no info here

so,
what ever this is....
something specific
it's that split second before
recognition
that innocent moment
this
out of the fog

Revisiting "Charlotte"
painted one winter on Martha's Vineyard
it migh have something to do with the G&B boaryard
there's real red lead bottom paint in the painting
thanks to Nat, who took me out for
an afternoon sail this summer,
now the painting has another chapter


no, i don't know what it is

painting
hazy transitions or
sudden shifts in perception through
time
space
experience
premonition
and recollection
into an abstract dream state
of superimposed viewpoints
and different dialects
reverberating
simultaneously
watching gravity
viscosity and
transparency
working colour into
experience

deep sea trawler

let it become
with out
naming it





48 x 66 in. oil on wood and canvas 2008- 2010


observation:
"so you paint the sounds and wetness and smell of salt marshes
the splash of water as minor beasts slip breifly above the surface
you paint the bodies inhabitation of said place
a mental cleansing of rigid description... " S.D.
.


painted two summers ago
here, outside
it was of shoreline light
i thought i could add a chapter
and in the process of
painting
i reached out
and picked up
a cedar shingle
violet green orange,
to see where orange might fit
and that was it.
the painting, i had explained
was in that place in a chord progression
characterized by 11ths and 13ths,
the place of longing
anticipation
building towards
the unexpected

the shingle was one
that i painted while
breaking-in a solar painting studio
on Martha's Vineyard
in the winter

intuitive reaching out
or
intuition reaching back?

marking territory

as i walk barefoot
across flagstone toward
the woodshed
i mark summers end
in snails trails,
sparkling
like frost

in the extreme case
the minimum requirement of art is
that it is better than it's maker
the art is the teacher
the maker
is the follower













i am reminded
of the spider's art
discovered
one summer day
drifting gently
in a shaft of morning light
against the shadows
of the woodshed

at a distance,
curious about
what appeared to be
a small, animated cloud
closer inspection revealed
a loosly woven
semi-spherical web
that was being alternately
inverted on up-drafts

the filaments in sunlight
seemed to be coloured.
engineered perhaps
to attract the attention
of flying insects
(the photo below is a detail from the spider web photos)





.

as i move around my outdoor "studio"
there are, of course nature's companions
the song birds who disappear quietly
but are all a-flutter if
i haven't got their
nesting boxes cleaned out
by the time they get back
flycatchers and wrens
are replaced by chickadees
as company for the winter
a lone crow, curious
flying low
just above the tree-tops
who spoke in raven voice
may have been over to
bid a seasonal fair-well

the tipping zone
between hope and
greed
where an outstretched hand
a verse
a musical collaboration
is the difference
between life and death

we enter the zone arms flailing and
disbelief suspended
throw in belief and
in free fall
we empty tubes of colour into paint pots
in case there just may be
a future
what choice do we have
but to gift wrap treasure
when we are alone


woods pool
48 x 66 in. oil
private collection
toronto















the painting above reminded me of
looking through the clear water of early spring
gliding
suspended by magic
above the lake-bed
seeing the autumn leaves preserved
where they came to rest


the painting
preceded
the paddling