Objets Trouvés, fini

At four thirty today 

in this very classroom,

I am holding a seminar 

for anyone 

and everyone

who has any questions 

whatsoever

about any 
scheduling concern

or any date 

between now

and the end of time,

Mark said.

—Michael Downing, Still in Love

How New This Is, How Strange It Is to Be Here
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, IX

He followed them to the classroom,

where he would not heal them 

or even console them

but only close the door,

shut out the world 

in which 

they found themselves wanting,

not to help them escape it

but to give them a chance 

to understand

all it meant to have limits,

to need limits,

to choose our limits, 

to be defined by those limits,

and to learn to love them.

—Michael Downing, Still in Love

Ready to Try This out for One Time at Least
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, VIII

When you write, 

do you really think about limits

and try to love them?

I really do. 

If I’m not assigned a limit

for a column or an essay,

I invent one. 

When I’m, say, writing a novel,

I set a word limit 

for each chapter

so I have a clear sense 

of how much time and space 

there is for me

to get done 

what needs to get done.

—Michael Downing, Still in Love

In Willingness to Risk
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, VII

Isaac in the chair said, 

I’m so sorry I cursed.

It’s just amazing to realize 

how far I’ve gotten

without understanding 

how to write

a simple sentence.

Max said, 
Yeah, me feels like an idiot, too.

A woman near the back added,

While you were saying that

—comma—

we were all thinking the same thing.

                  —Michael Downing, Still in Love

The Porch Light Came on Overhead and the Door Opened
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, VI

I had a superb teacher in third grade,

Mark said. 

She asked us to memorize two sentences,

which I am now asking you to write down

exactly as I say them. 

Pronouncing not only the words

but also the punctuation, 

he slowly said,

When the dependent clause comes first,

you need a comma. You need no comma

when the independent clause comes first.

Someone yelled, Holy shit.

                         —Michael Downing, Still in Love

I'd like to Come over Tonight If That's Still All Right
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, V

And you need only worry 

over

two kinds of clauses.

This was the key distinction.

The Professor said, 

Insubordinate 

and subordinate.

        —Michael Downing, Still in Love

When Would You Want to Start?
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, IV

His entire lecture 

could be boiled down 

to two distinctions. 

The first was a phrase

(a series of related words

with no specific 

grammatical function,

such as 
the red hat, 

last night, 

or 
forever and a day)

versus 

a clause 

(a group of words 
that included
a noun and a related verb).

            —Michael Downing, Still in Love

I'm Talking About Getting Through the Night
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, III

We’re not going to unravel 

all of your confusion

or 

anticipate every question 

that might arise

later in the semester, 

but 

you are going to leave today

knowing absolutely 

everything 

you need to know

to write perfect 

and 

perfectly grammatical 

sentences

for the rest of your lives.

                 —Michael Downing, Still in Love

You Probably Wonder What I'm Doing Here
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés, II

Despite what you may have heard,

everything you need to know 

about English grammar

is regular, reliable, and 

remarkably elegant,

Mark said, 

turning to the blackboard

and urging everyone

to take notes.

                —Michael Downing, Still in Love

And Then There Was the Day
4 x 5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2019

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Objets Trouvés

The term found object originates from the French objet trouvé, describing art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have a non-art function.

My own objets trouvés would have to be described as art created from existing art. Not only do I take delight in finding and then extracting smaller compositions from something larger I've painted, but also I have long delighted in finding what I think of as prose poems in novels I read, i.e. lines of text that, when I quote them, I arrange visually and compositionally into what become tiny bits of poetry to my eye and ear.

Below you'll see source material for a series of soon-to-be posted found compositions and prose poems. The art is mine; all quotations will be from Michael Downing's novel, Still in Love.

Fairy Dust
8 x 8"; acrylic, ink, and pastel on canvas paper
abstract
2016

And That Is All

As a youngster at Camp Takodah, my nephew Stuart, along with his fellow campers, had to produce a 'meal ticket' to get into the dining hall for Sunday evening dinner. Said ticket took the form of a stamped addressed envelope holding a personally handwritten letter home to parents. One of those sweet letters, delightfully well drafted by Stuart, ended with the words, And that is all I have to say.

Little did he know he was penning what would become a frequently-invoked and highly-valued stock family sentence for ending any kind of missive when one reaches the point, no matter how early in the game, where there is nothing else coming to mind.

And that is all I have to say.

I Can't Change Where I Come From
3.5 x 5" postcard; acrylic, pencil, collage, and pastel on watercolor paper
abstract
2019

(Forever) New Love

New Love

I am telling my hands

not to blossom into roses

I am telling my feet

not to turn into birds

and fly over rooftops

I am putting a hat on my head

so the flaming meteors

in my hair

will hardly show.

                           Eve Merriam

Flaming Meteors
4x5.5" valentine for my Valentine; acrylic and pastel on paper
abstract
2019

A New Playground

A Stillman & Birn Beta Series Premium Sketchbook, softcover edition, suitable for dry and wet media, watercolor, and ink, found its way to me some few months ago.

And now I have rediscovered it and begun to play.

Today: spontaneous, free-flowing, intuitive, engrossing play.

Despite the Ungodly Hour
6x9"; acrylic and pastel on mixed media paper
abstract landscape
2019