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Posts Tagged ‘Traveler’

Homeward Bound

Posted in Music, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , on May 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Homeward BoundI finished this smaller painting yesterday, a 4″ by 7″ image on paper that is going to the Principle Gallery in a week or so for my upcoming show, Traveler, which opens on June 6.  I  have a  group of  paintings with small figures– guitarists and boatmen– in them where the relationship of the figure to the space in the picture is the most important element for me.  I think that is evident in this piece, called Homeward Bound, where the sense of space in the sky gives this piece a sense of distance and remoteness while at the same time having a warmth that indicates an imminent return or at least the memory of home for the figure.

Home is a powerful concept and word, that thing that we all seek on some level.  It may be found in the terrain or in the people or simply in a state of mind, a sense of comfort and belonging.  I think its this sense of belonging that most drives us in our quest for home, that place or state of  mind where we dwell naturally as we really are at our core.   Some people seem to carry a sense of home with them, always feeling naturally in place wherever they might be.  Others, like myself, more often feel out of place wherever they are and this idea of home as a haven becomes more important.  And that’s kind of the idea of this simple piece, that place where our song is most true and pure, a song of our heart.

The title is, of course, derived from the great Simon and Garfunkel song.  Those opening chords best sum up the feel of this piece.

 

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The Empowerment

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on May 20, 2014| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- The EmpowermentThis is the week in which I put the finishing touches on the group of work for my show, Traveler, that opens in a little more than two weeks, on June 6th,  at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  This is my fifteenth solo  show there so there I have a sense of routine and rhythm in how these shows come together which takes away some of the anxiety although there is always something out there to add a bit of it back into the mix.  This year had a few glitches along the way, including the cold that has hung on for the last couple of weeks.  But the cold has receded enough to let me work and in the past few days the work has really come together well.  So now I am at the point where is simply a matter of completing a few pieces then moving into the final phase of framing for presentation.

One of the pieces that I will be framing is this new one, an 18″ by 18″ canvas that I am calling The Empowerment.  I get the title from the sun and its relationship with the Red Tree, which draws strength from the rhythmic swirl of the sunlight showering down on it.  We all draw strength from something, be it light of the sun or warmth of our loved ones, that allows us to walk our own paths.  For me, that’s the basic theme of this painting which is strengthened itself by what I perceive as an interesting mix of warmth and coolness, feeling both warmly embracing and airily cool in its openness.

It just feels good to me…

Well, no time to dally.  I have things to get done today.  Have a great day.

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Time Traveler

Posted in Music, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, Video, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 18, 2014| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Time TravelerI finished this new painting, 18″ by 26″  on paper, a few days ago and have been regularly taking it in as it sits in my studio, waiting to be framed for my upcoming show, Traveler, at the Principle Gallery.  I think I am calling this piece Time Traveler but it’s still up in the air as I ponder it for a few more days.

It’s one of a few pieces that will be in this show that are from the Strata series, which are similar to my Archaeology pieces but more focused on the patterns and colors of the underground layers and boulders rather than on artifacts.  I like this mix of the straight representation of the Red Tree in the top half  set against the organic and almost abstract forms of the lower half, giving it a striking visual contrast while still maintaining  harmony.

I normally don’t like to dwell on technique here but  this is also a little technically different from my typical work.  I normally work in one of two ways–in a  reductive manner, where the paint is applied very wet, in puddles,  then removed leaving a transparent and luminous surface or in a more traditional additive manner in which paint is applied in layers building from dark to light.  Usually one one process is used in a piece but the Strata series allows me to easily mix the methods which adds to the visual contrast between the upper and lowers segments.

As I continue to consider this piece, I thought I would play a song this Sunday morning that mentions time.  I thought I would play Time Is On My Side which was a big hit for the Rolling Stones in 1964.  I always assumed it was written by Jagger and Richards but it was actually a cover.  The song was written my Jerry Ragavoy under the pseudonym Norman Meade.  It was first recorded by jazz trombonist Kai Winding in 1963 with the only lyrics being Time is on my side sung by back-up singers Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston.  It’s an interesting version that I am including below but I really wanted to focus on the version from the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas, which was released around the same time as the Stones’ version.  It has the added lyrics that most of us know and is just a dynamite performance.

Enjoy and have a great Sunday!

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