Riding Rhythm– At the West End Gallery
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down.
We make a little history baby
Every time you come around.
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down.
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around.
—Nick Cave, The Ship Song
It’s a busy time right now as I prep for an upcoming show in early November at the Kada Gallery in Erie. Seems like the sand in the hourglass that marks my remaining time for the show is falling faster and faster. It’s been that way for every show in recent years. It just takes longer to get ready.
I don’t know to what I should attribute this. Age? Process? Something else completely apart from painting itself, some sort of mental distractions?
Sometimes I think it is a result of aging. It takes me longer to do everything and painting is no exception. You would think after all this time that it would be quicker and more efficient.
But it’s not. So, maybe it’s process. After all, my process was never set in any traditional manner of painting, never done in one way only. It was always freestyle–whatever worked in whatever way– and it was always evolving. Things like different technique and elements come and go, some gone forever. But more things have been added than subtracted over the past 25 years and, as a result, I find that each piece requires much more time and effort.
Factoring that into an aging body and an all too often distracted mind, it makes sense. I try to compensate by being more efficient in the prep stages for these shows, things like photographing and framing the work, and it helps somewhat.
But I still find myself short on time. Like now.
There’s much work to be done in order to get my show’s ship to port. In that vein, here’s The Ship Song from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Redtree Times 