-out. Too soon can result in a flayed and smudged edge. Too late and the edge turns to rubber and will peel off at the edge, producing a flayed and unappealling aesthetic. This is also where I get to see the contrast in the light sources.

The next stage will be to produce some linear elements iin the right and left sections. These elemnts will produce an isometric volume in space relative to the solid middle. Fingers crossed!

I have included in the scroll down a fronatl view and a side view. The sides of my work are as important as the frontal plnes. The sides allow me to set up the illusion of space as well as accentuate the "objectness" of the painting. I will be painting lines at the next stage that will emphasize the edge of the object per se and produce an illusion that thier is a slight bow on the side.

We'll see.

Please feel free to comment ay any stage.

Front view:Stage Three

Front view:In Progress
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

Side view: Stage Three

Side view
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

Hola mi compadres y mi comadres!

pic#4
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

I expect to have the final details of my contract for the Chicago commission in hand by the end of the month. As I stated some time ago I would like to share that experience with you. I said that I would show from time to time, some of the works in progress.

In the interim I thought it might be fun to share with you a commission for a friend and private collector. I will pass along some pics of the work as I complete it. It is a painting that will be completed in red, white, and black. If you recall that was the palette that I was working with this past summer in Spain. This painting is a part of the “La Duquesa de Gallifa” series. I hope you will find the postings interesting enough to comment on while the work is in progress. I handle criticism very well so please don’t hesitate to pass on your thoughts. I also have begun another project related to the Music of Haydn that I would also like to share while in progress. It is based on Haydn’s “The Seven Last Words of Christ.” As some of you may recall from visiting my web site danramirez.net I have explored many religious themes in the past; eg., “Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus: An Homage to Olivier Messiaen.”

But for now...here is an early stage of the present commissioned work I first mentioned.

Of course, I also hope to continue to post some poetry as I move along.

pic#3

pic#3
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

pic#2

pic#2
Originally uploaded by lhombre.

Swimmer

I face the wind;
Currents of time
That score my brow
With textured text;

Memories that run
Downstream toward falls
That plunge headlong
Into inkwells of darkness.

But with nib of sustenance,
And thoughts once fought,
I break the surface
Of blackness to light.

Where each stroke I take
Reduces life’s liquid
To a mist, as it changes
From text to thought.

And with my arms quiet,
Devoid of the motion
That once pushed at rivers,
I bathe in the now still wind.