For Every Drawing There is a Season

"Winter Respite"

Art has a way of finding itself. This little drawing has rested near me for 16 years. Last week someone claimed an interest in her and she will now move on to some new reality. I remember the garden where this woman sat musing about life and about how things change. The past 16 years have brought so much change the woman would be astonished at the variety, but perhaps not really surprised. Winter knows what it is to let things go, and to move on to new beginnings, and sparse winter also has a respect for life which allows the awkwardness of transition to be just that, awkwardness.

It Takes Work to Climb a Mountain

A Questionable Destination

The Argument

I have a constant argument inside me 

between claiming wisdom and acting wise.

It is time I paint with the deepest hue

(or is that the lightest hue).

See! See what I mean?

Argh!

In Respect for Recent Loss

"Beside the River" 

(detail)

There They Be... Again.

"Little Girls and Lemons"

Interconnections in Time

"As the Crow Flies"

Click on this image to see a tiny paradise detail from the above drawing (which is 10"x8"). We're all doing our best to secure our own space, but nothing is certain and here again comes that seasonal shifting of the wind, the tornado dancing down our creek, the  earthquake cracking our walls. I'm told by those in the know that "Things change!" and "It's a new chapter!" I agree, but it's the second statement which pulls me forward with a tiny bit of hope. Maybe my next drawing, which builds from the life as well as the demise (finish) of this one, will resonate even more with who I am, we all are, tomorrow.

The Rock, the Sage, and the Spark

This individual is actually a very complex and densely dimensional person. Running through the convoluted channels of his life, though, is a spritely joy for life that inspires. Plus, he has a thing about attracting rocks...

http://4terra.tumblr.com

Pulling out those Enlightening Magnifiers

Click on this image to find the real size of my 3"x5" drawings.

Yes, they are still difficult to see, for older eyes.

Magnifying glasses are recommended for anyone over the age of 40 who is not lucky enough to be nearsighted.

I began doing this tiny imagery when I noticed the audience at a Faberge exhibition was not looking closely at a certain egg, and therefore missing the point of the whole creation, the exquisite likenesses of the Tzar and his family, each image no bigger than my little fingernail. In fact, I couldn't see these portraits, either, but luckily I borrowed a second pair of magnifying glasses from a friend. I put them BOTH on, one on top of the other, and the fabulous world of Faberge and the Tzar's family came to life. I could actually imagine the family members looking at each other, having everyday feelings for each other!

My little drawings are obviously not direct portraits... But hopefully their abstract symbolism has a resonance with the audience... but you might have to pull out the magnifying glasses to get to the essence of the story lines.

Below is the same drawing. This time when you click on the image you will see it enlarged into a form where the details become more clearly objects, actions, and progressions.

Such is life: We can look at it from far away and it appears to be one thing. Or we can look at the details and see something quite different, perhaps even motivations for why things are happening.

Come Visit

Silicon Valley Open Studio happens this Mother's Day Weekend.

1870 studios will be open 11:00-5:00, Saturday and Sunday.

May 7 & 8

(I am now in Studio 23)

Drawing Experience Imitates Life

Two drawings of the same lifeline. The storyline is of someone who grows from childhood into a man who  craves material success. After years of stress in trying to fit into this idealized system he gets on his bike and races off into his future, finding a satisfying sense of harmony in his love for nature and his adoring family.

It is disappointing to not get it right the first time around, as this man experienced in his life. It is ironic that this drawing storyline is the one I flubbed the first time around as well. Perhaps this second version is also a flub. The way life keeps shifting, I think reevaluation is a constant.

(What was that you just whispered... "change"...?)

(Update: the second drawing pleased the recipient, so "take two" is a "go!")

Creating Lifts Us from the Mundane Experience

Portrait of the Creation of Art

Try to see this lifeline from varying points of view: Imagine yourself taller than the quilt shape. Then imagine yourself as small as the tiny objects at the bottom. Is there a change in your perception about what the drawing means?

To my mind, this drawing illustrates the mindset of artistic creation: the creator takes what is tossed around as normal, rethinks it, and makes it into something enlightening to experience.

Many people are artists at living life. It is never an easy process, but usually the complexities of love are sewn in there somewhere.

Here is a group effort that is pulling in the talent and hearts of many.
The concept was originally inspired by Lisa, above, when she lost her mother.

http://walkinginloveinstallation.blogspot.com/

Happy Earth Day

(click on image to look closer)

Art Studio Move

I am now located in:

Studio 23

at the art studio complex in Belmont

Jumping Through It All

It's just one of those high school things.

Inside the Brown

(Click on this detail of painting to see it better.)

Speaking about breaking things up, in order to see things freshly anew, I just detail cut up one of my paintings (no, not literally, just photo chopped) and have been sitting here spacing out on the meaty inner part detail. I have not painted in a while and I can't wait to get in there and do more of this work. I want to stick my head into the middle of this scene and look all around everywhere!

I used to call this painting "Confronting Brown" but I think I am feeling more kind lately. I've been thinking it more of a case of "Enveloping Brown." Adds a touch of hope. Maybe I'll do another painting with this in mind.

Shifting Perspective

Once out there in the world, our work takes on a life of its own.

I am pondering a piece of art I once did that used to be one thing, someone collaged into another thing, and it became something new in the process. The original intent is gone but a sliver of former truth remains.

Of late I have been revealing a little bit of what I think about when I do my drawings. I generally don't want to share too much because I'd like the viewer to have his/her own relationship with the piece. This is risk taking, because every individual brings to the viewing unique limitations alongside their insights.

I recently viewed a museum exhibition on Bonnard and was amazed at the simplicity of description I found on the informative labels. It was as if the curator wanted to discuss the most superficial of interpretations, and make mystery out of the obvious. Meanwhile, down underneath, was a subtle depth of consciousness that was aching to be described.

But maybe that deep stuff isn't describable. I am finding that we humans do not think the same, none of us. Obviously we have different abilities to think quickly and with wit, but aside from that we have different abilities to take in different kinds of content. This ability to take in information varies as we travel through life.

It is for this reason that I am interested to see how an artist's art changes as this person grows older. What kind of relevance can be found in the manner with which that the artist changes the art... or doesn't! I am skeptical about the inner meat of art that doesn't change over time. This feels like design more than art. On the other hand, design and art go hand in hand. I am thinking it is important to know what we are dealing with, and then appreciate what it is for what it is (once we know what it is)... until we change our perspective, which might be in one minute from now.

Therefore, I don't tell people much about what goes on in my head when I create art. It is always shifting... taking on new perspectives... as are the minds of the viewers.

Taking the Messy Palette and Transforming It into a Place of Beauty

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the answers... 

All of them, right now!

Some of us seem to find answers more quickly than others. AC, above, appears to do very well at making his way through the sticky glue/muck/slung mud of life. Perhaps he knows that glue often combines with matter to create beauty; muck might be decay that can fertilize the new; mud is where seeds of poetry can be sewn.

When I was 20 I saw the work of Stephen De Staebler and didn't understand the questions, much less the answers in his work. Ten years later I saw his work again and was floored by my previous lack of connection to the humanity and sense of history expressed... not to mention the elegance of form, texture, and balance that is more often described.

Now I am older than a half century and I am realizing that I just now truly understand the relationship between Henry Moore and Gustav Klimt.

What a cheeky attitude life has of making me wait so long to really get it! And what a delightful hoot that I will continue to play this game of allusions/illusions on into the future!

I am Lucky; I Have the Present

The Light House

Such a little drawing, above. Who is Chaz? Why have I drawn him so straight and tall and really quite simply? Does this drawing appear thin and light to you? Is there strength, even within the thinness? Why? What complexities of life go into making the shape of a sun person? Can we ever assume that we know the insides of anyone?

I met Chaz decades ago, at a younger time. So much has happened since, and yet, there he is, tall, solid, and full of a sun energy that beams out even onto those who are merely standing near him, not knowing him at all. 

Humans are so complex. How can anyone be described with simplicity? I try to get at an essence of something with these drawings. Our lives do have story lines to follow. So here is Chaz, and the story of his resonance with thought and positive energy, some of which he controls, and some of which is his natural state of being.

The Thin Line or the Shadowed Form?

Colette and Mark are two visual artists, married. 

The imaginative force that runs positively 

between these two is phenomenal.

www.colettecrutcher.com

Mark Roller (Hunters Point studio, SF)

Quirky Little Lifelines, Personalized as Best I Can

The "900 Lives of Vision" book ended up costing a lot to produce, so this means it is expensive to buy. To even out the exchange value-wise, I have added a personalized drawing to each book ordered. These are Lifelines that revolve around a theme (or two or three) about the new book owner's life. This links the new owner to the stories within the book. Here are just a few of the designs I've created in the past two weeks. My new supply of books should arrive soon, and the drawing with book combo will be delivered to the new owners. This is a very fun project for me. I truly hope the receivers enjoy what arrives on their doorstep, because I'm having a blast. 

(To read drawings, start on the left with the birth of the individual, and read to the right as they grow through youth and onwards into an abstractly biographical perspective of their life.)

Paula, the Adventuress, what an imagination she has. 

And so much courage! 

 The high fly of the solo line of jazz guitarist Danny Caron. 

I can not do the emotional complexity of his line justice, 

but if you imagine these lines popping out on top of 

a lower register of great jazz & blues & a bit of the wild beat in life, 

you'll get what I'm cleanly trying to drive at.

 Imagine the bounty of stories this person has told throughout life. 

He's now in his 90's and relishes exploring 

all types of thoughts each day of his life.

 Rebecca.

After I drew this, but before she saw this, 

she said she liked things tall and thin. 

She showed me a new lamp she had just bought that was 

made of long metal lines and jewels attached to the ends.

It is very difficult to get these tiny portraits right, 

and I am so relieved when the drawing

ends up feeling right to the new owner.