tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75158692009-08-26T08:14:57.773-05:00Studies, drawings, and paintings using materials and techniques of the artist Franz Kline (1910-1962)Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1104164765212249922004-12-27T10:18:00.000-06:002004-12-27T10:26:05.213-06:00

Yes, this must be me. If you got here from the New York Times article about the Pac Man Mondrian game, you probably are in the right place. If there are other blogs about Franz Kline out there I'd love to hear from you. What this started as was a project for me to get away from a fussy painting style and understand simple, big marks, big colors, black and white, diagonals, and a different way

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1092936603249874412004-08-19T12:26:00.000-05:002004-08-19T12:33:05.633-05:00

I realize it's been awhile, but one thing I've learned is that art doesn't happen linearly, regardless of your best intentions. It's not really Klinish, but everything gets thrown into the art hopper when you're painting. I talk more about it over on the Fresh Paint blog.

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1092895963468053812004-08-19T01:09:00.000-05:002004-08-19T01:12:43.466-05:00

Yes, I'm still here, and will post again a bit later. Until then, check my other blog, Fresh Paint for a few new paintings and general political fun.

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1090524385442337132004-07-22T14:26:00.000-05:002004-07-22T14:58:21.033-05:00

Back in May, I was at the beach without my notebook, and I hadn't bought the camera yet (so my imagination and motor skills were still intact). I drew this little drawing on some lined paper with a pencil scrounged from the floor of the car, but I always liked it. In some ways it's the reason why I wanted to look more closely at Kline, since I wanted to learn how to simplify my work, which had

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1090271508332635852004-07-19T15:46:00.000-05:002004-07-19T16:12:44.060-05:00

Since Kline was working before the invention of acrylics, he of course used oil paint, as do I usually. All my previous posts have been acrylic, however, since I wanted to get stuff done fast. The problem with acrylics, unless you use a whole chemical factory of retardents, flow equalizers, and texturizers, is that they dry very fast with a consistent plasticky surface. Or if watered down, very

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1090033719195820622004-07-16T21:27:00.000-05:002004-07-16T22:08:39.196-05:00

Back to jazz again, but of a different kind. If you've never heard Ken Nordine's Word Jazz, you must. I used to listen to it all the time when it was on public radio (I think) or at least on an FM station back when FM meant "alternative". I used to lie on the floor of my apartment in the dark with speakers all around me hypnotized by Nordine's voice caressing words words words through the

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089845632308257592004-07-14T17:48:00.000-05:002004-07-14T18:54:23.633-05:00

Put on the Kline jazz playlist I've been listening to, and somehow a few lonely songs had got attached to it. Like Nina Simone's heartbreaking "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" that I picked up from the Womenfolk site. Awhile ago, blogger friend ThatColoredFella put out a poll of sorts asking for the songs that made everyone immediately cry as soon as they heard the first notes. I

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089767424081163412004-07-13T19:47:00.000-05:002004-07-13T20:10:24.080-05:00

Being such a representational painter, my working methods thus far have been the following: 1) Set up easel in front of subject 2) Paint subject Until this last challenge (Art By the Inch), I'd never done collages or little goofy things before. Now, with studying Kline, I'm interested in seeing how his working methods might help me. Right after I got my digital camera in May, I wandered

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089678780653577912004-07-12T19:23:00.000-05:002004-07-12T19:33:00.653-05:00

The idea of having Pac Man race around in a Mondrian painting is too wonderful for words (thanks, Boing Boing).Pac-Mondrian Video Game When Piet Mondrian arrived in New York in 1940, he heard the Boogie Woogie piano of Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson, and from then on refused to dance to any other jazz, leaving the floor in a huff if the music didn't boogie. After years of

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089590657044923172004-07-11T18:30:00.000-05:002004-07-11T19:17:18.190-05:00

I suddenly realized that most of you out there have no idea of what my ordinary painting style looks like. Here's a recent portrait, a studio model named Steve. Now you can see why what Kline ended up doing is so very different from my stuff. Everyone is told in class that "all painting is abstract," but some paintings are more abstract than others. Kline went through stylistic changes too.

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089495680287129612004-07-10T16:24:00.000-05:002004-07-10T16:41:20.286-05:00

As promised, here's the one that doesn't quite work, so it's now officially abandoned (until I find it in a pile of stuff someday and decide it isn't that bad after all!) It's bad because 1) it floats in the middle of the plane and 2) the edges of the collaged piece of newspaper are meaningless and mush into nothing. It is not a Kline at all. It isn't even a fake Kline. Have another up to

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089328358934642122004-07-08T17:55:00.000-05:002004-07-08T19:21:52.226-05:00

Have been working on 3 different paintings all day, moving back and forth among them, but none of them jelled or looked particularly Klinish, unlike some of the collages and sketches posted earlier. Went back to the book and tried to figure it out, and here's the answer: One reason why even Kline's small paintings take on a grave and monumental look is that he extends the main forms off the

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089084572090270172004-07-05T22:11:00.000-05:002004-07-05T22:29:32.100-05:00

Here's black over red in a kind of squarish shape that Kline liked, especially in his earlier abstracts. In this one, I worked back and forth with acrylic paint and adjusted by "correcting" with strips of phone book, both yellow pages and regular listings. There's 3 or 4 layers in a few places, and it still looks messy, but the central circle I find interesting, somewhat sexual and female

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1089078354647424212004-07-05T20:41:00.000-05:002004-07-05T20:55:24.663-05:00

Added a few links to the side. The ArtCyclopedia site will lead you to links to museums with Kline collections, so I won't duplicate here. The Beat Museum is kinda interesting in itself. Artnet has an assortment of works on paper. The Weatherspoon Museum has 2 pastel drawings. No black at all! The fan letter from Hedy Lamarr is just charming, that's all. Did a lot more drawings today,

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1088811817398026672004-07-02T17:59:00.000-05:002004-07-02T18:43:37.396-05:00

Starting about 1950, Kline used old phone books as a cheap source of paper.From time to time Kline looked throught these telephone-book drawings, which were stacked by the hundreds in a corner. Selecting one that he felt wold work as a painting, he pasted it to a piece of cardboard. Then, either tacking the drawing beside a canvas or holding it, he followed it closely, painting directly.Here's

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515869.post-1088790479939525522004-07-02T12:35:00.000-05:002004-07-11T19:17:42.730-05:00

There. That's better. I'm warning you all, if you don't want to spend tons of time loading pages filled with artwork you probably don't care about, leave now. Go on! Scoot! I am not in love with this man because I have no life of my own, as some have suggested, though maybe so. Here he is: Here's one of my versions of him: And here's how he did a portrait from a photo of Nijinsky:

Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495850834415117276noreply@blogger.com