Okokokokokok! YES! Some things just take longer then I expect them to take. But then again... I think they are better for the extra time. And, I started another painting - it's on the floor beneath the burned trees....
I can hear my grandfather tell me that I should not over work a painting... something he confessed was his 'issue'. He used to ask me whether I thought what I did was an illustration or a 'painting'? There is a difference.
An illustration does NOT hold the same exalted position as a painting. Illustrations contain mostly a singular purpose - to illustrate something that someone has said or written or, to sell something. A painting is more because it must capture more then a photograph ever can, and should have meaning beyond what you first see. And most importantly, a painting must be something that you would like to wake up to in the morning - every morning - and perhaps see something new each day. Can you imagine?
To paint is to do something - as far as my grandfather was concerned - special. And, that not only should it last, visually, but it should move people, emotionally. So, with that haunting my brain, I have not finished these to pieces.... BUT, I think I am close!
It is taking me FOREVER to capture what I see in the water of the estuaries of California. The diatom cover and mixture of algae and fungus - sounds like fun, HUH!? - I think it is getting there... I keep looking at it and seeing more that I should do... I want this piece to say something about all the estuaries I have visited here... sigh. And I have a few insects to add and some fish that tolerate brackish water, just under the surface. The salicornia needs some purple for the time of year, too.
The burned trees are coming along. They are scary in a way. The grasses below them are all non-natives and in the real world, are a problem of our forests that have roads - we bring the seeds of weeds where ever we go. To see this actual spot up in the San Gabriel Mountains of these burned trees is startling. It is a tough image to begin with let alone to make this work more the just an illustration.
The one artist my grandfather felt was capable of painting a painting in a medium other then the 'royal medium' of oil, was Adrew Wyeth. I agree with my grandfather on this point(we had our differences and discussions). Wyeth's most beautiful work was done in tempera. I think I could look at his paintings forever and see more every day.
