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Rob Dunlavey
Painting in Progress
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A current effort. I was given this easel in high school and I've carted it around all this time. It's cheap but it makes it easier to keep multiple things going.
I imagine that there are many ways to go about a dedicated and disciplined painting regimen. For several years I desired and imagined getting back into painting. I had a show in 2005 and I treated it like a commission: I painted for the show. Tick-tock!
I'm doing a similar thing now in preparation for a show next December. It's a low-profile affair but it has given me the impetus to get off my rear end and move some of my sketchbook-centric art-making into more public and saleable formats.

I started out with all these odd plywood panels and a bunch of cans of left-over house paint. No sketching; just dive in and see what develops. So far, I've been pleased with the process: I've done about 25 paintings and the original set of graphic ideas is starting to branch out and get very nourishing.
This really horizontal canvas suggested a wolf or something, so there she is. I'm using some cut outs to figure out what's going on underneath. Maybe that's trash or broken glass. Lots of questions to ponder.
There are a ton of influences coming out as I finish them: Morris Graves, Jerome Snyder, Paul Klee, Bill Traylor… I'm sure you'll detect others. They started out just being geometric. Now there are animals and, probably, figures later on starting to get into situations in my compositions.
three early geometric ones
I think I've just completed this one. The forms, as they suggest themselves and are generated generally dictate what will happen next. In this case, the geometric kryptonite stuff was in place first. Will it be a mountain? A cave? Near the ocean? Even though it's very static, can I suggest movement? Maybe these fragile little birds can impede its progress long enough for it to come to a stop. I guess this is about sticking up for the little guy who's here one day and gone the next.

Stay tuned!
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