School Blocks, Mini's, Ravenwood and a Tondo, 2024

 

photo: Dalila Ammar 2024

Artists tend to accumulate materials in the studio and I am no different: odds and ends, scraps of things, shapes of paper, something saved for the moment when it may be wanted or be a necessity. One always sees a potential. 

I had been holding onto a cluster of old wooden building blocks, the kind you'd find in a bin in a kindergarten. Rather than being solid wood, some of them were hollow, with the front and back sides covered with panel. The corners were worn down or perhaps made that way so as not to harm a child with a pointed or sharp edge. The blocks could provide many uses, but I thought, hmmm, one day I should paint on them. 

Well, the day came. I painted those blocks and made more!

I didn't want these paintings to be over-labored. I wanted them to be direct, playful and simple.

I wanted to paint a character, an innocence, a dream. Who are they? What are their thoughts? 

Above sizes slightly vary, approximately 6.7" x 3.4" (17 cm x 8.5 cm)

While making and painting school blocks, I made my first tondo painting and a small painting I named "Ravenwood"..

Tondo Painting, 2024, oil on panel, 5.9" (15 cm ) diameter

"Ravenwood", 2024, oil on canvas, 7.8" x 5.9" (20 cm x 15 cm)

More blocks, various sizes: 5.9" x 3.9" (15 cm x 10 cm), 4.7" x 3.54" (12 cm x 9 cm)

Three mini's below, oil on canvas, 2024, 4.9" x 3.9" (12.5 cm x 10 cm)