I’ve been working on this piece, 50 six inch paintings done in 50 days. 49 of the pieces are set up in a 7 x 7 grid with one inch between them, and the 50th piece is to the side of the grid. 50/50 is a show that is competition where part of the sales benefit the Sanchez Art Center, located in Pacifica, CA. This year’s show was juryed by DeWitt Chang. My theme is water, reflections, branches, brambles. Each one of the 6 inch square is a section of a somewhat convoluted photograph that I took while at Phoenix Lake, featuring the grasses, trees, brush all reflected in the water. It’s very green looking and pushes your eyes in and out of your head so you are not quite sure what you are looking at-which is something I really like. I’ve decided to paint the entire painting, meaning each square, at once. As I have several other shows coming up and a three week visit with my sweetheart, I’m at the studio painting as much as I can. And the thing that has happened is that now that I working so much, there’s nothing else that I really want to do-I’m in the zone. Painting like this is like having sex-all I want to do is go back to the well for more. I can’t seem to get enough of it. I heard a program on NPR about a man who wrote about addiction and pleasure, and one of his premises was that the way to not become addicted was to spread your pleasures out, but right now, my pleasure, has become pure and simple addiction, and I’m loving it.

Painting is like falling in love-all you can do is think of your beloved, wonder about your beloved, hope the best for your beloved and watch each go off into the universe.

Stop it and just DO,” he advised her. “Try and tickle something inside you, your ‘weird humor.’ You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool.” He added: “You are not responsible for the world — you are only responsible for your work, so do it. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be.”

I’ve been thinking about the correlation of painting and poetry and just what it is that can make them flip sides of the same coin. I’d say it has to do with memory and time. Painting can be, and poetry is often, a record of memory. And so what happens to a person, an artist if they start loosing their memory? Certainly I’ve lost some memories, mostly things that I consider inconsequental-like a trivial conversation, or a slight I experienced once upon a time, and I would say that these are good memories to forget, because they are inconsequential or because after a lifetime there is no need to remember every hurt or slight, because if you do, you spend too much time nursing that slight or hurt, those are good things to forget. What I hope I never forget often has to do with weather or a specific time of day or a lone walk in the woods at twilight when the light was just so and the times when I have been able to really see another, and to be seen. These things.

I recently had a conversation about the power of painting and how it can “move” the viewer. The particular artist we were discussing was Rembrandt. Later on I was thinking about what “being moved” meant, and whether that term “being moved,” is ever used when looking at some contemporary art that is fabricated by someone other than the artist. Is it important to have the physical touch of the maker of the painting involved in the process of producing the work in order to “move” (emotionally) the viewer?

Today when I was painting I suddenly got very hungry. It was close to dinner time but I didn’t feel like I was quite ready to stop painting so I continued. But, I was aware of and thinking about eating dinner and then wondered if how this particular thought would be incorporated into the painting I was working on, which got me thinking of all the other little thoughts that occur while painting and how those little thoughts make themselves known within the mix.

What am I doing?
What makes a great painting?
How do I make my painting both timeless and relevant?
Who cares about landscape painting? It’s been done and is being done a million times.
The landscape that we have known is disappearing.
What do we want to remember?
What is memory? Is memory ever true?
We are living in a time when we as Americans are watching the decline of our powers.
We are living in a time when we now know via the internet all the ills of the world.
I am living in a body and mind that is declining in its powers.
There is just some skin and bones that separate us from the next sentient being.
Is the purpose of painting like Matisse said, “What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity … like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue. …?” or is it something else?
What is the purpose of art? “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” (Aristotle)
I guess that answers things-

One of the similarities of making good art and living a good life is finding the balance between chaos and control.

I’m going to be part of a “small works” show at Art Works Downtown, November 18-January 7. Reception December 10, 5-8 PM.

I’ll also be having an Open Studio/Sale at my studio, Saturday, December 4th and Sunday, December 5th, 1000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo, CA, 11 AM-5 PM. Call for directions at 415 302-0291. Three other artists in the building will be showing their work as well; Wendy Goldberg, Ellen French, and Jeb Brady.

Last year I was juried into a book put out by Alcove Press in Berkeley, CA, called American Art Collector. It has arrived today. It’s a beautiful collection of painting, sculpture and some crafts, juried by Howard Eige, Professor at California College of the Arts. My painting “False Lead,” can be found on page 336. Let me know if you want me to send you a postcard with the same image as in the book-click reply with your address and I’ll pop one in the mail.