Invitation to In Between

Hesperia (formerly blow)
Sumi, oil, cold wax, woodblock print collage, moab earth
36" x 36"

I have been thinking a lot about the places between elements of contrast where understanding and union occur. I believe this has led to the emphasis in this piece on the horizon and colors representing the beautiful and compelling union of day and night.

I always find it fascinating how I can go into a painting with a fairly specific plan, and the painting almost always has other ideas. Letting the painting lead the conversation of creating often makes better sense than my conscious ideas, and it usually turns out that my original plan comes out in time, but other things have to happen first - like this. Such a lesson about not letting the busy mind try to pull things to us before they are ready to come to us on their own.

I will let this painting rest just a bit, but I am considering pushing the darks in the forground and the atmospheric texture of the background if/when I go back into it.

Robert Yoder, my new wonderful mentor, and I had a great meeting where we talked about my desire for contrast and ambiguity and he suggested focusing on the square in order to detract from the landscape impications of the rectangle. I love working with the square and recently bought a ton of stretchers for more 36" and 38"squares. I am going to see about stepping back into a more minimal approach to reflecting on sea sky forest on this scale. I also wonder about the component aspect of same size squares in order to address the idea of a larger scale without working on giant pieces. Could these squares all come together somehow? Sounds like an invitation. Union. The places where different things meet. The beauty of between. The tenderness of transitions. The gifts of new spaces, and the patience to let them reveal themselves.