Counter Stretch

I have worked on a small scale with a bunch of detail and a heap of deliberation for several days. Fun, engaging work that stretched me as an artist. Very satisfying.

But, whew, did I ever need a counter stretch today.

Pulled out that free 16x20" canvas again and followed whatever impulses made themselves known—slapped on some wrinkly orange collage paper, painted some mars black, veiled some of the black with titanium white, and scribbled with Krink white ink. Down and dirty, maybe 15 minutes total.

Felt terrific!

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress

The Grand Fun of Asking Questions

I prepared colorful painting starts to take to camp with me a few weeks ago, along with an inquiry: What does it mean to paint negative space?

The inquiry has become the ongoing and limitless grand fun of asking questions:

• what happens if I do this?
• what next?
• how will I fix this mess?
• what is this piece still missing?
• how will I create contrast?
• it took me how long to go from coverup to completed (4x5"!) painting???

Today I finished the 6th in my series. If you look carefully in the lefthand towel hanging on the line, you'll find the partially obscured word camp.

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Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,



to this 4x5" quadrant,



to this coverup,



to a completed painting.

When I Had the Washing Hung Out, I Took a Nap
4x5"; acrylic, pencils, ink, collage, and pastels on paper,
mounted on manila stock
abstract
2017

Scratching a Living Out of the Earth

The way I've been painting of late feels like scratching a living out of the earth.

I stake a claim and then give myself over to the pure concentrated wholehearted all-in satisfying rhythms of making shelter, working the ground to yield nourishment, pausing every now and then to take long deep drinks of cold water, and sleeping like the earth itself at night.

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Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,



to this 4x5" quadrant,



to this coverup,



to a completed painting.

A Simplicity of Sun and Earth and Lake and Pine
4x5"; acrylic, ink, china marker, collage, and pastels on paper
abstract
2017
[gift]

Geologic Gestures

The natural world deposits layers, scrapes topsoil away, presses down sediment, tosses pebbles to the wind, grows giants up out of the earth, moves mountains, whispers clouds, offers insights into beyond, teaches me how to paint.

The Great Consoling Immensity of the World
4x5", acrylic, collage, ink, pencil, and pastels on paper
abstract
2017
[gift]

Uncle Dotty

In the early stages of acquiring language, and relationship terminology in particular, my nephew Bud referred to all aunts and uncles as uncles, and I became Uncle Dotty.

Awesome!

I'm still Uncle Dotty to my now adult nephews Bud and younger brother Stuart.

Awesome!

They recently flew to the east coast from Colorado and Ohio respectively and popped in for a brief visit which included their being in the car with me as I lived up to the quirkiness of my name by screeching to a halt to investigate a bunch of canvases set outside in a neighbor's yard with a cardboard sign—FREE.

The canvases were already painted, and ugly.

PERFECT.

Bud and Stuart helped me load up the car.

I have no attachment whatsoever to what's on those canvases.

What could be better for practicing veiling and layering and obscuring and revealing and transforming?

Pulled one out and started playing today.

free canvas #1
16x20"
work in progress

Apps

I never know if or when an app will come into play with any given painting.

By app I mean application of something I practiced in a class lesson, or learned in a book, or noticed in someone else's art.

Today I 'downloaded' all sorts of 'apps' and pressed them into service:

• the contrast app
• the variety app
• the complementary colors app
• the transparency/opacity app
• the lines app
• the veiling app
• the neutrals app
• the negative space app, and
• the sunny, blue-skied, late summer day app.

Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,



to this 4x5" quadrant,



to this coverup,



to a completed painting.

Those Hours Spent in the Resplendent Light of the Outer Orchard
4x5"; acrylic, ink, pencil, and soluble pastels on paper,
mounted on manila stock
abstract
2017
sold

Small Wonders of the World

Such heart-lifting gifts in closing doors/painting negative space and opening windows/discovering surprises.

I am filled with the joy of the small wonders of the world that popped out of painting this piece.

The Fullness and Variety of All That Had Come Before
4x5"; acrylic, ink, pencil, and soluble pastels on paper,
mounted on manila stock
abstract
2017