Fluidity, Hard Edge & the Psychology of Painting

I do not usually do process posts. I think that it takes a lot of security. But I decided a process post of my latest piece might help me figure out where it’s going (it is not finished). I have been working slowly on this piece because it just doesn’t feel right, which is ironic. (I set out to do something different, but it turns out that I don’t like doing something different.) I set out to get away from the fluidity or expressionistic aspects of the prior paintings within this series, deciding to bring in some hard edge visual components to express my ideas, and the upshot is that if feels very uncomfortable. Yeah, I had been using some grids, but this is more rigid, and the painting feels very compartmentalized. I was not feeling it. I didn’t work on it at all yesterday. But today, after adding the figures, and the object, I feel better. The painting was always heading toward the addition of those three items. I am happier, now. However, I am not sure what the final verdict will be. Will this become a successful addition to The Sublime series, or an exercise?

This is where economics figure into my process.

Because I can’t afford a lot of materials, I feel pressured to make every piece count. I have painted over more paintings than I care to admit. However, I also realize that this pressure is twofold. Some of it is situational; some of it is self-imposed.

On top of the economics of circumstance, I am also always battling the remains of a sense of perfectionism within my practice. When a painting begins to get away from me, I start to feel uneasy. Sometimes the lack of control of the process works out very well (the happy accidents); other times it just adds up to poor execution. And quite often that feels like failure because a few articles of perfectionism still hang in my closet. There have been many nights when I have pushed a painting longer than I should have simply to get to a place where I no longer felt like the painting was failing—like the painter was failing.

I am thinking colored pencil for the figures, paint for the object, and I am also thinking about bringing the floral patterning into the side panels, thereby uniting the ceiling and floor of that part of the painting…

But I’m not sure. So far, I have used acrylics, house paint, spray paint, and oil paintsticks.

Spooky Action at a Distance, 2020, New Painting

Spooky Action at a Distance, 2020

The Sublime

A series of colorful, painterly, expressionistic paintings focused on depictions of space, space travel, portals, parallel universes, first contact and futurism.

The Shop

A Basket of Roses Arrived at My Mailbox

I was pretty dang thrilled to learn the other night that a friend had decided that I should have his silver vinyl, limited edition of 1000, reissue of Power, Corruption & Lies (I have always loved Peter Saville’s cover designs and Factory Records) which was released in 2017 in conjunction with the True Faith art exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery.

Saville’s cover design for PCL is a reproduction of the painting "A Basket of Roses" by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, which is part of the National Gallery's permanent collection in London.

“True Faith explores the ongoing significance and legacy of New Order and Joy Division through the wealth of visual art their music has inspired.

Curated by Matthew Higgs, Director of White Columns, New York and author and film-maker Jon Savage with archivist Johan Kugelberg, True Faith is centred on four decades’ worth of extraordinary contemporary works from artists including Julian Schnabel, Jeremy Deller, Liam Gillick, Mark Leckey, Glenn Brown and Slater Bradley, all directly inspired by the two groups.”

— Adrian Searle, The Guardian, July 4, 2017

And so a slim, square package arrived at my mailbox!

New Order's "True Faith" Rings True

I didn't obsess on this song too much when it came out. As a pretty huge NO fan, I liked it, I listened to it, but I didn't add it to my Top Ten New Order songs list. I also don't remember paying much attention to the lyrics. My bad. It's a good song. The lyrics are not shallow. And, now, they really resonate.

This cover of "True Faith" by Flunk is only going to appeal to a certain fan, but I dig it.

True Faith

I feel so extraordinary

Something's got a hold on me

I get this feeling I'm in motion

A sudden sense of liberty

I don't care 'cause I'm not there

And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow

Again and again I've taken too much

Of the things that cost you too much

I used to think that the day would never come

I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun

My morning sun is the drug that brings me near

To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear

I used to think that the day would never come

That my life would depend on the morning sun

When I was a very small boy

Very small boys talked to me

Now that we've grown up together

They're afraid of what they see

That's the price that we all pay

And the value of destiny comes to nothing

I can't tell you where we're going

I guess there was just no way of knowing

I used to think that the day would never come

I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun

My morning sun is the drug that brings me near

To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear

I used to think that the day would never come

That my life would depend on the morning sun

I feel so extraordinary

Something's got a hold on me

I get this feeling I'm in motion

A sudden sense of liberty

The chances are we've gone too far

You took my time and you took my money

Now I fear you've left me standing

In a world that's so demanding

I used to think that the day would never come

I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun

My morning sun is the drug that brings me near

To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear

I used to think that the day would never come

That my life would depend on the morning sun

I used to think that the day would never come

I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun

My morning sun is the drug that brings me near

To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear

I used to think that the day would never come

That my life would depend on the morning sun

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bernard Sumner / Gillian Gilbert / Peter Hook / Stephen Eric Hague / Stephen Paul David Morris

True Faith lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Briefly Philosophizing the Cover Song & Soccer Mommy

How should a band approach a cover? As with most things, I’m torn. Nothing is simple. Life is a multiplicity of ideas and realities.

Sometimes I like a cover that is very straightforward and true to the original. But why, you might ask, when we already have the original? I don’t know. Sometimes I like it when an artist has extended the idea of the cover the same way a composer might reinterpret another classical composition. But if it’s too exotic, well, sometimes that doesn’t work for me. I don’t know. I don’t know why I bother with covers, when there’s always the original. I guess it’s a need for novelty, from time to time. I guess it’s because some bands really do a good job of paying tribute to a band or a song they really love. Maybe that’s it: love.

Love looks everywhere. Or it at least looks. Because it is hopeful.

I hope you enjoy these new playlists. You can find me on Spotify as Tim Lane and follow my playlists.

I am especially fond of covers of The Cars song, “Drive.” Be sure to scroll all the way down for the vid of Soccer Mommy covering this tune.

Galleries

Home of original art, photography, playlists, blog posts, poetry and 80s New Wave coming-of-age novel, Your Silent Face, created by artist and novelist, Tim Lane.

Your Silent Face: The Playlist

This playlist is a companion to my 80s coming-of-age novel, Your Silent Face. Stuart Page is a protagonist obsessed with 80s New Wave and Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Divison. All of the tunes and bands in the playlist get a mention in the novel. The novel is available on Amazon.

Lila, Deftones, Sade Cover

It’s hard to explain the bond between humans and animals. #mainecoon

A New Amazon Review, Aimee Mann & Avalanche

Dan Cronin and I have had a few moments in our formative years that we will always cherish. He left this review of Your Silent Face at Amazon. Below the review, I have left the Spotify playlist which is the companion to my novel, as well as links to all the places where my digital novel can be purchased.

Check out other reviews of YSF at Amazon, and find me on Spotify for more 80s playlists.

Oh, I’ve also left Aimee Mann’s single that came out in September—a Leonard Cohen cover of ‘Avalanche.’

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2020

Terrific read in these covid times. Take a walk back through the mid 80's as a young adult trying to navigate what it means to leave the family home and establish his (or her) identity. Go back to the underground punk rock shows, the alternative music bars, scraping together the change in your pocket for a final beer at last call.

Clock in at your minimum wage job bagging groceries at your locally owned market looking at your co-workers with equal amount distain, dread, and camaraderie.

Walk through the doors at the clubs. Bask in their music that made the 80s: Joy Division, the Cure, Depeche Mode, or whatever is blasting in your mental playlist.

Who are your friends, your peers? Who do you emulate at the scene? Who have you misjudged and who are you going home with when the bar closes?

I loved being able to revisit this time and this place in my life. Thank you Mr. Lane for picking me up in a beat up Buick Skylark and taking me back to downtown Flint for another visit.

Your Silent Face

By Lane, Tim

Buy on Amazon

Photo credit: Greg Cristman

Entanglement

This is one of those rare paintings of mine that unfolds in one sitting over the course of a protracted afternoon. I lost track of time. After about two hours in, I began to struggle with it. It was a like a game of chess; I had managed the opening well enough, but I was floundering in the middle game.

I tried to adjourn the game for another day, but it nagged at me. I kept going. I pushed the painting until I was pleased with it once again, and then I decided to just try to finish it.

I hope you like it. It’s part of The Sublime series, and it is also in the shop (Art for Sale). The Sublime series reflects my preoccupation with quantum mechanics, first contact and the singularity.

Entanglement, 2020

The Sublime

A series of colorful, painterly, expressionistic paintings focused on depictions of space, space travel, portals, parallel universes, first contact and futurism.

The Shop