 "Find a Man" (2021 No.8, state 5), oil on canvas, 55¼x59½ inches, {"When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we expected to find an author, and we find a man." -Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), "Pensées", 29 (1670)} Revelations come fast when knowledge is pushed... pitfalls are revealed, limits of knowing hit awareness. This makes for a wearing studio session. Such was yesterday, Here is the result. The painting, "Find a Man", took a definitive turn. This is important.
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 "Find a Man" (2021 No.8, state 4), oil on canvas, 55¼x59½ inches, {"When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we expected to find an author, and we find a man." -Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), "Pensées", 29 (1670)} The beat goes on till the painting has been executed by query. All questions must be answered before a painting can go to its rest. There are miles to go on this one, "Find a Man". And as I meander my way through its execution I am finding a man.
 "Find a Man" (2021 No.8, state 3), oil on canvas, 55¼x59½ inches, {"When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we expected to find an author, and we find a man." -Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), "Pensées", 29 (1670)} I am taking on the difficult because I can. That huge cloud-like, ocher dominated form, must be handled carefully. A form so compositionally dominate must make total, readable sense. Scale is important here. The round form, on which the dominate ocher form impinges, is critical to the structural integrity of the composition. Centering must be a game well played. I have presented myself with a robust challenge to intellect and emotion. I believe I can handle it. I go, head to head.
 "Find a Man" (2021 No.8, state 2), oil on canvas, 55¼x59½ inches, {"When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we expected to find an author, and we find a man." -Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), "Pensées", 29 (1670)} My approach in making this painting feels new. I act with a steady hand, a true hand; slowly, introspectively, with caution, deliberation, then with confidence. I know what I am doing. I know what I am making. This is truth-telling in action. The result is true. This is how Art should be made: deep, unexplainable, intuitive knowledge in genesis as real. It is my vision made into visual reality.
The title of this painting, "Find a Man", is apt. "When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we expected to find an author, and we find a man." -Blaise Pascal  "Find a Man" (2021 No.8, state 1), oil on canvas, 55¼x59½ inches, {"When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we expected to an author, and we find a man." -Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), "Pensées", 29 (1670)}  Drawing 08·26·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches I remain flexible in my approach. On one day I am dominated by one element, another day, a different element. My progress is toward utilizing all elements, all principles, all acting well, all controlled, all spirited. all engaged simultaneously. Perhaps I use the term Principles and Elements of Art too loosely; below this post are the formal definitions. To be more specific, the artwork I show today is intensely interested in surface. Surface is denoted by texture. Texture indicates space, proximity, rhythm, contour, and harmony. So, for me, in my present state of mind, today's works are a mishmash of the Principles & Elements of Art transported thru my basic desire to create space that is touchable, that is harmonious, that rhymes and rhythms itself in front of the viewer. Principles & Elements of Art (from Wikipedia)  "Honorable Terms" (2021 No.7, state 11), oil on canvas, 52x59⅞ inches, {"The roots of reason are imbedded in feelings — feelings that have formed and accumulated and developed over a lifetime of personality-shaping. These feelings are not a source of weakness but a resource of strength. They are not there for occasional using but are inescapable. To know what we think, we must know how we feel. It is feeling that shapes belief and forms opinion. It is feeling that directs the strategy of argument. It is our feelings, then, with which we must come to honorable terms." - James E. Miller, Jr., "Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination" (1972)}  Drawing 08·19·2021, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches The quest is getting more simple. My understanding is less hindered by confusion of the goal I seek. I just want to be common. I want to be common in my ability to engage other human beings. I am looking at a lot of Art that I find intriguing. I am looking at Art that speaks easily to me. I am examining Art for common threads that are its successful means of communication. The work I show today is the result of this quest for commonality.
 Drawing 08·15·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  "Honorable Terms" (2021 No.7, state 10), oil on canvas, 52x59⅞ inches, {"The roots of reason are imbedded in feelings — feelings that have formed and accumulated and developed over a lifetime of personality-shaping. These feelings are not a source of weakness but a resource of strength. They are not there for occasional using but are inescapable. To know what we think, we must know how we feel. It is feeling that shapes belief and forms opinion. It is feeling that directs the strategy of argument. It is our feelings, then, with which we must come to honorable terms." - James E. Miller, Jr., "Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination" (1972)} You have to see it to believe it. Reproduction does, indeed, suck. Reproduction cannot represent the fine quality of a fine work of art. The more nuanced my work becomes the more my effort at adequate reproduction fails. The drawing I show you today took me three days to complete. That is long time for me. It is a complex drawing; it is subtle and nuanced. The painting, "Honorable Terms", has not changed since last I showed it here. I photographed "Honorable Terms" a second time, it remains in state 10. This reproduction of "Honorable Terms" is much better than last I showed here.
 "Honorable Terms" (2021 No.7, state 9), oil on canvas, 52x59⅞ inches, {"The roots of reason are imbedded in feelings — feelings that have formed and accumulated and developed over a lifetime of personality-shaping. These feelings are not a source of weakness but a resource of strength. They are not there for occasional using but are inescapable. To know what we think, we must know how we feel. It is feeling that shapes belief and forms opinion. It is feeling that directs the strategy of argument. It is our feelings, then, with which we must come to honorable terms." - James E. Miller, Jr., "Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination" (1972)}  Drawing 08·07·2021 No.2, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  Drawing 08·07·2021 No.1, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches I am showing up, working hard, mindful while I am there in the studio. Is this a recipe for happiness and success? I will not claim that! I do claim I am getting closer to my personal truth! Yesterday I made two drawings, then worked on the painting, "Honorable Terms", now in its 9th state. I work like a person who is going in the right direction, yet I am blind to the goal. I do feel the goal in spirit, but not in knowledge. I am in a niggle and wiggle, on my way in correct direction. There is no easy seek and find for me!
 "Honorable Terms" (2021 No.7, state 8), oil on canvas, 52x59⅞ inches, {"The roots of reason are imbedded in feelings — feelings that have formed and accumulated and developed over a lifetime of personality-shaping. These feelings are not a source of weakness but a resource of strength. They are not there for occasional using but are inescapable. To know what we think, we must know how we feel. It is feeling that shapes belief and forms opinion. It is feeling that directs the strategy of argument. It is our feelings, then, with which we must come to honorable terms." - James E. Miller, Jr., "Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination" (1972)}  Drawing 08·05·2021, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches A family together preoccupied m e for several days; very nice. Yesterday I was back in the studio. It felt right and good. Above are the results of my day, which felt like a return after an extended absence.
 "Honorable Terms" (2021 No.7, state 6), oil on canvas, 52x57⅞ inches, {"The roots of reason are imbedded in feelings — feelings that have formed and accumulated and developed over a lifetime of personality-shaping. These feelings are not a source of weakness but a resource of strength. They are not there for occasional using but are inescapable. To know what we think, we must know how we feel. It is feeling that shapes belief and forms opinion. It is feeling that directs the strategy of argument. It is our feelings, then, with which we must come to honorable terms." - James E. Miller, Jr., "Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination" (1972)} I am in a special place right now. I know and I do. That is how I feel. Quickly I recognize right and wrong. That is how I perceive it. It is, like Picasso said. Making-art is similar to being is a room with a draft on your neck from an open window. You recognize it, you close the window. You continue. You move on.
The painting, "Honorable Terms", is more correct today than yesterday. Compare today's state to the one published yesterday. You will see my successful effort toward centering. |
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September 2021
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