Buttnekkiddoodles

This post is a continuation of the prior post on June 7th. Scroll down to pick up where things begin.

Above are: a watercolor, a pastel drawing of a nude, and an oil painting of a reclining figure. I don’t have the dimensions on many of the pieces in these posts. The drawings were usually out of a sketchbook or ledger book of some sort. Those dimensions run 8 1/2″ x 11″ to 9″ x 14″ or 11″ x 14″. The pumpkin water color above could be 18″ square or even larger. The oil paintings run the gamut from small studies say 20″ x 20′” to a 26″ x 34″ table top study of rose buds in a vase,   3′ x  4′ nudes up to 4 – 6 foot canvases of figures. Matt worked broadly and fast making considerable use of a palette knife. They aren’t fussy paintings with needle and thread detail. The paint was brushed on wet, often with a lot of turp and medium, hence much of the evident dripping and running you can see. The surfaces also had areas of impasto and real build up. The bottoms of many of his painting bear witness to his initial efforts to cover the canvas, both with the brush and p-knife, each leaving its’ signature marks of bristle or crisp edge with raked interior. The heavier build up would often occur along the top and within the core of the image. A fan of Mondigliani and Giacometti Matt told me a number of times that like Giacometti, he tried to work up various compositions and divide the canvas up, but was just internally drawn to focus the images’ energy in the center. Not that he didn’t work the surface to the edge as the vigor of the brush work and thickness of paint often run right over the cliff.

Matt would sometimes tell me how some of the sessions had gone or of running dialogues with the models, many of whom he befriended or who had already been pals or paramours. Possessed of an incredible memory, and a natural story teller, I’m sure he’d bemuse or torture his models as he would me, with musings on literature, music, social dynamics and ten minute long verbatim recitations from movies. I had to wade thru the Cheddar cheese skit from Monty Python  a couple times. Once over the phone during a late night long distance call. Every once in awhile he’d get his just desserts. Brie, a very lovable and bubbly dancer with a ridiculous store of energy, and a capable chatter box, got the better of him during one session when he said he was driven to cry, “Would You Shut Up?!” He was also an incessant tease. The models earned their fees, I’m sure.