Artwala Road

Since my last post I’ve been hard at work in my new studio.  I set myself a goal of having 40 small paintings done by the first week of December and as with a lot of my goals my eyes are bigger than the hours of the day.  Still, they’ve kept me moving along at the rate of three or four little paintings over a two day period.  I’ve been experimenting with water-based oils on small cradled wood panels that are covered in a canvas-like surface that gives wondrous texture.  I’ve been a graphic artist for so long that my work tends to be flat and stylized, now it grows a little softer and more atmospheric.  I say ‘now’ because I think it will soon change again.  I now have about 25 of these small paintings done.  The series is called—”You Are Not Alone” and the paintings are intended to be meditations on the various ways in which we’re all connected.

This weekend I have 14 of them in a show at the Joy Street studio of my friend, the photographer, Mark Peterson.  It was bitter cold here yesterday in Boston, wintry and daunting.  The Open Studio event was sparsely attended and would have been disappointing had we had high expectations.  Somehow the weather seemed to prepare us for a slow and gentle day with, alas, no sales.  But today is another day!

The best part of yesterday was swanning around the Joy Street studios to see what other artists are doing.  I’m always happy if I find just one piece of inspiration and down the hall I met my man.  He’s a young artist named Michael Crockett and he had a bunch of “pocket drawings” for sale for $5. each.  His paintings were large, with a punky edge that I rather admire having grown soft and ever more gentle with age.  He paints the hard-edged underside of life with total acceptance.  A thousand tattoos are not too too much!  It sparked my inner rebel and reminded me of the need for total acceptance of the journeys we all take.  I bought 5 of the pocket drawings and am going to get 2 more today.

It may well be a good thing that we didn’t sell anything yesterday as we have our own open studios Thursday evening, December 4th, at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, home of my new studio.  I have enough work done now for that and can focus now on finishing my drawing book.  I can also begin my installation piece which must be done mid-February and will have 100 paintings.  Here’s hoping that time stretches out to accommodate all the great visions I’m having.  I do believe it does!

November 23rd, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL