Friday, September 29, 2017

Prayers for Peace

If you're in or near Brattleboro, VT, any time between now and October 29, 2017, stop by the West Village Meeting House to see the exhibit! You will find broadsides by John Vincent (article from February 2017), paintings by Peter Dudley, papercuts by Stuart Copans, and poem/prayer mobiles by yours truly.






John Vincent

Peter Dudley

Stuart Copans

terrific display space for my mobiles!
reflections!
shadows!

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Abundance

Such abundance.

Such satiety, such a feeling of having all the vertebrae in my spine lined up one above the other with just the right amount of space in between, such fullness of heart.

I have painted up a block of wood and mounted Simplicity on it. 


I've written and inscribed a haiku on the back. 


Altogether, this piece of art has become greater than the sum of its parts and process—and its parts and process have already brought me such abundant great joy.

I stake a claim, scratch
a living from the soil, pause
to take long deep breaths.

Now, off Simplicity goes to a new home, carrying with it gifts of summer weather, my painting time at Takodah, and some delicious post-camp afternoon solitudes in my studio. 




Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Quick & Quixotic 2

Huh.

Maybe this is Maine, and we're looking at wild blueberry fields in autumn now.

When I first began painting I would not have known how to be so messy, how to paint with such a small intention—in this case, to spread a bunch of color and texture in the space below what appears to be a horizon line. I would have struggled to paint without knowing where I'd end up, and struggled to paint with the likelihood that almost all of what I was painting would become an underlayer.

But for this five-or-six-minute romp I … well, I romped!

Painted quickly and with abandon.


work in progress
12x16"; unstretched canvas
working title: Quick and Quixotic 2

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Quick & Quixotic

Taking "2. capricious, unpredictable" as my definition, I am including the word quixotic in the working title for my current painting.

When last seen, the painting looked as follows, and I enjoyed its appearance for as long as it lasted:



Today, a few capricious unpredictable minutes of painting yielded underground rabbit burrows and aboveground communications cables.

work in progress
12x16"; unstretched canvas
working title: Quick and Quixotic

Monday, September 25, 2017

Uncle

A short while ago I shared some history about my being Uncle Dotty to two of my nephews.

I have a different uncle story today.

My studio (which is also a guest room):



Its new, work-in-progress door:



The new, work-in-progress door to the bathroom adjacent to my studio:



The interior of the bathroom:

     

The guest room adjacent to the other side of the bathroom:

  

For the reasons above plus others, my painting life will take a different shape from usual this week—and perhaps for a few weeks! Not sure what that will mean, but I did some five-minute speed-painting sessions over the weekend which I'll post one by one, and I have two prepared-last-week posts that I'll share on Thursday and Friday.

UNCLE! I cry UNCLE!



Friday, September 22, 2017

Fast and Furious Redux

My intentions for the day were unrealistic to begin with, a story for a different day.

Then, each undertaking to which I turned my attention took longer than expected, in one case way longer.

But, I had to paint, just couldn't not scratch that itch.

So today, vs. yesterday, I did paint quickly.

I took Betty Krause as my telementor. She starts paintings with quick intuitive scribbles and marks. Really quick. No thought or design in mind. Just scribbles and marks: GO!

Thank you, Betty, for sparking me today.

I bumped into a pad of unstretched canvas, tore off a sheet.

Scribbled and marked with a PaperMate pencil, a grease pencil, pastel pencils, and a graphite crayon.

first marks, three minutes

Added marks with a graphite crayon dipped in water. Disappointing, too light, not soluble enough.

second marks, 90 seconds

Found an applicator bottle with some India ink in it. Much more fun. 

third marks, 30 seconds

Done for today. 

Stopped because I have to make phone calls, gather financial data, do some handwork with needle and thread, research a gift idea. 

Stopped because I love this start and want to enjoy it for a day before I add layers.





Thursday, September 21, 2017

Fast and Furious

You know how some folks do five-minute paintings?

Or 20-second paintings, for Pete's sake?

Those folks?

They would not be I.

---

Parallel play continues here: bathroom mess increases by the minute, studio is barely recognizable.

FEMA may be called in.

---

Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,



to this 4x5" quadrant,



to this coverup,



to a completed painting.

Allowing for Accident
4x5"; acrylic, pen, collage, pencil, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2017


Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Tissue and Print

Rainy day. Wind, tossing the trees.

Replacement studio door installed, adjacent replacement bathroom door now in process.

Mess in my studio up to Category 3.

Grab another quadrant from one of my Takodah-inquiry starts.

Paint with tissue and print. Work still in process there, too.

work in progress
4x5"



Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Namaste

Having a yoga practice helps me bow to myself when I paint, helps me tap the divine spark located in my heart chakra.

Gathered up a little prana today and finished the piece I worked on yesterday, part of my inquiry into painting negative space. I think this piece is the seventh in my series.

---

Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,


to this 4x5" quadrant, 


to this coverup, 


to a completed painting.

Holding Vrksasana, Finding My Edge
4x5"; acrylic, ink, collage, and pastels on paper
abstract
2017
sold

Monday, September 18, 2017

Mise en Place

You know the term mise en place, the French culinary phrase that means 'put in place' or 'everything in its place'?

Well, everything is in a place in my studio today, but it certainly isn't in its place.

Dave is installing a new door in an old house. Yup, our old house. Yup, my studio. Nothing about the undertaking is straightforward. There are tools, nails, wood shavings, installation instructions, work gloves, a whisk broom, and hardware scattered in the vicinity of the door.

I am short on time and painting quickly this afternoon. My mess includes matte medium, a tooling stylus, paintbrushes, tubes of paint, a wet rag, scraps of torn paper, and a paint palette, each of which gets put down with no thought as I reach for the next item to move forward the creative idea of the moment.

Where door installation ends and painting begins? Hard to tell, hard to tell.

Great fun, though.

Tomorrow I will mise a few finishing touches en place in this painting and call it complete.

Oh, and maybe set my studio to rights, too.

work in progress
4x5"

Friday, September 15, 2017

Shaping Up

I went to my studio with a sense that free canvas #1 might be in the market for some left brain refinement.

And my left brain did get a little studio time today.

But not as much as expected.

Something in me was still hankering to go bold, go experimental, go exploratory.

I'm all shaped up for tomorrow's adventures.

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress



Thursday, September 14, 2017

An Embarrassment of Riches

Late summer sunshine,

radiant warm weather,

cloudless azure skies,

terrific tutorial students at my back door,

two engaging editing jobs in my lap,

wedding details' falling into place,

a beach picnic,

day's-end campfires night after night,

three good books in progress,

a painting knife in my hand,

and gratitude every which way.

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress
detail
detail





Wednesday, September 13, 2017

A River Runs Through It

Never saw A River Runs Through It but the title came to mind this afternoon as I painted.

Looked up the IMDb single-sentence summary of the movie:

A story about two sons of a stern minister—one reserved, one rebellious—growing up in rural Montana while devoted to fly fishing.

Yeah, something like that going on here today with this painting!

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress
detail
detail

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Left Foot Left Foot

Years ago at Takodah one of the guys working during family camp used to do a great vocal routine with a few other staff members called Left Foot Left Foot.

Person one chanted:

Left foot, left foot 
Left foot, left foot 
Left foot, left foot 
(long pause) 
Left foot, left foot 
Left foot, left foot 
Left foot, left foot

and then person two punctuated that sequence by adding

Right right foot.

The routine went on from there, with entertaining repetitions and additions as well as a terrific, catchy beat.

That's the background ditty playing through my mind as I work on this painting, except the words transpose to

Left brain, left brain
Left brain, left brain 
Left brain, left brain 
(long pause) 
Left brain, left brain 
Left brain, left brain 
Left brain, left brain

Right right brain!

I've given my more logical, analytical, and objective left brain instructions to hang out other than in my studio, and I'm encouraging my more intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective right brain to play to her heart's content without supervision.

Left brain forgets periodically, showing up and interrupting, but I send her off again.

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress
detail
detail
detail

 

Monday, September 11, 2017

Another Day of Bigger

As I head to my studio, I notice what impels me today—a day when my focus is scattered and my studio time will be short; what calls to me is another day of bigger, another day of impulsive rather than measured.

So I respond.

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress

detail
detail