Jan Ayers

The Hard Part Is Titles

2011-11-17T11:23:00.001-08:00

I've been working on a series of new paintings. And although they're very satisfying personally, I cannot think of what to call them. Now I know why so many paintings you see are labeled 'Untitled'.
I know what they represent to me, but I don't want to impose that on a viewer- I am interested to hear what someone else might have to say about them. What kind of interior story they might tell to others.

They're all about... chaos, and then making deliberate constructs out of that. About creation itself, and the way humans might be involved in an evolving Creation.
Whoops! And I said I wasn't going to tell my own version.

In detail. My paintings are getting harder and harder to photograph.

Painting #3. I think. "Untitled".

I haven't shown these to many people yet- you're the first. Feel smug?

Greetings For The Discerning Goofball

2011-03-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

The solution for my urge to doodle, cartoon, and get covered in animal hair is, naturally, to do a line of greeting cards. I decided to do some lino cuts, taken from photos, and eventually to do some lovely saturated color on them. The local dog and cat boutiques should love these.

New Year In Clay

2011-01-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

I have been working and teaching with Nan Phillips, and she is helping me get into clay figures. This guy will be cast into bronze resin for a TSA show.

He started out as a self-portrait, got somewhat sidetracked, and ended life with no hair. Everybody else who saw him insisted that hair would kill the dynamic that was going on. Since I firmly believe that messing with a piece after you've got the intent the way you want it destroys the ....energy... I left it.

If we get a good mold, I'll continue reworking this dude and add the hair. I just think there's a powerful broad in there somewhere.

Sushi Fishes

2010-12-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

These sushi plates are the latest in a series of fused glass servingware that I make- and I love doing this style more than anything. It's huge fun, and is meant to provide function and silliness. They're at a gallery right now in Plano, along with a serving bowl and platter. I kinda hope they don't sell- the problem with working like this is that I personally want to just keep everything.

A Hanukkah Fundraiser

2010-10-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had decided never do do another freebie. That's it! Done! But.... an opportunity came up to do a hanukkah-themed painting, and the donations are on;y 8" square! A no-brainer. Easy-peasy. And it WAS easy- the week before it was due. Putting on the final touches 12 hours before delivery, of course. Wouldn't be art without that, would it?

Bird Market At Notre Dame

2010-09-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

In Paris on a cold February afternoon, there was a bird market set up on fold-up tables. French vendors smoked and offered canaries and doves on the same plaza as tourists viewed the the Notre Dame cathedral. You could light a candle and then go select that night's supper, if you were so inclined.
Anyway, the birds were cold and hunkered down, and I liked the weird juxtaposition of the white doves and the cathedral.
Or are they pigeons?

My sister called this painting "Pigeon with Religion", and my niece says it makes her feel peaceful, which is NOT what I was going for, but once a painting is finished, you cannot dictate how people will react to it.

Mother May I?

2010-02-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

There's a collaborative project going on right now within the Texas Sculpture Association, and these faces are going to be part of it. I'm working with three other artists, who each have a piece in progress, and we're all giving each other ideas and input.

I didn't think I would like working collaboratively, but it turns out that the inspiration is too compelling to resist. All four of us agree that we're going to be doing work for the eventual show that will be much bigger than what we would have produced individually.

The trick, I think, will be to come out of this partnership with that bigger/better thing as our new working point. Heck, I feel bigger/better already.

The Last Time I Saw Chris

2009-12-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Every time I look at this painting, I think "I really want to go paint again"-

For a few years I've been concentrating on sculpture, but the sheer joy of creating big areas of color with loose gestural lines is pulling me back into pastels and oil.

Paintings are also not as heavy to move as sculpture. A plus.

Mare Grazing

2009-12-21T08:42:00.001-08:00

I had a little Welsh Cob/ Quarter Horse mare many years ago, and one afternoon I spent a couple of hours drawing her. She was always in this position, too- eating. Almost a no-brainer.

Picturing Laura

2009-12-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

Ever try drawing someone who's covered in tattoos? It's like getting two for the price of one, model-wise. Both fascinating and maddening.

Marys At Night

2008-12-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

I love this image.

This was shot in at 10:00 at night in a concrete statuary sales yard in Garland, Texas. The street lights were that kind that throw a golden light- mercury vapor? Whatever it was, it made all the Marys and Buddahs and birdbaths glow.

I laid on my stomach in the gravel and used a rock as a tripod- I was shooting manual in those days and needed a long shutter time.

The Good Guy

2008-12-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Pastel over a monoprint.

I had been doing some shooting at a barn facility and had a slide that was completely unusable. Stupid composition and overexposed to boot. For some reason I didn't toss it, and ended up projecting it onto Plexiglas and tracing the outline of the cowboy image with printer's ink straight from the tube. I pulled the print from that and painted this image.

'You Are Too Thin'

2008-12-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of years, I've been working in fused glass. I didn't intend to. I just wanted to make my own mosaic tiles. As soon as I did that, i started thinking "OOhh oooh. What would happen if..." and I fell down a rabbit hole. I still haven't found the end of What Would Happen If.

This bowl is fused glass, and in Portugese, it says "You Are Too Thin". I have a platter with an olive motif that says "You Should Eat More". These platters I've done in this style have been more plain fun than anything else I've ever done, and what's satisfying is that they're useful, too.

Liza Unfinished

2008-11-20T06:10:00.000-08:00

Actually, this IS finished. It was at this point that I decided nothing else was needed.

This canvas is another breakout piece, but in a different way. I'd been painting with a group for many years and Liza had modelled for us for a long time. I'd just finished this canvas, and showed up next time to paint and was told the group was having a show of everyone's Liza paintings. I wasn't told about it in time to include any pieces, though.

I wore this canvas as a dress to the opening.

Leaving, With Yellow Sky

2008-11-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is a breakout painting. People ask me "What were you thinking?" but in a good way.

After this canvas, I started working in a style that involves heavy applications of paint that are dried, covered with more paint, then are shaved back to reveal bright slashes of interiors.

I think that's what it's about right now. What's underneath, covered up.

Wooden Boy

2008-11-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

November 1996

I was in Puerto Rico with an engineering team doing investigations for the EPA. We wrote reports on water and wastewater treatment plants all over the island- that's another story. This story is that we had some time to play tourist, and I found this in a small cathedral in Ponce. He was life-size and startled the heck out of me at first.

Paris Sky

2008-11-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

February 2002

It so happened I was demonstrating the concept of 'grab shot' to a friend who had a new camera. The sun was going down fast on the Seine, and lit up this vapor trail- I snapped this shot, and by the time I'd moved around to get another composition, it was gone.

Vatican Pigeon

2008-11-19T10:53:00.001-08:00

February 2004

You see this motif a lot in Rome. I'd passed by a dozen cold, sleepy pigeons before I decided to add this shot.