The David Oleski Studio Journal: Spring 2003

The Paintings of David Oleski The Studio Journal
Spring of the Year 2003

Previous issues: Winter 2002/03
Fall 2002 | Summer 2002 | Spring 2002 | Winter 2001/02
Fall 2001 | Summer 2001 | Spring 2001 | Winter 2000/01
Fall 2000 | Summer 2000 | Spring 2000 | Winter 1999/2000
Fall 1999 | Summer 1999 | Spring 1999 | Winter 1998/99

See the Gallery for some exciting detailed images of the artist's work. Read about his recent adventures in southeast Asia in The Travelogue of Thailand.
Friday, June 20, 2003
I've spent the final days of the spring season relaxing and catching up on paperwork. I'm gearing up for a few more floral paintings in the next few days, assuming that it actually stops raining at some point. Looking back over the previous entries of the past three months I can see that I've been quite energetic and productive. I immersed myself in apples and white tulips, while trying many different backdrop colors to keep things hopping and popping. My display last weekend in Chicago was full of bright and vibrant colors. I'm looking forward to continuing my exploration into these bold new color combinations.
Lastly, we had to say goodbye to our good friend, my cat of the past 12 years, Jeckyl. He was found along a sidewalk as an infant, blind and helpless. Rather than give up on the crusty little animal I figured out how to bottle feed him and give him the care and time to keep him alive long enough to become a cat. He had always been a strange and lively animal. At receptions and parties I would have in the studio, Jeckyl would always be in the middle of the floor, having an ongoing dialogue with the crowd. He was always the first to greet a new guest, and while being gentle and tolerant of babies and toddlers, he would hiss and swat aggressively at any stranger that actually touched him. Wacky and bipolar cat. We continue to miss him.
Read on...to Summer of 2003
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
We got back from Chicago on Monday night, and spent yesterday recuperating from the long and strenuous weekend. Now the cold and exhaustion seems to have caught up with both of us, and we're both suffering from stuffy heads and aching bodies. Hopefully this passes quickly, as we both have many things to do. I'm anxious to get started on another painting as soon as possible, but I'm feeling fairly useless right now. The weekend in Chicago was excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed both the city and the people. Several paintings found new homes, so it was a successful weekend in many ways. We had a chance to meet up with some of our good friends from the show circuit, including the painter Richard Harrington and his daughter Emily, photographer Luca Battaglia and pastel artist Jeffrey Cannon and his wife Paige. Even the show promoter Amy Amdur stopped by to talk about my work and my upcoming shows. It would have been nice to spend some time kicking around the city before our return trip, but the weekend really knocked the stuffing out of us.
Thursday, June 12, 2003
I brought the painting of three granny smith apples to a smashing and dynamic finish.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

I made it to Philadelphia and back to get four dozen frames, and spent most of the evening getting new work framed and ready for the show. I have a few more things to load into the already packed van in the morning. If I hit the bed right now, I'll have five hours of sleep before I jump up, pack a few more things, and then we're off to Chicago. We're excited despite being totally and completely exhausted.
I'm starting to think about how nice it would be to have an even bigger van. We'll see how things go this weekend.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
The new painting of three granny smith apples is almost finished. I've made great progress in the past two days, and this piece will easily be finished tomorrow. In the morning I'll be heading to Philadelphia to pick up some frames, but I should be back early enough in the afternoon to wrap up this painting without any problem.

Tuesday, June 10, 2003
We're back from the Rittenhouse Square show, and we're both exhausted. Four long days on the sidewalks of Philadelphia has really knocked the stuffing out of us. Between standing in 10 hours of pouring rain on Saturday to barely keeping up with a Sunday afternoon buying frenzy, we're both still in shock. Day after day of looking into the eyes of those people that have invited my work to be a part of their world has reaffirmed my connection with my audience and what I am doing. We saw many old friends, including Marshall Burns, Stephen Brehm and the legendary Jeff Schaller, and we wound up making many new friends, both artists and new clients.
Rather than be exhausted and only flopping down on the couch with the cats, I decided to dive into an aggressive but simple arrangement of three granny smith apples. I'll be looking down on this setup, so the same surface will create the foreground as will create the background. I tried swapping out a few different colored backdrops to act as reflectors to color the arrangement with a subtle hue, beginning with yellow and settling on blue. It's all I can do to hit this piece with the energy needed to push it to completion before we have to leave on Friday for this coming weekend's show in Chicago. It's already quite rich and lively with bold simplicity.

Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Yesterday was dark all day. As soon as the sky brightened even the slightest bit today I finished the painting of a mixed trio of apples.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Early tomorrow morning I'm leaving for the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show in Philadelphia. I'll be back on Sunday night.
Monday, June 2, 2003
I slammed down some paint to get a good start on the new painting of a mixed trio of apples. Tomorrow should see this piece snap into focus, and probably come very close to being finished.

Sunday, June 1, 2003
The sun briefly came out this afternoon, and I started mixing colors for a small painting of a mixed trio of apples. This should be a quick and fun little painting.
Friday, May 30, 2003
I finished the new series of paintings of gala apples and a pear.

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Click on the image to see a larger version.
Thursday, May 29, 2003
I started on a tryptic of two gala apples and a bosc pear. At first I was going to execute this as three separate paintings, each a complete work unto itself, but working on all three together seems to bind them compositionally. In an effort to keep things loose and easy, I should be finished with this piece tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 28, 2003
I am now finally finished with the large painting of three gala apples. I was successful in roughing things up by slamming some big color decisions around. Right now I still feel a little raw and ripped up about this piece, but I will admit that it does have quite a bit of snap and sizzle.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

However, the really exciting news is that Heather and I started our herb garden today, with two basil plants, one curly parsley, one of cilantro and another of rosemary. I quickly figured out and finished a project I've always wanted to do, to cut into a water line and install a brass hose bib. We then ran a long hose, leading to a sprayer nozzle, the whole way across the room to the planters by the window. I'm a little disappointed that the nozzle drips a little when the water is turned on. I'm not sure if there is a way around this. I guess I'll just have to figure it out.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
I'm now at that terrible point of a painting where I feel that I've gone too far. It's strange how it can just sneak up on you, when one minute you're productively articulating curves and pushing and pulling the light and the space, and the next minute you're suddenly greasing over everything and turning the bold and defining colors into mud. Tomorrow I will start hacking some stuff out and carving things back into shape. At some point I'll hopefully find a decent balance before I go totally insane.
Monday, May 26, 2003 Memorial Day
I continued to develop the large painting of gala apples against a dark violet backdrop. I've quickly built up a surface, although it is somewhat of a race to keep things wet and moving. It seems as though the underlying paint is drawing the oil out of the brushstrokes I'm laying onto the surface, and things are setting up pretty quickly. The painting will probably wind up looking like the surface of a freshly iced cake by the time I'm done with it. Tomorrow should hopefully see this painting almost finished.

Sunday, May 25, 2003
It has continued to be dark for several days, and at all times there seems to be a black cloud on the horizon, threatening to blot out the sunlight completely. I managed to find another bouquet of red tulips, but they proceeded to bloom and start losing their color while storms continued to cast a shadow over Mount Joy. This morning I scraped off the canvas in resignation, and started painting a trio of gala apples using the same dark violet background. I managed to block out the colors just to get things started, and I should be able to continue on this piece despite the dismal weather forecast for this coming week.

Thursday, May 22, 2003
The past two days have been dark and overcast, but I decided to just get started on blocking in colors to get things started on this painting. It's tough making color decisions on such a dark painting when it is so dark outside as well. Of course the tulips have almost completely bloomed, and are showing no signs of relaxing at all. I may be racing down to the Central Market in the morning to see if there might be another bouquet to replace these. The fun just never stops.

Tuesday, May 20, 2003
I started mixing colors for yet one more large painting of yet one more bouquet of tulips, only this time they will be red tulips against a deep muted violet background. This should be an exciting painting.
Monday, May 19, 2003
People are often surprised when I express my frustration with my own work. Turning my last finished piece to face the wall is the only way I can approach my next painting with a clear head, otherwise I'm haunted with self doubt on anything I try next. Sometimes I can only see my work as a composite of the struggles and and the interlocking mesh of unsolved puzzles. Sometimes I can only see the paint, and not the illusions I'm attempting to create by transcending what I see, and instead capturing how I see. At the beginning of a session, I can see a cohesive and elegantly simple study of a subject, but several hours later all I can see is the contrivances I've created from areas that were once transparent displays to the product of my abilities of observation. The final marks are always both an exercise in restraint and the challenge of attempting to completely step out of who I am, and to see the painting not as a painting but as the capture of life and light. Walking away from a finished piece sometimes seems to only be a lesson in humility and resignation. I guess this will all add up to something good.
Aside from all this, I believe I'm finished with this large painting of white tulips against a dark yellow background.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Sunday, May 18, 2003
I continued to develop the large painting of white tulips against a dark yellow background. Things are a little crazy at this point, and I'm still roughing in some of the basic drafting decisions while the flowers writhe about like tentacles in the changing temperatures of the studio.

Saturday, May 17, 2003
Today I started on a large painting of white tulips against a dark yellow background.

Here is an image of the first rough sketch,

and here is how it looked after throwing down some paint. At this early point it seems like a solid foundation, but tomorrow should see things really start coming into shape. Hopefully this bouquet doesn't change too much before tomorrow's session.

Thursday, May 15, 2003
I started mixing colors for another large painting of white tulips, this time against a dark yellow ochre background. This seems to be an exciting color combination, and I'm looking forward to diving into this new adventure. Of course this will all hinge on me finding yet one more bouquet of white tulips in the morning, so the adventure may begin before the next painting session even starts.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
The painting of white tulips against a dark red background is now finished.

Click on the image to see a larger version.
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
I am almost finished with the large painting of white tulips against a dark red background. Things have fattened up nicely, and many of the colors have acquired a substantial depth and complexity. Tomorrow will be spent addressing just a few more details before I call it finished.
Monday, May 12, 2003
The large painting of white tulips continued to come into focus today. It felt as though I was careening madly on the edge of control and utter mayhem as I continued to slam down more and more paint. The tulips have lasted well over the past few days, but I'm sure they'll soon give out as I hopefully come close to finishing this piece by the end of tomorrow's session.

And on a side note, happy birthday to my brother Daniel and his wife Lisa, who share a birthday by some freakish and bizarre fluke of chance.

Sunday, May 11, 2003 Mother's Day
I continued to develop the large painting of white tulips today, but attention to our Mother's Day festivities kept me from making the major strides forward I had hoped to see. Tomorrow I will attack this piece with renewed aggression and ambition, to hopefully push it over the top and on down the home stretch.
Saturday, May 10, 2003
I managed to find a nice bouquet of white tulips at my favorite flower stand at the Central Market, and I raced home to get started on a large painting of the tulips up against a dark red background. I mixed the preliminary colors and just managed to block in the entire canvas before the end of today's session. With the huge amounts of paint that I mixed I should easily be able to build up the surface tomorrow. It's nice to be diving deep into a large painting again.

Friday, May 9, 2003
Most of this week the sky was dark and overcast, and the few afternoons that had fleeting periods of sunlight I was not ready to start anything. I've been preparing some large canvases, and tomorrow I'll be looking for some flowers for my next painting.
Monday, May 5, 2003
We're back from New York City. On Thursday night after setting up we went to an open studio being held by our artist friend Sasha Meret. We had much to talk about, and as a result we were still awake altogether too late on the night before the first day of the show. And then for three days we felt as though we were in the center of the universe, displaying my work almost directly in front of the statue of Prometheus at the skating rink of Rockefeller Center. Throughout the day we heard many different languages from the crushing crowds, and we struggled to pick up bits and pieces of what people were saying about the work. Several paintings found new homes, and several hundred business cards have been handed out to expose so many more people to my world. Of course now Heather wants to live in New York City, and I'm already looking forward to next year's show.
Unfortunately upon our return we've found that Jeckyl's condition has decayed rapidly. This afternoon we'll be taking him to the vet to have him put to sleep, as he seems to be suffering badly. It is very sad, after such a thrilling weekend to have to resign myself to giving up on trying to bring Jeckyl back. We're doing what we can to make him comfortable for the next few hours. At this point I don't know what else to do. We're just pacing around here in the silence of the studio, miles and miles from anywhere.
We just got home.
Jeckyl 1991 - 2003

Wednesday, April 30, 2003
I spent the day in preparation for this weekend's show in New York City. It should be a fun weekend.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
I'm finally finished with the tryptic of gala apples.

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Click on the image to see a larger version
Monday, April 28, 2003
I spent the day hammering out some more paint onto this tryptic of gala apples. There is now a rich and lively surface, and I should easily be finished with this painting tomorrow. I may immediately start another painting, although it's more likely that I'll be scrambling to prepare for this weekend's show at Rockefeller Center.
Sunday, April 27, 2003
After taking a day off due to lack of sunlight, I made a strong start on the tryptic of three gala apples. So far this doesn't feel like the foundation of anything unfamiliar, and for this reason I feel that I've done this painting before. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I can start building up a surface and hopefully making this feel like something exciting again.

Friday, April 25, 2003
I started mixing colors for another tryptic of gala apples against different colored backgrounds, until the sky continued to grow darker and darker. The session then turned into an ambitious spring cleaning as Heather and I started organizing and cleaning the studio. In the end I'll hope to have even more room to step back and see what I'm doing.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
I am now actually finished with the painting of white tulips against a dark red background. Things really snapped together at the end of the session, and I feel that this is a strong and solid painting.

Click on the image to see a larger version

Wednesday, April 23, 2003
I continued to work on the painting of white tulips against a dark red background. This painting is very close to being finished, and I should have this wrapped up by the end of tomorrow's session.

Tuesday, April 22, 2003
I finally found a nice bouquet of white tulips at the Central Market this morning. I wasted no time making a good start on a mid-sized painting of the bouquet up against a dark red background, similar to the piece I finished last month. On the second time around for this bold color combination I have an easier time trusting that the composite of such strikingly different colors will eventually mesh together to create a sense of light and depth.

Yesterday I actually made an appointment to have Jeckyl put to sleep, and we spent a long and difficult day saying goodbye in the hours leading up to the scheduled time. Shortly before we had to leave I decided to let him out on the roof one last time. He started chattering and following me around, and I realized that he was far too happy for a cat that was about to die. We canceled the appointment and took him down to ground level and turned him loose in the beirgarten of the restaurant below us. While we sat and had a couple of pints he scampered around in the cold, exploring the new place. He seems to have a newfound respect for life and is eating and drinking on his own again. He's still thin and feeble, but he's starting to act like a cat again. It's nice to have him back.
Sunday, April 20, 2003 Easter Sunday
What a rough day. I couldn't find another bouquet of tulips, and I couldn't find satisfaction in either of the bouquets of flowers that I did have. With lack of any better ideas I grabbed the yellow pepper that Heather picked out for a vegetable stir fry. I banged out a small study of this very difficult subject. The biggest struggle was trying to identify the difference between actual shadow and the light that glowed from within the shadows from the translucent nature of the pepper.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

The biggest struggle of the day was in dealing with Jeckyl. Once again he lost all interest in eating, and we spent the day force feeding him. It's as if he has already made the decision to just give up. All tests came back saying that he is apparently healthy, with no sign of infection or ailment, yet he is listless and unresponsive. Once we finish forcing food and water down his throat he becomes lively and animated again, but I question what the quality of his life could possibly be for us to maintain this routine. We'll talk to the vet tomorrow, but Heather and I are preparing ourselves to just let him go. I let him spend the day out on the roof, basking in the sun and the breeze, since it might be his last day.
Saturday, April 19, 2003
Despite having two bouquets of flowers, I found myself floundering over getting started on a painting. I started mixing colors for a mid-sized painting of tulips, but decided halfway through that they weren't quite white enough. Rather than beat my head against the frustrations of what is available to me, we're going out to pick up groceries and browse through the floral selection of the supermarket. As things sit, I have many of the colors already mixed for tomorrow's session, if I find the white tulips I need.
On a side note, I received the acceptance letter for the Armonk show in September in New York State, about 35 miles north of NYC. My summer and fall schedule is now completely full of some of the most prestigious shows in the country. This is all very exciting for us.
Friday, April 18, 2003 Good Friday
The painting of two granny smith apples is now actually finished.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Heather picked up a nice bouquet of white tulips, and another bouquet of daisies for this weekend's painting adventures. I'm looking forward to diving into some new paintings.
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Not much to report. Today was a rough day, and as a result I got very little done. I think this painting is finished. I'll have a look in the morning and post the final image.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
I'm almost finished with the new painting of two granny smith apples. I'll probably have a few details to address tomorrow before I can call it finished.
Jeckyl's condition is continuing to worsen. I'll be force feeding him over the next day or two, but if things don't start to turn around I'm afraid I'll have to make some hard decisions. It's terrible to see him so frail and withered.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Today has just gone on forever. This morning I took the van to the body shop for some detail work, then met up with fellow artist Stephen Brehm to help him get started with his website, finally finished my taxes and mailed them off, fixed a broken spurting water line in the hotel and then actually managed to get some work done on this mid-sized painting of two granny smith apples. Things are coming along nicely, and tomorrow should see this painting all but finished.

On a side note, I've finally been accepted to the Long's Park Art Show after five years of trying. Shazam.
Monday, April 14, 2003
I finally wrapped up the giant painting of three granny smith apples.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

I actually thought I might paint something other than apples for a change. Instead, I wasted no time blocking in colors on a relatively small painting of only two granny smith apples in a vertical format for a commission. Tomorrow I should be starting to whip up a nice surface on this piece.

Sunday, April 13, 2003
Of course nothing is easy. I struggled and struggled trying to find the final marks that could resolve this painting. At one point I was so close to completion, I could almost taste it, when suddenly things spun madly out of control again. As of the end of today's session I feel that it might possibly be finished, but I'll have to make the final call after seeing it in the light of day tomorrow.
It just goes on and on.
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Yesterday wound up being very dismal and overcast, so I decided to hold off on trying to develop the painting in such oppressive darkness. Today the sun was strong and bright, and after a long and energetic session the painting is now almost finished. Tomorrow I'll need only to address a few of the detail areas while blocking in some corrections to some of the larger transitional areas. This piece should easily be finished tomorrow afternoon.

This morning we took Jeckyl in to the vet for another test. It seems that he's still not out of the woods, and there is still some sort of infection running rampant in his system. Hopefully we'll find out what can be done for him over the next few days.
Thursday, April 10, 2003
And suddenly the sun came out, and the paint started really flying. I made some serious progress on the giant painting of three granny smith apples. It should start coming down the home stretch tomorrow.

On a side note, I received my acceptance letter to the Art in the Square show in Madison, Wisconsin in July.
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
It's been dark and overcast for days, but I decided to start on an even larger painting of the same three granny smith apples. I will attempt to see this piece finished with a speed and brevity not seen by the last painting of this subject. Of course I will be struggling to find color within the darkness over the next few days as the forecast does not include any substantial amount of sunlight until this coming weekend.

Sunday, April 6, 2003
Yesterday was amazingly dark throughout the entire day, so I did not get any work done at all on the large painting of three granny smith apples. Today was finally bright and sunny, and I put in long and grueling session attacking the entire canvas with more and more paint. At the end of the day my hands were shaking from fatigue, but I believe I am finished with this painting.

Click on the image to see a larger version.
Friday, April 4, 2003
The day remained fairly dark and overcast throughout the afternoon. I did block in some large areas of color, but I didn't have enough light to find most of the colors needed to make some real progress with this painting. Hopefully there is enough sunlight tomorrow that I might get things moving again.
Thursday, April 3, 2003
We decided against going to Philadelphia this morning in favor of getting some things done around the studio. I managed to get in a few more hours of work on the large painting of three granny smith apples. For the longest time I kept layering paint on and scraping it back off without any apparent progress. I was surprised when suddenly things started to come together, and I was able to capture the brilliant warm glow of light within this setup. Tomorrow should see this piece start to really look like something.

We picked Jeckyl up from the vet after my painting session had ended. He was groggy and very crusty looking, but he seemed to perk up a little once we got him back up to the studio. Now I have a little sealed glass tube labeled "Jeckyl Oleski" with his long discolored fang clinking around in it.
Wednesday, April 2, 2003
This morning I looked at the painting of a single royal gala apple, scratched my signature into the thick wet paint and called it finished.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

I wasted no time diving into a large painting of three bold green granny smith apples.
I'm not sure if it's the brilliant light of spring or just too much time spent in a dark room, but I keep finding myself being amazed and inspired by the brilliance and luminosity of my subjects and setups.

First thing tomorrow we'll drop Jeckyl off at the vet for his dental work, and then we'll be picking up some frames in Philadelphia later in the morning. I'm already looking forward to getting back to work on this painting in the afternoon.
Tuesday, April 1, 2003 April Fool's Day
I decided to wrap up my gala apple experience with a single small painting of the middle apple from yesterday's tryptic. The orange and red apple is fierce and lively against the blue background, almost like the vibrant colors of a sunset. After only one exciting session this painting is all but finished. I'll make the final call in the light of day tomorrow.
We retrieved Jeckyl from his overnight stay at the veterinarian. He seems shrunken and shriveled from the experience. He's on antibiotics in preparation of his dental appointment on Thursday. Hopefully he'll be back to his old reckless, rambunctious and bipolar self before too long.

Monday, March 31, 2003
I finished the tryptic of three gala apples.

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Click on the images to see a larger version.

Ever since we've returned from Florida our cat Jeckyl seems to be growing thin and feeble. Over this past weekend the problem became very obvious, so this afternoon we took him to the vet. They kept the little guy overnight for different reasons, but it seems that the main problem is that he'll need some dental work. Hopefully it's nothing more serious than one bad tooth.
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Another dark and overcast day didn't stop me from continuing to develop the tryptic of three gala apples. I believe I'll be within striking distance of completing this piece by the end of my next session.
Saturday, March 29, 2003
The sky started out dark and then proceeded to almost black as the afternoon progressed. I still managed to make some progress on the tryptic of gala apples, although most of the day's session felt like a great struggle. For the most part I've worked up a nice surface, but there are still some broad and sweeping decisions that will have to be made to guide this down the path toward completion.

Friday, March 28, 2003
Today the tryptic of gala apples started coming together.

Here is an image of the first rough sketch,

and here is how it looked after blocking in the first layer of colors in the final minutes of sunlight. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, as this already feels like an exciting piece.
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Spring started without me, and I'm scrambling to get things moving again. I started mixing colors for a tryptic of gala apples for a commission. So far nothing has gone down on the canvas; hopefully tomorrow sees some things starting to happen.
Here is the painting I finished on the day we left for Tampa over a week ago.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

If you find yourself hungering for yet more dramatization of the angst of a painter, see Winter 2003 for the previous season's struggles.

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