Dear Subscribers,

Happy New Year!

I have some new work to show you. Some tiny paintings and one "tiny" painting.

Christmas project

I had an idea for some family Christmas presents. Here are 12 5x5in cradled panels. I wired them all up.

...and painted all the edges black

...and arranged them on my easel. My idea was to make one abstract painting that could be deconstructed and then each part of this 'tapestry' would become a gift to a family member.

A colorful tone

I begin to make marks and weave the thing together.

I'm just going with the flow. Eventually, I get frustrated. I realize that something needs to change.. I'm not feeling it.

I draw a card from my Oblique Strategies (google this... it's interesting). This spurs me to make wild marks and scrapes which speeds my frustration and drives me to realize that I don't want to be doing my project like this at all.

So I scrape out my tapestry and start to play with another idea.

I start talking with ChatGPT. I'm asking it to generate a text prompt that I can put into Midjourney (an AI art generator) and create images that look like the paintings of David Cheifetz. We go back and forth. I'm basically teaching ChatGPT how to paint like me. Very strange interaction, but I'm pleased with how polite and undeterred ChatGPT is. Lots of mixed results out come of Midjourney. Eventually, we start getting some interesting results. I curate and reiterate several paths. It takes several hours and I choose a handful that I like. Here are two of those digital images:

I use these as my references (instead of setting up physical objects) and paint them in monochrome. At first that's all I want to do, just use black and white. It feels good, and I like the splashes of temperature showing through from the previous scraped out abstract.

After I finish the first three, I realize that I want to use some color after all. As little as possible. I just want to capture the essence of the scene with splashes of color for focus.

I end up making 5 this way. On the sixth one, I have the urge to go full color, so I do it.

These six paintings were given as Christmas presents:

Untitled 1

Untitled 2

Untitled 3

Untitled 4

Untitled 5

Untitled 6

Painting From Imagination

After Christmas, I still felt like making miniature paintings, but with a different approach. I decided to forgo reference entirely, and just paint from my imagination. I made both of these:

Untitled 7

Untitled 8

Both of these sold very quickly--each within just a few hours of posting on social media. I'll have to make some more of these! But first, I wanted to take this idea bigger.

Mini Composition, Big Panel

I decided to do this exact same process, but big.

Here is a 2ft x 3ft panel. I use umber to block in a 'mini' composition from imagination.

I start shoveling on the paint with a knife. Lots of Permanent Alizarin.

I surround the focal greens and yellows and lights with dark purples, reds, and blues.

I'm searching for a good shape for my pear.

It takes a lot of paint to build form on this size panel. I use knife and brush. I get more specific with the form of the pear.

Refining and experimenting.

Next stage.

And the finished painting: "Simulacrum" 24x36in 2024

This painting is currently available--inquiries reply to this email. The frame is currently being made... when it's ready I'll post framed pictures.

Simulacrum

View high-resolution image HERE.

My muse commented that everything in this painting feels realistic but not real--like there was something strange and unsettling about each object (especially the apple lurking in the corner). Something hidden. Like actors playing a role. I loved hearing that--it makes sense, considering how the painting was made without reference save for the contents of my imagination. And so the title came to me.

I'm loving how the scale of the composition feels on the wall. The size of the objects makes a room-filling impact that is different from my past paintings. I'm going to pursue this further.

JUST SOLD:

Untitled 7

Untitled 8

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