Saturday, June 29, 2013

New work

"Bluestocking babe" oil on linen by Kerry Steele
I finished two oil on linen paintings this week. They were both canvases in limbo that I had put aside because I was not pleased with the direction they were going. That is how I get unstuck.
"Bluestocking babe" got a massive edit to the fist go which was an oil and charcoal figure that started out beautifully and then I gave her red hair. Suddenly she was a cartoon hooker and I couldn't even look at it.
I prefer her in the abstract.
The word bluestocking means a woman with strong scholarly or literary interests. Now at least she is a smart tart.

"Laying under the table and dreaming" oil on linen by Kerry Steele

Twice this week I heard the Dave Matthews song "Ants marching" on the radio. Its been years but every time I hear it the line "and he remembers being small, laying under the table and dreaming" brings back an assortment of memories. This painting is sort of the way I can illustrate that.

I am occasionally asked how I come up with titles for my paintings. Sometimes it is very easy sometimes not when it is not I use this random title generator. I generally don't take exactly what it spits out but it gives words to me quickly and one jumps out I go with it.
If you ever need to kill a few minutes, use it. It will make you laugh with titles like "Broken wind" (I am not making that up) and other nonsense that is amusing.





4 comments:

An Urban Cottage said...

I love the paintings when you leave raw linen exposed.

I'm not a big fan of naming nonobjective paintings because I find they sometimes vary from the vibe I'm getting from the painting. It's like the names of paint colors in the fan deck. I might love a color until I see it has a name like Taos Tan that doesn't fit my East coast, historical house.

Vel Criste said...

Gorgeous!!!! Love the "bluestocking babe" more!! You are amazing Kerry!

Btw, I'm posting 2 pictures of your artwork (with proper link backs of course) too in the blogger series" Hope you don't mind? Thank you!!! Posting it peter tonight!

Unknown said...

Of course I think the new paintings are lovely, and I always wondered how painting names come about!

Unknown said...

Love this new work. Are they going in the gallery? Im so excited for you!
xo Nancy