Well, it’s the day after Christmas and today I’m starting a five day stint, filling in for owner Linda Gardner at the West End Gallery. It’s something I haven’t done for well over a decade and as the day has approached I’ve become more and more nervous at the prospect. I’m afraid my people skills will have deteriorated a bit during those years spent in the studio when the only contact with people in a gallery was confined to an hour or two a few times a year at my openings.
I’m hoping they return. Quickly.
Over this time at the gallery, I will be bringing out a few pieces from the studio that haven’t been shown in a number of years. One such painting is the one shown above, Stranger (In a Strange Land), which has been a favorite of mine for a long time. This 12″ by 36″ piece is considered one of my “dark” pieces, very densely colored over a black ground. I never saw many of the pieces that are considered “dark” as being truly dark but this particular painting fits the billing. It has a deep, dark background and there is a palpable sense of being adrift in an alien landscape throughout the scene. Everything looks somewhat familiar but there’s a dimension beyond the norm, one that lifts the veil and reveals something unrecognizable, something that can’t be deciphered. Like hearing the clicking language of African tribes for the first time.
I suppose this sense of alienation is what brought me to the title. Whether you know the phrase from the popular sci-fi novel of the same name from Robert Heinlein or from the biblical quote of Moses, it is a most evocative group of words.
Anyway, this piece and more will be at the West End Gallery in Corning today and for the next five. Stop in and take a look.
Redtree Times 
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