Cob

Cob   watercolor on Yupo   3.75 x 12

Cropping as a tool is precarious surgery in my opinion.  I much prefer the in-depth consideration of the composition of a planned painting.  Composition is crucial for providing a focal area and other passages which should support the focal area.  Ideally.  For some reason, I put cropping as a tool in the same category as other "tricks":  using masking fluid; spattering; sponging, etc..  None of these processes will breathe life into an ailing composition....supposedly "saving the day".  I believe that there is practically no such thing as a perfect painting (well maybe one now and then).  I also believe that all paintings have strong passages and others that aren't so much.  I guess much like being a human being.  My aim is to accept the painting as a whole with its all its imperfections.  From time to time, I sort through unsold work and destroy weaker works whose appeal, after some time in catalog, are less than satisfactory.  "Cob" is a small part of a much larger work done several summers ago on Yupo paper.  Yupo produces so much texture on the surface that texture becomes the thing, the key ingredient.  Although working on Yupo provides many chills and thrills, the look of it is too much for my own personal aesthetic.  I did, however, like the cob.  I wiped out all of the painted areas around the cob (which is only possible on Yupo) and framed it in a small and long horizontal.  I think that this might be my first acceptable cropped painting.

Never say never.

A kernel of truth...

Bi Color   oil/canvas   11 x 14

Just what is a kernel of truth anyways? A small bite....practically microscopic? Something easy to digest? Something that we ourselves digest and decide whether or not it is true? I like that one. When I was a young artist, I was always so impressed by paintings, usually watercolor, of corncobs. The ones of multicolored Indian corn were always the most impressive. It was apparent that these artists had extreme patience, a will to survive and extremely small brushes. Therefore, it was many years before I attempted to paint corn, as I had very little of the above......well, maybe a medium-sized brush. As we grow as artists, we come to digest small kernels of our own truths...the qualities that define us as individual artists. And, for me, it was definitely not going to be perfectly-painted kernels of corn. For me, those kernels had to become supporting actors to the entire cobs and their luscious leaves and silks that twist, undulate and protect. There, I did it. One more kernel on my cob.