Grant Wiggins

Raw Power is just about complete — only small touch-ups left.

Lots of weird things happened on the way to finishing this painting. The composition proved trickier to paint than I imagined. Required a lot of planning, in terms of putting down layers. At one point, on Sunday, the entire right side (the orange sections with larger stripes) had to be completely redone. Thought an improvisational deviation from the original sketch would look cooler, but that proved negative.

Getting to improvise, though, is one of the main reasons why I paint. Sometimes I wonder why I paint, since I design everything digitally first. After all, isn’t graphic design enough proof of concept? There’s something about painting that keeps me doing it, but I can’t quite explain it. Perhaps it’s the physicality of painting — the intensity and richness of paint on canvas.

Regardless, after almost letting this piece get away from me on Sunday evening, I’m relieved that it’s just about complete. The challenge is always worth it.

In other news: Wednesday night (tomorrow), I will be showing paintings at Plaid Eatery, 1044 E. Terrace Road, #4, in Tempe, from 8 to 11 pm. A few DJ friends are going to throw down house and drum ‘n’ bass. Should be a good time. Earlier, I had reported that I will be painting “live” there, but that’s not the case. Maybe in July.

— Grant Wiggins

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

Filet o’ fish? No filet o’ fish.

I hope you have found this post as rewarding to read as it was to write.

— Grant Wiggins

This is what happens when you listen to Raw Power by Iggy & the Stooges three times in one day.

Above: The Festina composition that I wrote about yesterday. Colors are fluorescent orange, navy and white on light yellow. Eyesore, in a good way. The camera won’t take in the totality of the colors; it went on strike. Not quite Eurobad ’74 proportions, but getting there.

Thank you for visiting. I hope you have found this entry worthwhile.

— Grant Wiggins

The paint is now drying on my newest painting in my visual art studio, titled Accident / Escape. This piece measures 16 inches high by 20 wide and is based on the hexagonal star pattern I developed a couple of months back. (It’s also the same pattern for Like Antique Shopping 100 Years from Now, shown below.)

The painting got its name because the composition was developed accidentally, and the pieces that were stranded to the left seemed to be floating away — escaping. And to my surprise, I’m attracted to the mod, geometric starkness of black on white. I’ve always liked Franz Kline’s black-on-white paintings, abstract expressionist pieces like Accent Grave, which is in the collection of my hometown museum, Cleveland Museum of Art. Regardless, black on white is something I really haven’t explored in my own paintings.

And to the right is a little bonus: the view from my visual studio window. Here, a ready-to-bloom red yucca in the foreground and roses in full bloom on the neighbor’s side. We’re nearing the beginning of summer in Arizona … the sun is starting to become blinding.

More soon: I’ve completed lots of Art Lottery designs lately. I’ll be posting those next.

— Grant Wiggins

Here’s a photo, taken in my home art studio this afternoon, of Like Antique Shopping 100 Years from Now in progress. (For a sketch, see my art blog’s first post, from March 5, 2007.)

I’ve almost reached the halfway point. Soon, I’ll be ready to start on the patterns that will fill the painting’s background.

On the home art studio stereo: I officially have stopped listening to Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? because it had seeped far too deeply into my head, and I couldn’t get it out! The album is really, really quite good, living up to all of the hype and coverage.

To counteract the effects of Hissing Fauna, I tried playing some old punk, including The Buzzcocks’ Singles Going Steady, The Jam’s In the City, and Black Flag’s Damaged (What an album that still is!).

But I’m also very, very fond of Matthew Friedberger’s Winter Women & Holy Ghost Language School. Being a huge fan of The Fiery Furnaces, I really dig Friedberger’s solo work. He is mad, mad, mad! And his music — and the Furnaces’ — is perfect to paint along to.

— Grant Wiggins

Here’s a rough panoramic shot of two minimalist paintings: FFFF00uturo (on left) and Oräännjj. Just made some final touch-ups on the top side of FFFF00uturo. Now I’m off to the storage center with both.

A while ago, someone asked me how I know when I’m done with a painting. I think there’s two ways of reaching an end point to a painting: 1.) When you just don’t feel like working on it anymore — any further step feels like overkill, and 2.) When your touch-ups start doing more harm than good — in other words, when you find that your touch-ups necessitate more touch-ups. I’m at #2 with FFFF00uturo.

Next up: I’m looking forward to starting Like Antique Shopping 100 Years Ago (See my art blog post from March 5, 2007.) and maybe jamming out a couple of small pieces, just to see what happens.

— Grant Wiggins