Thursday, August 20, 2015

Lake's Edge. "Time is holding it's breath for an instant..."; Degas; Wyeth



Lake's Edge
 oil on panel  9" x 12"

"A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people."
Edgar Degas

"Time is holding it's breath for an instant - and for an eternity. That is what I'm after - that's what I'm trying to paint."
Andrew Wyeth

This soft, hazy morning on a lake in Maine has been on my mind for some time. Where the winter - fallen trees and reeds get all tangled among wild rose and blueberry that grow out over the edge of the lake. The larger trees stand back on solid ground, forming a back curtain for the chaos going on along the shore. This is untouched land found up in the corners of lakes, near where the river flows in. I can glide in on my small rowboat and drop an anchor against the river current and have this place all to myself.
There is something that attracts me to the ragged and chaotic edge of things - the places without much evidence of people or machines. If you've been receiving these entries over time, you may have noticed that I don't usually paint pretty views or conventional scenes.  I guess I need the tangled mess of stuff to give me the task of searching for poetry, for form or understanding amongst the space and shape and light and shadow.  
I find the mystery in that elusive moment of time distilled from a couple of hours of looking to be what I'm trying to paint. Enjoy!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

"Art Exists Because Life Is Not Enough"



Cloud / Sky Study
  oil on panel  5" x 7"

"Art exists because life is not enough."
Ferreira Gullar

Today I wanted to invite
the delirious white-tuft clouds
from their spanking blue play field
to join me in wowing the crowds.

A conspiracy of mania and dervish dives
through such a runaway day,
should be absolute law for all,
without a thought of avoiding the fray.

To coax my brush in fine acrobatics,
operating high above the town,
without a net and plenty of risks,
teasing time like a crazy car clown.

from the poem, "Invitation"
Dean Taylor Drewyer


Sky Study
  oil on panel  6" x 9"