for the past seven years i’ve photographed the forsythia blooming on the berm outside my studio - from eighteen two foot plants to a jungle of wild cadmium yellow. maybe its the promise of spring after a cold, gray northeast winter or the first burst of real color - no matter - i always photograph them with the intention of doing a painting and had canvases of varying sizes waiting along with this beautiful cobalt blue vase i found a few years back - still nothing - until this morning ...
just ‘finished’ a large abstract oil , so all the brushes and varnishes are warmed up - my chops are back for this genre and with all the vanishing leaves and cold air, my eyes and soul are ready to go there ...
i used to feel apologetic for occasionally enjoying a foray into representational painting - [with all the silly stigmatizing and categorization that goes] - anymore, i just do it for my soul ...
like keith jarrett occasionally playing a bach interlude or johnny cash singin’ gospel - its all music ...
besides, i need a little break from the brain bangin’ for a few days ... including bad news and politics - that’s a hard one because my morbid curiosity seems to end up on cnn, bbc, npr, etc. - or maybe its because beneath this socialized callous there’s an optimism, hope, and innocence that hasn’t been bred out of me and believes one day i’ll turn on news to enlightenment breaking out in different parts of the world -
wow, too much fresh air and sunshine this morning ...
