sharpened focus: inspiration

Sculpture by Modigliani at PSAM

 

 

During a recent trip to Southern California, I was delighted to attend "A Passionate Eye: the Weiner Family Collection" at the Palm Springs Art Museum. The sculpture above was one of many stunning pieces collected by Ted and Lucile Weiner of Fort Worth, Texas. There's some talk among the museum docents that the collection may end up at PSAM permanently. What a treasure!

I spent a long time with the Modigliani sculpture. As I looked at it, I wondered about the artist. He was a painter, but for five years, he worked as a sculptor. It's possible that he was discouraged from exploring further with sculpture because of scarce supplies in the years prior to World War I. But, even so, he studied sculpture with Brancusi (another favorite of mine) for a year! He went back to painting, but his habits of drink and drugs, and disease cut short his life at just 35 years.

Experiment. Try new things. Through yourself into it wholly. That's what I see, what I feel from the Modigliani piece.

And why not?

Inspiration feels like a sharpened focus. All of my senses are dialed in. I'm sure I have seen these pieces by Franz Kline many times before, but this time, I was fascinated by them. How bold! How perfectly composed!

Paintings by Franz Kline at Palm Springs Art Museum

Even outside the museum, I felt that sharpness as I looked at other things:

the tender green leaves on the Ocotillo.

the symmetry of the Agave

the surprising outbursts of Prickly Pear flowers

Those feelings of delight and focus are what I bring in to the studio now that I am home. My first experiment is with alcohol inks on Yupo. Why not? I am not nearly as invested in the outcome as I am in the process. It is the process of creativity and inspiration. It feels like LIFE to me.

Alcohol ink on Yupo (synthetic paper)

"Crazy" Diana Krall.

big magic

Shattered. 32 x 29. Mixed media on paper

"Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert is a book I should have read two years ago.

Two years ago, much in my life was upset and my creative energy leaked out. Two years ago, I felt empty. I also felt desperate to get back what was lost. I tried to go back to old ideas and disciplines that used to get me going artistically, but what used to work, no longer did.

It's possible that Gilbert's book would not have resonated with me two years ago. The frantic chatter in my head could have drowned out Gilbert's quietly insistent words.

I hear it now:

Trust
Persist
Take courage

She has much more to say than that, but for now, it's enough for me to hold on to these pieces and to feel them expanding inside of me.


Elizabeth Gilbert, interview on "Q" about "Big Magic."

I'll meet you there

Out beyond ideas of 

wrongdoing
and 

rightdoing

 there is a field.
 

I’ll meet you there.
 

When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.

Rumi

The Fray. "Be Still."

a step on the path

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver

fall

 Nothing satisfies my sense of color like a clear, crisp fall day. Everything seems to shimmer and vibrate with blue and orange and gold.

The blueberry bushes outside my deck are turning glorious colors.

Little wonder that the color worked its way into my painting today.

Eva Cassidy sings "Autumn Leaves."

spectators

A Gathering of Spectators, 22 x 22, acrylic on paper

In some ways, I am a spectator. I look, study, watch and seek to understand. Then I think, think, think. And then, I express. It comes pouring out in my paintings.

Lately, I've been paying attention to how people gather. In this painting, it seems to me that just as these three spectators are watching me, I watch them, too. So, the gathering is really not just about them, it is about the viewers of the painting, too.  Them. Us. Back and forth. Watching. And gathering.

Probably because this notion disturbs me, this song comes to my mind. The Undisputed Truth. "Smiling Faces Sometimes."

act on the intuitive impulse

24 x 24, acrylic on board

Lay in paint. Respond to what the paint's doing by spraying, blotting, scraping. Stand back and look. No, don't look, SEE. Act on the intuitive impulse. And never worry that you will overwork the piece. 

New in the studio. And getting stronger with practice.

color of joy

Yellow, the color of joy. 12 x 18. Pastel.

Esperanza Spalding "Overjoyed."

into the mystic

10 x 10, acrylic on paper

And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when the fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will flow into the mystic

 

Van Morrison, "Into the Mystic"

"Into the Mystic" done by Glen Hansard  &; Maarketa Kirglov. 

on life, art, Rachmaninoff

dark, minor,

beautifully complicated

light, heavy

familiar

unforgettable

Vladimir Horowitz plays Prelude in C Sharp Minor, Rachmaninoff.

unexpected

"Unexpected"     16 x 20, oil on birch panel

I have been thinking a lot about composition lately. A strong composition will draw my attention from across a room. Thinking alone isn't enough. I have also been reading Edgar Payne's book "Composition of Outdoor Painting."  All of Payne's notan illustrations of strong compositional designs leads to more thinking.

Sooner or later, though, thinking and reading lead to action. Cruciform design, colors inspired by fall. 

Click image to enlarge.

Electric Cello. Unexpected.

water

12 x 12, pastel on archival paper

Have you ever seen this "Incredible Water Art" video?

smoke on the water

12 x 12, pastel on archival paper

My love affair with music started early. I was only four when I became enchanted by my mother and grandmother singing in harmony (which I thought was magical) on our vacation road trips. It continued with babysitters who played Beatles' songs and listened to the pop stations on the radio.

I insisted on piano lessons when I was seven years old. It did not matter that my family did not own a piano. I knew it was for me and I wanted lessons. Lucky for me, my parents gave in and I began what has been a nearly lifelong passion.

But, when I was just nine, I became a genuine groupie of our neighborhood garage band. Garage bands were really popular in our town and every group dreamed of Capitol Records and Hollywood and being discovered. Fame and fortune, fancy cars, and the good life followed those dreams. Or, at least, winning the "Battle of the Bands" at the local high school.

I went to many of the band's rehearsals. Sometimes they let me try to sing along, other times they let me play the tambourine, but mostly I sat on a box or on top of a workbench and listened to the music. And one of the most popular songs in their playlist, was this: "Smoke on the Water."

Listening to it now still makes me think of the shy but cute drummer, Duncan, the smell of lawn clippings and gasoline, and the lyrics to this song.

feeling good

18 x 24

Back in the studio today with a light raining falling outside and I am feeling good!

Nina Simone is, too.

heartbreaker

Heartbeat, 22 x 30

"Heartbreaker" Led Zeppelin.

breathe

Franz Kline filled telephone books with his abstract sketches and when one struck him as especially interesting, he blew it up to a magnificent painting.

Robert Motherwell warmed up by painting a ream (500 pages) of paper of abstract ideas before he got to his other work.

Why not?

Anna Nalick "Breathe."

what adds up

7 x 7, pastel and gouache on paper

7 x 7, charcoal and gouache on paper

working out an idea

There are many roads that lead to successful abstract paintings. I have been playing with some shapes and ideas, some colors and designs to move things out of a literal place in my mind. It's like an inchworm who no longer needs to measure marigolds, don't you think?

And, it's like I think I know the song, "Inchworm," and then Patricia Barber shows me I know nothing! What do you think?

pink

12 x 12, pastel on Wallis Museum

Pink Floyd. Of course.

art and MY music this time .. YouTube debut!

In the last few weeks, I have been having a blast collaborating with my friend, Dann Parks, on some music. He wanted to experiment with  "Prima," a vocaloid digitalized voice. I wanted to do something musical.

And, after he picked out the song and programed her vocals, he had me write/arrange and play the musical accompaniment. I played a synthesizer keyboard hooked into his computer program and then we manipulated the sounds. Thought you might enjoy hearing the result. 

The next piece is already in the works, without Prima,  but, I'm sure she'll be back to sing more tunes. I hear that she is especially good at Italian and Spanish pronunciations!! What a kick!

Listen here for "Deep Peace" or play the video below.

blah, blah, blah

In the film, "Joan Mitchell: Portrait of An Abstract Painter," the interviewer presses Mitchell to describe the meaning behind her paintings. Mitchell, in her pithy way, says this:

"When you add the blah, blah, blah to it, you've ruined the whole thing."

 Need I say more?