Friday, October 17, 2014

Two Lake Studies; A magician and a physicist; Pablo Neruda, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne



Maine Lake 5
 oil on panel  8" x 10"

"All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are."
Pablo Neruda



Maine Lake 2
 oil on panel  8" x 10"

"Genius is the ability to renew one's emotions in daily experience."
Paul Cezanne
"For me, a landscape does not exist in it's own right, 
since it's appearance changes at any moment."
Claude Monet

These are two studies done on the shore of Orange Lake near Whiting Maine, 
during the last week of September - just got around to photographing them. 

I am convinced that painting from the landscape, while being a humbling struggle before elements that never remain constant and are a continual struggle, elevates the painter to the level of a magician and a nuclear physicist. After all, one is compressing time while juggling light and space and form. This is the stuff of Einstein as well as Monet and Cezanne - and could only be attempted with the searching process of the poet such as Neruda. Enjoy!


Wednesday, October 8, 2014

The Blue Dome of Heaven, non narrative painting, Constable, Monet, Cezanne




Sky Study, 2014
 oil on panel  5" x 8"

"It is the soul that sees; the outward eyes present the object, but the mind descries. 
We see nothing till we truly understand."
John Constable



Sky With Hill, Provence
  oil on panel  6" x 8" 

"Paint what you really see, not what you think you ought to see; not the object in a test tube, but the object enveloped in sunlight and atmosphere, with the blue dome of Heaven reflected in the shadows."
Claude Monet

Painting from nature is never copying the object; it is realizing one's sensations."
Paul Cezanne

Presented here are two small studies concerned with the atmosphere and space and the "blue dome of heaven" that Monet refers to. I have felt during all my years of painting that narrative or specific nostalgia for days past or a rural agricultural past are unimportant and I think this is what these great painters are speaking to. The best painting immerses the viewer in a sense of visual situation, nothing more nothing less. Constable, whose sky studies are a constant source of wonder, spoke of truly understanding that which one's soul sees. That is the task I try to set before myself each painting - I suppose happiness is constantly reaching for something enthralling that remains just out of reach. Enjoy!




Friday, October 3, 2014

"Magnificent chaos - What should I do with this absurdity...", W. B. Yeats, Orange Lake Painting




Lake # 2, Late September
  oil on panel  6" x 8" 

"What shall I do with this absurdity - 
O heart, O troubled heart - this caricature,
Decrepit age that has tied to me
As to a dog's tail?
Never had I more
Excited, passionate, fantastical
imagination, nor an ear and eye
That more expected the impossible, "
W. B. Yeats

When on the lake I felt the dichotomy that is held in Yeats'  lines; the decrepit age and the excited passion for the sensory world. I guess this is what I am doing each day - painting  and finding that balance. Always, whatever aches and pains I might have, they seem to drift away as I become absorbed in the struggle to come to grips with the magnificent chaos.  
In response to folks who asked about availability of my work, this painting will be posted on auction at eBay's, beginning midnight tonight - for a starting price of $99. Haven't done this before but I will endeavor to post one regularly and see how it goes. Enjoy!