Category Archives: Seasons

Unsettled

Spring has arrived. I feel like a weary soldier who made it out of the fray but still not sure when I’ll get home, or even where that might be. We’ll still get several inches of snow this weekend but the light is very welcome.

I’m in transition on the art front. I’ve gone to my studio several times this week and have not been able to work much, or very well, because the impending move back to working out of my apartment feels very unsettled and not quite right. It is what it is. I’m trying not to see it as a setback, although six months ago I thought things would be much more expansive instead of this new contraction.

So I’ve just been doing the most straightforward and immediate thing, which is to keep making abstract landscapes that are about materials and action and the connection of eye, hand, paint, paper and horizon line. These, below, are each about 9.5″ x 12.5″.

In Like a Lion

March rolled in cold and snowy and not too friendly; we usually have real signs of spring by now but it’s slow in coming this year. I have zero interest in winter sports or cold weather, so I sort of survive the winters waiting for the light to return and some warmth and color to appear.

Sadly, I have to give up my outside painting studio after this month. It’ll be all right; the light is actually better in my home, and I can rearrange the space to work. It’s just nice to have a dedicated place (and a real utility sink). I hope the outcome will be more work, since it’ll be right there waiting for me on insomniac nights.

A couple of odds and ends:

Pure color

Last summer I saw a wonderful exhibition of Japanese kites, some quite old. There was one with a sort of turnip pattern that I loved. I’ve been trying that pattern in some small watercolors:

Lotus Sent, Blues Installed

I’m just sending off a small lotus painting that I made for my cousin-in-law Laura. It’s 6″ x 6″ on a cradled Ampersand panel.

Laura’s Lotus, 2014, acrylic on board, 6″ x 6″

And here’s a photograph of an installation of panels custom-made for an unusual alcove in a very modern living room:

Blue Flags, 2013, each 6″ x 6″, acrylic on board

And here’s a little tribute to the Boulder wind. There are many ways to explore color…

In the Shape of a Heart

The winter blues keep catching up with me this week, with a long stretch of cold, icy, grey days and a barren landscape and a lot of insomnia and anxiety about work and income. Color to the rescue.

Valentines:

Copper Heart

Postcard Hearts

The finished lotus:

Lotus 1

Some stitching picked up after a long dormancy (I beaded the center medallion years ago, added the shisha mirrors, and will add more embroidery and silk panels for a finished wall hanging):