The Dance...

Before the Dance   oil/canvas   20 x 16 x 1.5

There is absolutely nothing more beautiful to me than THE DANCE. The spontaneous movement of the human body gracefully moving through space. It is pure. And, likewise, I enjoy the movement of forms and rhythmic placement of forms on a canvas. (Mind you, this does not include the dances that are signaled by the counting and recalling of the L-brain saying, "1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4".) I have spent lots of paint, lots of paper, lots of canvas on the beauty of the dancer. Time well spent. And I have a very naive notion that if all people would just dance, the world would be a better place. Spinning, swaying, tapping and spiraling in unrestrained joy. No inhibitions. No rules. Dance like there's no one watching. Paint like there's no one watching. What a buzz.

Excitement comes from Rum Raisin

Before the Dance   20 x 16 x 1.5

Even though I consider art-making to be extremely hard work, it is exciting all the while. The excitement of it all is what keeps me looking forward to my next project. At the present time, there are at least 5 paintings in my head waiting to unfold. For me, excitement is at its apex when I am trying something new, some combination of materials or some technique that has not yet been tried. "Before the Dance" was painted, for the most part, from a model during our Akron Art Walk. Later, at home, I was thinking about the preparation of a dancer and the mental "play" that occurs in the dancer's mind before performing. I started to scrape through the layers of paint, simulating, for me, the spins, twirls, and dance steps of a seasoned dancer. Wow.....my adrenaline was flowing! Next time, I will paint an underpainting of a complementary hue, so that the scrape-throughs will reveal the bottom layer more clearly. Maybe I will like the more dramatic effect. Maybe sublime is better. Who knows? Will that be vanilla or rum raisin? Excitement involves a trip into the unknown.