Who is the painting in progress on the easel?
CLOSE: My wife. I’m going to try it one more time to make one she likes. She’s my toughest subject. CLAY: How many times have you painted her? CLOSE: I think maybe this is the fifth time, over the years. CLAY: Isn’t there a photo from the 70s of you pouring plaster over her? CLOSE: I was making a dress mould so she could make her own clothes. Not a George Siegel. [laughter] CLAY: How close to completion is the painting? CLOSE: Well…from the tape up it’s getting there. It’s on the second pass through from the tape up. And after I complete the second pass, I’ll turn it the other way so that the point that’s in the left-hand corner will go up. I’ll be looking at each square adjacent to different squares, as I’m going through the other diagonal. CLAY: So with each pass you can…. CLOSE: Revise. The first pass is like the first draft. Then you go back and you toss this word out, you put another word in and see if it works better, you know. So, it’s that kind of process. CLAY: As you rewo
