Redirection

You know how we don't talk about retirement anymore? We talk about redirection?

I'm ready to redirect as a distortionist. I'm already having grand fun spiffing up my résumé.

First, a teaser before the actual reveal—art every which way I turn:

back side of sketchbook page—love it!

Now, the flip side:

The Whole Thing Was Slung a Little Askew
Like a Dog Half-Minded to Lie Down
9x12"; ink, dry-erase marker, and oil pastel on sketchbook paper
blind contour still life
2022

Musical

Gigi, My Fair Lady, Kiss Me Kate, Pajama Game, Fiddler on the Roof. 

Many musicals have won their way into my heart over the years, starting when I was maybe nine years old.

The past few months have felt artistically musical to me. 

As in: muse-ical. 

I've been open to letting muses lead me where they will.

And they are leading me all over the place. To no place I would have thought of on my own.

To my delight.

Over the weekend we visited friends John and Mary in the magical bit of land they call home along the coast of Maine. I woke Saturday morning, early hours, when a muse invited me to do a down-and-dirty-done-in-five-minutes blind contour sketch of a chair and large potted floor plant in our sweet guest accommodations. This is the blindest blind contour of my recent work. Footloose and fancy free.

blind contour wonkiness and wonder

Basic sketch in place, I then began rounding all the corners where lines intersected. I am fascinated by the alchemy that comes from combining blind contour sketching and neurographic smoothing. 

blind contour neurographic alchemy

Back at home I added a few lines, tried something that felt like a mistake, introduced color to resolve the misstep, found myself humming show tunes. 

work in progress