Wayne Thiebaud Santa Fe Cloud

Wayne Thiebaud, Santa Fe Cloud, 1991, oil on canvas, 9 1/8 x 10 1/4 in, via Jonathan Novak Oh wow, move over, 12×12 inch painting of a tennis ball for Sports Illustrated, I have a new favorite tiny Thiebaud painting. @chrissantamaria just posted this 1991 work, Santa Fe Cloud, which is at Jonathan Novak in Los Angeles. Artsy lists just one dimension for the work, 15 5/8 x 16 5/8 inches, but that turns out to be the fat shoplifter prevention frame. The painting itself is only 9 1/8 x 10 1/4 inches. The brushstrokes here are fast and loose, while still carrying all of Thiebaud’s lushness. And the immediacy beats, I think, the flatter pastel finish of a similar cloud portrait Thiebaud made in 1992. Oh, here’s a larger one from 1993: Cloud Smoke. And here’s a 1993-94 cityscape with that cloud, twice. What other clouds or tiny landscapes did he make? Who knows? The cakes crowded so much out for so long, I feel like surprise is going to be the default setting for Thiebaud for a while.…