In a picture, it should be possible to discover new things every time you see it. But you can look at a picture for a week together and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.
–Joan Miro
Archive for the ‘Painting’ Category
Discovery/Joan Miro
Posted in Painting, Quote, tagged Joan Miro, Quote on November 30, 2016| 1 Comment »
Fragments
Posted in Biographical, Influences, Music, Painting, Quote, tagged Coleman Dowell, GC Myers, Painting, Quotes, Richard Thompson, Tom Jones on November 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »
“All there is, is fragments, because a man, even the loneliest of the species, is divided among several persons, animals, worlds. To know a man more than slightly it would be necessary to gather him together from all those quarters, each last scrap of him, and this done after he is safely dead.”
― Coleman Dowell, Island People
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It’s been hard finding footing lately in the studio. It’s been hard to just get started on most days. There are plenty of factors that play in to this, some external and some internal, some that I can control and some I cannot. But the end result is the same: I am left feeling fragmented, broken into shards that don’t want to reassemble easily in the form of my work.
I am not worried however. This is not the first time I’ve felt so fragmented nor will it be the last. I know that I come apart at times and have to bide my time, just continuing to try to put myself back together so that I may uncover what I know is waiting there for me.
It’s there. It may seem an awfully long way away but I can see it and I know that while it may take time and much effort, I shall be together with it again.
The painting above is a piece that has been with me for a while now. One of the orphans that come home to reside for a bit. I wrote about it last year when I thought I might change its name to Dimming of the Day but it still remains under its original title, Fragments, in my mind. And I suspect it will stay that way.
This painting is based very much on this feeling that I am experiencing at this moment and when this feeling emerges, I often think of this painting. There is darkness and distance here. The space between the Red Chair and the house has a certain weight that makes me feel as though there is something more than physical distance at play here. The sky, a confetti-like blend of thousands of little fragments of brushstrokes that gave the painting its title originally, represents, for me at least in this piece, the world falling out of harmony.
Dark, distant and coming apart.
Yet despite that I find this painting very comforting. I think that goes back to what I said above, that I know this place well from past experience . I know how to navigate it and know that the distance is not so great nor the darkness too deep. And I know that the parts are still in place to come together again in the future if I simply exercise patience and don’t give in.
It’s funny how that works. I walk by this painting several times a day in the studio and it’s often without a thought as my mind is preoccupied with something else. But every so often I stop before it and suddenly all of these feelings flood back on me when I look closer. I’m glad it works that way, actually.
Here’s a nice version of the Richard Thompson song whose title, Dimming of the Day, I was thinking about renaming this painting. It’s a strong yet tender version from Tom Jones. Have a good day…
Passing Clouds/ Redux
Posted in Music, Painting, Quote, tagged GC Myers, Helen Keller, Quotes, Red Tree, Tom Waits, Video on November 21, 2016| 1 Comment »
This painting is one of those pieces that somehow found its way back to the studio after making the rounds at several galleries. I’m not always surprised when one does make its way back to me but this one kind of surprised me. There’s just a lot that I like about this painting. So I will enjoy it for a while longer for myself. Here’s what I wrote about it a few years back.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
-Helen Keller
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Who can speak more about optimism than Helen Keller?
I still struggle to get my mind around how she persevered to overcome blindness and deafness. Such a remarkable thing. It makes me question my own strength of character, makes me wonder how I would respond if similar circumstances. I wonder how well known her life’s story is to the younger generation, outside of the tale of her early years with the woman, Anne Sullivan, who taught her how to join the world as portrayed in the play and movie, The Miracle Worker. That drama, while marvelous in itself, doesn’t reveal the great influence that Helen Keller had through her life as an activist and inspirational speaker. She is a pretty amazing case, to say the least.
That brings me to this little piece, a new 12″ by 12″ canvas that I call Passing Clouds. There’s a lot of joy, a lot of bright-eyed optimism in this painting, both in the process of painting it and in the final product. It’s one of those pieces that I truly enjoyed every moment that I worked on it and never felt a twinge of doubt about the strength or validity of it. It felt in rhythm with the first brushstroke and every subsequent move was made with complete confidence. That’s a rare thing. Usually there is a struggle at some point. But occasionally things come together and a painting like this flows out with complete ease.
No, there are no clouds hanging over this one. Just floating by…
I wanted to include a version of Irving Berlin‘s classic song Blue Skies, one of my favorites. But as I searched I came across this different song with the same title from Tom Waits. I had forgotten this song that I hadn’t heard in many years but it immediately came back to me. Just a lovely small song, perfect for a lovely small painting.
It’s Not What You See… /Redux
Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, Music, Painting, Quote, tagged Chet Baker, Music, Pablo Picasso, Quote, Truth, Video, Vincent Van Gogh on November 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I wrote about how the truth, particularly as it applies to the news, has become a subjective item. It seems to be more about how we feel about something rather than what the facts provide. This in turn allows falsehoods to become accepted as truth in the eyes of some despite all evidence to the contrary. It’s an unfortunate scenario that may have already affected us and may create awful consequences at some point in the all too near future.
But you can’t judge the facts like you’re judging a piece of art. The facts should not be affected by how you feel about them or whether you like or dislike them. They stand as they are. Can you imagine being innocent and on trial? All of the evidence and testimony proves your innocence but you are convicted because the jury felt that you were nonetheless found guilty. The jury just didn’t like something about you.
Unfortunately, that’s not that far-fetched an analogy.
I thought I’d run the post below from a few years back that talks about how the emotional subjectivity is appropriate in art, where your feeling is as important as the facts.
Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.
–Pablo Picasso
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I love this quote from Picasso. I think that is what all art really is– an expression of feeling. Emotion. I know my best work, or at least the work that I feel is most directly connected to who I truly am as a human being, is always focused on expressing emotion rather than depicting any one place or person or thing. At its best, the piece as a whole becomes a vehicle for expression and the subject is merely a focal point in this expression. The subject matter becomes irrelevant beyond that. It could be a the most innocuous object, a chair or a tree in my case. It doesn’t really matter because the painting’s emotion is carried by the painting as a whole- the colors, the texture, the linework, the brushstrokes, etc.
In other words, it’s not what you see but what you feel.
I think many of Vincent Van Gogh‘s works are amazing example of this. They are so filled with emotion that you often don’t even realize how mundane the subject matter really is until you step back to analyze it for a moment. I’ve described here before what an incredible feeling it was to see one of his paintings for the first time, how it seemed to vibrate with feeling, seeming almost alive on the wall.
It was a vase of irises.
A few flowers in a pot. A floral arrangement. How many hundreds of thousands of such paintings have been created just like that? But this Van Gogh painting resonates not because of the subject matter, not because of precise depiction of the flowers or the vase. No, it was a deep expression of his emotion, his wonder at the world he inhabited, inside and out.
I also see this in a lot of music. It’s not the subject but the way the song is expressed. How many times have we heard overwrought , schmaltzy ballads that try to create overt emotion but never seem to pull it off? Then you hear someone interpret a simple song with deep and direct emotion and the song soars powerfully. I often use Johnny Cash‘s last recordings, in the last years and months before his death, as evidence of this. Many were his interpretations of well known songs and his voice had, by that time, lost much of the power of his earlier days. But the emotion, the wonder, in his delivery was palpable. Moving.
Likewise, here’s Chet Baker from just a few months before his death. He, too, had lost the power and grace of youth due to a life scarred by the hardship of drug abuse and violence. But the expression is raw and real. It makes this interpretation of Little Girl Blue stand out for me.
Part of the Plan
Posted in Biographical, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged GC Myers, KADA Gallery, New Painting, Red Tree, Show Statement on October 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Saturday, October 29, marks the opening date for my show, Part of the Plan, at Erie’s Kada Gallery. It starts with an opening reception— which is free and open to the public–beginning at 6 PM that I will be attending. Below is the artist statement for this show along with the painting that shares its title with that of the show.
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I guess most people would classify me as a landscape painter and it would be hard to dispute that statement. After all, most of my work does use the lines and forms of the landscape as its basis.
Fields and skies. Hills and lakes. Trees and trails. All that surrounds us.
But for me, I have never saw my work as being about only the landscape. It was never about capturing a singular place, never about representing an actual geographic reality.
For me the work was not about painting what is. No, from the very beginning it was about capturing hopes and desires. It was about providing a platform where I could freely express my innermost feelings.
But most importantly, it was about creating a world that welcomed me, that made me feel that I was somehow a piece of a larger pattern. I don’t know if it can be called religious, spiritual, psychological or simply a matter of physics but I needed to create a world where I played a role.
A place where I was part of the plan.
The world I see in my work holds patterns and rhythms that swirl through the skies and surge through the rolls of the colorful landscape. There are forces that are made visible that we would never see in our normal world and among it all the Red Tree stands as our representative, standing placidly with the knowledge that it belongs there as part of the plan.
This is a difficult thing to describe. It is something that becomes more evident through viewing the work itself. I hope you will take a moment to look a little deeper at these paintings and maybe see a glimpse of what I am describing. Or better yet, see yourself for what you are—a part of the plan.
Cool Fire
Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged GC Myers, Joan Miro, KADA Gallery, Red Tree on October 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness.
—Joan Miro
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This new painting is a 10″ by 30″ canvas that I call Cool Fire. It is included in my show, Part of the Plan, which opens this Saturday at the Kada Gallery in Erie. I came across the words above from artist Joan Miro, whose work I admire very much, after I had finished this piece.
I was struck by how his words lined up with how I see this painting, especially in its juxtaposition of warmth and coolness. It creates a tension that is similar to the actual creation of many works of art, one where the artist walks a fine line between passion and control.
I think this balance is critical in creating work that reaches out to the viewer. Too much control and the work, while it might have great beauty, is cold and passionless. Too much passion without little control may appear erratic and off message.
But to make these two opposing forces work together is what brings life to the work and allows it to reach out. And I think this painting, with its equal parts of fire and self control, is a pretty good example of walking this fine line.
The Figurehead
Posted in Motivation, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged KADA Gallery, Margaret Mead, Quote, Recent Painting, Red Tree on October 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Never doubt that a small number of dedicated people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
—Margaret Mead
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I love the words above from anthropologist Margaret Mead. I think they are empowering and a reminder of our innate ability to shape the world.
Too often we fail to exercise our own power to change the world because we think that we have little power to do so. We all too often see ourselves as unseen players on a huge stage, that our existence is noticed by no one.
But what we fail to understand is that we change the world by our very existence. It comes through the way we carry and express ourselves, in the manner in which our actions and words affect those close to us.
We create the patterns for our young, molding the way in which they view and act within the world. Our actions and words set the tone for their future, building a sense of openness and possibility or one of angry pessimism in them. Calm words, thoughtful reactions and a strong resolve to do what is right can change the world in a small way. It can only make it better.
And this attitude will attract others and together their power to affect changes increases dramatically. That is how changes comes to this world. It starts with one person who creates an atmosphere where anything seems possible, especially those things that stem from positive attributes.
I see this new piece, The Figurehead, a 5″ by 27″ painting on paper which is part of my upcoming Kada Gallery show, as an embodiment of this sentiment. The Red Tree here displays a graceful quality that holds sway over all those who are within in its sight, serving as a symbol of inspiration and strength.
I think we are all figureheads of a sort. We all hope to represent certain ideals and qualities and ideally they are apparent in how we present ourselves to the outside world. So it is vital to remember that we all in some way stand alone on a rise where we are visible to those around us. Our words and actions matter in a large way.
They can change the world…
The Lesson Learned
Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged Erie PA, GC Myers, KADA Gallery, Lao Tzu, New Painting, Quote, Red Tree, Taosim on October 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
—Lao Tzu
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I am putting the finishing touches on my new show, Part of the Plan, that opens next Saturday, October 29, at the Kada Gallery, in Erie, PA. I have been showing my work at the Kada Gallery for over twenty years now and this will be, I believe, my eighth solo show there. Owners Kathy and Joe DeAngelo, along with their staff, do an absolutely wonderful job in representing my work and this is always an enjoyable show for me.
One of the new paintings for this show is the piece above, a 12″ by 16″ canvas titled The Lesson Learned. The title is taken from the words of Lao Tzu, the Chinese philosopher and father of Taoism, that are at the top of this page. I believe that those three things– simplicity, patience and compassion— are the basis for a satisfying and peaceful life. All three are critical in interacting with the outer world and with our understanding of that outer world and our place in it.
I see all three of those attributes in the Red Tree in this painting. It stands placidly, taking in the simple pleasure of the scene before it. It patiently waits for the light of the new day that approaches. And it perches protectively and compassionately above the homes below it.
When I look at this painting I am instantly reminded of those three things simply by the feeling it instantly evokes in me. This meshing of feeling and meaning is something I look for in my work because that takes the work to a level that is beyond my own limitations. It gives it its own life that will move beyond me. And that is all I can hope for my work…
Introspection
Posted in Influences, Painting, Quote, tagged GC Myers, KADA Gallery, Paramahansa Yogananda, Quote, Recent Paintings, Red Tree on October 17, 2016| 2 Comments »
Introspection, or ‘sitting in the silence,’ is an unscientific way of trying to force apart the mind and senses, tied together by the life force. The contemplative mind, attempting its return to divinity, is constantly dragged back toward the senses by the life currents.
—Paramahansa Yogananda
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I often consider my landscapes as being deeply introspective even though by their very nature they are outward looking. They are most often scenes where the central figure– the Red Tree in most cases– finds itself in a moment and place where the inner and outer, the mind and the senses, converge.
It is a moment of calmness, one that allows the mind to expand and soar outside itself, to see the world and itself from new perspectives. It allows it to see all that it is and is not. To see all possibility, paths that are open but not yet visible. Perhaps even a return to divinity as the words of the great Hindi yogi Paramahansa Yogananda states in the quote above.
I like the idea of this juxtaposition of contrasts, the inner and the outer set side by side, each strengthening the other so long as they stay in balance. I can’t say that I go into a painting with that as a goal in the front of my mind. I think it’s just one of those things that when you recognize it in the final product realize that it was what you were looking for even though you didn’t know it at the outset.
And perhaps letting it slip from your consciousness was the key all along. Trying too hard to find something so elusive usually ends in failure. But just letting things go without placing too much emphasis on any aspect sometimes brings what is important to the forefront.
I know that in this new painting, a 15″ by 30″ canvas titled Introspection, that how I see it now had little to do with where I initially thought it would go or say. At its start I never gave a single thought as to leading it to the message that it now holds for me. I just let the paint work, let my mind move freely in the forms and color to release what it ultimately held.
So maybe that is the key– to free the mind from the senses as Yogananda says. Easier said than done…
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The painting above, Introspection, is included in Part of the Plan, my solo show opening October 29 at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.
Absorbed in the Moment
Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged Eckhart Tolle, Erie, GC Myers, KADA Gallery, New Painting, Quote, Red Tree on October 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »
It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.
-Eckhart Tolle
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This new painting is a 20″ by 20″ canvas titled Absorbed in the Moment. This was one of those rare pieces that felt strong from its very beginning all the way through to its completion. It felt very directed and each piece seemed to fit easily into the painting, adding its own strength.
The progress of this piece very much kept me in the moment as I worked and maybe that is where that sense of awe in the moment that I get from this piece originates. I know as I worked, I stayed only in the moment. Setting aside the past and the future, I relished being in that place at that time. The scene, the colors and the way everything fell together created an inviting and restful –even invigorating — place for my mind to linger.
And that held true even long after its completion. Every time I look in its direction I sense a feeling of comfort, a great calming effect, in that moment. The moment taking place on the surface becomes the moment I am living in the present.
It is always in the present moment and the present moment is always in it–that is all I can ask of anything I paint.
This painting will be included at my upcoming show, Part of the Plan, which opens October 29 at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.
Redtree Times 