Spring Purge

The weather had turned rather miserable overnight, thwarting Jim's and my plans to join the Port Townsend Urban Sketchers for the last chance to record the major reconstruction through the middle of downtown.  So far there've been so many wonderful sketches from various artists through the months of chaos and heavy equipment invasion. I somehow haven't managed to get one yet! 

However, watching my neighbor set fire to the massive pile of slash between our properties, it occurred to me I could still scratch my itchy sketchy fingers today. The misty green foliage of Spring seemed to need mostly Conte Crayon to really bring out the contrast between the soft, wet buds, and the sharp, bright flames.  

Disrupting The Logical Mind

It's been an incredibly long time since I've posted here on my blog. No real excuse, just got out of the habit. It feels like one of those panic dreams where you realized you'd left your baby somewhere a couple months ago, and freak out, scrambling to find it again. Wondering if it's gone, or worse. 

I'm sure many others are feeling scrambled by the massive corona blasting us from the sun right now, and for the next several days. For me, I feel a little lost, forgetful, disoriented. Exhausted. But like tonight's posting, some old and cherished stuff is coming back to be attended to, also. I'm missing figurative imagery in my work. Other than my occasional sketches in public, people have mostly been  forgotten as a focus for me. When I sculpted, Human figures were nearly exclusively my favorite expression. 

I've been working on this substrate (board) for a couple weeks, now. I covered it with two coats of Gold Gesso my dear friend, Linda, gave me a sample of. I had a vision of cascading, textured...well, abstract sheets of stuff coming down from above, with abstract figurative images emerging from the shadows beneath, (yet to be painted in). Using Liquitex Modeling Paste, I scraped some onto the gesso with a rubber pottery rib, then impressed it with scrolly-patterned rubber texture sheets I have for printing. When they hardened, I sanded them smooth until the textures felt like polished Ivory or bone. Then I commenced to staining with acrylic inks, wiping back the high points with a damp cloth. When I was done, there was that feeling I had wasted a perfectly good board. I hate that "What was I thinking" feeling while painting.

Pulling out a frame, I slapped it on to give me some perspective. Maybe it wasn't quite so awful. I accidentally set the painting back on the table upside down.

There are my "figures"!  I have a feeling the Universe is having me paint abstracts upside down to disrupt the logical mind. This isn't the first time I turned a painting around and it made more sense than the other way.

Happy Vernal Equinox, everybody!