study for Prometheus, oil stick on paper, 2014
My drawing practice has recently returned, largely in part to being frozen out of my studio and my wife's aggressive rehearsal schedule. I draw in negative; the images I get down are flipped in my mind's eye. The whites are black and blacks white. I've tried working on black paper, but over the holidays I started using paint sticks in various shades of black and I've been very happy with the process.
I get images from everywhere, and lately I've been appropriating photographs from the various Tumblr feeds I check-in on daily. I confess that I've become addicted to Tumblr, I like the idea of scrolling through hundreds of images with little or no text. It's a feast for a visually-oriented person like me.
I'm taking a break from the stations series to paint another painting or two. It's not like anyone is busting down my studio door demanding the work for a show anyway, so I am happy to go at my own pace and wander in and out of the series at will. Maybe I also need a psychological break from the all-black fields, who knows?
That's the way art goes, I think. Changing one thing makes something else occur to me. Then I'll go explore that new idea. I've said it many times, but work comes from work. Painters paint, actors act, musicians play music. There are enough waiters and waitresses in the world; do what you have to do to keep your dream alive, but don't buy into the means as the end. Anyone can keep working if they are successful. Those of us who work without concern for recognition or money and keep at it are a different breed. I've been fortunate with getting my work into the world and even selling it. But I do it because, try as I might some times, I cannot not do it.
Today is a work holiday and I'm off to the studio to smoke a cigar and enjoy the rain.
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