I call this new painting Harmonic One. It’s 14″ by 34″ on paper and is part of my Islander show at the West End Gallery in Corning , opening this Friday and running through August.
This is another of those paintings that I start then set aside, waiting for a moment of clarity when the direction of the painting comes through to me. Sometimes I set them aside because I simply lose momentum, lose the rhythm that is driving the creative force forward and find myself dulling the painting. Other times, like this, I set them aside because I reach a point, in full rhythm, where I must choose a direction and cannot because I so like what I see before me that I am fearful that I will make a wrong decision which would destroy everything.
The thing that attracted me to this piece and caused me to hesitate when I came to that point on this piece was the color and texture of the sky. It was chaotic and rough with bits of differing tones of blues and pale greens. It was just alive and seemed to dance on the surface. There is a detail from the sky shown at the bottom of this post. I knew that to just jump ahead too quickly would diminish the whole effect of that sky. It required a focal point that would play off of the chaos running through the sky.
Of course, my focal point, my central character, was going to be the Red Tree. But it had to have a certain weightiness, a feeling of strength that would create a solidity that would contrast with the foreboding confusion of the sky and bring the whole into some sort of equilibrium. In short, a tree that would create harmony.
I repeatedly would put this piece on my table and, time after time, I would take it away without touching it. I just could envision such a harmonizer. I was at a point where I was beginning to think that I had created a piece that would never go beyond mere potential. The finished section began top lose vitality and I thought it would go in the heap with other work that never lived up to their possibilities.
But finally, it showed itself in the form that you see. It transformed the whole thing, bringing a peaceful solidness and force that brings the chaos of the sky into balance. The title came easily. In the end, I was tremendously pleased with this painting. It had everything that I looked for in my work–depth, texture, color, contrasts, and a feeling of vitality all in a deceptively simple package. All that I could ask of it…
Redtree Times 
I’ve been living with the blues the past week, writing about the death of T-Model Ford, so I suppose it makes sense that the first thing coming to mind when I read about your hesitation with this work should be The Hesitation Blues.
I couldn’t escape feeling, as I read this entry with all of its talk about rhythm, harmonics, and such, that you and your paint, your canvas and the light by which you see your work form a kind of ensemble. I love the image of “all of you” jamming in your studio like great musicians, starting off “here”, ending up “there”, and having a great time in between.
As you probably know, I often refer to and think of painting in musical terms. I think that wherever they originate, they are very closely related. Thanks for the Rev. Gary Davis– you can never go wrong with him!
On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 8:42 AM, Redtree Times
Thank you for breaking down your process. As a complete novice, I often wonder what professional artists do when confronted with decision to plug on through or put a piece aside or just trash the whole lot. It’s reassuring to read that downtime can be “normal”.
For the record, your paintings are the best I’ve seen in my blogdom. Continued success!
Thank you for the very kind words. They are very much appreciated.
On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 3:13 PM, Redtree Times