You're Painting with the Spatulas Now!?

My dad makes it his mission to keep us well fed during their stays. So when he popped up to visit me in the studio during a week they were here helping out he likely came directly from the kitchen and, skipping a beat, asked with some incredulity: You’re painting with the spatulas now?!

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Below are a few progress shots of pieces that are mostly made with these tools, rather than brushes. It’s a new-to-me technique that I’m enjoying for the challenge of keeping it simple.

Hotel Henry Lounge, in progress

Hotel Henry Lounge, in progress

Docked Dinghies, in progress

Docked Dinghies, in progress

Docked Dinghies, in progress detail

Docked Dinghies, in progress detail

Arroyo Pool 2, in progress

Arroyo Pool 2, in progress

Stonegate Sunshade, Progress

Special thanks to Kristen and Allie for helping me capture photos for this image. One perfect summer evening they took me out idea-hunting, but I am always so glad of their company. They also were able to work the mechanics of the sunshade for me; awesome to have artist’s assistants. Better yet to have compassionate friends!

before its color

before its color

loving friends, better than two Vanna Whites, to help with throwing shade, just right

loving friends, better than two Vanna Whites, to help with throwing shade, just right

Umbrella Works, Progress Shots

Umbrellas provide some shelter, and a finite area of relative stillness. But yet you are still out in the thick of things. Umbrellas do not negate the heat or prevent the next storm, but provide a small space of peace. Sit, take a breather. Like the wings of a bird over its hatchling.

These umbrella pieces are dedicated to CM & RD, who have provided for me on a countless number of occasions such moments shelter and peace.

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Jermaine's Elk Crossing, Progress

Anyone who lives in Del Norte County has multiple encounters with the elk, particularly harrowing experiences when the giants amble across their territories, now etched by our narrow highways.

As a teen, I recall vividly jolting awake, hearing our high school basketball coach behind the van’s wheel swear. As we drove home from an out of town game, the van gave a lurch and my eyes flew open to meet directly the gaze of an elk, narrowly passing on the road’s shoulder.

This painting is based on a photograph by my talented neighbor, Jermaine Brubaker. Thanks again, Jermaine!

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Winters Pool, Progress

This piece is dedicated to dear friends, D&K&T, serving as angels for many in the Yolo area angels with their profession passion and with their personal generosity. Accordingly, they’ve created a slice of heaven to live in and share.

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Worth It?

For what its worth, starting a query here: monetary worth; self-worth; “you know I’m worth it”; was it worth it?

At what points in your life do you have the sense that what you are doing is “worth it”?

Welcoming your two cents-worth: What were the prices you paid? What were your benefits?

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All Is Not Still

how do we describe our visual experience of the shimmering boundaries of things- from the violent stirring of wings or steady swaying of masts or lines- where fluttering limbs are here and there in a heartbeat ?

detail from Birds, Shore. 2016. Oil on Panel. 16 x 24 inches

detail from Birds, Shore. 2016. Oil on Panel. 16 x 24 inches

detail from Harbor, Rigging. 2018. Oil on Panel. 16 x 24 inches

detail from Harbor, Rigging. 2018. Oil on Panel. 16 x 24 inches

This poem begins in a way that reminds me of the shimmying, shimmering surfaces all around me. Gerard Manley Hopkin’s use of language sets up in an almost onomatopoeia-ic way the quivering, quick movements of the world’s elements. And ends with the ecstatic, exultant state in which many of us find ourselves upon appreciation of this.

That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the comfort of the Resurrection 

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Cloud-puffball, torn tufts, tossed pillows | flaunt forth, then chevy on an air- 

Built thoroughfare: heaven-roysterers, in gay-gangs | they throng; they glitter in marches. 

Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, | wherever an elm arches, 

Shivelights and shadowtackle ín long | lashes lace, lance, and pair. 

Delightfully the bright wind boisterous | ropes, wrestles, beats earth bare 

Of yestertempest's creases; | in pool and rut peel parches 

Squandering ooze to squeezed | dough, crust, dust; stanches, starches 

Squadroned masks and manmarks | treadmire toil there 

Footfretted in it. Million-fuelèd, | nature's bonfire burns on. 

But quench her bonniest, dearest | to her, her clearest-selvèd spark 

Man, how fast his firedint, | his mark on mind, is gone! 

Both are in an unfathomable, all is in an enormous dark 

Drowned. O pity and indig | nation! Manshape, that shone 

Sheer off, disseveral, a star, | death blots black out; nor mark 

                            Is any of him at all so stark 

But vastness blurs and time | beats level. Enough! the Resurrection, 

A heart's-clarion! Away grief's gasping, | joyless days, dejection. 

                            Across my foundering deck shone 

A beacon, an eternal beam. | Flesh fade, and mortal trash 

Fall to the residuary worm; | world's wildfire, leave but ash: 

                            In a flash, at a trumpet crash, 

I am all at once what Christ is, | since he was what I am, and 

This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, | patch, matchwood, immortal diamond, 

                            Is immortal diamond. 

Process of "North F, Orchard"

One of the reasons I love painting light coming through branches- but even light coming through the framing of wires, masts, leaves- is that it accentuates the way light shifts. Even in our truncated experience of the wide sky and spectrum, we have our “ah-ha” moments . We appreciate the way the colors change, the direction and redirection of rays, the playful cast of shadows. This piece “North F, Orchard” hopefully shows my exploration of that.

These lights are like facets of a gem to me.

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Mysteries, Yes!

Mysteries, Yes!

by Mary Oliver

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous 
to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the 
mouths of the lambs. 
How rivers and stones are forever 
in allegiance with gravity 
while we ourselves dream of rising. 
How two hands touch and the bonds 
will never be broken. 
How people come, from delight or the 
scars of damage, 
to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those 
who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say 
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment, 
and bow their heads.

detail of Creek, Grasses, in progress

detail of Creek, Grasses, in progress

I enjoyed how quickly and like a final punctuation, was the process of pulling out the sharpness of the grasses and leaves overhanging the creek waters in this piece.

detail of Creek, Grasses

detail of Creek, Grasses



Literally, Holding my Breath

Despite the absence of power lines and other of my oft-referenced sources for definite lines, this depiction of the mountains and shoreline along Point Saint George required me to be so steady that I found myself holding my breath- to the point of being dizzy. The process of painting is definitely a physical task.

Detail of Beach, Blue Puddles in progress

Detail of Beach, Blue Puddles in progress

Entitled

For the last three shows my works have all been identified by the official names or adjectives descriptive of the physical place upon which they’re based. This I’ve done under advisement of those long established in the art world, and while I’ve submitted to the practice, it is a deliberate reversal, a choice that is antithetical to how I naturally approach and participate in my own paintings; each piece for me is a celebration of an ephemeral, and largely an emotional experience and not entirely dependent on the exact degree of latitude and longitude.

With the most successful pieces, my viewers have a similar experience in reaction to my depictions as well. The best case scenario is that my work draws a sense of familiarity, whether or not the viewers are correct in their identification of the real place. With satisfaction people say, “oh, I know that place.” The more timid want to be affirmed by leading with “Isn’t that…. such and such….?" Yet their questions also come from their personal connection to how the painting <feels> or refreshes a sensory-laden memory.

So, why am I told by several in The Establishment that the purpose of a visual artwork title is for identification and organizational purposes only. Anything else “gets in the way of” the viewer’s experience. We ought not predispose, lead on, or narrow their own experience of the work.

Why then do we not apply the same standards for titles to other forms of art? Movies, books, music? Are their titles ever meant to be identifiers only?

Does Fight Club need to be more blasely titled “Adult Men Experimenting with Anger Management” or ought we suggest to Rowlings that replace the chamber in Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets with something more general and contemporary? Perhaps “MPR”? Yes, in fact more children have direct experiences with MPR’s. That would be better. Let them connect more quickly with that they know. How many of us have actually been in a chamber?! I feel locked behind stonewalls at the mere mention. How can I read the book with an open mind?!

We make songs our own when we say “This is OUR song” or “This is MY theme song”; we pay little attention to song titles, nor do we expect albums to be simply organized by “Track 1”, “Track 2”, and so on. Timberlake’s Cry Me a River has nothing to do with rivers! I feel misled. Sound of Silence sure has a LOT of sound to it; I was expecting something more John Cage-ish, after all the musicians were contemporaries.

Trends in titling visual artwork range all over the place, from references to the widely-recognized cultural tropes they depict to meaningless numbering systems. Some artist’s work is hugely dependent on its title, the title being key to the irony or allusion. Some artist’s work is done with the intention of giving the view no hints for interpretation whatsoever.

So, who “deserves”- who “retains the rights to”- the process of interpreting an artwork? The maker or the viewer? Which party has primacy? The artist making the meaning or the consumer’s meaning-making?

How much ought viewers be trusted with any information the artist wants to give? If non-prejudicing titles are the current trend, what is it about our culture that is asking for/requiring this? What about other cultures allowed more informative titles to be used?

Any thoughts?

Process on "Illinois Valley"

If you want to buy this song or album: http://amzn.to/KGLp5k Gillian Welch - I Dream A Highway; # 10 from the album Time "The Revelator" (Acony 2001). I was blown away by this soothing song and it's enchantment. Time (The Revelator) is the third full length album by Gillian Welch.

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The beginnings of Illinois Valley. 2018. Oil on Panel. 22 x 24 inches.

This particular stretch feels to me like the definitive edge between inland and coast when I travel between highway 5 to 101.

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"I Don't Get It" = "I Don't Wanna"

Mothering young children and teaching teens gives me some great insight into Grown A$$ Adult behavior.

There’s a particular tone of voice my kids use when saying “I don’t get it!” or “I don’t know how!” <Sometimes> the frustrated confusion is genuine. But plop most young minds into a new situation and they engage with delightful wonder-full curiosity. This is why I so enjoy exploring the world with them.

Conversely, when they don’t want to engage, are feeling overwhelmed or tired, or if the the odds are stacked against their success, then these same kids will balk. They hesitate to immerse themselves and do not even want to try. This is when we hear the resistance in their voices.

All too often I hear that tone with adults when they approach a difficult to interpret artwork- from poetry to avante garde music and movies, and especially with abstract or non-representational visual work. How often they stand in a gallery tipping their heads nearly upside down in feigned exploration, declaring as a way of dismissing the challenge: I just don’t get it"!

Adults who are afraid of being judged or (gasp) wrong, -people who are beaten down into or in fact beating down the path of Correctness -these are the people loudly proclaim. People who are too tired to engage with their own feelings, or fear that emotions aren’t a worthy or acceptable means for connecting to the world- these people have fewer resources for exploring and understanding art.

When they say “My 5-year old could’ve made that!” or “That doesn’t look like anything to me!”, their tone implies is in fact unworthy of their time and energy. Or that, really, given their maturity and intellect, this means that the work is impossible to derive meaning from.

Really, however, I think the adults are expressing fatigue and fear. Such artwork defies rules and objective answers. Engaging with such work is personal, subjective, and inventive. Tired, scared adults don’t want to do the work of feeling their feelings, putting words to these, and the discomfort of sharing them. Maybe they need a hug and be sent in to take a nap!!

Two Rope Swings in process

Two Rope Swings in process