The Grass Being Greener

The Grass Being Greener   Watercolor on Khadi   18 x 24.5

Yes...the grass is always greener on the other side...of the experience, of the life circumstance, and of the painting.  The sketch is complete.  The subject fairly well understood.  The paint, the brushes and the paper at the ready.

Each painting offers up a unique experience and, as part of the preparation, I try to visualize the finished work as well as to plan a step-by-step plan in order to achieve the desired results.  Khadi paper offers up it own qualities.  This is my third work using this wonderful paper and I am still maneuvering through its capabilities, as well as my own.  I liken it to driving a vehicle through an unfamiliar terrain, or in various weather conditions.  My first pass was a dropping-in of pigment wet-into-wet for the spots on this dappled bovine.  Dropping-in is something that Khadi does very well.  My next pass was to be a graded background wash.  Not easily undertaken.  A failure, in fact, as the ultra-absorbing paper does not allow for much pushing and pulling.  And so, my thrill came from the adjustments that had to be made in order to achieve the painting in my mind.  Difficult, but doable.

Indeed...the grass is always greener...how very appropriate! Oh, the glory of the process!

(Painting)..."It is a form of conversation, and just like a conversation it can turn out exciting, boring, ugly, beautiful, enlightening.  Like a conversation.  it can have unexpected turns, sudden discoveries and hidden subtext and periods of silence.  All this is what makes painting endlessly fascinating."

                                              Alex Kanevsky

In The Grips

In The Grips   oil on canvas   20 x 10

we are....the coldest and snowiest winter on record here in Northeast Ohio.  One can feel a connectedness to all creatures in the face of such extreme weather.  I gain strength myself from this realization.

This small canvas was calling to be painted over.  First I sanded, then I toned.  My challenge was to use a space, a composition, that was a bit unusual.  Different problems to solve.  Other advantages as well.  Despite its smallish size, I am please with the power that this bovine has, and deserves, as a result of  its dominating volume in this composition.

As we, as a species, continue to evolve, and in due time recognize equality and respect for those of color, women and gays, there will be a time that we respect the animal kingdom as well.  The recently released footage from Mercy for Animals taken at the Wiese Brothers Dairy farm in Wisconsin saddened me beyond belief.

We::They thinking is toxic.

While I'm in the neighborhood...

Cow (on yellow ground)   watercolor/mixed on paper   10.75 x 15

Rooster (on orange ground)  watercolor/mixed on paper   11.5 x 14

I thought I would try a couple more.  Actually, there was a pig as well that I attempted before a trip.  Alack and alas, I was far too distracted with details....tried to hurry....and, as we all know, ART can never be hurried!  Creative minds yearn for novelty...that is what keeps our engagement so focused.  Yet, there is nothing like the first attempt into the unknown, where disaster is at our heels each minute, to make the experience explosive.  I read somewhere sometime, that the death of all art forms comes from over-ornamentation...it becomes too perfect, too polished.  I am satisfied for now and will come home to my paintings with renewed energy.

My current read:  Rapt:  Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher.  Wonderful!