Of Poetry and Painting

Last Light at Palo Duro
15 x 15 oil on linen
Available at the Panhandle Plains Museum Invitational

"Life is a spell so exquisite that everything conspires to break it."
Emily Dickinson

I have always felt a strong connection between my love of poetry and my painting. I'd like to take credit for that as an original idea, but, alas, its one that's been around since antiquity. As I was driving over to Sherman the other day, letting my mind wander and my eyes enjoy the landscape, it occurred to me that what I love most about poetry (aside from just the sound of the words) is its dual nature of compression and expansion. What I mean by that is that an experience or idea is compressed into a poetic form-a few words- each chosen carefully for maximum impact of meaning and sound, and in that very tightly woven group of words, whole worlds can be described and felt. The compression, the winnowing down seems to distill the meaning and feeling into something more intense and expansive. That's exactly what I'm trying to do in each painting. And, yes, I really think about stuff like that when I'm driving.


A note to my blog subscribers: For some reason, Feedburner (the service I use to deliver my posts via email) has redelivered an old post from December several times this week. I can't figure out why and can't seem to stop it. I do know that Feedburner has been experiencing many problems lately. I'm sorry- just wanted you to know I wasn't obsessively pushing a button somewhere like that guy in Lost.

A Dispatch from the Bubble

My husband and I set out a year or so ago to simplify our lives and to create - as we call it - "the Bubble". This is the place (both geographical and internal) where we can do what we do in a simple, purposeful way. For me, that means painting and trying to mine the vein of visual ideas that the landscape suggests to me. I have talked a little about this here.

Writing this blog has become an unexpected part of the Bubble for me. In addition to the opportunity to connect with other artists all over the world, the small paintings I have produced and posted here became the seeds of ideas for larger works and even series of paintings. Because I was doing many of these little paintings rather than just a few larger ones, I was able to develop the ideas more quickly and also to adjust the technical changes that were occurring in my work more quickly. The change in my working process from direct painting to using indirect traditional methods like glazing also contributed to this- making it necessary to have several pieces going at once, rather than the simple start and finish approach I have always used before.

So what I am posting here are two beginnings - lay ins which are done in the manner I talked about here - of a series of 10-12 larger paintings now in progress. These are all based on the same visual idea, the seed of which is the small Rick's Pool paintings I posted over the last several months. Here in the Bubble we find this to be fascinating stuff, but I realize it may be less than compelling to you out there in the world. On the other hand, all artists I know have a pretty intense inner life going, so hopefully you'll forgive this little navel gazing glimpse into mine.

A rift in the time/space continuum of the Bubble occurs this weekend when we travel to Canyon, Texas for the opening of the Panhandle Plains Museum Invitational on Saturday. I have talked about the Museum and this show here, and am looking forward to the road trip, seeing the Museum again, and visiting with artist friends I know who will be there.

Panhandle Evening

Panhandle Evening Oil 6 x 6
Sold
This is a study for a larger piece for the Panhandle Plains Museum Invitational. This is my third year in this show. The Museum is located in Canyon, Texas (near Amarillo). In addition to the museum, one of Canyon's claims to fame art-wise is that it was the place that Georgia O'Keeffe taught for several years and where she first started doing the work which would lead to her status as an icon of modernism. The other is Palo Duro Canyon a 120 mile canyon with a spectacular landscape and history of human habitation for the last 12,000 years.

The Museum is an amazing place. It is filled with exhibits and collections relating to all facets of the area- history, archeology, geology, art and culture . You could happily spend days wandering around from exhibit to exhibit. The Invitational is an annual exhibition and sale which features artists from all over the southwest. As I have mentioned here before, I have a special place in my heart for the Panhandle. I love its stripped down, spare beauty and its people are warm, hard working, delightful folks. So, its a treat and a privilege to be included in this show.