Friday, January 23, 2015

"The Collaboration", at the Swallows Falls, Western Maryland, Van Gogh, Degas,



Top Of The Falls
  oil on panel   9" x 12"



Bottom Of The Falls
  oil on panel   6" x 8"

"I am seeking. I am striving I am in it with all my heart.
Vincent van Gogh

"It is much better to draw what one has in one's memory. It is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory."
Edgar Degas

I learned a very valuable thing while getting these images started at the foot of this waterfall in Western Maryland; never sit for three hours on a boulder, in the shade. Even with a jacket beneath you. It took a couple of hours to thaw out from the chill! These were touched up or finished up in the studio but I feel retained the 'presence' of the place and day - and that is the danger, that you will make one touch too many and kill the spontaneity.  That is where Degas' collaboration comes in - once when someone asked me how this works I responded that I just dream myself back to the place and the day. They looked at me a bit askance after that but it is exactly what I do though I could not say how. 
Except that I am in it with all my heart. Enjoy!

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