The Great Mandala

It's been a while since I posted here, mostly because I've been preparing to move this journal over to my personal website.

And though it has taken a bit longer than expected, the new site is now up, and functional, so over the course of the next month, after Alchemy, I will be transposing all these posts in to the new site. When this happens, I will be closing down this journal.

The new home is:

www.sfumato420.com/

After Alchemy, next week, the new site will become highly active, changing almost daily.

I've been able to create separate journals for each painting and tie them all together.

Also, on the site, I broadcast my WebTV station that shows the various videos of my pieces I have created, plus other related videos from other artists. Of particular interest is the one by Alex Grey talking about how his painting of Gaia had a premonition of the 911 attack. Check it out.

Everything is beginning to accelerate.

I want to thank you all for following along here. In many ways, you have inspired me to keep going when I wanted to give up.

I hope you come along on the next stage of this journey. It's going to be fucking amazing.

Shine On.

I have been working on finalizing the plans for this years Alchemy's Effigy, and while doing so, got inspired to do this.




24" x 48" - Oil on Canvas

Also, I have done a "Meditation" Video illustrating the relationship of my painting with the geometry of Angkor Wat.

The music is also written by me, and is the first of a bunch of experiments that will be tying music as a geometrical and mathematical symbol to my artwork. I am trying to use each painting as a musical score in 4 dimensions.

Here is a photo of Angkor Wat. To me, it has been a symbol of the most beautiful piece of Architecture created by humanity. To me, it also represents Spiritual Science.

I have always wanted to do a study of this building, and over the past couple of months, I have begun to paint one.

Also, the video has been updated to reflect the latest.

I know it has been a while, and I have a lot to update. I've been painting like crazy, trying as best as possible to stay focused and finish all the paintings I have currently started.

Over the next few days, I hope to update some more, but for now, here is the update on Sunstone.

I've been struggling for the past year or so trying to figure out how I want to set up my website for my artwork, and I think I have finally figured it out.

Basically, my website is set up like a Labrynth where each picture leads to others, some paths obvious, others hidden, and some dead ends.

All my Oil paintings are uploaded, so if you browse through the site, and you do not see one of my pieces, than you missed a link somewhere.

Anyway, have fun.

www.sfumato420.com

The first rendition of the website is now up.

www.sfumato420.com

check it out.

Sophia - This is only a working title.

This is another 48" x 48" Canvas, and it's purpose is to explore the relationships with the cards within the Tarot deck, but also in relation to the Astrological Wheel as painted in The Wandering Wheel.

Here is the beginning geometrical pattern I started with:



And once I had this pattern, I was a bit unsure as to which way to take the painting. So, I decided to make this an exercise, and to just go with it, not think about what I was doing, and see where the moment took me. I also wanted to use this opportunity to release some more fears about putting a brush to the canvas, so my intent was to paint fast, as well.

And roughly 5 hours later, I found myself looking at this:



About halfway through, I started to fear I made a big mistake, but pushing on, I was able to begin wrangling the piece towards a direction I felt happy with.

Of course, this is only the beginning of a long painting, and what you see here is the first of many layers.

Also, the trick will be to lign the Tarot cards within this structure.

The High Arcana cards are already figured out, as well as some of the Minor Arcana. Like I've mentioned before, the hope is to portray the entire deck into one relational painting so as to be able to see how the cards work with each other.

This was a big accomplishment for me, being that this is the first time I covered an entire 48" x 48" sized canvas.

Well, after a week and a half, Sunstone finally has dried to the point I could work the next aspects of the calendar, and as you can see, the are beginning to reveal themselves. Even gazing upon the geometry at the center, the GodFace can begin to be seen, poking through the patterns like through the clouds.

Not much to say but that I am moving along at a nice pace. I am beginning to feel an air of confidence with my technique as my fears slowly fade away. One of the issues I am trying to resolve in my practice is the sluggishness I feel due to many fears I have as an artist.

Also, doing an Art crawl this weekend and actually going to a well established gallery over in the RAD district near Avondale Estates, I saw how far I still need to go.

I still feel I am a long way from feeling truly confident to put my work into a gallery, and I hope that my focus on completing all the pieces I currently have started this year will put my into that position.

This piece is really exciting me. I've come real far with it in a short time span. I have about 12-14 hours into it so far, and I could not be happier. There are two more things I plan to do to it by the end of the day Monday, then it will have to sit for about 1 month to dry before I can do the next part.

The reason I need to let it dry is that I plan to, and I'm not sure if the term is glaze or wash, over the entire surface with a tad too much oil so the paint will run and create the illusions of cracks. If you've seen the Rivendell piece in person, you know what I plan to do to it.

Anyway, here it is as of now:



And so you can get an idea of the scale:

96" x 36" Oil on Canvas

So last night, after I posted the sketched geometry, I proceeded to begin defining the geometry with color. The color is mostly a representation of where the darkened areas, or places of shadow are located within the composition. Also, you can clearly see the definition of each framed or "white" area where there are scenes placed upon the ceiling.

I still have a long way to go before I can begin to paint each individual scene being that I am going to be focusing on the Architectural parts, which act as a backdrop, and dividing mechanism within the composition.

Here is a photo of the canvas with the ceiling geometry sketched upon it. Michelangelo used this geometry to frame each of his scenes, dividing them with architectural features. This was the first step.

The next step is to begin adding color and painting the architectural features to the point of about 75% completion before I begin to add the human figures.

You may have noticed that I have begun quite a lot of large works. You may also ask why I can't work on just one work at a time. There is a number of reasons for this.

1. Oil paint takes a long time to dry. And if I do a great amount of work on one canvas, I have to let it sit for about a week, and yet, it may still be wet. In fact, most oil paintings take up to a full year to thoroughly dry before you can put a varnish on it. It is also noted that many paintings you see in museums that are oils are hanging there still wet in one form or another. So, what do I do when a painting is in the drying stage before I can put the next layer on it. Simple, have others that I am working on, and switch of on them.

2. I also paint within my current moods, and sometimes I want to paint this, or paint that, or I feel the need to work in a particular color, or pattern, or work on detail or landscape. Sometimes, I don't even take the canvases off the wall, and paint directly on them for 5 minutes. I may paint something on one canvas and realize that it would also work with modifications on another canvas.

3. I have ADD (Arian Diety Delusion). So they say.

4. Sometimes I take a painting as far as I can take it, working out specifics within the details, and I can't go any further until I work through design issues, which usually take the form of another canvas.

Now, with that said, this last big canvas is the last one I am starting. I am making a point not to begin anymore until one of the current one's is finished.

My goal for this year, other than MasterWork #2, is to have every single piece I have currently started (except for the Tarot Mandala and the Sistine Chapel) and ready to go into a gallery by Jan of next year.

At which time, I will have a collection of pieces ready to go, and can begin new ones. It will be the end of one phase and the beginning of a new one. I am going to consider all the painting I have currently started (that are not MasterWorks, #1, #2, Tarot Mandala & Sistine Chapel.) as a single phase or series.

Anyway, Shine On.

Keith

So, last week I posted a pic of the new  canvas I just built. It's another painting I have been wanting to do.



In fact, i already attempted it once, but more as a study of its geometry:



However, this was the first canvas I had ever built on my own, and unfortunately, I did not take into account the dried gessoed canvas would pull the sides in, and not building a central brace, the canvas is warped in at the center, the long way, by 1 1/2". So needless to say, I was a bit discouraged from taking it any further. I have, though, aways intended to redo the canvas, and my thought was do make it slightly larger.

Why? cause there will be a lot of detail on it. In fact, this is what I intend to paint on it:



My reason for doing this is that this ceiling is one of the reasons why I took up oil painting 4 years ago, and I have always wanted a version of it to hang somewhere in my house, nad of course, painting it on the ceiling of a rented house is not a good idea.

I am also painting it because I wish to study it, both in context, and in form.

You see, one of my weaknesses is the human form, and I look at this painting as a sort of crash course in painting the human form. I also love the fact that Michelangelo never considered himself a painter, never wanted to do this ceiling, and in fact, all his human forms were painted through the eyes of a sculptor and not a painter.

The reason for starting this now is mainly due in part to a level of disappointment I have in my first MasterWork I did last year. Don't get me wrong, I love what I did, am amazed at it, and feel it is the best thing I haver ever completed. However, I did ot have the skill or expertise to take it in the direction I wanted to take it. And in a way, someday, I may go back to it and finish it the way I want to finish it.

Anyway, I will be posting the progress here. I intend to paint the ceiling in the progression that Michelangelo himself did, and make a progression video documenting the endeavor.

In a way, this journal has become more of a journal of all my art, and not just particular pieces.

I also hope by midyear, to have had the time to migrate to a more permanent steeing on a dedicated website.

Shine On.

Keith

I have built a new canvas.