Monday, February 21, 2022

Masks and Masking

Remember when masks were something you wore for Hallowe'en, and not something of which you had multiples in your possession so you'd always have one at hand for daily use in one setting or another?

The setting today was my studio. The masks were created from painter's tape.

detail, work in progress
36 x 36" canvas


Saturday, February 19, 2022

A Bridge


I traversed a bridge of discomfort between languishing and behavioral activation just now. 

Well, no, that might not be it exactly. Maybe I used behavioral activation to cross a bridge of discomfort from languishing to … to what? That's the part I'm not quite sure about. I guess I crossed to a canvas that looks different from what it looked like earlier, different from what it's looked like for at least a couple of weeks.

No small accomplishment. 

The fact of the difference is what matters to me. The behavioral activation that brought it about. Not the actual content of the difference on the canvas.

But, that bridge! It's formidable! 


detail, work in progress
36 x 36"

Monday, February 14, 2022

February 14th

for—

suiting the purposes or needs of

ever—

at any time

at all times

always


The Deep Human Longing to Experience
the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
3.5 x 5"; acrylic and collage on card stock
abstract
2022


Friday, February 11, 2022

Behind the Curtain

The Wizard of Oz told Dorothy to "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" in an effort to distract her and keep his true identity from being revealed but, hey, let's go behind the curtain anyway! 

I love me some art history.

Accordingly, I pull back the curtain to reveal the emerging identity of the painting I posted yesterday, exposing a few of the stages involved in getting to what it eventually became:







Wrangling with Ideas and Romping Through Possibilities

As I wrangled and romped with this painting I became my 5-year-old self—sneaking off the bed where I was supposed to be napping, losing myself in make-believe, playing on a highly textured colorful hand-hooked accent rug. Do you know the kind of rug I mean?
















Thursday, February 10, 2022

Making My Own Happy!

This little piece is unexpectedly happy-making! 

I sit in awe of what-all pours into and shines out of a painting, this one a slight 3.5 x 5 inches.

Ricocheting and pinging around here in one pocket-sized painting are the energies of a walk on West Beach, a card from a friend, computer frustrations, a book bursting with new perspectives, an inner restlessness, a fresh haircut, crocuses nosing up out of the ground beside patches of icy snow, belly laughs from playing a game with family, the tedium of routine household tasks, a new pair of earrings, and several earlier layers of ugly. 

Happy-making, I tell ya!


Wrangling With Ideas and Romping Through Possibilities
3.5 x 5" postcard; acrylic, collage, and oil pastel on card stock
abstract
2022