Redtree Times

Absorbed– Coming Soon to Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA

What I call innocence is the spirit’s unself-conscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. It is at once a receptiveness and total concentration.

― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at this new painting that is headed to the Principle Gallery for my annual solo show there in June. There’s something in it that makes me focus on it. Maybe it’s the composition where everything– the trees, the path, the spiral pattern of the sky– is pushing the eye inward toward the glowing sun/moon.

Or maybe it’s the saturation in the color. Or maybe it comes from something I desire in my own lagging ability to concentrate.

I can’t say for sure. Most likely, it’s some combination of these things, some alchemy of odd elements that come together in ways I can never predict.

The words from Annie Dillard above seemed to reinforce what I am seeing in this piece. It has a sense of innocent devotion, a feeling that is earnest and intense.

Thinking about it a bit, I guess those are words I would like to have attached to the bulk of my work– innocent, earnest and intense.

This new 20″ by 16″ painting on panel is titled Absorbed. As I said, it’s part of Depths and Light, my 23rd annual solo show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA that opens on Friday, June 3. I think this painting falls neatly into that depths and light category.