Landscape of Virginia

The summer break had me thinking about Vincent Van Goth, the artist truly knew little about rest, he works number in the hundreds when there is nearly enough time for him to have finished but a few paintings. As a friend put it; "if anything he was a workhorse" he produced nine hundred paintings in just nine years, it's taken me decades (more than one) to do life and finish more than seven hundred, here in this work of mine I remember his style and efforts. As most people do, when one not well versed in art thinks of their favorite painting the painting "Starry Starry Night" most often comes to mind. This is my tribute to him and his work.

Sometimes it pays to simply wait and let the clouds part from our view. They have to evaporate ya know and it's not something one can force. So sometimes when one is stuck from having subjects to paint one falls back upon old subject matter, that's where this painting comes from, it's a tried and true subject matter for me. I think I'm getting a little better at it now. If one compares it to some older tree paintings I do think this one is a little better. But I'll leave that to history to judge, that is if history wishes to remember me and my art in the first place. It's kind of pompous of me to think that people would but people have been very kind and they do surprise me from the perspective of who and how they like my artwork. So I'll stand aside when it comes time for those who appreciate my art to talk about it.

Looking at art one sometimes comes upon an idea when visiting an art museum, such was the case of how this painting came about; One day I went to the back galleries of the Philadelphia Art Museum when I was living up their, I happen to come upon some B/W paintings done by Robert Indiana. They were somewhat eerier due to the fact that they were all of people long since dead plus they were all painted in Black and White no other colors at all were used by R. Indiana. The paintings were taken from old family photo albums and executed on large canvases but had no other colors other than black, white and gray. At first I thought that they were rather ugly and had no "life in them" but they did stick in my mind and have done so for years now. Funny thing about art, sometimes one finds work that is sired upon one's memory and no matter what one does to forget about a painting, a film or a book one can't do so. Such were this series of paintings that were hanging in...

I enjoy my life much more today because of a fellowship call Narcotics Anonymous, it's responsible for my reclaiming myself and my life. Two of my closest friends from years ago said to me (in all confidence now) that they thought I was insane. My trouble was and still is I don't see through their eyes but I live within my own skin and thus I make myself as comfortable as I can and I feel sane or that I have a healthy approach to life, mentally I feel really good and always have felt healthy. But when one realizes that it's not just oneself but others who create 'reality' one can see that as Oscar Wilde said "no man is an island" . With that said, I felt ok but my existence around me didn't see me as being so healthy. Well nothing changed that until I got clean in NA. It's then I had a look at myself and what I really had done instead of what I was thinking I had done and appeared. My two good friends were brave enough to tell me the truth...

It's been too long since I last put down an entree into this blog but I'll tell ya moving will make one exausted if nothing else: that's my excuse and I'm stick'n to it. I have finished one painting and I'm working upon completing another and I ought to be done in just a few days. School is crank'n along too, there is words being spoken about 'graduation' among other end of the school year rhetoric ....and so my thoughts are turning to the subject of "what are you going to be doing this summer?" And with that I will turn my thoughts to plans for what is going to interest my brush and palette during our summer break. But first there is this canvas I am working on now, it is a joy to be doing so in such a fine spot as my new home is,,,how wonderful a feeling it is to paint in sunlight from a large window in the morning with an idea of where one wants to go with "it". Until later on...when I post my newest one... most like...

Here it is!

My new studio/home is truly something I didn't see in the cards yet I was able to work it out with the help of some friends to buy it. There were more than one reason to buy this place yet I find it truly appealing just because of the amount of natural sunlight it gets. During the morning I am able to see the sunrise, and in the afternoon the front room gets plenty of sunlight as well, so it's perfect for my needs as an artist. So I've already got a canvas underway and it's only been during my first week of being here. The house is in a remote location so I won't publish it's whereabouts but it's safe to say that I still get into Charlottesville for work and now that I drive so far I am very conscious of how little driving I use to do when living in town. I truly saved myself from burning a lot of fuel over the last ten years by biking to and from work as often as I did. Now I guess it's someone else's turn to ride and my turn to conserve whene...