Thought for The Day - Calming

Remains Calm...that's the longest sticking title (so far) for the painting above. Still in progress, no idea how long it will take because apparently, I'm in recovery and at my own pace. You know, it's tragic that some of us are so functionally broken. Earn enough to pay bills, make new ones, eat food and buy clothes and ride the train each day and go sit in an office. Never mind I'm not doing art in that office or anything remotely similar. I'm functioning.

To the part about damage and eventually the "Calming" or "Remains Calm" - whichever comes up! I should have continued painting when I graduated from college, 30 years ago. Sabotage, personal and fatalistic, I shut the doors, put away the supplies and aggravated myself with a prophetic self-portrait stapled to the underside of a table tennis set, in my parents' basement. Eye portals wide open, but no brown eyes staring back at me, that picture told part of the story: no art, no work for a very long time, 25 years approximately. And all the tragic damage in trying to render anything.

I really don't get a life without God. The previous paragraph can't begin to tell all the ups and downs of my life, but it gives you an idea. I hoped I would get back to art, but how could I when I was the barrier to doing so? And yet I remained hopeful that somehow I would get back to it. And I did. And it was wonderful. I had a great summer, 2010, painting, drawing and working with messy pastels!

It's 2014; I have a completed painting (the jury is still out as to whether it's truly complete or not) and I started the one above about a month ago. It is part of my "Linen" series and I'm certain I have at least one more idea I want to see completed. The painting above is underway; I have to "remain calm..." I'm not working fast enough, I don't have an audience that yields an income, but I am working. It's an uneven, unsteady wobble forward, but the motion is forward. When I say I'm moving forward, this is the broken leg and hip, crawling beneath a desert sun, forward motion. I can say that because I know what it takes and where I want to be.

Remaining Calm...so much promise and so many obstacles! And mostly in my head!

Thought for The Day - Was That a Tremor?

I'm sure you've seen it, that small quiver of someone's lips, perhaps it was a quick smile. The fact that they felt inappropriate to smile in that moment tells a larger story than quivering lip. Subtlety, implications, veiled compliments, threats and touches; we are good at telling "part of the story" and leaving the whole truth "partially buried." We don't ever "fully know;" life is full of mysteries that, even when we think we know everything there is to know, we wake the next morning with new questions. And that speaks volumes about the unseen and the yet to be be discovered.

For me, rendering is a matter of capturing those subtle stories. Like a wrinkled brow, a roll of the eyes. hiding a smile or a quick glance, the shading and texturing in a painting tells a portion of the story. It allows one's imagination to "fill in the blanks" and to add your impression to the larger narrative. Simply observe, feel, and imagine!

Thought for The Day - In The Dark

One day, I will get back to my series "Pre-Dawn Light." A great idea and series including charcoal and oil paintings of dimly lit subjects. I included a couple images above, though the one is difficult to photograph. That image is a bird flying over a lake. You have to see it in person to get the full-effect.

This time of the morning...the sun is a ways away and I'm working on hour two of wakefulness. I think the idea of being awake to prove I could, was how I got here. But that idea isn't what gets me out of the bed now. I get up at this time to get work done. Music plays in the background and beside me, the light gurgle of the aquarium keeps me "company." The street light shines through the plate glass window with a candle light glow; just enough so you know it's there and not bright enough to illuminate the room. On this day, I choose to keep the overhead lights off and the light from my monitor is enough to make the painting on the easel glow. Glow enough to give the impression that a "Storm is coming..." The place of creativity, sitting in my home as it does in my heart. In a tucked away spot and out of sight. But no less significant  than the remaining portion of the house and my heart.

Thought for The Day - Blogging Art, Pretty Pictures, Plain Words

It's a pleasure to present my work; to show the world my work.  And while it is readily available for viewing, and I write about the process, my work and I remain relatively obscure. But that's alright; those that know me, know my work and it appears regularly in this format.

I realize I don't have much to say about the purpose of my work. I can tell you it's driven more from my desire to express the layers of my mind, rather than to render beautiful renditions of life. That is "my current situation." I can easily get in a studio with a live model posing and paint as well. And one day I will. But for now, this is my heart's statement, my mind and body responding to the energy stored up inside.

Turbulence, like waves of water, rocks vibrating under the weight of sonic rumblings. bodies shaking under silk sheets...this is disturbance. This is quaking and violence!

No pretty pictures here...but the words say it all!