Notes from the studio, June 2022

This month I have been working on a painting I have titled "Cat in the Poppies." I like this painting of the little white cat hiding in the corner with the towering stems of red poppies winging in every direction and shape above its head. We have had gale force wind these past months and long slender stems have gotten a rambunctious workout snapping and bending to keep in step. As a result, ordinary flower shapes have been turned inside out, collapsed, or been flailed into peculiar shapes completely stymying their original genetic predilection.

Sometimes, like the people who look at my pictures, I wonder about transcendental meanings hidden somewhere in my art. Or that should be hidden in my art. I have been asked, "what does this mean or symbolize? Or why did you do that? Or, how long did this take to paint?"

In response to how long it has taken me to paint something, “Since I have been painting for over sixty years, it has taken me a really long time to paint that painting.”

These are all interesting comments and any one of them can evoke intellectual dialogue, art history-provoking questions, comparisons, or criticisms. Or prove that I am a better or worse painter than I truly am.

The real reason I have painted for so long is that I like doing it. It is a felt sense, a door in the floor to the basement of life. It might be dark down there, but a lot is going on. I’d rather bump around and stub a toe feeling my way than "figuring" it all out or fit into popular conventions.

Or maybe . . . I am like a bird coasting on the wind.

“Cat in the Poppies” is available as a painting, medium print, and small print.