Canvas booty

Stretching again! 4 foot square

Interior

Quarter way inland through the state, amtrak floats over marsh . We honk and clang. Windows and plastic molding shutter. Pale grey sky is mirrored a shade darker in water. There are no hard edges here. Mirror grey and mottled red, green, and yellow grasses pattern themselves off into the distance. Urban texture is suggested on the horizon fringe.

The lady behind me is talking to her newspaper. "mm hmm" She flips a page.

The lawyer two seats back is arranging case reviews by phone. His ability to get to the bottom line mid-chit chat suggests ex military, but it could be the result of commanding a steep hourly wage.

The perceived interrogation of painting in recent weeks has driven me inside. Art making feels burdened. The field of studio art has unfurled and inflated, displacing my current craft. I keep being asked "why paint?" Since studio art practice is not limited to discrete objects, is the making of image-specific objects obsolete?

Fortunately, my elective choice (advanced painting)has forced the brush in my hand twice a week and reminded me of some of the Whys. The physical process (the ritual of it?) and the color and form discoveries. Painting's slow pace gives me time to meditate on the subject. Do I need to document the process beyond the final image? Or work on location? Painting from direct observation is lauded for the extra info you get from the subject (color, changing light, etc). Photos provide forms which become filled with personal abstractions on canvas, but the presence of the original forces me to edit and respond.

Its easy to gloss over the depression of past weeks. A new roll of canvas, and some five foot stretchers, boosted excitement about pushing my limits in this medium.

Inching towards plein air

Sketched under 80 east
Painted in studio
Only got one honk. Is there a good time to time to linger under
overpasses?

Visited the east coast contemporary painter show at the ccas (sacto). The amtrak from Davis offers more views of industry, fresh housing, farm, field, and the marsh. The bike ride through the capital dumped me on hightraffic one way road. The lack of pedestrians (an oddity for the hub of the state) made it easy to take sidewalks in desperation. Neighborhood are spotty but with promise. I finally happened in a bike path on19th st abdcould hustle into the ccas. The show had some built up pieces and some subtle ones. My favorite work was by jake berthot - subtle shifts in tone exploring tree motifs.
i've been feeling as if pai ting has been excommunicated fron the art world- so a roomful of pigment texture and color offered a needed boost