 Drawing 01·28·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches This drawing is a good one. It questions complexity; How far I can go and still have your detailed attention? I question my own reflection. Process is finding truth by doing, making, questioning over and over again. It seems to me answers are found between the questions. Answers are not found while the questions are being asked. It is during the mulling that one finds what is true and what continues to be questionable.
 "2017 No.14" (state 15), oil on canvas, 58x61 inches  Drawing 01·27·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches Sometimes getting to Now takes a long time. The painting 2017 No.14 has been my constant companion for nearly two months. Now, at last, I understand her. She is beginning to light up because I recognize her best qualities. She is demandingly Here. After working, re-working, revision after revision, she seems to be saying, "Yes, this is me!" I am celebrating, as is she.
The better qualities of 2017 No.14 are influencing my drawing.  Drawing 01·23·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches I am sure you can see. My drawings have changed. There is surface inspection like never before. I am feeling my way through, around, and on the surfaces of the forms, the ground, and the background. I am in an effort to integrate it all. I want to be cognizant of the touch, the feel of all I create on the paper, while simultaneously watching the entire composition form. All is becoming one of many things. This acknowledgement is important. It is self-acknowledgement. I want to be mindful of where I am while being mindful of the overall. I am working toward this goal. It feels authentic. It is becoming my faithful way to produce an image.
 Drawing 01·21·2018 No.2, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Making art is calling out — it is making answers to questions. It is brainstorming. I am looking for a personal response that makes sense to me, that rings true. It should feel right. To be worthwhile the response must say something legitimate, something genuine about the way I feel at my moment of making. I believe very strongly that yesterday's Drawing No.2 is heartfelt. Drawing No.1 is unfaithful to myself. No.1 is interesting, but detached. It does not illuminate my deepest concerns. Call & Response is the work of making art.  Drawing 01·21·2018 No.1, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  "2017 No.14" (state 14), oil on canvas, 58x61 inches  Drawing 01·20·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I have been writing a lot about making light pour itself on the viewer. Yesterday's work took a big step in that direction. I call it "Scintillation" (see the dictionary definition, below). There are ways of achieving scintillation in drawing and in painting. I am working on making it so. Over a hundred years ago Vincent Van Gogh and Georges Seurat worked in this direction (see reproduction, below). Here I am. History does repeat itself, just not in identical ways. I am an abstract artist, Van Gogh and Seurat were not. scintillation | ˌsin(t)lˈāSHən | noun a flash or sparkle of light. • the process or state of emitting flashes of light. • Physics a small flash of visible or ultraviolet light emitted by fluorescence in a phosphor when struck by a charged particle or high-energy photon. • Astronomy the twinkling of the stars, caused by the earth's atmosphere diffracting starlight unevenly.    "2017 No.14" (state 13), oil on canvas, 58x61 inches  Drawing 01·18·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches My act of painting is currently simplified. I am simply seeking light. Yes, there are always subliminal problems: composition, form, and color. In my post today each of these is subordinated to my quest to make light my subject matter. Yesterday's drawing is me realizing light requires form to be most potent. In my previous post I reproduced a painting by Mark Rothko. It illustrates light comes in flat packages too. My argument here is the perception of light is primarily based upon the perception of form, but not entirely (Rothko proves simple value contrast can succeed if color is chosen well for its atmospheric effect). Today I reproduce a painting by J.M.W. Turner. This painting is both flat and represents forms. Three-dimensional space is perceived; that perception is due to our knowledge of how light illuminates form.  J.M.W. Turner, "Steam Boat off a Harbour's Mouth", oil on canvas, 122x91 cm, 1842  Drawing 01·16·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches There is a shift in me, occurring now. I want my art to be seen, and to interact, with more viewers. Yes, I am making substantial art, which is always getting better. In seeking a wider audience I am spending seven weeks in quest of knowledge on how to better use social media skills. I am hoping this will eventually find me more physical, brick and mortar, venues. Why do I tell you this? My art will continue to be made, but for seven weeks much of my time will be used to explore better means to champion my art. The drawing shown today is from Tuesday, January 16. Yesterday I spent my time preparing for the course I am taking, a course that teaches the best way to utilize current social media. I also attended that course's class, exercised, and shoveled snow. The drawing shown today is an important drawing. It explores my interest in simplicity of form. It explores my passion to increase the feel of light. I believe my art is moving toward light intensity as emotional intensity. My forms normally have dominated my pictures, light being the simple illuminator of form. I now want to see my forms dominated by the light, light as instigator of emotions created through vision. Mark Rothko knew this. Rothko's work became more and more simple, more light-dominated, as he accepted this premise.  Mark Rothko, Untitiled, 1968, acrylic on paper  "2017 No.14" (state 12), oil on canvas, 47x44 inches Dispelling confusion is as simple as satisfying hunger. Knowing this idea is not enough. One has to know the specifics of one's hunger, i.e., the dish one prefers to eat day after day. I have not been meticulous. I should have diligently followed my appetite. I am now amplifying it. I am focusing on establishing one potent spice in every one of my meals. This painting, 2017 No.14, is me turning a corner. I am accepting my basic need is not form, but light. Making it seen on canvas (and paper) has not come quickly. It is coming. I am recognizing my basic hunger. My appetite prefers to be satisfied by a meal of light intense.  Inspirational Photo, January 14, 2018  "2017 No.14" (state 11), oil on canvas, 47x44 inches  Drawing 01·13·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Darkness is required to create light. One without the other does not compute. Thus comes big changes in the painting 2017 No.14. Sadly, I had to wait till state 11 to realize this need of greater value in darkness. Sometimes I feel I am slow on the uptake. Some of my knowledge stays in the background as I develop other needs. I want my entire body of knowing to happen at once. I am driving myself in that direction. It will happen. Time and effort is the stuff that will correct me. I am slowly moving from action giving only partial fulfillment to action giving total fulfillment. Look at the blackness, look at the light, in today's "Inspirational Photo." Look at the blackness, look at the light, in J.M.W. Turner's "The Burning of the Houses of Parliament."  Inspirational Photo, January 13, 2018  J.M.W. Turner, "The Burning of the Houses of Parliament, oil on canvas, 1834  "2017 No.14" (state 10), oil on canvas, 47x44 inches   Never enough! This is the way I feel about life, time in life, available energy, being human. I creep because that is as fast and as furious as I can go. It makes me wonder about Picasso and Van Gogh. Did they produce more art per day than I? I do not think so. I think, however, they too felt despair over being human with its limitation of time and energy. I love a diagonal in a rectangular composition. I found a few, in yesterday's drawings and in the snow off my porch (see below).  Inspirational Photo, January 12, 2018 |
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