Paint it Over (Franz Kline)!

 Franz Kline began his career as a traditional painter and illustrator. But abstraction called. He would "sketch" his ideas with ink on old telephone book pages.  One night while visiting fellow artist Willem DeKooning some of his sketches were projected up onto the wall and the rest is history-he saw how powerful they could be as large paintings.

Recently one of Kline's paintings "Nijinsky" from 1950 has been studied. He had painted over an older canvas-maybe one of those traditional paintings that didn't sell-that had as many as 15 layers. It seems that he primed over those layers and then continued with his signature black and white. Unfortunately the paint surface began to have issues in the 1960's.

I have painted over many paintings-a few I wish I hadn't! Many painters do. Just a word of caution-make sure your primer, gesso, etc. works with whatever is already there. 

Studio + Storage

 Dorothea Rockburne, 88 and still painting, moved into a Soho loft in the 1970's. It is a live/work space of over 6000 square feet with the majority of the space dedicated to her studio. Having been an artist for many years she has a lot of work stored there. Having enough storage space always seems to be an issue-I know it is with me-let alone thinking about climate control like in museums. But recently water from the loft above her studio leaked and over 176 painting, prints, etc. were damaged or ruined. She has had to sue the owner, a former ceo at Twitter for damages. The pain of loosing your work, the pain of dealing with lawyers at 88! Hopefully she will get the settlement that she deserves. On a happier note her work is currently on exhibit at DIA Beacon.