The secret of life
is to have a task,
something you devote
your entire life to,
something you bring
everything to,
every minute of the day
for your whole life.
And the most important
thing is—
it must be
something
you cannot possibly do.
That is where I find myself: devoted to something I cannot possibly do, paintbrush in hand, pulled to reach for an ineffable something which I am not even able to name.
I feel intrepid at the moment, newly determined to push through my own kicking and screaming to become less fussy and deliberate, more experimental, more willing to walk with awkward, more able to tolerate that which is unpleasing to my eye.
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| Funk & Wagnalls Walk the Field Beside the Cottage 6 x 6"; acrylic, ink, oil pastel, graphite crayon, and collage on gessobord abstract 2019 |
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A partial history of this painting:
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| Singing at Singing, 2015 |
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| 6 days ago |
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| 6 days ago |
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| 5 days ago |
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| today! |
8 comments:
Dotty, dotty, dotty! OMG! The progression of this piece...it is like looking at a chronological body of work from one of the great abstractionists - how they began with realism and excellent technique and slowly soften the edges, roughed up the lines, grew the shapes until POW! A grab-you-in-the-gut abstract. Whoa.
LOVING your gut level response to my post and my progression with this piece, Jen!!! Your 'getting' both the art and the artist at work = energy in my heart, fire in my creative core. I feel encouraged and eager to get to my studio first thing this afternoon—READY TO ROCK & ROLL!
This is a WOW! You really let your spirits fly! "reach for an ineffable something which I am not even able to name" find myself there. The end result a masterpiece!
Making art is a crazy adventure, don'tcha think? Carol, thanks for the WOW! and for recognizing my spirits in flight!
Yours in reaching for the ineffable,
Dotty
Oh my! Coming to life like a butterfly! Intriguing :)
yes! like the chrysalis who had no idea, who was resigned to the cocoon until he got the wings!
I Really, really, really, really love to see this painting from close up. It makes me want to jump up and run to my own scissors and paper scraps! I love the tiny letters that shine through!
Simone, so happy to see you here! What a gift to hear your response to this piece. The tiny letters come from three sources: a book of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales given to me by my mother's sister 61 (!) years ago; a 1927 dictionary that artist Judy, with whom I painted on Monhegan, picked up free from a cottage on the lane and offered to me; and a Patagonia catalog.
Now: jump up and run to your own scissors and paper scraps!
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