 "Amidst a Falling World" (2020 No.3, state 07), oil on canvas, 66¼x55½ inches {"Should the whole frame of nature around him break, In ruin and confusion hurled, He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, And stand secure amidst a falling world." - Horace (65-8BC), "Odes", book 3, no.4, I.52)}  Drawing 05·31·2020, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches It can get very confusing. Knowledge is a strong, but power can distort possibilities. If power be fully followed, the consequences may not fall comfortably; the result may be incorrectly conceived. Failure occurs because power was allowed to precede knowledge; power has the ability to push aside a level-headed approach, thus diminishing the ability to secure a well measured result. Great art is balanced by perspicuity. With this I look at yesterday's work. I am insecure with it. The painting feels unfinished, not forceful enough; the drawing is a risk in value contrast and form contrast. Do they work well? Are they successful in engaging thought and feeling? I must think about this; both these works make me nervous. Or, is my nervousness merely a sign of the times I am living within?
Note on reproduction: Today's reproduction fails to accurately represent yesterday's actual drawing. The more a work of art relies upon subtlety to convey its ideas and emotions, the more the reproduction of it fails to impress.  Drawing 05·30·2019, 16x20 inches, pencil on paper I have many artistic ambitions. I worry I have too many objectives. I aspire to make art that functions well through many means: value, form, negative space, three-dimensional space, two-dimensional space, composition, and much more. I worry this may lead to confusion. A good work of art must show it itself through initial simplicity. A simple entry entices the viewer to become engaged, to pay attention, to look deeper, to see more. Complication is enriching only if the viewer hangs in there to absorb it. I think yesterday's drawing achieves this fullness; simplicity first, then satisfyingly complicated. This drawing is the last I will frame for my one-person Bromfield Gallery exhibition, opening June 5. Enjoy here! But please, see it in person at Bromfield Gallery. It is better than its reproduction.
 "Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 18), oil on canvas, 63x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"} This painting is the opposite of everything useless and tedious and repetitive, which is much of the news in our world today. When reading the news I ask myself, "Where is all this falderal going?" Well, it is not going where this painting, Burnt Norton, is going. This is a successful painting; it is becoming more successful with every alteration I make. Burnt Norton, as seen here in reproduction, needs one last tweak. Oh, oh! This is the happiness of being an artist; being in control of one's own creations!
 Drawing 10·21·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I got a little derailed by a health scare last week. It wasn't true and I am as good as ever. Mortality is very scary. So is underperformance. I want to be the best I can be. This drawing is a good one; made while I was scared. Focusing on art clarifies; it reveals truth. The most basic truth is Now is a joyous gift to celebrate. Celebration is the action of seeking truth; art-making is analogous to truth-making. The truth is found in the doing, since truthfulness is known by the doer as it is done. Art-making is weeding out truth by the act of acceptance and rejection. In other words, making art is a discipline that is the practice of truth-making, which is practicing truthfulness, and practicing truthfulness is universally helpful to every encounter by a living spirit. Practicing truthfulness instructs the living spirit on how to accurately recognize truth, to live truth, to communicate truth. Finally, accepting my mortality has focussed me; I accept my task as I know it — seeking truth by making art.
For a long time I have been playing with the means to accurate reproduction here on the web. I am happy with today's reproduction of yesterday's drawing. That's a first!  "Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 14), oil on canvas, 63x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"}  Drawing 10·11·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches As my work becomes more sophisticated it is more difficult to reproduce adequately. Yesterday's drawing is richly textured. Its many marks produce a nuanced value structure. This value structure requires special care to produce correctly for viewers here; this fails, even with special care for this drawing's gradations in shading. Remember, I draw with pencil; grey can go anywhere from low value to black. Some lower value grey plays wonderfully against blackness produced by me baring down with strong firmness.
Burnt Norton continues its journey; slow, yet reassuringly confident.  "Weoman" (2018 No.3; state 11), oil on canvas, 43x48 inches ("I could not get a rhyme for Roman, And was obliged to call it Weoman." -Marjorie Fleming, "Sonnet")  Drawing 06·08·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches There are mixed-emotions when a painting is called "finished." Weoman has reached that place. After eleven states, Weoman is "done." A painting in process is a thrilling relationship; similar to the process of getting to know a new acquaintance. Similar to a relationship with a soon to be valued friend; it never ends. Paintings do get called "complete." This does not happen with a valued friend. Like a good friend, a good painting will instruct forever, upon every re-visit. A completed painting is static in its elements; a good friend is never static in any way. The happy part of calling a painting "finished" is the consequential opening of space and time to begin a new painting, a new journey, with all the excitement that is inherent in getting to know a new acquaintance.
The drawing shown today has gray reproduced on its ground, which is not true in the real drawing on Stonehenge WHITE paper.  Drawing 06·07·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches This is an amazing drawing. It is amazing in its queries, its discoveries, and in its value nuance. But those qualities ain't seen here! I tried for well over 20 minutes to reproduce it accurately, as seen in real light in the real world. I failed, miserably! Giving up, I show it in the manner seen here. I show this drawing along with this cautionary tale: Please realize there is a lesson in life here. Life lived cannot be reproduced accurately. We make films, we produce plays, we write novels, we write poems and essays, i.e. we make art. Art is a reflection of the authenticity that is living. Art is an effort to reproduce the authority that is living. Art fails as accurate reproduction of things experience in form, in emotions, in intellect. Therefore, my failure to reproduce this drawing well is (Failure) X (Failure) = Failure-squared!
 "Weoman" (2018 No.3; state 5), oil on canvas, 35x42 inches ("I could not get a rhyme for Roman, And was obliged to call it Weoman." -Marjorie Fleming, "Sonnet")  Drawing 05·23·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches This time in reproduction I will let it go: The ground on the reproduction of yesterday's drawing is gray, not white, but (in reality) it is white. I use a very white 100% cotton rag paper (Stonehenge White). However, if I force this reproduction to have a white ground it appears harsher in contrast than it really is. So, I am accepting gray.
Weoman is in its 5th state. The wonder is the appearance of a solution. I have great fear when I begin a painting (Picasso said, "There is nothing in this world as scary as a white canvas!"). The reason for this is fear of inadequacy, inability, lack of talent, loss of mental acuity; All of that! Well, wonder it is that solutions do occur and I am the one making it so.  "Weoman" (2018 No.3; state 3), oil on canvas, 35x42 inches ("I could not get a rhyme for Roman, And was obliged to call it Weoman." -Marjorie Fleming, "Sonnet")  Drawing 05·20·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I had a dream. Its title was Collifocks & Hammers. What??? As mysterious as that is, so am I. Yesterday's drawing is absolutely marvelous. The reproduction here does not represent it well. Remember, I work in pencil on paper; trying to make the grays and whites and the darks (maximum pencil push) reproduce well, is impossible. The true and extreme nuance is simply lost in translation.
The painting Weoman (2018 No.3) is taking a marvelous turn. Marvel it is because I can see it coming; perhaps you cannot. Three-dimensional space is being created, summoned; during its next debate its depth will increase. The bottom left is asking for a plunge forward. It will be solved. Please continue to watch it unravel.  "Catch-22" (2018 No.2; state 4), oil on canvas, 42x48 inches ("If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."}  Drawing 05·15·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Rarely do I post on the same day as the making. Today I found trust, trustworthy instincts were present; it was a dumpster diving day! I dove, despite feeling I did not know what was there to find. I am writing about the painting, Catch-22; it lived up to its name today. At first I didn't want to touch it, but if I was sane I had to jump, trusting I could fly well. Catch-22 is almost complete. This is welcome because I have many ideas; completing Catch-22 will allow me to start a new painting tomorrow. Reproducing today's state of Catch-22 is for tomorrow propitious. I see in this reproduction an important problem that needs fixing. They are the nearly vertical, slight diagonal lines in the extreme upper left and right; they need to be parallel to one another. When those two lines become parallel they will create a background wall between them; all other forms will sit forward of this "wall." It shall be splendid!
Today's drawing, made by trusted instincts, sings nicely too. |
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