Redtree Times

I do not know of any salvation for society except through eccentrics, misfits, dissenters, people who protest.

–William O. Douglas, Discussion on the Free Society, 1961

I’m not sure the words from the late Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas have anything to do with the paintings shown at the top, I just really like his quote on the need for the freedom of speech that enables and nurtures the eccentrics, misfits, dissenters, protesters, and all the other oddballs and weirdos. They are often the engines of progress and always the ones who add spice to this life.

I was working in the basement of my studio yesterday. It’s where I now do my framing. The space has a retro 60’s vibe with its cheesy wood paneling and carpet that looks like it may have come from an old casino. I don’t even notice the carpet or paneling anymore. I also realized yesterday that I also no longer notice the things hanging on the walls down there. But yesterday took a moment to look at some of the things hanging on the wall.

It’s a group of paintings that feels like they are oddballs, kind of a basement version of the Island of Misfit Toys. There is a painting from 2000 called Memento Mori that doesn’t deserve to be relegated to this space. It has a sort of regal feel amongst the other pieces, as though it knows this. Like an exiled monarch waiting to return to their throne. Then there is a folk-art painting of a black lab curled up that I call Winston Churchill for reasons I can no longer recall. I’ll sj=how these two pieces some other times along with another painting from 1998 that, like Memento Mori, deserves a better place to rest its weary self.

The pieces I wanted to talk about are the two shown at the top. Yes, I know there are four images. You’re not telling me anything I didn’t already know, smart guy. They are from around 1998 from a short period in which I was interested in some way of creating two side paintings. I’m not sure why it so interested me at the time. But it did. I actually did one of these two=sided pieces that found a home. It was painted on both sides of an old cabinet door and was hung with a black iron chain that ran between wrought iron hooks attached to the side of the door panel. Its current owners hang it in a open through window (is that the right term?) where one side can be seen from each of the two rooms.

The pieces above were experiments. I say experiments now but at the time I didn’t view them as such. It was just an idea to be chased and I would use whatever was at hand to reach it. They are painted on gesso-coated pieces of plain plywood which is not an ideal surface in any way. Though that didn’t stop me, I knew pretty quickly that these were destined to be experiments. Even so, I painted them with all earnestness and effort. I believe in maximum effort when it comes to my work. That’s probably why I don’t do studies.

These paintings have knocked around with me for about 28 years now, so they have seen some rough conditions at times. The pair on the left with the horizontal orientation is a favorite of mine, probably as a result of the coffee stain that shows on the lower right side of the bottom image. I probably should be more irritated by this obvious flaw but it actually makes me kind of happy. I have mentioned how I like to see the hand of the artist in works– a stray bristle, hair, or scuff on the surface that captures a moment when the artist at work. This sort of falls in that category though this happened well after it was painted.

The left-hand image on the vertically oriented pieces on the right is probably the best, most fully realized, of all the images. I think it is a beautiful image. Unfortunately, the piece of plywood on which it is painted experienced a bit more expansion and contraction which caused the gesso surface to crack. It also has numerous drilled holes from some crackpot idea I probably had at the time about mounting this piece.

But I don’t care too much. That just gives them a little character.

I feel bad for often working down there without noticing them at all. And when I do look at them, I am only seeing one side. But, even so, they give me a lot of pleasure in that funky space when I do pause to take them in.

They are my misfits, after all.

And I have a special place in my heart for the eccentrics and misfits, the weirdos and the oddballs that make this world a special place.

Bill Doulas would know what I mean by that…