Urge For Going— At Principle Gallery Today
Whatever there be of progress in life comes not through adaptation but through daring, through obeying the blind urge.
–Henry Miller, The Wisdom of the Heart (1947)
I am on the road this morning, heading down to Alexandria, VA to deliver the work for my Principle Gallery show, Entanglement, which opens this coming Friday. The new painting above, Urge For Going, is included in this group of work.
It’s 18″ by 24″ on canvas and deserves much more time to discuss than I can give this morning. As you might have guessed, it is titled after a favorite Joni Mitchell song. I would like to think that it somewhat captures the feel, rhythm, and poetry of that song. The first stanza is a great example:
I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky, then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold
And all trees are shivering in a naked row
I get the urge for going but I never seem to go
I get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Of course, mine is not a literal translation of her words. Again, more of a feel thing. I like the paradox in this painting from the opposition of joyous color to the wistful feel of the tree that seems to want to move, wants to follow its urges to move on but remains rooted. Only a few leaves given to the wind.
As I said, it’s a painting that deserves more time and words, but I am short on that today. Here is the Joni Mitchell song that was first released in 1966, almost 60 years ago.
My 26th annual solo exhibit at the Principle Gallery, Entanglement, opens this coming Friday, June 13. The work for the show will be at the gallery today and will be available for previews.
I will be attending the Opening Reception for the show that runs from 6-8:30 PM. I will be glad to talk more about this painting or anything else you might want to talk about.
And the following day, next Saturday, June 14, I will also be giving a Painting Demonstration at the gallery. The demo, my first there, should run from 11 AM until 1 PM or thereabouts.
Redtree Times 